Since it seems @whatpumpkin is changing around a lot, and most of the key staff have left the company, I thought it’d be nice to pay tribute to Act 1. We’ll still see their work when act 2 is released, so it’ll be a bittersweet occasion.
Some notable names, let me know if I miss out anything important each person contributed:
@skullmandible was the head writer and director. He’s responsible for nearly every item combination you see in the game, including the goofy pigeon jokes. Cohen was the person who talked to us the most during Hiveswap’s development. This is really important, and I think his contribution to our fandom is deeply underrated.
@guzusuru was the animation director, overseeing the contributions of all the animators and giving direction. Homestuck wise, you may remember her for her work on [s] Terezi: Remem8er, where she drew the young Scourge Sisters, and [s] Collide where she directed the animation yet again. Her most ambitious Homestuck work is probably animating the whole of Act 7. Angela’s famous homestuck fandom works include Lullaby to the Gods. She’s been with the fandom for a long time. I think her contribution runs deeper than I know.
@paperseverywhere was the lead animator. She made the intro to the game, and has drawn…. basically every character in act 1 and 2, lmao. Papers is a fandom veteran and very talented young animator contributing to Vriskagram, drawing the ghost terezi/vriska parts of Remem8er, drawing a bunch of panels for End of act 6 including the post-Collide shots, and storyboarding the Heir of Grief section for Collide. Papers also drew some Paradox Space comics, like Mother & Grub and Lalondian Tourism. Needless to say, done a heck of a lot.
@jamesroachmusic was the lead musician for the first two acts. He’s been working on Hiveswap since at least the shift to WhatPumpkin NYC, so James has seen a lot of shit go down. My favourite track from Act 1 would be Intermission, the ending theme which set in deep anticipation for the next act.
His fellow musician Toby Fox needs no introduction
@shelbycragg and @poinko were cutscene animators for Hiveswap. Poinko/Phil Gibson wrote the Secret Sufferer comic for Paradox Space, among others, while Shelby is reknowned for being Calliope’s artist and the creator of Neokosmos. Shelby has been in this fandom for a VERY long time, and Poinko is a funny man who gives sassy replies to all his tumblr asks. I’m not entirely sure which animators made which cutscenes, but Poinko and Shelby at least contributed to the Pigeon scene, the flare scene, Xefros crashing a can against his head, and the ending cutscenes.
@rah-bop, as well as @dammek, were background illustrators for Hiveswap. User Dammek has been working on the project since its kickstarter, drawing the majority of the concept art that ended up being reworked for the 2D project, and Dammek also drew the cute photos with the young ‘Guardians. Some of their notable works would be Paradox Space’s Night at the 100dseum and Vrisky Business. rah-bop, meanwhile worked on Remem8er as a background artist who drew all the special effects of the sky falling. I’m sure they’ve done more before. Anyway, these two drew most of the epicly detailed backgrounds that you see in the back of Hiveswap.
Shout out to Ash Paulsen, the Associate Producer who interviewed everybody during Act 1′s development. From what you said, it sounded like your work was pretty important.
I think that’s it for this post! It’s amazing what WP 2D have accomplished, and despite the odds being stacked against them Hiveswap has gone off to a good start. Best of luck to everybody who’s moving forward, and here’s hoping Act 2 blows us away.
Anyway, here’s a Papers animation of Joey tapdancing:
Gina did an absolutely outrageous amount of concept art for this franchise since the 3D days and pretty much established the look of Hiveswap as it is now. She also did a GIGANTIC number of backgrounds, like SERIOUSLY A LOT OF THEM. She probably did more backgrounds than anyone, and that’s doubly true for Act 2!
I know there has been a lot of worry about what this all means. I want you all to know that this was a layoff; we were not fired, we did not quit, there was no internal drama that we were reacting to. It was, as was mentioned by @whatpumpkin, a restructuring event. It happens sometimes, in the video game industry!
I’m sad about it, of course. This was some of the most fun I’ve had in my entire career. The project was a blast, I loved the work I got to do, and all my coworkers were incredible to a one. I also felt that I was treated very well by the company, in general. It supported me when I was going through some extremely difficult times last year, and in return, I poured everything I had into Hiveswap. I have absolutely no hard feelings about the layoff. Overall, I am honored that I got to work on this amazing project for as long as I did, and I treasure the experiences I had. I’m so proud of what we accomplished, and I’m still friends with the people I worked with. And I really hope I can work on Hiveswap again someday!
Even though some of us may not be on the project going forward, the work we’ve already done on Act 2 is SOLID and I can’t wait for you all to see it! Seriously, it’s so good. Everyone, please continue to support Hiveswap and Viz/What Pumpkin. It’s a really great collection of people who are working SO hard to make cool stuff for you, and I wish them all the best!
Until I find my next new thing, I’m throwing myself at my own projects that I haven’t had the time for, until now. I’m actually really excited about it! You’ll be able to see what I’m up to on ✨ my Patreon ✨…which is also my main source of income at the moment! So if you are worried about me (or any of the others who have been laid off) please consider supporting us on Patreon or Ko-fi as we find our feet. Thanks!
Thank you for taking the time to communicate this, it is greatly appreciated. You’re all in my thoughts, and I hope you find something soon!
despite all the other weirdness going on with Homestuck you should
DEFINITELY check out the Friendsim game when it comes out. I hear it was
programmed by a very handsome, cool, and talented sword. you might just
know him
oh, congratulations! And thanks for your hand in the nice surprise
just knowing the structure of wp still exists and hussie is going to be doing writing makes me feel lightheaded with relief. if it IS money problems then they are hurting but still trying to squeeze through, which means theres still hope
What Pumpkin Games is going through a transition period, which has involved restructuring the company, the way we develop games, and the types of projects we focus on. First, the most important thing to address is, Hiveswap’s development absolutely will continue. The approach to its development will evolve as this transition goes forward, but ensuring the release of the full Hiveswap series remains our priority. We should have more specific information about what exactly this means for Hiveswap in coming weeks.
In the more immediate future, WPG is shifting focus to making smaller, fun, lightweight games that can be produced more quickly. The type of content we can release along the way between acts, continuing to build upon the Hiveswap world, and give fans things they can enjoy while they wait. These games are somewhat in the vein of what we did with the Troll Call, but more engaging, providing more depth and background to the characters that were previewed.
The first such game will be available very soon. The format is a “Friendship Simulator”, much like dating sims or visual novels you may have played before. 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 first volume features two trolls from the Troll Call, and was written by Andrew Hussie.
We hope you enjoy this type of game! If it’s well received by the fans, then there should be more of these to play in the future. We appreciate your patience and support as WPG makes this transition.
Interesting, and very welcome news. Note that Hussie seems to be writing the friendsim himself, meaning he’s still creatively involved. I’m glad we’re not looking at What Pumpkin being closed completely and Hiveswap is still going to get made sooner or later.
Hey guys! More official updates comin’ soon, but I just wanted to say now is a great time to support me on PATREON as that is currently my main source of income! Have a great day!!
Mainly, I’m sad about the fine folks at WP who lost their jobs. I’m concerned about Hiveswap, too, but not the way most of the fandom seems to be.
Just to be clear, I don’t have any special insight or anything. Everything I’m about to say is wildly speculatory, but well, so is pretty much all of the doomsaying already out here. I don’t really think all is lost, so if I can provide any comfort, I may as well offer my perspective.
Let’s break this down, because a lot of facts are getting mixed in with people making assumptions. Here’s what happened yesterday:
1) Cohen and Shelby tweeted that they were looking for work. That’s not an official statement on anything, but combined with WP’s branding being removed from the Hiveswap website and Poinko and James leaving, things certainly look bad for WP.
2) On the same day, VIZ launched the new version of the Homestuck website, with a redesign meant to render the comic more accessible–particularly for mobile users–and start future proofing the parts of the comic made on technology that is soon being rendered obsolete and largely unusable, like Flash.
Even so, the overall look of the move has the fandom crying foul because they suspect VIZ is instigating some sort of corporate takeover. And while I think it’s good to be careful, I just don’t see the evidence for that yet.
I’m wary of corporate overlords, so I’ve sort of worried about VIZ along those lines before. And that is a risk I am continuing to look out for. But if I was worried about corporate censorship/manipulation of Homestuck, the only thing I’d immediately worry about is the LGBT stuff.
And for a corporation, Viz’s track record on LGBT stuff is fairly solid. They’re in charge of re-dubbing the Sailor Moon anime, and have garnered positive press for NOT censoring the LGBT stuff the original dub did. They’ve published some LGBT manga. They’re not an LGBT corporation or anything, but their track record veers positive, is all I’m saying.
I can’t really think of what else they’d mess with. I’ve heard of them censoring religious imagery, and Homestuck does deal in some heavy spiritual/mythological themes, but I definitely wouldnt say anything in the comic is overtly religious.
More to the point, if they were going to mess with the actual comic, I don’t see why they wouldn’t have done so now, while they were doing the redesign. And while we’re at it, I should mention its questionable that VIZ actually has control over Homestuck’s actual IP.
The Homestuck website is copyrighted to Viz *and* Homestuck itself, which is the legal entity I’d expect holds all the actual creative rights. That probably wouldn’t matter if VIZ wanted to just strongarm Hussie with lawyers, though– billion dollar corporations are dangerous that way.
I’m just saying, I don’t know that having partial control of the site at all implies Hussie just “handed off” creative control to VIZ. That seems like a wild assumption.
Also an assumption is the idea that VIZ “fired” WP so that they could develop the game themselves, which…I don’t really buy at all right now. Its not clear to me that VIZ has the expertise, manpower, or even interest in developing Hiveswap themselves.
Again, I am not claiming to have facts here. This is just an alternate line of fandom speculation. Please, for the love of fuck, don’t treat me like an expert. But here’s how things look from my perspective.
Because VIZ is largely a soulless corporation, the only motivation I can confidently ascribe to them is the one all companies have: making money. And Hiveswap doesn’t exactly seem like it sold gangbusters, honestly.
@sometipsygnostalgic has noted how lackluster the advertising for the game was, and its true they seemed to be relying on word of mouth and hype to get the game sold. That doesn’t seem to have happened.
I find it hard to believe VIZ would watch this commercial flop unfold, and come out of it thinking its best move is to invest MORE money in the endeavor. Corporations don’t typically respond to market failure by doubling down on their investments, just in general.
Rose City Games looks a lot like WP, staff-wise–it seems to be a small indie team of about a dozen and a half people, working on their first game. They’ve done some organizational work and stuff like that, but nothing that suggests to me that they’d be prepared or willing to just…take on Hiveswap in WP’s stead.
And there IS NO IN-HOUSE GAME DEV STUDIO at Viz. It doesn’t exist. Making Hiveswap themselves would mean building one, just like WP had to, and I don’t see why they’d want to take the risk with the less than promising results of Act 1.
While it’s possible this is some kind of takeover situation, that is a big IF to me right now. VIZ would be making some legit hard business decisions in pursuing that maneuver, and it’s not clear they’re going to. I think its at least as possible that development on the game is simply canceled, or ideally, frozen until there’s enough funds to actually pay people.
That last point is what I think fans should focus on. IF it’s a matter of simple lack of funs forcing What Pumpkin to close doors because there isn’t, uh, the money to friggin pay people, then…there’s probably hope.
Like I said, VIZ did just allude to more news coming. IF whatever they’re working on with Hussie is good/interesting enough to, say, get new people reading Homestuck, then all of a sudden the comic would be drawing new interest while also advertising to incoming readers about…Hiveswap, which is now advertised for on the web-site through pop up ads.
Kind of invasive? Sure. But word of mouth didn’t get the game sold, so if some old-fashioned advertising does and Hiveswap/Homestuck collectively start collecting enough hype and profit that the staff of WP can be rehired, I won’t complain.
All in all, I’ll just say we’ll have a much better idea of what this partnership between Hussie and VIZ looks like–and what VIZ’s intent is–once we see some actual content they’ve produced together. I suggest the fandom wait it out to see what this Epilogue is, and what kind of content might be coming after.
With any luck, that wait will only last until 4/13.
Flying through Storytelling 