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PayPalLooks like another possible Kickstarter disappointment. The game Hiveswap: Act 1, by Homestuck creator Andrew Hussie, set a fundraising record back in 2012, making a whopping $2 million when it only asked for $750k. Linux support was one of the early stretch goals, which was smashed on the very first day. The game was set to release in 2014.
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Over the following years the game saw setbacks, mostly due to the team contracted to work on the 3D graphics going off to work on King's Quest instead and leaving Hussie in the lurch. So he retooled, made a strategic alliance with Viz comics, and made a 2D adventure game instead. The game released today on Humble and Steam — with no Linux support.
In response to my inquiries on Twitter, here's what they said:
Linux support is not yet available, but currently our top priority.
It remains to be seen how much delay there will be, or why Linux support wasn't provided in the first place. Given Hiveswap is a Unity title, there's unlikely to be many barriers for a Linux release. They haven't responded to give any reason for the delay.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Seriously though if you haven't heard of it or isn't a teenager, I wouldn't recommend it. PBS Idea Channel compared it to Ulysses, but I'd rather compare it to Stockholm Syndrome in comic form.
The comic can be pretty hard to get into, since at the beginning a lot of it is basically oldschool RPG jokes about inventory management and the like (although some of the jokes are quite funny, they get old fast). You have to slog through that stuff for a while to get to the really good stuff, and honestly there actually is really good stuff. The sheer bulk of it is intimidating though since it's more like an illustrated novel in chatlog form than an orthodox webcomic, so there's a lot to read and a lot to keep track of, and stuff referenced two hundred strips ago can suddenly become important. Plus, Hussie does tend to meander and get caught up in his own cleverness (and make no mistake, he is very clever) sometimes, and the strip as a whole could have used a good editor. I doubt the game would have the same problems though.
Basically yes, it's good, but no, I don't necessarily recommend the original strip to everybody.