Prerelease:HIVESWAP: Act 1
This page details prerelease information and/or media for HIVESWAP: Act 1.
Hiveswap's development took some heavy delays and changes before the first act's release. On October 2014, it was announced that production of the game had switched development teams for an in-house studio and on Christmas 2015 that the whole game was being reworked from the intended 3D(!) direction, along with a new development team. Note all of these showcases were images, as proper gameplay was only shown after the transition to 2D.
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Kickstarter Update (October 30, 2014)
Joey Claire is seen in some animation cycles, her shirt symbol not implemented yet. The update shows her text color was initially greenish and then got changed to cyan.
Kickstarter Update (February 15, 2015)
Early versions of some rooms, reflected on their crudeness and poor lighting.
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- In the game, all but one grandfather clock near the cherub portal got shoved into the background, with more mirrors near the portal. This early version also has a different carpet and lacks the purple lighting and many objects in the floor.
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- Jude's shirt symbol was slightly different.
- The tree house lacked the branch inside and had less objects. Some posters got changed and the glasses got their deserved transparency look.
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- Xefros' room had plainer colors and less arena stickball imagery (including the carpet).
- The posters on Xefros' room were still sketches and used the old Alternian alphabet, which was just The Elder Scrolls' Deadric alphabet flipped vertically.
GDC Press Kit (March 2015)
Several websites reported these images after What Pumpkin's coverage at GDC.
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- The UI was... much less desirable than the final result. All inventory icons would be later remade.
- Joey started the game with her flashlight, ballet slippers and tap shoes equipped. Only the latter is in her bedroom at the game.
- The animal posters on Joey's bedroom were real-life photos instead of illustrations. Other notable differences on the bedroom's objects.
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- Jude's carrion pigeons were white and looked similar. A fourth pigeon is seen in Jude's inventory, which doesn't exist in-game.
- The sylladex (inventory) layout was black. It is unknown if this was the intended color or the green shades had not been implemented yet.
GamerHub Interview (April 2nd, 2015)
Former creative director Jess Haskins showcased some material for GamerHub's Youtube.
- Called "Prototype 1.1" as of the title screen, which is different from the actual one.
- Joey's shirt symbol was a dog rather than the green star! This dog is drawn on her diary, and the actual symbol would be seen a week later in a teaser trailer.
- The cherub key did not force Joey's hand to be used in the portal machine cutscene.
FemHype Interview (August 28, 2015)
Much polished graphics were shown on this interview with former UI artist Veronica Nizama. These were the last looks of the game before the shift to 2D development.
- The sylladex and inventory icons look much close to the actual product, despite also being scrapped. Inventory icons were aligned here to the left, but later reverted to the top.
- The carpet, walls and some decoration on Joey's room are different.
- The decoration and portrait position near the staircase is slightly different.
Scrapped Music
All tracks on Hiveswap OST's "B-side" were scrapped from the game, with "Heavy Snaking" ending as an unused asset. A special mention goes to "Old Steps"; according to musician James Roach, "Originally the game would have a jingle unique to each room when you did a tapdance/ballet but it ended up being too clunky so it got scrapped", the result being that track.
