The Hive News

Hello everyone! Today we are proud to release update 1.100 Winds of Change for The Hive.

We wanted to especially focus on adding features requested by the community.

Our plan was to update The Hive from Unity Engine 5.6.7 to 2019.1 version.

1.100 update remarks the biggest patch we have done for the game so far.

One of the most significant improvements was to rework the whole game interface and the addition of full 4k support.

Other major visual upgrade was converting the whole project to use linear color space, and the addition of new visual post processing effects.

Also, notable updates are the addition of two new Insectoid buildings, two new units for Chalatoi faction and all new visuals for Infected faction.

We also made all new spell and particle effects utilizing the now available tools.

You can now hide the game interface using (L) key, to take shiny screenshots.

• New Insectoid buildings, the spring and the burrow (burrow has 4 model variations)
  
• New enemy units, chalatoi bowman and spearman
  
• The vast majority of all particle effects in the game have been redone
  
• Buildings can now be properly selected when they are being built
  
• Several cutscenes improved
  
• Pathfinding system improved
  
• Player objectives now work correctly when loading a save
  

• All new post processing effects
  
• Color space changed from Gamma to Linear
  
• Lighting data rebaked for all scenes
  
• Additional detail added to all maps
  
• Infected faction has all new textures
  
• Several world object textures improved
  
• Animations added to several world objects
  
• All buildings now have debris effect when they are destroyed
  
• Buildings now have hover circle for selection
  
• Scene lighing changes on color and position
  
• Several units and plants now glow in the dark, illuminating nearby objects
  
• All levels now have reflections for metallic objects like coins, gold and weapons
  

The new population system, introduced along with the burrow building, now has a much higher maximum population of 200 (up from 40).
You start with 25 maximum population with a hive, but building a burrow will increase the cap by 35.

• Legionnaire attack reduced to 4 (down from 5)
  
• Legionnaire population cost increased to 5 (up from 1)
  
• Hunter armour piercing passive has been fixed
  
• Medic population cost increased to 3 (up from 1)
  
• Medic's revive ability has been moved to the Avatar, to give it more value and limit the amount of available revives
  
• Queen population cost increased to 6 (up from 1)
  
• Wasp population cost increased to 3 (up from 1)
  
• Wasp poison damage increased to 2 per second (up from 1 per second)
  
• Wasp maximum health increased to 200 (up from 160)
  
• Avatar population cost increased to 6 (up from 1)
  
• Avatar food cost increased to 150 (up from 100)
  
• Rhino population cost increased to 3 (up from 1)
  
• Unit upgrades now cost 100/200/300 DNA (down from 250/500/750)
  

This is a complete re-write of the UI system to use the new Unity canvases.
It was required to get 4K support.

We added a way to hide your UI with a keybind (default is L) that can be rebound in the new settings interface.
You can also press the highres screenshot button (default Alt+P) to take a 4K screenshot.

• 4K resolution support
  
• A large amount of UI images were redone at a higher resolution
  
• Completely redesigned settings controls section
  
• Unlimited inventory space
  
• Item stats now have highlight colours for positive/negative effects
  
• New health bar effects
  
• Bosses and buildings now have larger health bars
  
• Dialog subtitles now show who is talking, with matching colours
  
• Objectives are now prettier
  
• Units that have to be unlocked are now shown in grey, and tell where they can be unlocked from
  
• New building queue shows how many units you have in queue past 4
  
• Selecting chests, fishing spots, or mineral veins now shows a hint about how to harvest them
  
• Chests, fishing spots, and mineral veins now have portraits
  
• The final boss' protective bubble button now has a cool new glow around it
  
• Game engine is updated from 32 bit to support 64 bit operating systems
  

New Audio

• Legionnaire
  
• Hunter
  
• Worker mining, fishing, gathering food
  
• Interactions (light torch, open chest...)
  
• Improved audio for several cutscenes
  
• Attack and ability sounds for several bosses and enemies
  
• UI sounds
  
• Logo screen sound effect
  

Improved Audio

• Possibility to dynamically adjust sound and music volume from options
  
• General volume adjustments
  
• Voice line fixes
  
• 3D sound range adjustments
  
• Improved SFX limit system
  
• Fixed doppler!
  

New Music

• Map 03
  
• Map 04
  
• Map 06
  
• Map 07
  
• Map 09
  
• Map 10
  
• Main menu
  

We would love to hear your feedback on the forums on how to improve the game further.

Best of wishes

~Sauli

Hello everyone, today we are releasing update 1.090 for The Hive

Our plan for this update was to add save&load anywhere feature and quality of life improvements.

We are also adding one of the four new units to Chalatoi faction.

In the future updates, we are planning to change how population cap works, add new player buildings and units.

Our plan is to add more strategy for combat, where certain units are not always the strongest solution.

• You can now save and load anywhere in the game
  
• Chalatoi have gained new worker unit
  
• You now start the levels with additional workers
  
• GUI improvements with sharper textures
  
• Close buttons for several menus
  
• Lightmaps updated
  
• Light probes updated for better unit lighting.
  
• Chalatoi workers now change tool depending on the activity
  
• Boss area of effect damage can now affect player buildings
  
• New particle effects added for Artifact
  
• New particle effects added for mineral veins
  
• New game icons for desktop and launcher
  
• Survival difficulty is temporarily disabled to prepare new game features
  
• Several performance updates
  
• Several small bug fixes
  

We would love to hear your feedback on the forums on how to improve the game further.

ps. We had a small issue before with Steam upload, new patch is now available on all Steam servers.

Best of wishes

~Sauli

Hello everyone, today we are releasing update 1.080 for The Hive

Our plan for this update was changes to population cap and quality of life improvements

• Squad number restrictions removed on other than Queen & Avatar
  
• Total population cap increased to 60, up from 24
  
• Camera speed and rotation increased on Default (you can change it from options)
  
• All gold piles can now be picked up for resources
  
• Quest objectives now have more pickup sound effects
  
• First level now has two more objectives to guide player
  
• Second mission tooth sandpile location changed
  
• Added better collision to Skeleton King room pedestal
  
• Lights re-calculated for five levels
  
• Pathfinding error fixed on debris clear
  
• Light probs updated on several dynamic objects
  
• Music volume decreased on default
  
• World sound effect volume decreased on default
  
• Legionnaire sound effect volume decreased on default
  
• Changes to Dara'thull Statue cutscene
  
• Changes to cutscene camera angles and distance
  
• Worker population cost changed to 1
  
• Legionnaire population cost changed to 2
  
• Hunter population cost changed to 2
  
• Medic population cost changed to 2
  
• Avatar population cost changed to 3
  
• Queen population cost changed to 3
  
• Wasp population cost changed to 3
  
• Rhino population cost changed to 3
  

Best of wishes

~Sauli

Hello everyone, today we are releasing update 1.080 for The Hive

Our plan for this update was changes to population cap and quality of life improvements

• Squad number restrictions removed on other than Queen & Avatar
  
• Total population cap increased to 60, up from 24
  
• Camera speed and rotation increased on Default (you can change it from options)
  
• All gold piles can now be picked up for resources
  
• Quest objectives now have more pickup sound effects
  
• First level now has two more objectives to guide player
  
• Second mission tooth sandpile location changed
  
• Added better collision to Skeleton King room pedestal
  
• Lights re-calculated for five levels
  
• Pathfinding error fixed on debris clear
  
• Light probs updated on several dynamic objects
  
• Music volume decreased on default
  
• World sound effect volume decreased on default
  
• Legionnaire sound effect volume decreased on default
  
• Changes to Dara'thull Statue cutscene
  
• Changes to cutscene camera angles and distance
  
• Worker population cost changed to 1
  
• Legionnaire population cost changed to 2
  
• Hunter population cost changed to 2
  
• Medic population cost changed to 2
  
• Avatar population cost changed to 3
  
• Queen population cost changed to 3
  
• Wasp population cost changed to 3
  
• Rhino population cost changed to 3
  

Best of wishes

~Sauli

Hello everyone,

I wanted to make this thread to answer some of the basic questions that the community has had. If you want some additional information, feel free to ask :)



Story of The Hive is inspired by novel "The Descent" released in 1999. In the novel humans discover caverns of hell beneath pacific ocean and send expedition to explore them.

Gameplay is inspired by Homeworld and Dawn of War series. Level names like "Gehenna" or "Great Wastelands" are homage to Homeworld. There is also Kadesh eye symbol painted on the Chala'toi helmets.

Homeworld is my personal favorite game of all time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Descent_(novel)



Design of the Insectoid race is based on Crustacean and Arachnid creatures. We did not want to make the insectoids disgusting for players and went after "cool" factor instead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crustacean

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnid

In the original script, first of the Insectoid race is born as you start the game. The waters in planet Eden have special property, that speed up evolution of new primordial creatures significantly.

Insectoids were going to be amphibian race, that adapted to the dangers of the new world.





Q: Intro is confusing, what do the humans have to do with the game?
A: Intro is prelude to explain how the humans arrive on planet Eden. Player is going to encounter them later in the story.

When the game starts, first of the Insectoids is spawned in the underground world of Eden. The human faction is currently on the planet orbit and surface.

Q: Derelict ship is millions of years old, are they the humans?
A: Derelict ship had crashed on Eden millions of years before the events of the game. They are not human faction but something entirely different.

It's not the only ship.. there are many more burried on the surface..
Human campaign is going to shed more light, on what caused them to crash on the planet.



Q: How is the story going to continue after Insectoid campaign?
A: Story would continue with human campaign. Starting from the events happening after arrival on Eden. Human campaign gameplay would be turn based instead of real-time. We had great ideas, that we could not do with the current real-time mechanics.

Q: What is going to be in the next update?
A: We are currently working on "save where you want" feature and making the gameplay feel smoother.

Q: How big is the development team?
A: We are small Finnish game studio with core 3 people.

Q: What other games have you worked on before?
A: My first personal game "Joutomaa" was released on Moddb back in 2010.
It's currently scheduled for Steam release.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=372020592
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http://steamcommunity.com/app/325730/discussions/0/305510202675378444/

All the best
~Sauli