As we mentioned in our previous post, we are working with publisher 2Dimensions to bring you two titles in the Kova universe.  We've been deep in development for the past few months working on our mobile game first. Now that we are in Beta, we'd like to introduce Faction Wars! 

Faction Wars takes place before Kova when 'Operation Outreach' had just began. It was an effort to expand human reach across the galaxy and find intelligent life.  In doing so, unrest between three ideals broke out creating different factions -each with their own agenda.  

Faction Wars, is a tactical, player versus player, card based game coming to iOS and Android this Spring.  You command a legion of fighters who you play against other opponents in a battle to see who can gain control of three different planets.  You can battle online players in opposing factions or play matches against your Facebook friends.  As you win, you'll unlock crates which will give you in-game currency and character cards to level up your fighters.  ​

We are currently in a closed Beta right now and will update you as soon as it releases on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store!

While we were working on creating a mobile game centered around the factions in Kova, our primary project took a little break.  As of December, we are back in the full swing of development on Kova! 

The art team has created some amazing new concepts that we've been dropping on our Instagram feed. This first concept is a picture of the place where Kova will make her first discovery, which jump starts the journey you will embark on. 

In the first planet of Kova, these creatures will each have a purpose in your journey.  Whether your on a mission for a local town person or just trying to find your way around the map, you'll come across them and interact with them in different ways.

This is just a snap shot of the people you will talk to on your first few missions. They will give you insight on some of the politics, people and places on the first planet.  All of our concepts are created by our industry veteran, Blake Lowry and then prepped for game by our Art Intern, Robert Haynie.  Then the artists create a rig for the asset in Nima, a 2D skeletal animation software, that they bring to life with complex animations. 

We're super excited to announce that Kova has found a publishing partner!  We actually had multiple approaches following the (unsuccessful) Kickstarter.  After a lot of discussion, we decided to partner with the awesome guys at 2Dimensions, Luigi and Guido Rosso.  We already use their Nima technology and have also already formed a great relationship together.  They have a vast background in games and software and we're all really excited to work together to bring Kova to life using their excellent animation software.

Not only will Kova now get the funding it needed, but we're also already developing a title in the Kova universe for mobile that will release on iOS and Android first!  Two games in the Kova universe!  Check out the full press release here!  

Kova's Ship

After collecting all the creative names that you submitted and collecting everyone's votes, we'd like to officially announce Kova's ship, The Harbinger! This name won by a landslide and the story of Kova setting off the unbalance of the galaxy in her discovery on Frost Prime 151, it fits the ship perfectly!  Thank you all who submitted names and voted.

News in the Works
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​There have been some changes here at Black Hive and we have some big news coming up that we cannot wait to share with you!  We know you'll love what we have to say... more updates next week!

Today we'd like to introduce you to the first planet in Kova, Frost Prime 151! We received some really creative names from you, our friends, on Twitter and Kickstarter and after a week of votes Frost Prime won by 32% with Ayezi as a close second at 26%!

Last week, we asked for name suggestions for Kova's Ship and we have some amazing suggestions, but who are we to decide such an important thing without you! Please cast your vote in our poll and we will announce the official ship name next Friday.

​VOTING HAS ENDED :)

ICYMI
​In case you  missed our announcement on Twitter, Kova was accepted as an Xbox One title! This was a great email to get that boosted all of our spirits here at Black Hive.  We will keep you posted on our acceptance for PS4 and Switch in the coming months!

Kova in the News
​We recently had the pleasure of chatting with the incredibly nice, Erika over at Big Cheshire Grin about Kova, our backgrounds and some of the game concepts, so check out that interview and give them a follow on Twitter.

Kova Kommunity 

Planet Name
When we launched on Kickstarter we said that we wanted you to be a part of our journey, and that didn't just mean the Kickstarter… we want you to help us with all kinds of names and concepts in Kova.  Last week, we left Kickstarter with some awesome names for the first icy planet and we want to settle on one, so cast your vote here and pick your favorite name before next Wednesday at 9am ET.  We'll announce it next week!
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Name Kova's Ship
At this point, we've shown Kova's ship a lot and it plays an important role in the game.  Along with taking you from planet to planet, you will also have to work with different engineers across the galaxy to upgrade your ship so that you can reach more distant areas.  Every awesome sci-fi movie has a cool name for the ship, whether it be the 'Raza' in Dark Matter, the 'Prometheus' in Prometheus or 'Nostromo' in Alien (our personal favorite), we want to hear your creative names for Kova's ship! Help us find the perfect name by Tweeting at us with #KovaShip and we'll collect all the names for you to vote on in our next email.  We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Kova's Icy Planet voting poll has closed. The results will be released on Friday, May 12th! Stay tuned for our next vote for Kova's ship's name!