Greetings,
Great game for real! I'd love to make an Italian translation of it (I've been a professional translator in the past, now still at it when I can, out of passion), but the changes I tried to make to the .json files (just a few strings in one of them, actually, from within the .json folder) don't seem to have effect once ingame. What am I missing? Thanks again, keep up the good work!
Hi! Thanks for your kind words.
Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to consider localisation at this time. Hive Time grew out of a jam game, and some of our hasty decisions were made without keeping localisation in mind, so there'd be a non-trivial amount of work needed before any proper localisation efforts could begin. There are also many strings that aren't included in the json files or are assembled programmatically (eg: I have a couple of functions that modify strings to handle English rules for pluralisation), etc. that complicate things further.
The json files bundled with the game are templates for the game's (mostly undocumented) mod support. You can copy the entire json folder into ~/.local/share/hivetime (or the equivalent path if you're not on Linux - you can find those in the FAQ here on the Itch page) and the game will load those versions over the ones included in the .pck file. If you just want to modify one file, you can just make a json folder in that location and drop the file you want to modify in there.
Hope that helps!
It worked! Awesome, thanks!
Yeah, I get it that localizing a game is no easy feat for a very small team (sometimes even larger developers can't bother themselves with it)... but I can do that - at least as far as Italian is concerned! I have a few more questions, when you have the time:
1) I have gone through the files in the .json folder; however, while many interface elements can be translated from there (e.g. Beepedia entries, bee names, vignettes etc.), some game key elements can't be found where they can be safely translated, like resource names (pollen, nectar, etc.), bee roles or menu entries. I assume they are within the .pck file; if so, what tool should I use to access and modify them?
2) Is the game still under development? Do you take suggestions/ideas on further content and/or new base mechanics?
3) I've read about the sale model and all that, but now, five years into release, would you consider making the game available on Steam? The difference in publicity would be unparalleled, and the game deserves it not just for its gameplay value, but its great educational potential first and foremost (if anything, you could still use the income for the cause: in the end it's always for the bees!)
Thanks!
Hi again.
1) As I said, the many of the game's strings are defined outside of json files, within the game's source code, and some of those are manipulated or assembled programmatically at runtime (some words are generated by code) based on English-specific rules. I would need to do a non-trivial amount of work to prepare the game for proper localisation efforts. Most notably, if I were to localise the game, I would prefer to not have duplicates of json files - those represent game logic/content, and having multiple copies floating around would make it harder to maintain the game/represent a large surface area for unwanted bugs to creep in, both of which would make it harder to do the kind of quick small patches I've been doing for the past several years.
I do not know of a tool for extracting contents from .pck files.
2) Hive Time is not under active development. I usually do a small patch to celebrate the game's release anniversary and World Bee Day (though I skipped this year). Broadly, Hive Time is the game we intended to make, but you can read about some of the original post-release update plans here if you're interested.
3) Being pay-what-you-want is part of Hive Time's identity. Even if I was comfortable selling it at a fixed price as a way of introducing broader audiences to that, the Steam Distribution Agreement forbids developers from mentioning other storefronts (some developers get away with ignoring this, but I've personally had Valve reject a demo for mentioning that the full game was available on Steam and Itch, and besides, why would I want my work to be on a platform if I have to break their rules to be there?).
If Itch required an account to buy and play Hive Time, I could understand some players being averse to it, but I've never found anybody who was interested in the game and would have preferred to play it on Steam who didn't end up downloading it from Itch. From my experiences with the games I've worked on that are on Steam, I think it's important to note that just being there doesn't guarantee you an audience or an income - that may have been the case 15 years ago, but it hasn't been that way in a long, long time.
