The expansion to the movement systems (and bending of the pre-established game rules) that things like bridge building requires has taken up a large chunk of our recent development time! Below, you can see a video we posted recently that shows how the fire ants form a floating bridge - they link together, walking on each other's backs, until they reach the other side of the gap they are intending to span. Don't expect this system to be active in the near future but it's an example of where we could go with things.Īs mentioned, fire ant progression is continuing apace. At the moment, the AI uses a pre-built nest plan but there is a system we worked on a while back that could eventually allow AI to design its own underground, regardless of the map layout. In the future, there are lots of things we would like to do to expand their functionality. The AI colonies add a lot of fun and replayability to freeplay, even in their first implementation. Please note that for the time being freeplay saving is disabled in the beta this is because we're still working on everything needed to fully save the AI's brains.
Empires of the undergrowth wall 64 Bit#
You will need to be a Steam Windows 64 bit user to access the beta. We expect the beta to last for a few weeks longer yet at the time of writing (early September 2020) so if you haven't participated yet and would like to join in then please follow the instructions near the top of this post. We've been running the optional beta for the AI colonies for a few weeks now and the feedback has been invaluable. Over time, we anticipate most players will reduce the AI cheating level as we get better at making them cleverer.ĪI leafcutter clash with AI wood ants in freeplay The AI has various levels of options to allow it to cheat - this helps level the playing field against human players. As things stand, the player can choose up to 3 AI colonies to be active in their game, and can put them on different teams as they see fit. In their early form, their intelligence is fairly basic but is being improved on iteratively with each update. It's probably the most requested feature for freeplay, and it is now in an optional beta phase - AI colonies are being implemented properly into freeplay. Let's start this newsletter properly with details on the freeplay colonies. Whilst Liam and Matt are dealing with the complexities of fire ant systems, John has been adding some much-requested features to freeplay, most notable amongst them being AI colonies to battle against or with! Although they're in an early form right now, they will be improved on over time. Uber vs Uber in this colourful shot from Steam user Kist7ck We're close to having the fire ant bridge building system the way we like it!
Whilst complex from a game design point of view, the extensions to the movement systems needed for the fire ants is getting there. The last couple of months have been focused on some complicated systems for the fire ants as well as some large changes to freeplay, which are currently in an optional beta for Steam Windows users (details below). The latest on fire ants, AI colonies for freeplay, and what we've been up to over the summer!
Empires of the undergrowth wall update#
A small update to address some common issuesĪ small update to the currently-running optional beta has been released.