Empires of the Undergrowth

Totally understandable.  Especially as we are sort of going into early access for basically the same reasons as "The Failure" (albeit scaled down about 20x).  Does ""The Failure"" get changed automatically then or do I have to write "the failure"?

Fortunately, given the small size of our team and scope of the project there is far less risk of the final game not materializing.  I just need to make sure that each time I want to talk about a potential new feature, I stop myself.

Edit - I guess I answered my own question

I have a habit of turning the gamma up too even on highest graphics settings, but I do this as well when I play Starcraft so I put it down to having too much sunshine on the screen.  Getting the lighting right even for just one graphics mode is a nightmare now that the player can switch between overground and underground.  Ideally we would want two separate lighting systems but the overhead is too high a price to pay, so we have to use tricks to produce both sunshine and dingy dungeon light from the same source.  Everyone's monitor is different so we will be waiting for beta feedback now before we tweak the default brightness. 

This shows the overground transition from day to night.  You will still get the nice long shadows on all but absolute minimum graphics settings.

Well in that video, not much come to think of it.  Most of the work here is done by our lead programmer and artist (yes he takes both titles). 

I work on decision making and swarming algorithms for the ants (so they do their jobs efficiently, and look ant-like at the same time).  I am also working on an independent computer player AI (but that is on hold at the moment while I have my hands dirty with level design and balance).

I compose the music too, so I can actually lay claim to something in that video!

I'm not particularly fond of it tbh, I made it over a year ago when I was still figuring out the basics of music production.  Though at least it doesn't sound as offensive as my attempts prior to it.  My journey with digital music started with electro (as it is very easy to find tutorials for); I produced this ear-bleeding madness before making the move to traditional acoustic instruments:



The music plays a really big part in setting the scene now, more than I had expected.  You can have a big effect on how calm/hectic gameplay feels without actually changing the game. It raises an interesting question about god games in general though: Do you prefer to play passively and calmly, or with some urgency? Or both?  There is a definite overlap between "RTS" and "god-game" (and I guess "management" and "simulator" games mush in here too... Ohh That sounds like a nice idea for a Venn diagram)... 

I probably haven't played many games I could definitely tag as "god-games", but I think Dungeon Keeper definitely counts.  At times it would feel very fast paced, with a focus on aggressive expansion, and even vague battle tactics, but my favorite part was always taking my time building the dungeon and training my creatures - it was this part that I think felt the most god-like. - Though the game is probably a bit hollow without the big battles and danger of being wiped out.  I never really followed Godus, but it looks like the original was supposed to be fairly calm, the look of the thing and the terrain reshaping mechanic certainly have a relaxing feel, but then before it had finished there was a switch to the "wars" version which seemed to have more of an RTS vibe (probably as a result of mass fan opinions on the original's battle mechanics?).  

I think at the moment Empires of the Undergrowth is definitely on the "RTS" side of the spectrum.  I'm hoping we don't disappoint people who just want to chill with their ants and watch them collect and grow.

Actually that music is pretty good. Didn't have time to listen before now. You should really cut out the David Attenborough parts though, they mess up the piece. The music is actually quite fitting because of several reasons. It gives the impression that ants kick ass, which they do. It is also hectic and up-tempo which is fitting for ants. And perhaps the best one, it is many little parts coming together to form one rhythmic symphony, kinda like how ants work together to achieve acomplishments far greater than you would expect. I wouldn't mind hearing some dubstep/techno/drum&bass ant music without a narrator.

So we now have an Early Access release date. I'm really hoping it does well, its so hard to predict what will happen with these things. We get one magic 24 hour window on Steam which will make or break it popularity wise, before it falls below the depths of "new releases".


I put together a fancy release trailer for the event. I think I got the music a bit too loud over the narrator, but I can't fix it now, it's burned into the internet. Could be worse.

If anyone is still interested in this thread, I just wanted to say: the game is out! The launch has been absolutely crazy. Steam rejected our submisison last minute because we cocked up some DirectX settings, they told us it would be 5 days before a re-review so we moved the entire launch to itch.io (told streamers, made press releases, emailed all our backers etc)... Then 12 hours later, Steam bumped us to the top of the review list and we had to move everything back! The whole thing was a massive stress, coupled with the fact that I am travelling for work at the moment (my real job), I wont be forgetting the last 48 hours any time soon.


Anyway, check it out on Steam. You don't need a link, because we totally own the letter "u"