1) Game design

Gameplay: (I recommend reading the story first)

   The Hive mind is a civilization of Hive minded, simple beings which become smarter the more there are of them on a planet. Food growth is critical for the success of the Hive, as they don't build science building, but instead gain science depending on their numbers. They gain the effect of having more maximum population per planet, they gain pop faster and for each pop point gain an amount of science. The Hive plays as a neutral minded pacifistic/diplomatic power which has a tendency of angering others. They can always pass through the space f others without diplomatic repercussions and can even colonize planets owned by other players. These players can either ignore them and slowly get whittled down by passive expansion or fight back and hopefully extinguish the colony before it's too late. In other means, the Hive can take over planets of other players without declaring war, as they reduce the number of population others have on a planet and increase theirs. The others can try to kill this pop with their own, but the more of the Hive in one place, the harder it is to exterminate them.

   Spaceships of the Hive aren't equipped with weapons. Instead, it mirrors members of the Hive in defense, having superior shielding, armor and survivability. It can take many battles to just kill one fleet from the Hive and in the meantime you might just have lost a planet to their numbers growing on a planet you control.

   The Hive always tries to keep diplomatic relations as good as possible and can never be declared war upon. Instead, the Hive and others are in a way in a continuous war-state as others can always kill members of the Hive without any penalties. On the other hand, Hivers can always land and try to colonize planets belonging to others, whittling down population and growing theirs in extravagant numbers. Trade agreement for example can be in play as the other attacks a planet of yours and will continue even if another loses a planet to the other.

   The danger of playing the Hive is that others might want to team up on you, to take you down before you become a colony stealing menace, though a peaceful one. This is why diplomacy is so important, as defensive pacts and alliances make it impossible to either attack the Hive or for the Hive to colonize another allies planet. This system alliances and neutrals creates an influx of diplomatic points, which is the prime victory type for the Hive.

Story:

   For the Hive, nothing is more important than the survival of the Hive itself. The Hive is controlled by a neural network which can only express itself through the "one" or simple the "queen". The Hive reproduces extremely fast as each of it's members has 1-10 spawns crawl out from under their skin in one's lifetime. These spawns grow up in an extremely fast time of 5 or so years and continue the extravagant growth of the Hive. A normal Hive member survives about 40-50 years, making their reproducing unceremonious as it happens so often. 

   The Hive is neutral by nature, it understands little about agitation or battle as it has never actively fought a battle. Every specie on their home planet has instead died under the rapid expanse of the Hive. They have tried fighting back, but as members of the Hive are extremely thick skinned and reproduce at an alarming rate, they simply didn't stand a chance at either killing them or gathering food, as the Hive collected everything for their needs.

   Though the Hive seems near oblivious to the needs of other species it encounters, it still tries to maintain a friendly atmosphere between any race it encounters. Though usually this relationship turns sour as the Hive expands toward them, the Hive never attacks the other, instead relying on the natural defenses and numbers to in the end make relations better again, meaning the extinction of the other or the death of a colony of the Hive.

The Hive is, against common beliefs, a very intelligent species and has evolved an intelligence worthy of a dozen sophon scientists. The more of the Hive gathered in one place, the more its intelligence grows, making them research technology faster and develop new tools to gather food with. This is why their capital, with its population of many billions, has completed a craft worthy of space faring in record time compared to many other species. With this new technology, the Hive can finally lift off into space, reaching out toward distant planets to which settle on and in time, take control of completely.

Decided on sending this through, even though I'm a bit late. School has taken a lot of my time and I hadn't noticed this competition before it was too late ;_;. Gotta be early next time I guess :D