Hiveswap

Hiveswap for PC is an adventure game based on the popular webcomic Homestick. It was developed by What Pumpkin, founded by the original comic's creator, and funded through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, gathering almost 2.5 million dollars.

Plot

Homestuck follows the story of a group of 13-years-old internet friends, who decide to play an unusual game. The comic begins in a typical, ordinary room of one of the characters. The plot, however, quickly becomes intense and increasingly complex.

Hiveswap is a spin-off of the comic and is based on certain parts of it, while at the same time telling its own story. It focuses, on a 13-years-old Joey Claire, who finds herself transported to an alien planet, when her house is suddenly attacked by monsters.

Mechanics

Andrew Hussie, the head of What Pumpkin, the author of the comic, and the owner of the MS Paint Adventures website, hosting the comic, calls Hiveswap an adventure game parody, and while the production features variations of the theme and plays with stereotypes, the statement is right. You explore locations, solve easy puzzles, and interact with the world and NPCs. There is plenty of Homestuck-specific humor, present in e.g. the moment when you futilely use to try an object and the only effect is a funny comment, not limited to the typical “you cannot do that” phrase. Hiveswap consists of 4 episodes.

Technical aspects

Hiveswap for PC features colorful hand-drawn visuals, clearly based on the original comic. The character models have been designed with care and are smoothly animated; during the game, depending on the situation, they change their outfits, expressions, etc.

Last updated on October 4, 2017