Future Ants

by thetimesweeper

co-authored: @abyssal-games, @arcph1r3, @eniggma, @gnome, @stephen-toth

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.25

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.67

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.36

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.36

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.55

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.17

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.95

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.42

In this game you run a "realistic" simulation of an ant colony.

Simply spawn the ants and watch them as they run around doin what ants do, searching for resources using trails of pheromones they leave behind as they explore.
___

___
- Start with `Gatherer` ants, who will wander around until they find food,
- then, they bring it home, leaving a `red trail of pheromones` for the other ants to follow c:
___
- Open the menu to get more ants, using your food. There are `Gatherer`, `Miner`, `Digger`, and `Scout` ants.
- `Miner` ants follow the `blue` trail. Like Gatherers but they search for minerals.
- `Digger` ants can take down dirt walls (mark walls for them to dig by clicking on them). They follow the `yellow` trail.
- `Scout` ants will naruto run to points of interest, then spread the respective `colors` of pheromones that the other ants will follow.

Tags: #management

Genres: simulation

Tools: Unity

Comments18

Jarmustard27 Apr 2021, 02:53

Nice job~ I'm not sure what I was doing but I really liked the atmosphere and the ants in hats. The displaying of pheromones was pretty cool and I could imagine a more 'game-game' being made out of these base systems.

Jakegames227 Apr 2021, 02:57

I was a tad confused at first, but I enjoyed it after a while. There wasn't much game to it, but it certainly had potential if you plan on taking it any further. Good job!

--027 Apr 2021, 03:02

Fun to watch and poke at once I had figured out the controls. Overall I think it would be improved if there was a little more explanation given to the controls and mechanics.

mind0o27 Apr 2021, 09:24

I have seen videos of the concept and always wanted to try it. I like the idea and the animations and models. I would love to have a faster time scale option, since it sometimes takes a long time if the ants are far away.
Good job.

Jickamangah27 Apr 2021, 14:28

Really nice and chill game. I do wish the scrolling was a bit faster but overall nice execution.

woergbi27 Apr 2021, 16:44

Very relaxing game. I enjoyed watching the ants and liked the visualization of the pheromones. As somebody already said, it would have been nice if there was a little more explanation to the controls and UI elements.

rhoff9528 Apr 2021, 14:52

Cool sim! There is an impressive amount of mechanics here. Well done.

FadrikAlexander28 Apr 2021, 17:25

as the simulation the game is good, but it's more of a video than a game I would love to be more involved like maybe commanding the ants or adding stuff to help them.
I would have liked the ability to learn what each ant do like for example what is the difference between the digger and miner.
it's a cool concept but I would have loved a more clear goal and the effort went on the code is amazing, great job for the ant algo and everything

TheTimesweeperauthor28 Apr 2021, 20:04

@fadrikalexander @$162477 @jakegames2 @jarmustard Can definitely agree some explanation is needed (especially for the diggers). I think we'll add it to the buy menus. For now I've updated the game's page description to describe the different ants. Thanks thanks for the feedback, glad you still had some fun with it c:

Dom De Re29 Apr 2021, 08:47

This was a pretty chill experience, I like the visuals the UI and the game space both looked very crisp!

TheJookerful29 Apr 2021, 21:48

I didn't really understand everything that was going on but it's very pleasant to watch the ants live by themselves, and it must have taken a lot of work, really well done!

ragnor30 Apr 2021, 10:19

Great idea to use the theme for an ant colony simulation. Nice visuals and sounds creates an overall really relaxing mood for the player.

Studio Gomp1 May 2021, 23:25

The ants seem to have trouble actually finding things to gather and finding their way back to the base once they find something. I had an ant stuck maybe 3/4 of the way down the screen just wandering around helplessly, and everyone else was just hanging out by the base wandering in circles. The UI is solid and the music is pretty good too!

OldDog3 May 2021, 08:17

nice simulator !!seems like a lot of works
scroll speed is very slow ,and camera system can be better;

anyway ,nice work :smile:

Kotzi3 May 2021, 11:30

Nice idea, it was pretty relaxing to watch.

kpded3 May 2021, 14:59

I like the art style and 3D models seems to be well done, for jam entry
The idea is very innovative and promising, it also would be nice to have something more to goal-oriented gameplay. But it also works nice like a system simulator
The only thing: I wish the types of ants could be better to distinguish visually

Arctiform LLC3 May 2021, 16:19

Good game. It's very cute and calm. The only thing I would've liked to have had was either more challenge or an overall goal. But besides that good job!

Shakedimus4 May 2021, 06:20

This is really cool! My game is a very similar idea but a bit differently and worse implemented. The pheromone mechanic is really cool and well implemented.
The music gives it a nice feel. Seeing the ants going around and then following the trails is really cool.
It does not have a lot of gameplay though. I also could not get the iron resource for some reason and was only able to make gatherer ants.
Overall, very nice entry with a cool concept a lot of polish but it would be nice to fit in a bit more agency.
You should check my game out, it's way less advanced but interesting that we came up with such similar ideas and went a completely different way.