For The Hive News

Hello Hivers!

Welcome to the 6th installment of our game updates, we’re excited to share our progress with you once again.

We’re in the middle of working on a lot of exciting new additions to the game, which include inventory, harvesting system, metamorphosis and life stages. We’re also going to show you some cool new insect models that we’re working on, one of them is fully operational, it is, as you might have guessed: the honeybee.

So why don’t your pour favorite hot beverage into your trusty FTH mug and let’s get started. (For mugs and other merch, you can go to https://www.arcaneworlds.com/shop.)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]1) New Models[/h2]

In the previous devlog, we announced that we were going into a more HD and realistic art direction for the game. We’re gradually replacing our placeholder models with more detailed ones, in the meantime, we’ve also worked on some cool new characters that are going to populate our game world very soon.

These new characters include the Black Widow spider, the Black Emperor scorpion, and the Stag beetle.

We spent hours contemplating these beautiful models, and we can’t wait to have them interact with each other.









Spiders and scorpions are not technically insects, they are arachnids, but for the sake of simplicity, we use the term insect for every character in the game.

[h2]2) The Honeybee[/h2]



Honeybees are wonderful creatures. They are social by nature, and will often collaborate to achieve the most arduous of tasks, from finding nectar to defeating larger foes.

In FTH, you will be able to climb the hive ladder, from a simple worker going back and forth to find food, to a queen that controls the whole colony.

We will dive deeper into colonies in the coming months. For now, we have a Honeybee worker armed with a dangerous stinger, it can fly, gather nectar, and get into a fight if need be.







[h2]3) Resources and Resource Harvesting[/h2]



Gathering resources is a major aspect of survival in FTH. We’ve added a new gameplay system that allows you to gather resources such as nectar from flowers and sap from leaves.

These resources can be taken back to your hive to transform into other, more useful resources such as honey.

We plan on expanding this system to let you build a whole “industry“ that will fuel your colony, allowing it to be healthy and grow stronger.




[h2]4) Inventory System[/h2]

So you’re ready to gather your resources, now where are you going to put them?
In your inventory of course!

In real life, insects don’t have tiny backpacks to carry their stuff, but we took some creative liberties there just to make life easier for you.

Your inventory has a weight limit, if you exceed it your character will become increasingly heavier and will tire faster. So you’ll have to manage that aspect as you go on your adventures, and weigh in the risks of carrying a bit more stuff and becoming more vulnerable to predators.




[h2]5) Life Stages and Metamorphosis[/h2]

As in real life, one of your main purposes as a player is to grow.

Eating enough, sleeping well, staying healthy and clean, all these elements will contribute to faster growth.

Growing also means going through multiple life stages through metamorphosis. For now metamorphosis does not have a visual component, but we plan to have some nice animations showing something cool like larvae coming out of eggs or adults breaking cocoons and deploying their wings for the first time.





[h2]6) Future Plans for World Design[/h2]

One of our main challenges in making the game is to create interesting maps to live in and explore.

Our attempts so far to create a fully procedural world have produced good but repetitive results. So we are going in a different direction, where we will be creating hand-crafted maps, and only use procedural generation in well defined areas. That way, we can ensure that the maps are really interesting and fun, with recognizable landmarks, and many cool areas where you can live your insect life to the fullest.

We see this as an opportunity to explore many aspects of insect life, for example, we plan on creating an urban setting where species such as houseflies, mosquitoes and cockroaches can thrive.









[h2]7) Our Plans for Release[/h2]

When we started working on the game a little more than a year ago, we promised ourselves that we would do our best to deliver the most fun and enjoyable experience that we could craft within the limits of our current resources.

Our plans have changes throughout the year, from a simple low-poly game with only a couple of playable species, we’re now aiming at a much broader experience, with lots of species all living in the same world, some even living in colonies with hundreds of individuals.

We are aware of feature creep, and in our case, we believe we have that under control. We simply want to push the game harder in order to make the world more real and enjoyable. If that takes more development time then we believe it’s worth it, and we hope you do too.


[h2]8) Final Thoughts[/h2]

We are getting into the actual lives of insects, while this is very exciting, this is also quite a challenging phase of development. In the coming months, we will be exploring more aspects of life such as mating and living in colonies, while also fleshing out the mechanics that we already have.

Make sure to never miss an update by subscribing to our Youtube channel and hitting the notification bell.

If you want to become a fan as well, make sure to sign up to our email newsletter on forthehivegame.com.

Get in touch with us on our public Discord server where we’ve been talking with our growing community, answering questions, and overall having fun talking about the wonderful world of insects.

Follow us on social media, post your comments down below or on one of our official channels.

We’re excited to share more of our progress with you along our journey, stay tuned for more news!

Hello, For the Hive fans, and welcome to our fifth installment of game updates.

We’ve been working incredibly hard on some major changes to the game, it has taken us a while to get back to you since our last devlog, but we’re sure you’ll love it, and we’re excited to share our progress with you today.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]





Game development is full of trial and error, failures and frustrations. However, there is a lot of excitement to be had, and today, we’re so excited to share some amazing results with you.

We’ve improved the visuals, especially regarding lighting and fog effects. We made a more visually appealing sky and clouds, and more detailed models and textures. If you've checked out our video update, you'll notice some of our low-poly models in it; these are simply placeholders for the time being and will be updated with more detailed models very soon.

We’ve also spent some time on our gameplay systems to create a more exciting and immersive gaming experience. These include updates to stamina, leveling and experience, energy and sleeping, and more.





We've also been collecting a lot of feedback from you on what you want to see in our devlogs. And you’ve been telling us overwhelmingly that you want us to go deeper into game mechanics so you can be better informed and more involved with us in our development journey. That’s exactly what we’ll be doing from now on.

We also encourage you to head out to our Discord and interact with us there, your questions and suggestions are welcome!






[h2]High-Definition Models[/h2]



Creating the ant model was an opportunity for us to see how a more realistic art direction would fit within our creative vision of the game.

We loved it, and it fit so well with what we had in mind. While we also love the charm of low-poly games, we decided to shift directions to capture our creative vision better.


[h2]High-definition Rendering[/h2]



Nature plays a starring role in For the Hive, and we wanted to do Mother Nature justice and let all of her beauty shine through. Thus, we took great care to ensure that the overall visuals look natural, including smoother lighting, reflections, and shadows.





Our rendering engine got an upgrade, creating more stunning and subtle visuals, such as light filtering through the leaves in the morning and adjustments to fog coverage throughout the day.




[h2]Improved Night Time[/h2]



We’re particularly excited about how beautiful the game’s night scenes look now. With distant shapes fading with the bluish background, light beams from the moon and the Milky Way galaxy in all its glory.



As we said in a previous devlog, we want you to be able to play during night time as well, that didn’t change, your surroundings will be bright enough to see, but of course not as bright as in day time.



[h2]Improved Sky and Clouds[/h2]



We worked on the sky and clouds to improve the visual fidelity of the game overall. Our clouds are now fluffier and more animated, even casting shadows on the ground below.



Just as the sky in the real world is dynamic, so is the case for the sky in For The Hive. The color of the sky as well as cloud density and speed will change throughout the day.

These upgrades will make rain and snow effects possible, so stay tuned for those updates.





Our UI has received a fresh coat of paint, it is now more compact and less intrusive while still giving you vital gameplay information.

The top bars include your experience, level, health, and stamina. The bottom of the screen provides food, water, and energy levels.

All of our bars are animated, dynamically displaying the damage you've taken in a brighter color before dissolving into the actual energy value.



Many gameplay systems use the UI to display information. Below, we’ll explore each of these systems in more detail.





As you achieve various goals in the game, your character will gain experience and eventually level up.

Currently, the only way to gain experience is by killing enemies. We are planning to add more ways in the future, and we’ll share them with you as we continue developing them.

Leveling up in RPG games is a special moment that should be celebrated. With this in mind, we mark your achievement with a “Level Up” banner that flashes across the screen, accompanied by sound effects and new visual effects on your character.



Our new and improved UI keeps you informed on your progress toward leveling up and also flashes the most recent experience points you've gained in the first few seconds after achieving them.

Earning a new level gives you ability points that you can use to unlock special abilities and raising your stats. This will help you make your character stronger, faster, and more powerful overall.





Trying to catch an aphid that’s running away? This used to be very hard to do, now the poor aphid will get tired and slow down, because we’re introducing stamina!

Every time you perform an action such as attacking or sprinting, a portion of your stamina bar is consumed. This means that you can’t spam the attack button, and you won’t be able to bunny-hop around, or sprint for hours on end.

Every character in the game has a stamina bar now, including yours and all NPCs you may encounter. This makes combat more tactical, you’ll have to manage your stamina bar as well as your opponent’s in order to win, or at least, stay in the fight long enough to deal some serious damage.

As in real life, your stamina will replenish over time. All you have to do is slow down your pace and try to avoid combat.





Similar to the real world, insects in For The Hive have a limited amount of energy to spend each day. This energy can be replenished through sleep.

Expending too much energy is dangerous in the wild. Depleted energy means slower movement and other penalties on your stats.

With all that said, sleep is going to be an important part of your day. All you need to do is find a safe place to rest, and hit the sleep button.

We wanted sleeping to be a very visual experience, with the camera looking up at the sky, clouds moving fast as time flies by, and environment colors changing from the brightness of day to the darkness of night and vice-versa.

We plan on expanding the sleeping mechanic even more by having food and water being consumed, and having a small chance of being ambushed if you sleep in dangerous areas.





Similar to the real world, insects in For The Hive will vary in size. Allowing our characters to be bigger or smaller have posed some significant technical challenges that we had to solve.

Growing in size requires a healthy diet, good hydration and sleep. However, if you neglect these aspects, your size will stagnate or even decrease with time.





Our improved camera system is now more responsive to unique gameplay situations.

[h2]Camera Lock During Combat[/h2]



The first improvement we’ve made is a camera lock-on feature.

This enhancement will allow you to lock in on an enemy during combat. With the camera looking at your target at all times, this makes combat a little more comfortable, especially with a controller in hand.

This is a completely optional feature that you can choose to use, or not use, at any time.

[h2]Sleep Camera[/h2]

We’ve already discussed the sleep camera, a new feature that makes the camera look at the sky as time fast-forwards.

[h2]Third-person Camera Improvements[/h2]

We’ve also made improvements to our third-person camera. Recent updates have made the camera smoother and now capable of avoiding walls and other obstacles.





The world is going to have multiple biomes, each with their own unique features, plants and insect species.

The first biome that we’re making is the European forest biome.



To add more variety to the world, we’re also going to have a desert biome, and a Canadian tundra biome, that should give you a great mix different environments to play in.

We’re also going to make a Birch forest biome like the ones commonly found in the pacific northwest region of the United-States.

[h2]Trees[/h2]



We’ve started building our forest biome with an Oak tree model.

Making these models has been a challenge since they’re obviously going to be very big, therefore they need to be quite detailed up close.

We want the tree to be fun to climb above all, as is the case for all objects in the environment, so we’ve been testing various shapes and sizes and tweaking the collision boxes to make climbing a smooth experience.



In the future, trees will be teeming with life. From Bee hives to termite colonies, you can spend a lot of time exploring a single tree. So for all these reasons, we wanted to give them special attention.

[h2]Additional Environmental Models[/h2]

As our biomes grow, we’ll continue building additional models to achieve a more diverse and realistic environment, including rocks, plants, mushrooms and more.





We’re starting to get into the juicy parts of our development journey, you guys have been awesome interacting with us on social media, giving your input and cheering us up.

Make sure to never miss an update by subscribing to our Youtube channel and hitting the notification bell.

If you want to become a fan as well, make sure to sign up to our email newsletter on forthehivegame.com.

Get in touch with us on our public Discord server where we’ve been talking with our growing community, answering questions, and overall having fun talking about the wonderful world of insects.

Follow us on social media, post your comments down below or on one of our official channels.

Thanks again for being part of our journey!

Hello For The Hive fans!

Thanks for hopping on to read the fourth instalment of updates in our continuing series. We’ve got some exciting news to share, with new characters and cool advancements on the FTH procedural world. We’re pleased to share our continued progress, and we hope you are enjoying the journey, as we creep closer and closer to having a completed game for you to love and cherish.



So, without further ado, let's move on to our latest progress updates.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Let’s Make A Big Open World!

Today we’re going to talk about some really cool mechanics and features related to surviving in For The Hive. The goal, of course, is not only to survive but also to make the most of your time navigating the FTH world, hopefully coming out on top as king or queen of the hive.

If you've been following along on our YouTube devlog, you may have noticed that the gameplay footage up to this point took place in an island that we created by hand to test player controls and other gameplay mechanics. However, our goal has always been to take things to the next level and expand our horizons, literally and figuratively.



We're excited to announce that we’ve succeed in creating that big procedural world that will make the gameplay experience so unique, exciting and unexpected.

The vastness of the world, contrasted with the small size of your character, will deliver the perfect insect survival experience that we hope will keep you on your toes for hours.



In order to achieve that goal, we opted for procedural generation. Instead of making a small world ourselves, we will task the computer with making the world for us. This will help us generate more content for the game, and create a more diverse, varied and expansive world that’s unique every time you start a new game.





The first step was to generate a terrain with interesting features, including hills, rivers, mountains, valleys, and caves. Our goal is to create a massive landscape, giving you a multitude of places to explore as you navigate the world.



A ground to stand on is a good enough first step, next we experimented with spawning patches of grass here and there. From there, we added in more intricate and bigger details like rock formations and plants. We also made sure to have underground lairs and tunnels that keep you guessing at what challenges or rewards you'll meet around every corner.



As we continue to build out the FTH world, we’ll continue to work out our procedural generator to create the most compelling, vast, and realistic world for the most fun insect survival gameplay you’ll ever experience.



Behold! The Apex Predator Of The Insect Realm!

We're super excited about creating a new character for you to play as: the mighty ant!





The ant is the apex predator in the small world of insects, so it's only fitting that we add it as a character into the game. As with all of our insects, we're mindful of all the different subspecies that exist, so in this release, we've created the black garden ant, which is the most common ant species in the world, aptly known as the common black ant.



Locking in a visual identity for the game is a complex subject that we’re always experimenting with. In creating this new species, we've explored a new visual style for the characters, which leans more towards realism. We hope that you enjoy this new direction that we’re taking for the visuals, and we’d love to hear your feedback.



Now that we have a worthy opponent for the termite, we’ll be diving deeper into hive management mechanics. Our goal is to give you a realistic experience of how all these species interact with each other, and the various interdependent relationships they make use of in their daily lives.



Stay on Top of the Buzz

We hope you're as excited about this latest batch of updates as we are. We've already made significant development headway in 2022, with many more incredible developments on the horizon.



We’re committed to keeping you in the loop as we continue to build the FTH world, so be sure you sign up for notifications so you never miss a beat.

If you haven’t already, subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on your notifications to never miss an FTH update. Be sure to also check out our site at https://www.forthehivegame.com/.

For those of you who have wishlisted For the Hive on Steam and are following us on social media or our vlog or blog, you’re the best. Thank you!

Happy 2022, For the Hive fans.

We made a lot of fantastic progress on the game in 2021, and 2022 promises to be even more exciting. We hope you're excited about what we've done so far because we are! And we think you'll like what we have to share in our latest update.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



The name of today’s game is survival and combat mechanics, so buckle up and enjoy the ride.



Don’t Just Survive, Thrive

Today we’re going to talk about some really cool mechanics and features related to surviving in For The Hive. The goal, of course, is not only to survive but also to make the most of your time navigating the FTH world, hopefully coming out on top as king or queen of the hive.



Two challenges you'll face in the game are combat and fending off hunger. Engaging in battle can mean injury or death, so it's vital to fight smart. And, of course, you want to make sure your character stays fuelled up, so you don't starve to death.



The Need to Feed

We've added features that allow you to hunt and forage for food—namely, other insects. But an added bonus is that when another character dies, you can benefit from this by collecting the food items they drop and consuming them on the spot for an instant boost in energy. This can help buy you time as you forage for your character’s favourite foods, as just in the real world, different species have different needs and preferences for food, like nectar or a specific type of wood. Take advantage of these opportunities when they arise.



Fight Smart

At every turn in the game, combat is a real possibility. Combat can arise while you’re hunting for food or when an insect enemy attacks you or your colony.


But the good news is, not every fight is a fight you have to engage in. Conserve your energy and play smart by watching from afar. Being a bystander means that you can swoop in and pick up valuable items dropped by the insect combatants, including food, or you can even finish off an already weakened survivor to maximise your dominance.


When it comes to picking your insect character or engaging in battle with an unfriendly foe, it’s important to remember that each species will have a unique type of damage to inflict based on its physical form and biology. For instance, a female termite with expansive jaws can quickly make short work of anything standing in her way. Consider yourself warned!




To help you manage combat, we've created a health bar represented by hearts in the FTH interface. Different species start with varying points of health. For instance, a larger insect like a ladybug will start with more health points and can take more damage before dying than a smaller, more vulnerable counterpart. Keep this in mind when choosing your character and deciding which fights you’ll engage in and which you’ll fly or walk away from.


An Interesting Cast of Characters

Like the real world, the FTH world is rich with a cast of insect characters coming and going. We've created the FTH world in a way that makes it rich and interesting, full of characters that are playable. As we continue to expand our universe, we plan to make these characters and interactions between all characters more varied to better reflect real-world scenarios.



For instance, a tiny aphid is weak and doesn't have enough strength to defend itself. But in the FTH world, we hope to give this character the ability to buy the protection of the mighty ant in exchange of some honeydew.

We’ve also further developed our termites and their playability. This means you can play as a termite nymph, which is a termite baby, all the way through the king and queen stages of life.



Our goal is to continue to expand these rich possibilities and the survival capabilities associated with each character as we develop the FTH world.


Stay Tuned for More


We hope you’re as excited as we are about these newest developments. They’re a promising foundation for a great 2022. Everything we design is created with you in mind, offering an immersive experience that makes you feel that you’re in the centre of all the action.


We can't wait to share more with you in the coming weeks, so make sure you sign up for notifications if you like what you're seeing.


Be sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on your notifications so you don’t miss a thing in the For the Hive universe. Be sure to also check out our site at https://www.forthehivegame.com/.


And if you’ve wishlisted the game on Steam and have been following us on social media or our vlog or blog. THANK YOU! Your support is appreciated.

Hello, again, For the Hive fans!

As promised in our commitment to keeping you updated on the latest game developments, we're dropping in to share some exciting new updates on our progress. We hope that you're enjoying the ride and are excited about the coming end product as we are because we think it's going to be something extraordinary and worth the wait.

So, without further ado, let’s jump into our latest game developments.



[h2]Time[/h2]

Just as time is essential in the human ecosystem, it's also essential in the insect world. Thus, we've added a time dimension to gameplay that allows your insect to explore the world both in daylight and by night.

The time element adds new levels of interest and intrigue to the game, and it better simulates what happens in the real world.



As you play the game, you will also notice that seasons will change, adding new elements of surprise and strategy to your survival. As the seasons change, so do environmental colours, and even the positioning of the sun and moon in accordance with the seasons.

This reality is heightened with other gameplay experiences, too. For instance, eggs can hatch or spoil, insects grow, evolve, and die of old age. As new generations are born, they replace the older generations. Your insect will experience these same elements of time, learning to navigate new challenges of growing older as you explore the world around you.



Years will pass by as you enjoy living the life of a tiny ant or one of the many species we are planning to add.

To help you keep track of your progress and activities, we’ve added an in-game clock. The For the Hive day runs from 6 am to 6 pm, and throughout the day, you will notice your environment change as the sun rises, moves across the sky, and finally sets in the evening.



We’ve paid close attention to other aspects of time, too. At night, you will see the moon and starry skies. And even though your insect’s day ends at 6 pm, you can still keep playing into the evening if you’d like. We’ve made the background light enough for you to do so, or you can find shelter for the night.

If you play into the night, make sure you remain on high alert, as night play is riskier. Keep a watchful eye for night prowling predators intent on putting an end to your journey. For those who explore into the dark of the night, the gameplay rewards are greater, but play at your own risk.



We think you will enjoy these elements and the beauty and artistry that has gone into creating them. From changes in ambient lighting to gorgeous hues setting the sky on fire as the sun sets, the graphics surrounding time in the game are an experience themselves.





[h2]Weather[/h2]

We’re also excited to be making steady progress towards building a complete weather system. Things are still taking shape in this area, but effects like fluffy clouds above you and grass gently swaying in the wind are seemingly small details that add up to a truly immersive experience.



[h2]Non-Playable Characters and AI Navigation[/h2]

What’s a world without other insects in it? To simulate real-world experiences, we're experimenting with non-playable characters (NPCs) that your insect will encounter along the way.



The addition of non-playable characters adds some development challenges. For instance, we’ve had to figure out how to make these characters able to navigate obstacles like rocks, trees, plants, and other obstacles in their way.



The addition of these characters also means you’re never truly safe, so keep your guard up as you navigate your world, as it can get hostile sometimes!

We've created our NPCs to have interactivity to their actions and respond in ways as if a human is controlling them. They can jump, hop, fly, glide, and land. You can also interact with them along the way to make your journey more exciting and rewarding.



Our initial plan is to simply have other insects navigating their world as a backdrop to your experience. But as the game continues to develop, these players will engage in various activities, including mating, foraging for food, and even causing trouble. The goal is to make the world around you full of life, just as it is in the real world.



Wrapping Up

We hope you’ve enjoyed this latest update. Everything we’re working on is designed to create a truly magical gaming experience that makes you feel like you are part of the environment you’re exploring.

We’ve got more cool features up our sleeves, and we’ll be sharing more with you as they take shape.
In the meantime, be sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on your notifications so you don’t miss a thing in the For the Hive universe. Be sure also to check out our site at https://www.forthehivegame.com/.

And a huge thank you to the hundreds of fans who wishlisted the game on Steam and have been following us on social media after reading our last blog or watching our devblog videos. Our team has been blown away by the positive response and comments.

See you in the next DevLog,

Arcane Worlds Team,