Hiveswap Friendship Simulator



Hiveswap Friendship Simulator, or Hiveswap Friendsim, is a Hiveswap spinoff anthology of visual novels, written by a diverse group of writers, including Andrew Hussie, and primarily developed by David Turnbull in Ren'Py. The games are modelled on the style of the dating sim genre, styled as "friendship simulators" as the interactions had with the characters are platonic; this format follows in the footsteps of Andrew's previous dating simulator project featuring Homestuck characters, Namco High. The game features Hiveswap trolls first introduced by the Troll Call event, with whom the player interacts with in the persona of an unknown title character (potentially the MSPA Reader, acting as a nameless player substitute) who has crash-landed on Alternia. According to What Pumpkin, the format is a riff on the traditional dating sim; "The idea is, instead of trying to date a character, you just try to befriend them, and in the process, you get to know them better, and ridiculous things happen along the way."

The Steam store page for the game describes the Hiveswap Friendsim as "loosely-canonical" with respect to the wider Hiveswap canon, and even the internal canon of the anthology is fuzzy, as events can vary depending upon player choices (despite this, some events from specific routes are referenced in later volumes).

The series is an anthology that is being released in several volumes; its first installment was entitled "Hiveswap Friendship Simulator: Volume One". Each volume will cost $0.99, with volumes beyond Volume 1 released individually as DLC. The first installment was introduced on April 13, 2018 in a surprise announcement on the What Pumpkin tumblr, in the immediate aftermath of a major company shakeup coinciding with the transfer of Homestuck and some related MSPA properties over to the Homestuck.com domain under the stewardship of Viz Media (although the project was reportedly in development long before this and the announcement was not directly linked). This post explained that the Friendship Simulator series was part of an immediate strategy to produce "smaller, fun, lightweight games that can be produced more quickly" between main acts of Hiveswap, as the company went through a period of transition.

Volumes
Volume 1 was released on Steam on April 13, 2018. The game possesses an ESRB rating of Mature 17+, suitable for ages 17 and up, for containing "violence, blood and gore, and strong language."

On April 20th, 2018, Volume 2 was announced in a festively dank post for a release one week later on April 27th. Volume 3 followed in a surprise announcement and release on May 11th. Volume 4 released on May 25th, followed by Volume 5 on June 8th, Volume 6 on June 22nd, Volume 7 on July 6th, Volume 8 on July 20th, Volume 9 on August 3rd, and Volume 10 on August 17th, continuing the fortnightly release schedule. Volume 11 was intended to be released on August 31st, but due to unforseen changes to Steam's release times, it was only released on Android, and the Steam release had to be delayed until September 3rd.

Each of the Hiveswap Friendsim volumes has featured two characters from the Troll Call, with the exception of Volume 6, which spotlighted two in a single route. Other characters do occasionally make an appearance, with some previous characters returning for cameos or minor roles. By volume, Hiveswap Friendsim has featured: