I don't see the game as free - it's $10, but still accessible to people who can't afford that. If you haven't checked the FAQ here on the store page, there's an item discussing that.
Hello there, I started playing your game and even want to make a series out of it on my channel. I wanna see for how long my Hive can survive so if your interested about my gameplay, feel free to check my video below. Maybe even the videos that I will make in the near future.
What a delightful game even if I'm not an expert in this genre, I would like to help in my own way by offering a free French translation if you are interested in that? I used to study languages in college and i'll be happy to play a small part here :)
Do you have a place for us to report bugs? Using an iMac on Catalina 10.15.4, scrolling the map with a middle mouse button sometimes causes the mouse pointer to disappear completely (unless it's over the dock icon bar) whenever the game window is the active window. Only workaround I've found is to quit and reload the game.
Hi! Sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems. There's an email address listed under the "Technical help" section here on the store page.
I'm not specifically supporting anything above 10.14 (I'm surprised to hear that it runs!), but if you can email me details, I'll take a look and see if I can't a fix!
No plans at this stage. I'm committed to PWYW with a minimum of $0 and a default price, and to allowing purchases/downloads without an account. If Valve implements these features, I'll definitely consider it (that seems unlikely though).
Hey there! First things first, AMAZING game <3 Love it to bits! A friend told me that Steam appears to offer the option to set the game to free and add "Support the Devs" DLCs. While it won't allow people to add custom prices you could set like 1$ 5$ 10$ XX$ DLCs as an option? That way you'd probably get way more exposure to this fantastic game than itch on its own.
Sure. Looks like your confusion comes from conflating exposure with distribution, which are not the same thing.
In case that's not clear enough, I'm not chasing exposure on Itch. I'm using their storefront infrastructure so that people who find out about my game outside of Itch have somewhere to buy it with fewer strings attached than any other distribution platform.
FWIW, I tested that Hive Time runs through the Steam client when added as a non-Steam game before release. If you really want to play it via the Steam client, that's an option.
I tested it because it seemed cute and was made with Godot (and was available for Linux) and it's pretty polished, didn't expect it, good job, I'm paying all the way up to those $10
Best I can say is "normal" - Linux has been my primary desktop OS since 2006, so I don't have any current experience with anything else to compare it to ^_^
Subsequent hives are only connected through your imagination and the continuity of your lineage of Queens. It's a way for players who enjoy the early part of the game "start again" without feeling like they have to quit or abandon their game. Research stays unlocked (but building requirements are still present - you still need an Updateded Workshop before you build a Barracks, etc.), so you also have an opportunity to build and design new hives in a way that you wouldn't be able to for a first hive.
In future updates, there will be some content that won't appear until multiple hives have been created.
1,681 sounds like a normal map size once obstacles are taken out! Feel free to share a screenshot (the default binding for whole-of-hive screenshots is P, and pressing Shift+P should give you a screenshot that shows the whole hive) :)
If you're keen to go bigger, you can select "Skip obstacles" when starting a new game (that'll let you go up to 2,000 cells).
Hi! Sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems.
Can you give me some more details of what you've tried/what you're doing? It would also be helpful to know what operating system you're running (Linux, Mac or Windows).
If you need to send any screenshots or videos through to show what's happening, feel free to email me via the address under the "Technical Help" section here on the store page.
There isn't a way to rotate cells - I wanted there to be a light jigsaw puzzle type aspect to construction, where different cell types would need a little thought and planning to fit together nicely. That said, with the exception of Honey and Jelly refineries (which mirror each other), every cell type currently in the game is horizontally symmetrical. Similarly, every cell type is vertically symmetrical, with the exception of the Upgraded Map Room, which leaves a little space for a non-upgraded Map Room to slot into the gap.
I can see from the video that the game is successfully extracted, but I can't see where you're trying to run the game - is there a timestamp for that that I'm missing?
Just to keep things tidy, you can reply to this comment rather than making a whole new comment thread.
Can you give me some more details of what you've tried/what you're doing? It would also be helpful to know what operating system you're running (Linux, Mac or Windows).
If you need to send any screenshots or videos through to show what's happening, feel free to email me via the address under the "Technical Help" section here on the store page.
If you can send a copy of your save file to the email address listed under the "Technical help" section of the store page here, I can offer more specific advice, but the main things to keep in mind are that wax costs pollen and nectar to produce, and that Worker bees (the ones that by default have no hats) are the only ones that can work at production facilities.
You can also view the production screen by clicking on a Wax Assembler to see what the current production status (whether that's producing, waiting for workers, waiting for resources, or inactive because storage is full).
Hive Time is intended to mostly be a relaxed experience, but setting your own constraints, such as trying to build building the smallest possible sustainable hive, or avoiding research/cell upgrades. For players who aren't good at finding The negative effects of the Royal Decrees upgrade can provide some further challenges and variations (for example, halved Beesitter efficiency can have a big impact on a growing hive).
If you're interested in future changes, you can read about currently planned additions over here.
Dear Cheeseness, my game just crashed midway through before it could autosave, the most recent saved file is corrupted and I only have a file that dates back to yesterday. Is there a way to get my progress back? Corrupted file: https://gyazo.com/1ad91ba42e1a9c8a724f39f8c3e88d9a
Hi! Sorry to hear that you've experienced a crash.
Can you please email the corrupted save file to the address listed under the Technical Help section here on the store page and I'll see if there's anything recoverable in there (it looks like you've only shared a screenshot here). If one exists, I'd be keen to get a copy of the game log from that play session. Details of where to find logs and save files are listed under "Log, save, and config file locations" in the Technical Help section.
While I think that the autosave system should be reliable and I'm concerned by this crash, it should ideally be used in conjunction with manual saves rather than as the primary/only save mechanism.
I highly enjoy this game. As far as simulation games go, there's nothing like it. Your units have a short life span, which means you can die out if you're not paying attention. Not gonna lie, this gave me a little anxiety about keeping population up, but I highly enjoyed the game
Thanks! The tutorial screen shows the population sliders at 40% Beesitters, which is much higher than it needs to be, but makes for a good starting point where fluctuations don't present a lot of risk.
You already can! You can either hit Escape and go to the main menu and save from there, or you can use the Quicksave button (default is F5, can be adjusted from Settings->Controls screen).
Unfortunately, Hive Time revenue has not been strong enough for me to consider localisation.
Thanks for your message. For future references, this kind of correspondence is best done via email. I don't think it belongs in my game's comments section.
Hi! You'll need to download the game for your platform, and then extract everything from the downloaded file. After extracting, double click on hive-time_windows_v1.0.exe, hive-time_windows_v1.0.x86_64, or Hive Time.app depending on what platform you're on.
Thanks for sharing, that was a fun little hive! Apologies as well for the cooldown confusion - there a definite moments (like Old Bitey coming to visit) that I'd like to feel tense/stressful, but new Queen cooldown shouldn't be one of them! I'll have a think about the best way to reduce opportunities for confusion.
Jelly research is dependent on other research/cell types. Keep building and exploring new research (particularly items that say they unlock further research options) and you'll find it :)
Wow, this is a really unique and well executed game. Just sunk several hours into it. I managed to make my first queen (not in time though - that seems difficult!)
When your storage is full, does production/collection stop or are resources being wasted? If the latter, it would be great to get some more in-game feedback about it. I think the storage size text blinks red, but not enough to draw my attention.
Production doesn't occur when storage is full (or when bees are carrying enough of that resource to fill storage), but bees foraging for resources outside the hive will bring back whatever they find regardless of whether there's storage space or not.
Regarding difficulty, the game's balanced so that once you know the ins and outs of how the game's systems work, it's not too hard to get enough Jelly in half the provided time. As a "continue playing" condition, I wanted to make sure that it presented as a soft learning gate for new players while not presenting a significant hurdle for experienced players. If you haven't already, take a peek at the Bee Activity screen (accessible from the upgraded Throne Room). It can give some clues/cues for efficiency bottlenecks that might be slowing things down.
No current plans at this time. I am committed to making the game available under a pay-what-you-want model so that people who can't afford the game's $10 price tag can still pay, to making the game available without a downloader/updater client, and to making the game available without requiring players to make an account. Steam does not offer/allow any of these.
I really appreciate the quick response! props to you for the model you've chosen and sticking by! I completely understand and support it
(sorry for the noob question: how does one keep up with updates to the game after buying? do i just need to keep on eye on this page or will be an email every time? only been on itch.io a few times)
Absolutely cute and fun looking game! (saw a PCgamer article about the game)
Itch will send emails about updates, but I think that's only for large announcements rather than every minor patch.
In 1.0-18, I added an in-game notification that will appear in the main menu when a new version is available. The first time you run the game with 1.0-18 or newer, you should see a prompt asking if you'd like to allow to the game to check for new versions. This can be changed in the System Settings menu at any time.
Alternatively, Itch has its own downloader/updater client that you can use. There's more information on that over here.
I am having an issue in which the game crashes after about 5 minutes of play. Have started 3-4 or times with this being a consistent issue. Slightly older setup, so that may be part of the problem, but this feels like a pretty low-taxing game even for my old system.
Hi! Sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems. Can you please send me your system specs and a copy of your game log (from a play session where it has crashed!) to the address under the "Technical help" section here on the store page?
I have a 3ghz processor (I know; old) with 8gb RAM and 64-bit. I tried it on a different system (one I don't typically game on), and it seems that maybe whenever the game tries to autosave is when it crashes on my normal system.
Can you please email me specs of both machines (including operating system, video card and video driver versions) and a copy of the game log (from a play session where it has crashed!) to the address under the "Technical help" section here on the store page?
Autosaves are meant to happen every 10 minutes. If it's crashing after 5, I suspect it might be something else - I'll know more once I see a log :)
Hey Cheeseness do u know when there is going to be more research? i beat the game was amazing and had all research and when't to do a new hive and no new research.
Hi hi! At this stage, let's say no. For now, we see the end-game as giving room for pursuing player-driven goals (like trying to spawn a new Queen with the smallest hive possible, trying to have as many simultaneous Queens as possible, never upgrading anything except the Workshop, etc.) or building elaborate/interesting shaped hives. Both of these are where I found the most fun in management sims like the original SimCity, which provided a lot of inspiration for Hive Time.
The Royal Decrees upgrade also gives some potentially interesting gameplay variations for each successive Queen (a Queen that halves wax production is going to require a different approach to building a new hive, and a Queen that reduces Beesitter efficiency requires a different approach to finding population balances).
If you're interested in seeing the type of post-release content we are considering, you can read about our plans here.
I'm having trouble upgrading my map room. It wouldn't let me upgrade it. I thought it might have been because it was on the edge and there was a plant nearby but I moved the map room so it was isolated with cells all around it, and I do have the resources, but it still won't let me build it. It just beeps at me. I added an image to show the cells are empty and what it looks like when I try to upgrade.
If it's helpful to know, this is also covered under the "Gameplay tips" section here on the store page above, and will be included in-game in the planned "beepedia".
I must be not getting something. The very first thing the tutorial tells you to do is make an exit. I click on cells, I build new cells, I left click, I right click... I click all over the place... and it never shows me anything to click on to "make exit." All my bees are apparently going to starve to death in their own hive because the game tells you to make a door but it doesn't teach you how to actually make a door.
Hmm! What happens when you left click on an empty cell (or one of the new cells that you've built)? Does a menu come up at all? If so, what's in it?
If you're building new cells, then the radial menus are at least partially working for you.
Edit: In case everything's working as intended, Exits live under the Resources submenu (they're where some resources come from), which the tutorial explains as seen below. The current active tutorial can be shown again by clicking the graduation cap icon in the bottom left.
Oh, thanks. I thought Resources told you how much Resources you have. Or had something to do with stockpiling Resources. I kept thinking, since the door is structural, it would be under the same menu category as Nursery and Workshop. Looking at it now, I realize you had the ++ integrated into the icon. Maybe consider renaming this to "Resource Production" or something similar? I know short words look nicer, but this game throws a lot of concepts at the player at once that aren't handled the same way they are in other RTS games. When you can't use existing tropes or genre conventions, you should be as specific as possible.
Role didn't make much sense to me, either, the first time I saw it. It has a picture of a bee. But you don't use it to build bees? You use it to build rooms. Rooms don't have a role. They have furniture in them. After playing the game a bit more, I eventually understood that "Role" is short for "Rooms that require a bee to have a specific role in order to use them." Except that the Nursery also lets you change a bee's role, or at least lets you influence the role distribution of newborn bees. I'm not sure what else you could call it besides Role. Maybe Job? But that doesn't really change things. If I think of a better solution to this, I'll let you know.
But on the subject of the radial menus, this is probably the most important suggestion I can make: Don't make the player fight their own muscle memory when learning new systems! Every single time I opened a menu after researching something, it felt like everything I'd previously learned went right out the window because now the things I have to click on are in a different place. It's friction. It's a reason players would churn out before learning the game. And you'll never personally experience this for yourself because you made the game, you're not learning it from scratch the way a new player would. You'll just have to take my word for it that this makes learning the game more uncomfortable than it needs to be.
The solution: Radials should display all the hexagons that will ever be there, and the ones the player doesn't have access to are just blank or greyed out or invisible. That way, as the player builds understanding of games systems, they are also building muscle memory. If you only listen to one suggestion from my post, please listen to this one. It's the biggest obstacle to learning the middle of the game right now.
Glad to hear you're up and running and thanks for sharing your thoughts!
To make sure there aren't any false expectations, none of these things are likely to change significantly, though I'll tack "cells" on the end of submenu names to help reduce opportunities for false assumptions in the next patch. Even if players don't follow the tutorial's instructions, there are only two incorrect submenus to look through for any given build option, and I'm comfortable with that as being manageable for our target audience.
FWIW, we had around a hundred people with varying levels of game and management sim (this game's genre) literacy playing Hive Time prior to release, brought onboard in batches across the course of development. UI design choices weren't made in a vacuum and do take into consideration more than just our personal experiences/perspectives. Everybody has different preferences and tolerances, though - it's totally OK to not appreciate our choices here.
Regarding radial menu item consistency, you may find using keyboard shortcuts more comfortable (default modifier for displaying them is Alt, and there's an option in Interface Settings for permanently displaying them).
Well now this "Beesitters randomly stop working for no reason" event keeps killing my population numbers for no reason. If the goal of this game is to subtly educate people about Colony Collapse Disorder, then good job, you knocked it out of the park. On the other hand if the goal of the game is to actually be a fun strategy game where you build and research a thriving beehive, then I'd like to please be able to turn this event off from the main menu.
(Seriously. Population crashed from 70 to 6. Absolutely nothing I could do about it. The game just decided it was time for my colony to fail now.)
Hive Time is a management sim about exploring and discovering sustainable balances/responses that can survive fluctuations/disasters, not a strategy game per se (we've been specifically avoiding strategy labels and tags). While it intentionally bucks some management sim conventions, inviting players to respond to (and later plan for) dramatic shifts in dynamics is not one of them.
I haven't come across a situation before where previously working Beesitters stop working for no reason and there aren't any events called "Beesitters randomly stop working for no reason" that I can recall writing. If you'd like to send me an email (address is under the "Technical help" section here on the store page) with a better details-to-snark ratio, I'd be happy to look into whether something is misbehaving and give you some instructions for manually disabling individual events.
I will add to this that even though I read that it said to click "resources" to build an exit, I was still confused by the tutorial because I thought "empty cell" meant a grid cell that didn't have anything in it yet (the green ones with white outline), and clicking on those there was no resources option, just "cell". I think the language used could be reworked to be less ambiguous.
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An really nice game I must say, very adictive ^^ I enjoyed it a lot.
Thanks for your kind words :)
your game is cool, and you are very kind man bc you selling it for free!
Thanks for your kind words!
I don't see the game as free - it's $10, but still accessible to people who can't afford that. If you haven't checked the FAQ here on the store page, there's an item discussing that.
if i could i donated you but now im too young
That's OK! It's important to me that people who can't afford the game can still play :)
Hello there, I started playing your game and even want to make a series out of it on my channel.
I wanna see for how long my Hive can survive so if your interested about my gameplay, feel free to check my video below. Maybe even the videos that I will make in the near future.
Thanks for sharing!
Really nice job!
Thanks!
What a delightful game even if I'm not an expert in this genre, I would like to help in my own way by offering a free French translation if you are interested in that? I used to study languages in college and i'll be happy to play a small part here :)
Hi! Thanks for your kind words :)
Localisation isn't something I'm moving ahead with right at this moment, but feel free to send me an email for further discussion.
As a French player, I'd be pleased, this is a good game ! :)
Do you have a place for us to report bugs? Using an iMac on Catalina 10.15.4, scrolling the map with a middle mouse button sometimes causes the mouse pointer to disappear completely (unless it's over the dock icon bar) whenever the game window is the active window. Only workaround I've found is to quit and reload the game.
Hi! Sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems. There's an email address listed under the "Technical help" section here on the store page.
I'm not specifically supporting anything above 10.14 (I'm surprised to hear that it runs!), but if you can email me details, I'll take a look and see if I can't a fix!
I've corresponded with sunkzero via email, but for anybody else who stumbles across this, the problem should be addressed in v1.1-22.
Do you plan on releasing on Steam?
No plans at this stage. I'm committed to PWYW with a minimum of $0 and a default price, and to allowing purchases/downloads without an account. If Valve implements these features, I'll definitely consider it (that seems unlikely though).
Hey there! First things first, AMAZING game <3 Love it to bits! A friend told me that Steam appears to offer the option to set the game to free and add "Support the Devs" DLCs. While it won't allow people to add custom prices you could set like 1$ 5$ 10$ XX$ DLCs as an option? That way you'd probably get way more exposure to this fantastic game than itch on its own.
Thanks for your kind words!
I'd rather chase exposure outside of distribution platforms.
Thallanor is correct.
But you are chasing exposure on Itch, which is a digital distribution platform, so I'm confused. Can you explain that?
Sure. Looks like your confusion comes from conflating exposure with distribution, which are not the same thing.
In case that's not clear enough, I'm not chasing exposure on Itch. I'm using their storefront infrastructure so that people who find out about my game outside of Itch have somewhere to buy it with fewer strings attached than any other distribution platform.
FWIW, I tested that Hive Time runs through the Steam client when added as a non-Steam game before release. If you really want to play it via the Steam client, that's an option.
Best $10 I've spent this year. Love the game. Excited to see what comes next.
Thanks for your support and your kind words!
Easily worth the $10 and a delight from start to finish. Looking forward to the update!
Thank you :D
I tested it because it seemed cute and was made with Godot (and was available for Linux) and it's pretty polished, didn't expect it, good job, I'm paying all the way up to those $10
Thanks! If you didn't know, it was also made on Linux :)
I had no idea, how was the experience?
Best I can say is "normal" - Linux has been my primary desktop OS since 2006, so I don't have any current experience with anything else to compare it to ^_^
Very great game!
But I don't know which effort it takes, if you found a new hive. Are these hives in any form connected? :)
Thanks for your kind words!
Subsequent hives are only connected through your imagination and the continuity of your lineage of Queens. It's a way for players who enjoy the early part of the game "start again" without feeling like they have to quit or abandon their game. Research stays unlocked (but building requirements are still present - you still need an Updateded Workshop before you build a Barracks, etc.), so you also have an opportunity to build and design new hives in a way that you wouldn't be able to for a first hive.
In future updates, there will be some content that won't appear until multiple hives have been created.
Hope that helps!
Thank you for your detailed informations!
You're very welcome ^_^
Fun
Glad to hear you're enjoying the game :)
This game is fantastic fun!
Yay, glad to hear you're enjoying it :)
lol, I was bored so I filled the entire map with cells...
my map have 1681 spots :/
over 1000 of them are empty
all defended tho...
1,681 sounds like a normal map size once obstacles are taken out! Feel free to share a screenshot (the default binding for whole-of-hive screenshots is P, and pressing Shift+P should give you a screenshot that shows the whole hive) :)
If you're keen to go bigger, you can select "Skip obstacles" when starting a new game (that'll let you go up to 2,000 cells).
Yep, but i'm realizing i missed a few...
aah... my picture is too big for itch.io...
ill try anyway give me a minute
got it down to 3.9MB...
ahh got it:
might have to use the classic browser Ctrl+Plus
gonna make a hive with no obstacles now
Nice :)
when i click on the application that i suppose to click it just dont work
Hi! Sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems.
Can you give me some more details of what you've tried/what you're doing? It would also be helpful to know what operating system you're running (Linux, Mac or Windows).
If you need to send any screenshots or videos through to show what's happening, feel free to email me via the address under the "Technical Help" section here on the store page.
I've played this game months back, and it was already an amazing game.
Now, it's even better. It's cute, its strategic, and it has a decent progression system - and it got bees!
Yay! Thank you for your kind words ^_^
Really enjoying the game so far and i just wanted to ask, is there a way to rotate buildings?
Thanks!
There isn't a way to rotate cells - I wanted there to be a light jigsaw puzzle type aspect to construction, where different cell types would need a little thought and planning to fit together nicely. That said, with the exception of Honey and Jelly refineries (which mirror each other), every cell type currently in the game is horizontally symmetrical. Similarly, every cell type is vertically symmetrical, with the exception of the Upgraded Map Room, which leaves a little space for a non-upgraded Map Room to slot into the gap.
Made with Godot and works on Linux, I haven't even played and I already love it.
Well it's definitely fun and I'll see how far I can get.
Enjoy!
Ok! Run on windows Going to post a link to my problem can't get it to run
you might think my problem is dumb but i have technical problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Vk5ed3dwI
I can see from the video that the game is successfully extracted, but I can't see where you're trying to run the game - is there a timestamp for that that I'm missing?
Just to keep things tidy, you can reply to this comment rather than making a whole new comment thread.
I right clicked it *try* to get the run thing to pop up can't find it imma make new vid if im just dum
I believe the normal way for launching applications in Windows is to double click it (or to right click and select "Open").
found what went wrong
buuut i need a more powerful gpu f it imma still follow and like
Okeydokey! If you turn off shadows and turn off antialiasing from the game's Video Settings menu you might find that the game will run faster.
Can't get game to work/start I can't get it to run just says open
Hi! Sorry to hear that you're having troubles.
Can you give me some more details of what you've tried/what you're doing? It would also be helpful to know what operating system you're running (Linux, Mac or Windows).
If you need to send any screenshots or videos through to show what's happening, feel free to email me via the address under the "Technical Help" section here on the store page.
my workers won't make wax and im not sure how to make them
Hi! Sorry to hear you're having trouble.
If you can send a copy of your save file to the email address listed under the "Technical help" section of the store page here, I can offer more specific advice, but the main things to keep in mind are that wax costs pollen and nectar to produce, and that Worker bees (the ones that by default have no hats) are the only ones that can work at production facilities.
You can also view the production screen by clicking on a Wax Assembler to see what the current production status (whether that's producing, waiting for workers, waiting for resources, or inactive because storage is full).
Hope that helps!
oh sorry i thought the workers (with hats) could also work at production facilities thank you for replying.
No worries!
Builder bees (the ones with yellow hard hats) do faster construction and can research at Workshops.
Cool game! Certainly fun to play! Is there a way to increase difficulty? Or will you inmpelemt it some time?
Thanks for the game!
Hi! Thanks for your kind words.
Hive Time is intended to mostly be a relaxed experience, but setting your own constraints, such as trying to build building the smallest possible sustainable hive, or avoiding research/cell upgrades. For players who aren't good at finding The negative effects of the Royal Decrees upgrade can provide some further challenges and variations (for example, halved Beesitter efficiency can have a big impact on a growing hive).
If you're interested in future changes, you can read about currently planned additions over here.
Hope that helps!
finally made a full map
and the game is good
Thanks! :)
Dear Cheeseness, my game just crashed midway through before it could autosave, the most recent saved file is corrupted and I only have a file that dates back to yesterday. Is there a way to get my progress back?
Corrupted file: https://gyazo.com/1ad91ba42e1a9c8a724f39f8c3e88d9a
Hi! Sorry to hear that you've experienced a crash.
Can you please email the corrupted save file to the address listed under the Technical Help section here on the store page and I'll see if there's anything recoverable in there (it looks like you've only shared a screenshot here). If one exists, I'd be keen to get a copy of the game log from that play session. Details of where to find logs and save files are listed under "Log, save, and config file locations" in the Technical Help section.
While I think that the autosave system should be reliable and I'm concerned by this crash, it should ideally be used in conjunction with manual saves rather than as the primary/only save mechanism.
Hi there! Just wanted to touch base again. I haven't seen a copy of your game log or save file come through.
I highly enjoy this game. As far as simulation games go, there's nothing like it. Your units have a short life span, which means you can die out if you're not paying attention. Not gonna lie, this gave me a little anxiety about keeping population up, but I highly enjoyed the game
Thanks! The tutorial screen shows the population sliders at 40% Beesitters, which is much higher than it needs to be, but makes for a good starting point where fluctuations don't present a lot of risk.
Please add a manual save button, when I'm playing and suddenly have to go, I have to wait for 10 minutes before it auto saves, manual save please.
You already can! You can either hit Escape and go to the main menu and save from there, or you can use the Quicksave button (default is F5, can be adjusted from Settings->Controls screen).
Hi Sean
Unfortunately, Hive Time revenue has not been strong enough for me to consider localisation.
Thanks for your message. For future references, this kind of correspondence is best done via email. I don't think it belongs in my game's comments section.
Cheese
i dont see away to plays this :( how do you play is? this game look so good
Hi! You'll need to download the game for your platform, and then extract everything from the downloaded file. After extracting, double click on hive-time_windows_v1.0.exe, hive-time_windows_v1.0.x86_64, or Hive Time.app depending on what platform you're on.
enjoyed it alot so far! here is my letsplay of it, really nice music and cute artstyle! :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjbfZSH4wK4
Thanks for sharing ^_^
Very excited for future updates. Will drop some money when and if I am able to do so.
Cheers! There's some more information on the kinds of things we'd like to do over in this post if you haven't seen it.
I owe all of my success to the panic induced by thinking the cooldown counter was the queen's death counter.
Thanks for sharing, that was a fun little hive! Apologies as well for the cooldown confusion - there a definite moments (like Old Bitey coming to visit) that I'd like to feel tense/stressful, but new Queen cooldown shouldn't be one of them! I'll have a think about the best way to reduce opportunities for confusion.
I got to the part where the tutorial tells you to research jelly, but it's not an option for me. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do
Jelly research is dependent on other research/cell types. Keep building and exploring new research (particularly items that say they unlock further research options) and you'll find it :)
Wow, this is a really unique and well executed game. Just sunk several hours into it. I managed to make my first queen (not in time though - that seems difficult!)
When your storage is full, does production/collection stop or are resources being wasted? If the latter, it would be great to get some more in-game feedback about it. I think the storage size text blinks red, but not enough to draw my attention.
Thanks for your kind words!
Production doesn't occur when storage is full (or when bees are carrying enough of that resource to fill storage), but bees foraging for resources outside the hive will bring back whatever they find regardless of whether there's storage space or not.
Regarding difficulty, the game's balanced so that once you know the ins and outs of how the game's systems work, it's not too hard to get enough Jelly in half the provided time. As a "continue playing" condition, I wanted to make sure that it presented as a soft learning gate for new players while not presenting a significant hurdle for experienced players. If you haven't already, take a peek at the Bee Activity screen (accessible from the upgraded Throne Room). It can give some clues/cues for efficiency bottlenecks that might be slowing things down.
So what time is hive time exactly?
Right now \o/
Any plans at all or any consideration for steam?
No current plans at this time. I am committed to making the game available under a pay-what-you-want model so that people who can't afford the game's $10 price tag can still pay, to making the game available without a downloader/updater client, and to making the game available without requiring players to make an account. Steam does not offer/allow any of these.
I really appreciate the quick response! props to you for the model you've chosen and sticking by! I completely understand and support it
(sorry for the noob question: how does one keep up with updates to the game after buying? do i just need to keep on eye on this page or will be an email every time? only been on itch.io a few times)
Absolutely cute and fun looking game! (saw a PCgamer article about the game)
Thanks for your kind words :)
Itch will send emails about updates, but I think that's only for large announcements rather than every minor patch.
In 1.0-18, I added an in-game notification that will appear in the main menu when a new version is available. The first time you run the game with 1.0-18 or newer, you should see a prompt asking if you'd like to allow to the game to check for new versions. This can be changed in the System Settings menu at any time.
Alternatively, Itch has its own downloader/updater client that you can use. There's more information on that over here.
Hope that helps!
i love this design! keep up the good work
Thanks ^_^
I am having an issue in which the game crashes after about 5 minutes of play. Have started 3-4 or times with this being a consistent issue. Slightly older setup, so that may be part of the problem, but this feels like a pretty low-taxing game even for my old system.
Hi! Sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems. Can you please send me your system specs and a copy of your game log (from a play session where it has crashed!) to the address under the "Technical help" section here on the store page?
I have a 3ghz processor (I know; old) with 8gb RAM and 64-bit. I tried it on a different system (one I don't typically game on), and it seems that maybe whenever the game tries to autosave is when it crashes on my normal system.
Can you please email me specs of both machines (including operating system, video card and video driver versions) and a copy of the game log (from a play session where it has crashed!) to the address under the "Technical help" section here on the store page?
Autosaves are meant to happen every 10 minutes. If it's crashing after 5, I suspect it might be something else - I'll know more once I see a log :)
Hi hi! I haven't seen a log come through. Just wanted to touch base and make sure I haven't missed it!
Hey Cheeseness do u know when there is going to be more research? i beat the game was amazing and had all research and when't to do a new hive and no new research.
Hi hi! At this stage, let's say no. For now, we see the end-game as giving room for pursuing player-driven goals (like trying to spawn a new Queen with the smallest hive possible, trying to have as many simultaneous Queens as possible, never upgrading anything except the Workshop, etc.) or building elaborate/interesting shaped hives. Both of these are where I found the most fun in management sims like the original SimCity, which provided a lot of inspiration for Hive Time.
The Royal Decrees upgrade also gives some potentially interesting gameplay variations for each successive Queen (a Queen that halves wax production is going to require a different approach to building a new hive, and a Queen that reduces Beesitter efficiency requires a different approach to finding population balances).
If you're interested in seeing the type of post-release content we are considering, you can read about our plans here.
Hope that helps!
I'm having trouble upgrading my map room. It wouldn't let me upgrade it. I thought it might have been because it was on the edge and there was a plant nearby but I moved the map room so it was isolated with cells all around it, and I do have the resources, but it still won't let me build it. It just beeps at me. I added an image to show the cells are empty and what it looks like when I try to upgrade.
The red areas require more of the same type of room when upgrading
Ahh, thank you! Much appreciated.
Glad to hear you're sorted :)
If it's helpful to know, this is also covered under the "Gameplay tips" section here on the store page above, and will be included in-game in the planned "beepedia".
I must be not getting something. The very first thing the tutorial tells you to do is make an exit. I click on cells, I build new cells, I left click, I right click... I click all over the place... and it never shows me anything to click on to "make exit." All my bees are apparently going to starve to death in their own hive because the game tells you to make a door but it doesn't teach you how to actually make a door.
Hmm! What happens when you left click on an empty cell (or one of the new cells that you've built)? Does a menu come up at all? If so, what's in it?
If you're building new cells, then the radial menus are at least partially working for you.
Edit: In case everything's working as intended, Exits live under the Resources submenu (they're where some resources come from), which the tutorial explains as seen below. The current active tutorial can be shown again by clicking the graduation cap icon in the bottom left.
Oh, thanks. I thought Resources told you how much Resources you have. Or had something to do with stockpiling Resources. I kept thinking, since the door is structural, it would be under the same menu category as Nursery and Workshop. Looking at it now, I realize you had the ++ integrated into the icon. Maybe consider renaming this to "Resource Production" or something similar? I know short words look nicer, but this game throws a lot of concepts at the player at once that aren't handled the same way they are in other RTS games. When you can't use existing tropes or genre conventions, you should be as specific as possible.
Role didn't make much sense to me, either, the first time I saw it. It has a picture of a bee. But you don't use it to build bees? You use it to build rooms. Rooms don't have a role. They have furniture in them. After playing the game a bit more, I eventually understood that "Role" is short for "Rooms that require a bee to have a specific role in order to use them." Except that the Nursery also lets you change a bee's role, or at least lets you influence the role distribution of newborn bees. I'm not sure what else you could call it besides Role. Maybe Job? But that doesn't really change things. If I think of a better solution to this, I'll let you know.
But on the subject of the radial menus, this is probably the most important suggestion I can make: Don't make the player fight their own muscle memory when learning new systems! Every single time I opened a menu after researching something, it felt like everything I'd previously learned went right out the window because now the things I have to click on are in a different place. It's friction. It's a reason players would churn out before learning the game. And you'll never personally experience this for yourself because you made the game, you're not learning it from scratch the way a new player would. You'll just have to take my word for it that this makes learning the game more uncomfortable than it needs to be.
The solution: Radials should display all the hexagons that will ever be there, and the ones the player doesn't have access to are just blank or greyed out or invisible. That way, as the player builds understanding of games systems, they are also building muscle memory. If you only listen to one suggestion from my post, please listen to this one. It's the biggest obstacle to learning the middle of the game right now.
Glad to hear you're up and running and thanks for sharing your thoughts!
To make sure there aren't any false expectations, none of these things are likely to change significantly, though I'll tack "cells" on the end of submenu names to help reduce opportunities for false assumptions in the next patch. Even if players don't follow the tutorial's instructions, there are only two incorrect submenus to look through for any given build option, and I'm comfortable with that as being manageable for our target audience.
FWIW, we had around a hundred people with varying levels of game and management sim (this game's genre) literacy playing Hive Time prior to release, brought onboard in batches across the course of development. UI design choices weren't made in a vacuum and do take into consideration more than just our personal experiences/perspectives. Everybody has different preferences and tolerances, though - it's totally OK to not appreciate our choices here.
Regarding radial menu item consistency, you may find using keyboard shortcuts more comfortable (default modifier for displaying them is Alt, and there's an option in Interface Settings for permanently displaying them).
Hope that helps!
Well now this "Beesitters randomly stop working for no reason" event keeps killing my population numbers for no reason. If the goal of this game is to subtly educate people about Colony Collapse Disorder, then good job, you knocked it out of the park. On the other hand if the goal of the game is to actually be a fun strategy game where you build and research a thriving beehive, then I'd like to please be able to turn this event off from the main menu.
(Seriously. Population crashed from 70 to 6. Absolutely nothing I could do about it. The game just decided it was time for my colony to fail now.)
Hive Time is a management sim about exploring and discovering sustainable balances/responses that can survive fluctuations/disasters, not a strategy game per se (we've been specifically avoiding strategy labels and tags). While it intentionally bucks some management sim conventions, inviting players to respond to (and later plan for) dramatic shifts in dynamics is not one of them.
I haven't come across a situation before where previously working Beesitters stop working for no reason and there aren't any events called "Beesitters randomly stop working for no reason" that I can recall writing. If you'd like to send me an email (address is under the "Technical help" section here on the store page) with a better details-to-snark ratio, I'd be happy to look into whether something is misbehaving and give you some instructions for manually disabling individual events.
I will add to this that even though I read that it said to click "resources" to build an exit, I was still confused by the tutorial because I thought "empty cell" meant a grid cell that didn't have anything in it yet (the green ones with white outline), and clicking on those there was no resources option, just "cell". I think the language used could be reworked to be less ambiguous.
v1.0-16v1.0-18 will have a note to further clarify that in the preceding tutorial.