Informational Update now available! See the devblog for more details.



Build a hive, make some honey! Hive Time is a 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.





FAQ (click to expand)

Is this game free? I believe that the effort we have put into creating and supporting Hive Time is worth at least $10. However, I also believe that in an ideal world, financial barriers should never prevent people from participating in culture. For this project, I'm in a position to make the game available under a pay-what-you-want model so that it can be accessible to people who can't afford $10. If you can afford $10, but would prefer to not pay, that's up to you, but I hope that if you find enjoyment in the game that you'll come back to give some support that matches that enjoyment. Similarly, Peter has released Hive Time's original soundtrack on Bandcamp under a pay-what-you-want model. - Cheese

Is this game finished? We consider Hive Time to be a complete game. In the weeks and months following release, we plan to ship some small patches and larger updates, but the game's mechanics, style, and identity reflect what we wanted to make and are not likely to change.

Default controls Default controls are as follows (custom bindings can be set from the Controls menu): Left mouse - Select/interact

- Select/interact Right mouse - Close radial menu

- Close radial menu Middle mouse/Cursor keys - Pan view

- Pan view Scroll wheel/Page Up/Page Down - Zoom view

- Zoom view Home - Reset pan and zoom

- Reset pan and zoom End - Zoom out as far as possible

- Zoom out as far as possible Space - Toggle bee inspection mode

- Toggle bee inspection mode F5 - Trigger autosave

- Trigger autosave F9 - Load latest save

- 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

- 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

- Toggle fullscreen Escape - Close radial menu, close/select negative option in events, pause game

- Close radial menu, close/select negative option in events, pause game Print 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

- Complete all in-progress construction C - clear all in-progress cooldowns

- clear all in-progress cooldowns H - Raise resource storage limits by 999

- Raise resource storage limits by 999 Y - Lower resource storage limits to 12

- Lower resource storage limits to 12 G - Give 9999 of all resources (won't increase storage limits)

- Give 9999 of all resources (won't increase storage limits) E - Show event debug/selection dialog

- Show event debug/selection dialog Shift + E - Force the next queued event to trigger

- Force the next queued event to trigger V - Force the next vignette to trigger

- Force the next vignette to trigger N - Force the next bee to appear

- Force the next bee to appear Shift + N - Force spawn bees until the population limit is reached

- Force spawn bees until the population limit is reached Ctrl + N - Force a hero bee to spawn (while under population limit)

- Force a hero bee to spawn (while under population limit) K - Kill all bees (excluding Queen)

- Kill all bees (excluding Queen) J - Fill the entire buildable space with empty cells (doesn't destroy existing cells)

- Fill the entire buildable space with empty cells (doesn't destroy existing cells) M - End current music track/trigger next music track

- End current music track/trigger next music track T - Give 99999 progress to current research item

- Give 99999 progress to current research item R - Reload all data files

- 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)

(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: No text is visible outside of the main menu This occurs when the game is unable to load fonts (the main menu text is actually a 3D model!). The most common cause of this is the game being unable to find the fonts folder. Please make sure that it is extracted into the same folder as the game's executable (.x86_64, .exe) and that the working folder is set to the same location when running the game. If you're not feeling confident extracting the game properly or are still experiencing problems, consider playing Hive Time through the Itch.io App, which handles all of that for you. The game freezes briefly when bees commence construction on a cell The construction progress indicators may require the shader cache to be updated for some graphics drivers, which may cause a brief pause. Turning off Construction Indicators from the Video Settings menu will prevent this. 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) may behave unexpectedly