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Hive Jump

Since the initial announcement of Switch, some indie developers have cancelled previously-confirmed plans for Wii U outright while others decided to move their projects to the new console. Hive Jump appears to be one of the exceptions. In a recent Kickstarter update, the team spoke about its commitment to an early 2017 release.

Another engine was actually brought on “to help accelerate production and finish this version.” The Hive Jump “programmers, testers and artists are working on lots of optimization tasks to get the best possible performance.”

Graphite Lab said of the Wii U version’s progress on Kickstarter:

Go-op Gaming has shared more footage from the indie game Hive Jump. Nearly 10 minutes of gameplay can be found below.

New footage from the indie game Hive Jump has emerged. Get a look at the latest gameplay in the video below.

A new trailer for Hive Jump went live earlier today. Get a new look at the game with the following video:

Aside from that, the developer of Hive Jump posted a couple of art time lapse videos and recapped some previously-known information about the Wii U version. That can be found on the Kickstarter page here.

A few days ago, some news surfaced about Hive Jump not supporting online co-op in the Wii U version. Graphite Lab director Matt Raithel actually took some time to explain the decision further right here on the site.

Graphite Lab did look into the possibility of including online multiplayer in the Wii U version extensively. However, after careful consideration, the tough decision had to be made as the feature “was going to be beyond our scope for this release due to time and budget constraints placed on our team.”

Raithel explained:

Hive Jump, Graphite Lab’s upcoming sci-fi action-platformer, will offer co-op with up to four players. There are plans to make this feature available both locally and online on PC, but it’s been confirmed that the Wii U version will only support the former option.

Graphite Lab’s Matt Raithel told Fragments of Silicon in a podcast interview:

“That’s something where we felt like the platform certainly is kind of a party platform. We love playing games on Wii U in kind of party mode. So we don’t have online in the plans for Wii U, but it will be for PC.”

One feature included in the Wii U version of Hive Jump is being able to look at the mini-map on the GamePad. amiibo support is also in the cards, and the studio is looking into the possibility of other features like off-TV play.

Thanks to Henrique R for the tip.

Hive Jump was last scheduled for launch in Q1 of this year. Sadly though, it’s been pushed back. Graphite Lab is now only committing to a vague 2016 release window.

In its latest Kickstarter update, the studio explained that Hive Jump’s delay came about “simply because the game isn’t as far along as we had hoped when we announced that date.” The team has also “continued to invest in this game well beyond our Kickstarter budget”, but has taken on other client work at the same time. This is slowing down development, but Hive Jump’s actual creation is going smoothly.

Graphite Lab’s full Kickstarter update regarding the delay reads:

Delays suck. We hate to hear of them and hate being the bearer of them even more. Unfortunately, Hive Jump’s release is delayed past Quarter 1 of this year. The cause of the delay is simply because the game isn’t as far along as we had hoped when we announced that date.

We knew the large scope of the game would be challenging to execute on and that is why we listed that up front in our risks and challenges section of the Kickstarter page. We’ve continued to invest in this game well beyond our Kickstarter budget because we believe in the game and we want to deliver the best possible version of this game to you our beloved backers. But developing a game after the budget is exceeded slows things down considerably.

During the Nindies@Night event a few months back, amiibo support was announced for the indie game Hive Jump. Developer Graphite Lab has since shared a little bit of additional information about what we should expect from the functionality.

In a recent interview, it was stated that you can use amiibo to unlock “custom challenges and unique treasures”. It’s a work-in-progress though, so Graphite Lab can’t share any other information just yet.

Here’s the full quote:

“Let me start by saying we would LOVE to have Samus in the game, but I don’t know if that is on the table. There are a lot of very good reasons why a cameo might not make sense for our game right now. We are planning on including custom challenges and unique treasures which could only be unlocked with amiibo. This feature is still in development so we’re not at a point where we can share more just yet.”

Source

Nintendo has published its third indie interview coming from PAX Prime 2015. In the latest one, the company’s Damon Baker talks with Graphite Lab about Hive Jump. Check it out below.

New screenshots from Hive Jump have come in. View the latest images in the gallery below.


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