What Pumpkin and Homestuck are partnering with Viz Media to work on a lot of cool stuff together in the future. This will include projects based on both the Homestuck and Hiveswap worlds. The possibilities are wide open… Take a look at the sorts of things Viz has already published or produced. These are all examples of things on the table for future consideration for either Homestuck or Hiveswap. I’ve got plenty of ideas, and so do they. Maybe you do too?? – News Update, 14 September 2017
The first of the planned products from this partnership is the (F I N A L L Y) complete novelization of Homestuck, and this gives me palpitations every time I think about it as someone who can buy Viz books at his local comic shop, but paid over $100 NZD to get Act 1-3 books shipped from Topatoco in 2013. There could be official Homestuck merchandise for a reasonable price 15 minutes away from me in the next 4+ months. W!O!W! Let’s talk about that (text heavily).
The history of swamp’s blog is that of a lazy, arrogant blogger smugly taking the dimmest view possible about what has now been DRAMATICALLY REVEALED to be one of the most hard-working, dedicated, kind-hearted and well-intentioned group of LGBT art creators out there, actually doing the work and taking the risks to make an IMPACT on the cultural sphere.
This has involved denigration perception of their brand among fellow fans in vicious sacrifice to building up his own status as an Ideologically Good and Correct Progressive, and literally hurting their bottom line and risking the death of their ability to make art.
And he’s done this NOW, in the age of fucking Donald Trump, when LGBT stories and antifascist stories are at more risk than they have been in the last century. There’s not much to value in his ideological legacy.
Hey everyone! We hope you enjoyed last week’s surprise. This week we’re talking to John Hatchford, our Director of Production, about being a producer (which I touched on when Cohen interviewed me a few weeks back) and what it’s been like helping to guide the Hiveswap ship toward the finish line.
Introduce yourself to the fans! What is your specific role on the Hiveswap team?
Hi there! I am John Hatchford. I grew up in Michigan but have been in California (specifically Los Angeles) for eight years now, working on creating all kinds of awesome video games! My role on Hiveswap, as the Director of Production, has been to jump right into the deep end and lead the team toward our much-anticipated launch. Please know that we’re working hard to get Hiveswap polished and in your hands as soon as possible!
How did you get your start on the Hiveswap project?
As one of the newer members of the Hiveswap team, I immediately dove into the deep end, discussing with each team member how I could best help push the game toward launch. It’s been a great experience thus far. I’m so excited for the release, and I can’t wait for you all to see what’s around the corner for What Pumpkin Games!
Tell us a little bit about your career background! How did you get your start in production? Do you have any advice for others looking to enter this field?
I’ll try and be brief, but I want to emphasize that there is no single path toward a career in games and anyone can do it with enough effort. I have a psychology degree, and when I moved to LA, I found work as a data analyst for a wireless company before being brought on at Electronic Arts as a business analyst. I then moved on to Square Enix for a brief stint as a senior analyst, followed by a wonderful opportunity working with Disney Interactive as a project manager. (Most of my time in these positions was spent working on mobile titles, but I got to work on games for a variety of other platforms as well.) I then left Disney to create my own indie studio, where I launched a mobile fantasy/puzzle game before joining up with What Pumpkin Games, bringing us to the present!
We’re making a video game, so of course the question must be asked: what’s your favorite game of all time, and what games are you playing currently (if any)?
Some of my favorite games of all time include Mario Kart 64, the Civilization series, the original Diablo, StarCraft II, DotA, Heroes of Newerth, Phantasy Star IV, Counter-Strike, Bloodborne, and Need for Speed Rivals. Currently I’m playing Horizon: Zero Dawn and it’s great!
Are there any games that you currently use or have used as inspiration for your own work here on Hiveswap, or just in general?
A lifetime of games always inspires me to try and add concepts from one genre/platform into another. I love the creative process of making games. At a fundamental level, it’s as basic as performing an action and being rewarded for it. I want to take the RPGs I played in my youth on the Genesis, SNES, and NES and pull in some concepts from them for aspects of future What Pumpkin Games projects!
When you’re not dealing with the challenges of production, what do you do in your spare time to blow off steam?
Well, I play games of course! I also enjoy a good hike with my wife and our two pooches; other times, I’ll have some friends over and we’ll play some music and games. Seeing family is a big stress reliever for me as well. I’m also a big Detroit Lions football fan.
What’s your workstation like? Do you like to listen to any particular kinds of music while you work? If so, tell us about it!
I like this music question! I have a big, blank, wooden flat desk with tons of space so I can keep tasks/papers/everything visible and avoid procrastinating. I’m almost always listening to music. I use it to tell me how I should feel and what type of work I need to do. In the mornings, it’s usually a Mozart-based Pandora station (sometimes Stevie Ray Vaughn, or Latin jazz like Tito Puente). After lunch, I’ll fire up a playlist called “new songs” on Spotify, which is usually a mix of electronic (more chill nowadays than it used to be), pop, country, and disco/Motown. I’m currently a big fan of saxophones. I’ve always got some classic and progressive rock mixed in there, too.
Do you have a personal message you’d like to relay to all the Homestuck and Hiveswap fans out there?
I’m excited to do my part in making the best games we can for you, and I look forward to augmenting the team with my knowledge of AAA game development! I love your hardcore enthusiasm for Hiveswap, and I too share that passion for games. I remember being so stoked for the launch of Diablo II about 17 years ago. I would check for updates every single day on various websites… and remember, the Internet was a very different place in 1999 and it was a lot harder to find info back then! Speaking from personal experience, those long waits for games can be tough, but my patience was usually completely well rewarded in the end. So thank you for your own patience – I respect the time you have waited, and am excited to get you the game you deserve!
Where can people find more of your work? Link us to your own little corner(s) of the Internet!
The mobile fantasy/puzzle game I launched at my own indie studio is called Bloom Kingdom, and although the iOS version is temporarily down, the Android versionis available right now! Either way, you can find out more about this pet project of mine at the Bloom Kingdom website if you’re so inclined!
I’ve also had a hand in making a ton of other games you might have played, including DuckTales Remastered, Where’s My Water? and its sequel, Star Wars: Assault Team, Star Wars Commander, two Temple Run games, Words of Wonder, Disney Hidden Worlds, and more!
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We’ll be returning next week with another interview, bringing things back around to the art side of things. In the meantime, thank you as always for your continued patience! See you next week!
not
to be a hipster but homestuck was better when there wasnt any welovefine and
hot topic and kickstarter. when it was just a man and his computer, and a
couple great collaborators, and your ass was keeping a sharp eye on the
minuscule god tier hoodie restocks to snag one before they inevitably sold out
again. I miss homestuck before hussie took year long breaks and i miss topatoco
and i miss the homestuck store and i hate sifting through 8 miles of fanart
disproportionately slapped on t-shirts for actual merch that doesnt bring me
the same sense of excitement that it used to. it only brings resentment that if
i buy something welovefine is going to enter me in a giveaway for squiggle lines drawn by hussie. which is not that funny?
that would have probably made me laugh in 2012. but the thing is that you can
shit on your fandom all you want when you’re providing good quality content.
youre an aloof, eccentric creator. but when we’re all waiting on a game we
backed years ago and was promised years ago and was promised for REALSIES
months ago, when you’ve cut off all interaction on twitter, destroyed your own
forums, and left the one tech guy in charge of repairing the forum to be the
SOLE SPOKESPERSON for the state of your company, im not??? going to laugh when
you’re like “hey guys enter a contest to win squiggly lines drawn by
me!!”
especially when the incentive to obtain more entries for
that “””GRAND PRIZE””” is to buy things from welovefine, to link as many
social media accounts as you can, to beg your friends to do the same, to make
daily homestuck posts on instagram and then let their system confirm it like a
goddamn receipt so it can spit out more entries for your stupid squiggle lines.
is it so much work to offer a genuine commission? it’s all so cynical and
commercialized which is??? honestly kinda shitty considering how much homestuck
riffs on that culture???
and at the end of it all homestuck social media (what’s left of
it anyway lol) has the nerve to constantly be like “we’re all still stuck here forever
guys, right guys? right? right? ….right?” while we all kind of stare at them like a dad trying
to use a meme, a meme he fucking CREATED and somehow destroyed.
Homestuck is truly the ultimate tragedy, the epitome of a great rise and a greater fall, but I’m still waiting on
my catharsis and my copy of fucking Hiveswap.
anyway
its 3 am
This post is so simplistic, reductive and cynical it caused me to immediately fall asleep. Ssnnzz muh
All we have are indications Hussie’s doing his best with the game, we have no indication he’s got that much control over welovefines choices (considering the shipping fiasco and that Dave falling down stairs shirt), you’re certainly not gonna convince me closing the WP store was Andrews preferred choice without evidence, and this event is a small side project to what he’s actually working on–the game and likely the epilogue too.
And if you think the fandom being bitter and mean to Hussie started only AFTER he got locked into an NDA over legal issues he couldn’t help, all I can say is: where were you?
The fandoms’ been pushing false personas onto Andrew and being hypercritical of everything he does at least since trolls started dying and certainly during the Alphas’ arcs. I woulda limited communication too.
I am of course not claiming to know why wp has done any of what they’ve done but this post taking those premises and motivations as givens and spreading them seems presumptuous as hell to me, especially since as far as I can tell it’s based on exactly nothing.
Tldr do some research next time you want to tear down an indie brand, like 80% of this post is speculation all but designed to get people as riled up as you are. Over nothing.
Flying through Storytelling 