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Empires of the Undergrowth
Asid:
May 2023 Newsletter - Roadmap Updated
Sat, 6 May 2023
It's time to decompress some of the earlier versions of the roadmap in our latest newsletter.
We've had the last of our extra levels in the 'sequel season', so it's time to re-evaluate the road ahead with an updated map. The compressed parts of the previous one are fast approaching, so we can 'zoom in' on that part of it, as it were, to give a bit more detail. Most of this newsletter will deal with breaking down what'll be arriving in the near future.
A bombardier beetle attacks fire ants from NappyB on our Discord
We also have some business news - we've joined with indie publishers Hooded Horse to publish Empires of the Undergrowth! There are also some real-world events we'll be attending soon. More on that later - first and foremost, let's get the new roadmap up and talk through it in order.
New Roadmap
Here's the updated roadmap. Please note that the exact order in which things will happen, as well as the timings, are very approximate - sometimes things take more time than expected, and sometimes they take less. Some of the updates may be clumped together, whilst others may be more spread out.
Read on........: https://steamcommunity.com/games/463530/announcements/detail/3683425195465686622
Asid:
Optional Beta Invite - ON NOW! - Freeplay AI Overhaul, Beach Art & Story Balance
Fri, 7 July 2023
All EotU owners on Steam are invited to this optional beta with many changes to all aspects of the game
A large update is imminent - large enough that we’re running an optional beta to test it out before we make it permanent. There’s a complete reworking of the freeplay / custom game mode AI, a new streamlined setup mode called Skirmish, major rebalances for the campaign, a big extension to the enemy mounting system, and lots of new artwork to replace older assets.
We are after feedback on all manner of things in this very extensive update, mainly focusing on glitches that crop up, crashes, and balance. Any and all feedback on this optional beta is very much appreciated - please post it to the community discussions! Thanks so much to our focus group who have been providing feedback to get this patch to this point.
Please note that optional betas are only accessible on the Steam Windows 64 bit build.
WARNING: This beta changes many things about freeplay mode, including how it is saved! Old freeplay saves will no longer be loadable.
IT IS STRONGLY ADVISED TO MAKE A SAVE BACKUP: We highly recommend making a backup of your saved games before you run an optional beta, on the off-chance that some changes cause them to be corrupted. To see where your saves are stored, see the information in this thread on the Steam forums.
Code: newbeachtesters
If you would like to join the beta, the code is newbeachtesters. If you don’t know how to join a beta and would like to, follow the instructions below:
Find Empires of the Undergrowth in your Steam library, right-click on it and choose "Properties"
Choose the "Betas" tab
In the box titled "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas", enter newbeachtesters
After the "Access code correct" information appears, make sure you've chosen "Open beta" from the "Select the beta you would like to opt into" drop-down menu
Press close - the game will now update to the beta branch
Patch Notes
Headline Features
Smarter AI - much cleverer freeplay AI! It’ll give you a run for your jelly.
Freer Freeplay - new freeplay features, new uber creatures!
Skirmish Mode - quick-to-setup game vs AI colonies based on freeplay
Prettier Artwork - for beach story & freeplay levels, & some creatures!
Campaign Balance - the campaign has been rebalanced with many changes
Mount Your Enemies - many more enemy creatures can now be climbed by your ants!
Freeplay / Custom Game
Freeplay now lives in the Custom Game menu, along with the new Skirmish streamlined setup mode.
Freeplay AI completely reworked
Much more intelligent building & food collection priority
Assist allies under attack & plan coordinated attacks
Guards resources, steals aphids, harrasses opponents
Nest designs tailored to species & room location
New build priority system for different species
Build orders adapt to storage & battle needs
Will hide from rising water on applicable maps
Customisable temperament & reactions
Streamlined setup mode called Skirmish
Quick battle setup vs computer-controlled colonies
Emphasises colony vs colony combat with conquest victory condition
Preset landmarks & creature spawns
Generally shorter form games
New landmarks
Huge creatures (whip spider, great blue skimmer or bullfrog)
Caterpillar plants
Relocatable aphid plants (rosemary in beach levels, fewflower milkweed otherwise)
Carnivorous plants
New uber creatures
Bombardier beetle
Red velvet ant
Eastern newt
Narrow-mouthed toad
Beach tiger beetle & beach wolf spider are now custom game only creatures
The above have had stats & abilities changed to differentiate them from the new campaign creatures taking their place (see below)
Freeplay can optionally use the fixed landmarks from Skirmish
Freeplay now has the option of spawning environmental creatures with roaming patrol routes
Story Campaign
Most levels in the campaign have been changed. In general, in the 1.x & 2.x levels aggressive creatures drop less food, whilst environmental food is increased. In the 4.x levels, aggressive creatures drop slightly more food. The 1.x, 2.x & 4.x levels should now feel fairly consistent in that regard. There are many other changes, too.
All beach, forest & rainforest creatures have had their food quantity recalculated & reduced
All swamp creatures have had food quantities increased to bring them in line with the new values in the rest of the game
1.1 New Home & 1.2 Subjugation
Food has been added into both levels
1.2 slave maker attacks will now have level 2 & 3 ants amongst them
1.2 slave maker attacks will get harder more rapidly on hard & insane
Challenge mode cricket attacks will be more frequent on harder difficulties
Funnel web spiders now become food items rather than harvestable corpses on death
Enemies in top-left of 1.2 will now attack the queen on being unearthed
2.1 Rising Tide & 2.2 Queen of the Hill
More food added to the undergrounds of both levels
Has higher level enemy ants on the map & in attack waves
Notification about creature mounting moved to 2.1
2.1 underground caverns added
2.1 has more daytime surface food
2.1 has a new food arrival event with new narrator dialogue
2.2 aphids now produce food throughout the night
Melee wood ants speed increased to 320 up from 300
Melee wood ants given 30% AoE resistance
Reduced number of challenge mode beetle larvae in some areas
Creature changes
Beach tiger beetle replaced with northern dune tiger beetle (same stats as old beach tiger beetle)
Beach wolf spider replaced with sand bear wolf spider (same stats as old beach wolf spider)
Larger variant of hermit crab added
3.2 Front Line
Level 2 & 3 huge whip spider added for hard & insane in 3.2
Significantly increased health of huge whip spider
Huge whip spider now has a health bar like the bullfrog & great blue skimmer
4.1 Cold Blood & 4.2 A Bridge Too Far
Aggressive creatures now drop a little more food
Pervasive fire ant free hatch timer improved to 1m30s (from 1m40s)
Artwork Changes
The beach environment has been updated to bring it up to the fidelity of the more recent swamp & rotting log environments. 2.1, 2.2 & the freeplay / custom game maps The Dunes & Towhead all use these new assets.
New decorative beach assets: flowering bindweed, water weeds, limpets, scallop shells, sea-smoothed rocks, sea urchins
New artwork for the 2 replacement beach creatures: northern dune tiger beetle & sand bear wolf spider
New model for black ant queen
New water look for beach levels
Enemy Climbing / Mounting
In this update, many more creatures can be climbed and mounted by your ants - not just the very largest creatures! As a general rule of thumb, most creatures as big or larger than a large tiger beetle can be climbed - but there are some exceptions. Smaller mountable enemies cannot be climbed by larger ants - for example, a leafcutter major cannot climb a wolf spider.
Ants mounted on enemies deal bonus damage, and apply a damage buff to allies attacking the creatures from the ground. There are circumstances where you may be better off disabling enemy mounting, however - if speed is an issue, it takes ants time to climb up and down larger creatures, and if a creature despawns with ants still on it those ants will be lost.
The pine woods tree frog is currently unmountable (we intend to change this before this update leaves the optional beta phase).
Extra Levels & Festive Levels
All festive levels are now active for testing - access these by clicking on the spider web for Hungry Spider, the gift for Festive Spider, and the hanging lantern for New Year’s Feast. These will be reverted to their timed form when this update leaves beta.
Food has been added into most extra levels in line with the food value changes
The Hungry Spider now has 80% thorns resistance
Aggrandise
Different levels of huge whip spider final boss added depending on difficulty
Removed extra whip spider juveniles from the final boss
Fish no longer loses resources on harder difficulties
Huge whip spider will no longer ignore player’s ants on the way to the queen
Other Changes
Realistic Mode removed & replaced with Advanced Options for control of individual things it did
Seasonal costumes option added in Advanced Options to allow them to be disabled
Point values have been reassessed & updated (this affects enemy creature spawning & score)
User interface updated in multiple places (augmentations, level select, options menu, achievements) to use up more screen space & allow more space for language & UI scaling
UI scaling slider added to the menu to allow manual increasing of UI scale (good for handhelds & TVs)
Updated harvesting spots on some dead creatures so no more ants are harvesting than there is food available
Minor performance improvements & reduction of visual artefacts on resources
Changed the Battle Arena tile set to the new beach one
Localisation additions & changes
Updated enemy mounting button icon
Tooltips will now show when the game is paused
Fixes
Fixed some visual effects remaining on creatures after death
Fixed an issue where attack points could sometimes be unreachable causing attacker to wait on the floor by them
Uber velvet worm can now be harvested by 8 ants at a time
1.1 & 1.2 player colony now black in colour
Fixed an issue in Tug Of War 2 that would lead to the enemy colony spawning black ants
Decals now correctly delete when a tile is downgraded or deleted
Fixed an issue where ants would not rotate for a short while after collecting a queen egg
Fixed an issue where ladybirds may not land if they are not being observed by the player (quantum ladybird wave function now collapsed)
Fixed an issue where loaded eggs would only appear after the game had started
Fixed a pontoon construction point in 4.2
Numerous text & AI scaling fixes
Matched the colour select UI more closely to the in-game colours
Queens will no longer perform pain animation on loading
Salamanders & newts will still be rendered when just off-screen
Aura effects should display better on inclined surfaces
Lynx spider should no longer do its climbing animation when walking
Fixed a wood ant firing sound issue
Asid:
V0.31 OUT NOW - Freeplay, New AI, Beach Art, Story Balance & more
Fri, 14 July 2023
It's time for a big overhaul of freeplay, a whole bunch of new art, and a campaign rebalance! Welcome to Empires of the Undergrowth version 0.31, and thank you to everyone who has helped test it for the past week and the focus group who have been on it for the past month or so.
Watch the video for a breakdown of the major new features!
Read on: https://steamcommunity.com/games/463530/announcements/detail/3672172719494618890
Asid:
November 2023 Newsletter
Thu, 9 November 2023
Updating our roadmap to version 1.0 with the latest info
This will be the last newsletter of 2023, with one more vlog to come in December. 2023 has been a formative year for Empires of the Undergrowth with the freeplay / custom game mode being brought much closer to its final form, and the bulk of the systems and level work on the final stages of the game being done.
Fire ants in the swamp from Solstitium on our Discord
The end is, finally, in sight – but there’s still a stretch to go. To that end, the main feature of this newsletter is an updated roadmap that might take us all the way to release (we’ll have to see how things go!). We’ll spend the majority of our word allowance going over that.
Updated Roadmap
The Empires of the Undergrowth roadmap gets updated every six months, with the optimistic thought that one of them may unexpectedly be the last one we have to do. Is this that one? We don’t know – probably not, but hope springs eternal as they say. Feast your arthropod-hungry eyes on this beauty, as we then go through each step in turn:
Now I am become roadmap, destroyer of deadlines
Read on: https://steamcommunity.com/games/463530/announcements/detail/3802787712101173739
Asid:
Vlog 8 - Releasing EotU in 2024
Fri, 8 December 2023
Vlog 8 is here, and it's been increasingly clear to us over the past several months that we're finally approaching the full release goal for Empires of the Undergrowth. The long road of early access is drawing to a close, and release plans are being worked on.
We will be releasing the game fully during 2024.
This vlog goes into a bit of detail about where we are with it, and while we're not ready to commit to an exact date (and never will do unless we're sure we can meet it) I hope you can gather from my enthusiasm that it really is a-comin'.
Current roadmap (published November 2023):
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