Hive Time

Build a hive, make some honey! Hive Time is a small, bee themed management/base building sim. Harvest resources, grow your hive, and produce a new Queen before the current one dies.
Manage different bee roles in a totally scientifically inaccurate depiction of hive dynamics. Send Foragers out to find pollen and nectar, have Builders research new cell types, and ensure you have enough Beesitters to raise the next generation of bees.
Make interesting choices that affect the hive. Respond to wasp attacks, deal with outlaw slugs, or help a caterpillar realise a lifelong dream!Hive Time's original soundtrack is available on Bandcamp.
Default controls
Default controls are as follows (custom bindings can be set from the Controls menu):
Left mouse - Select/interact
Right mouse - Close radial menu
Middle mouse/Cursor keys - Pan view
Scroll wheel/Page Up/Page Down - Zoom view
Home - Reset pan and zoom
End - Zoom out as far as possible
Space - Toggle bee inspection mode
F5 - Trigger autosave
F9 - Load latest save
Shift - Hold before performing an action in a radial menu to be able to repeat that menu option with subsequent cell clicks
Alt+Enter - Toggle fullscreen
Escape - Close radial menu, close/select negative option in events, pause gamePrint Screen - Save a screenshot
Cheats and debug controls
My hope is that you won't need them, but if you get stuck or want to try specific stuff, there are a few "cheats" in place. In order to access these, you must enable "debug mode" from the System settings menu.
B - Complete all in-progress construction
C - clear all in-progress cooldowns
H - Raise resource storage limits by 999
Y - Lower resource storage limits to 12
G - Give 9999 of all resources (won't increase storage limits)
E - Show event debug/selection dialog
Shift + E - Force the next queued event to trigger
V - Force the next vignette to trigger
N - Force the next bee to appear
Shift + N - Force spawn bees until the population limit is reached
Ctrl + N - Force a hero bee to spawn (while under population limit)
K - Kill all bees (excluding Queen)
J - Fill the entire buildable space with empty cells (doesn't destroy existing cells)
M - End current music track/trigger next music track
T - Give 99999 progress to current research item
R - Reload all data files
F - Mark all foraging zones as explored
Log, save, and config file locations
Logs, saves, and configuration files can be found in the following locations for each supported platform:
Linux:
~/.local/share/hivetime/
(note that this respects XDG_DATA_HOME)
Mac:
~/Library/Application Support/hivetime/
Windows:
%APPDATA%/hivetime/
Selecting the Open User Folder option from the settings menu will open this location in a file browser.
Technical help
If you're experiencing troubles, please send a detailed description of what is occurring along with relevant save files and logs to support [AT] jbushproductions.com
Common technical hurdles and how to cross them:
Sound suddenly becomes garbled or stutters
When under high load, the Godot engine's sound server can become unstable and cause the rest of the game to lag.
Typically, this is caused by the Bee Sound Count setting in the Audio settings menu being too high. The default value of 25 seems to be appropriate for most systems that the game has been tested on, but lower may be more appropriate for your computer.
When this occurs, the game will typically need to be restarted in order for audio to return to normal.
As my hive gets big, the game's frame rate slowly declines
During development, I made the decision to not put a performance oriented maximum cap on hive or population size, so generally speaking, it will always be possible to make a hive that's too big for your computer to handle.The game should still be playable at a low frame rate, and spawning a new Queen doesn't specifically require a large hive, so it's up to you to play within the constraints of what you're comfortable with.
The game's minimum requirements are based on running the game with Shadows, Anti-alising, and Depth Of Field settings all disabled, and with the Bee Sound Count audio setting set to zero. These options can have a big impact on performance.
If you find that sound is garbled or stuttering, please refer to the "Sound suddenly becomes garbled or stutters" section.
Current known issues:
Keyboard bindings with modifiers that share primary keys with other bindings (eg: Ctrl+S and S) maybe behave unexpectedly
Default pan bindings currently conflict with some radial menu shortcuts
Gameplay tips
There's a lot to keep track of in Hive Time! Part of the fun is in exploring and learning how different systems work. Generally, the impact of your actions takes a little while to be apparent, so observing after experimenting can be important!
Here are a couple of tips that might point you in the right direction if you're feeling stuck:
What can I do to stop my bees from dying out?
Beesitter bees are critical for positive population growth. If your hive's Beesitters start to decline, there may not be enough of them left to replace the current Beesitter population, which can lead to the hive's entire population dying out.
Finding the right balance for your hive's current needs is important, and that balance needs to be generous enough to not be upset by small fluctuations. Responding quickly to events that impact the hive's population is important as well. Sometimes you might need to overcompensate in order to get to where you want to be or to prevent a disaster.
Keep in mind that each role-specific cell increases the population capacity for the relevant bee role. When a role population is over capacity, bees of that role will only live half as long.
Why do I keep running out of resources?
Several things influence resource dynamics. Resources are consumed in the production of Wax, Honey, and Jelly, while the accumulation of Nectar and Pollen is dependent on foraging.
The chart on the Resources screen (accessible from any storage cell) allows the increase and decline of multiple resources to be viewed at once. If production of a particular resource is consuming too much of another resource, temporarily pausing the relevant production facilities may help.
Foraging requires enough Exit cells for the Worker and Forager populations to leave the hive (as explained in the in-game tutorial, each cell can only support three working bees at once). The Activity screen (accessible from the Upgraded Throne Room) can help highlight when portions of the Forager or Worker populations are idle and unable to gather resources.
Foragers are able to collect for more resources than Workers, so a healthy Forager population with enough Exits and Map Rooms for them to lead full, productive lives can increase Nectar and Pollen collection greatly.
Making use of the pollination options in the Foraging screen (accessible from any Map Room)and selecting pollinated foraging zones can also provide a boost to foraged resources.
How can I make sure I have enough resources to do stuff without pausing production all the time?
Upgraded storage cells unlock "reserve" sliders that can be adjusted from the Resources screen (accessible from any storage cell).
Resource reserves put a minimum limit on stock levels before production can happen, keeping the remaining resources spare for you to spend on construction or research!