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Offline Asid

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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #75 on: December 20, 2020, 12:48:04 AM »
Optional Beta 0.22111 Available Now - Freeplay AI Saving, Fixes
Sat, 19 December 2020



We're ready for some feedback on the system to save AI colonies in freeplay - this opt-in beta should do the trick!
We’ve made big strides towards getting the freeplay AI save-able, and we’re at the point where we could do with some extra feedback before we declare it good to go. This opt-in beta build adds saving to freeplay games with AI colonies, which should make them much more viable in a long game.

If you would like to participate, the beta code is christmasants. You will need to be a 64 bit Windows user to join. If you’re unfamiliar with how to activate a Steam beta and would like to, follow the steps below:

1.   Find Empires of the Undergrowth in your Steam library, right-click on it and choose "Properties"
2.   Choose the "Betas" tab
3.   In the box titled "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas", enter christmasants
4.   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
5.   Press close - the game will now update to the beta branch.

WARNING - We highly recommend you backup your saves before testing this beta build. This beta is primarily testing saving so this is more important than usual - there’s an above-normal chance of save files becoming corrupted. Save files are located at:

C:/ Users / [YOUR USER NAME] / AppData / Local / EotU / Saved /SaveGames

Headline Features
•   Saving is now available with AI colonies in freeplay
    o   Please keep an eye out for strange behaviours of the enemy or allied colonies after a save and load in freeplay; it is possible some of their behaviour has not been correctly restored. Please report these on our forums or Discord!


Fixes
•   Fixed some underground visual tile bugs
•   Fixed a minor issue with the slave maker button in battle arena
•   Swarm slave makers now have team colours working properly
•   Fixed a surface tile painting issue on The Dunes
•   Removed some specks of dirt that were floating on the open nest entrances in The Dunes
•   Fixed an issue where AIs that were cheating could only get a free hatch once per game
•   Fixed issues with the AI colony’s visibility of spawned landmarks (should lead to some more sensible landmark harvesting decisions)
•   Fixed an issue where surface tunnels could switch when a freeplay game was loaded
•   Fixed an issue where randomised caverns were not loading and saving
•   Fixed an issue where some creatures could freeze if interrupted during picking up another creature
•   Creatures eaten by other creatures will no longer drop invisible food
•   Festive Spider level funnel web kills now count towards your experience
•   Adjusted web size in Christmas spider level the better represent the area funnel webs can detect enemies
•   Webs in the Festive Spider level will no longer expand upwards covering the map
•   Webs stop increasing in size beyond level 9 in the Festive Spider level
•   Fixed an animation issue to do with wood ants rapid firing
•   In freeplay uber mole crickets now count towards the hunter victory condition
•   Can no longer tag and untag another colony’s tunnel exit for excavation

Optimisations
•   Optimisation added to creature spawning when looking up its class (should speed things up when lots of ants are hatching at once such as the beginning of a freeplay game)


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Offline Asid

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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #76 on: December 24, 2020, 03:08:38 AM »
V0.22112 Update Out Now - Freeplay AI Saving, Fixes & Optimisation
Wed, 23 December



An important feature for the longevity of freeplay games with AI colonies, you can now save games that include them!
Thanks for the people who have helped us identify a crash with the recent short optional beta. This has now been fixed and we're ready to move this patch to the main branch just in time for Christmas. It is now possible to save your freeplay games that include AI colonies! This should make them more viable for long-term games instead of short skirmishes.

Freeplay AI should still be considered to be in its early days and there are a multitude of extra things we'd like to do for it (making it cleverer being the main one) but it's likely this is the last feature update for freeplay until after the 4th tier campaign levels (fire ants) are released.

Headline Features
•   Saving is now available with AI colonies in freeplay
  o   Please keep an eye out for strange behaviours of the enemy or allied colonies after a save and load in freeplay; it is possible some of their behaviour has not been correctly restored. Please report these on our forums or Discord!


Fixes
•   Fixed some underground visual tile bugs
•   Fixed a minor issue with the slave maker button in battle arena
•   Swarm slave makers now have team colours working properly
•   Fixed a surface tile painting issue on The Dunes
•   Removed some specks of dirt that were floating on the open nest entrances in The Dunes
•   Fixed an issue where AIs that were cheating could only get a free hatch once per game
•   Fixed issues with the AI colony’s visibility of spawned landmarks (should lead to some more sensible landmark harvesting decisions)
•   Fixed an issue where surface tunnels could switch when a freeplay game was loaded
•   Fixed an issue where randomised caverns were not loading and saving
•   Fixed an issue where some creatures could freeze if interrupted during picking up another creature
•   Creatures eaten by other creatures will no longer drop invisible food
•   Festive Spider level funnel web kills now count towards your experience
•   Adjusted web size in Christmas spider level the better represent the area funnel webs can detect enemies
•   Webs in the Festive Spider level will no longer expand upwards covering the map
•   Webs stop increasing in size beyond level 9 in the Festive Spider level
•   Fixed an animation issue to do with wood ants rapid firing
•   In freeplay uber mole crickets now count towards the hunter victory condition
•   Can no longer tag and untag another colony’s tunnel exit for excavation
•   Stopped aphids moving when being eaten by a ladybird; should fix floating honeydew


Optimisations
•   Optimisation added to creature spawning when looking up its class (should speed things up when lots of ants are hatching at once such as the beginning of a freeplay game)


Thanks to whoamijr for the screenshot used in the artwork of this post!

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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #77 on: January 27, 2021, 02:29:44 PM »
Optional Beta Available Now 0.2222 - Extra Levels for Testing
Wed, January 27, 2021



If you'd like to help us test some upcoming extra levels, you can join this optional beta!

It’s time for an optional beta! This beta has some fixes for long-standing issues and, more excitingly, comes with 4 (!) new extra levels for testing and balance. Extra levels are fast to develop as most of them don't need extensive new systems and artwork; we can make one of these in just a few short hours but testing them for balance is another thing. They need some feedback!

We are looking for feedback on balance in the 4 new extra levels. You can leave them on our Discord, Steam forum, or official forums.

If you’d like to help out, we’d be very happy for you to give them a spin now! You’ll need to be a Windows 64 bit owner on Steam to join the beta.

PLEASE NOTE! Once the testing phase is over and this update goes live on the main branch, the new extra levels will be removed from the list again, and will reappear monthly after that (exact dates to be announced as the time approaches).

If you would like to join the beta, the code is givemeextraextra. If you don’t know how to join a beta and would like to, follow the instructions below:

1.   Find Empires of the Undergrowth in your Steam library, right-click on it and choose "Properties"
2.   Choose the "Betas" tab
3.   In the box titled "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas", enter givemeextraextra
4.   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
5.   Press close - the game will now update to the beta branch.

0.2222 Patch Notes


•   New extra levels added to be rolled out monthly, but available in this beta for testing for a short time:
  •   Occupation - a wood ant level not unlike the campaign level New Home
  •   Cramped - a heavily infested leafcutter level with a surface, kill all enemies!
  •   The Culling - a black ant level with interesting enemy spawning mechanics
  •   Enemy of my Enemy - a unique game where digging is instant and done with the mouse; packs of enemies are hostile to each other. Get them to kill each other before they kill the queen!
•   Fixed an issue where non-aggressive buried enemies were heading to the queen when dug out
•   Fixed an issue where after a freeplay save one of the enemy colonies would become un-enterable
•   Fixed an issue where ubers were linked to the wrong freeplay setup check boxes
•   Fixed a pathing issue on The Crucible demo map
•   Minor optimisations in plant climbing
•   Changes to how AI colonies in freeplay decide which resources to harvest from
•   Cheating freeplay colonies can now resurrect more than one dead group at a time if they have no resources and their ants in groups are all dead



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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #78 on: January 30, 2021, 01:36:08 AM »
January 2021 Newsletter
Fri, 29 January 2021

Covering EotU-related news from December 2020 to January 2021



In our first newsletter of the new year, covering news from December 2020 and January 2021, we have some critters from the fourth tier of the formicarium story to talk about (and perhaps a tiny little sneak preview of a story mission), as well as some discussion of some new extra levels that will be coming your way over the next few months. Also, on the company side of things (which we do have to occasionally think about) we’ve recently launched an updated version of our website, which should make it easier to find information about Slug Disco Studios Ltd. and the games we publish. Thanks to Dan, our recently-hired marketing content creator, for his stellar work on bringing the website into the 2020s!


A screenshot from an upcoming extra level – Cramped

4th Tier Creatures

With our artist Matt on a big drive to complete lots of 3D models, textures and animations for the fire ant update, we have a few new creatures to show off to you. It’s exciting to be able to see some of the denizens of the swamp ready and in the game! The 4th tier levels take place in a nature preserve known as the Green Swamp in North Carolina, so all of the creatures in the 4th tier levels are either native or invasive to that place in real life.

Since we’re talking about the 4th tier levels, it’s worth reiterating our policy on release dates. We do not do estimates for big content releases – we’ve done that in the past and since game development is very unpredictable in how long certain tasks will take, we’ve ended up disappointing people before and end up having to push estimates back further. To that end, we stick to the old development adage of “when it’s done” – and as soon as we have a date we are 100% sure we can hit, we will be very loud about letting everyone know.

Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle

We announced this critter some time back, but now we have completed artwork to show you. The six-spotted tiger beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) is a common sight in the undergrowth of North America. A fast daytime hunter, its large compound eyes scour the landscape as it also feels for vibrations. It is a voracious hunter of ants, and your Solenopsis invicta are very much on the menu.


Cicindela sexguttata, in-game model

Cicindela sexguttata will be a little smaller than the other tiger beetle in the game (the beach tiger beetle), but just as deadly. We particularly like the motion that Matt has bestowed him with, just look at that elytra (wing casing) action in this animation showreel!




Read on

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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #79 on: March 06, 2021, 02:16:09 AM »
Optional Beta 0.2223 - Engine Upgrade & Fixes, Fix for Laptop Users
Fri, 5 March 2021



Also a new menu for the extra levels giving a description and time estimate

In order to fix a crash that was happening on certain laptops with Intel chips we have had to update the Unreal Engine version Empires of the Undergrowth is built on. Doing so may have some performance improvements but mostly the experience should be the same.

We’ve done plenty of testing ourselves but a change like this is systemic, so any part of the game could have issues that we’ve missed.

We are running this beta to make sure there are no hidden bugs that cropped up during the engine update, and we appreciate anyone who can spend some time testing any and all aspects of the game for problems.

If you would like to join the beta, the code is givemeextraextra. If you don’t know how to join a beta and would like to, follow the instructions below:

1.   Find Empires of the Undergrowth in your Steam library, right-click on it and choose "Properties"
2.   Choose the "Betas" tab
3.   In the box titled "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas", enter givemeextraextra
4.   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
5.   Press close - the game will now update to the beta branch.


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. https://steamcommunity.com/app/463530/discussions/0/1489992713700086489/?snr=2_groupannouncements_detail_

Fixes

•   The game will no longer crash on startup when using specific Intel graphics chips
•   Fixed a crash that could occur at low frame rates
•   Fixed an issue with player-controlled spider movement
•   Fixed an issue in 2.1 where night creatures could get stuck in the tunnel exit
•   Fixed an issue where creatures on top of tunnel exits could get stuck
•   Fixed an issue on 2.1 where first night creatures to spawn would immediately despawn (there are now more creatures at night)
•   Night creatures in 2.1 will now be more attracted to combat
•   Fixed an issue with an ant getting stuck in 2.2 on a specific ramp
•   Enemy woodworm dug out at start of 3.1 are now friendly again and hence the narrator makes sense
•   The Culling is no longer stuck on easy
•   Fixed an issue where the uber mole cricket would freeze instead of doing its thump attack
•   Creatures will no longer decelerate when they spot and item of food or an enemy (movement should look smoother when going to gather food)
•   Minor cosmetic painting issue fixed on 3.1
•   Fixed an issue where the scientist was not coaxing your ants out when you retreated underground in formicarium challenge 3
•   Fixed an issue where loaded food items underground could count as enemies being in your nest (this could cause a computer ally in freeplay to never stop protecting you)
•   Fixed an issue where the scientists finger jab would aim at dead ants
•   Changed victory animation on 3.1 and 3.2 so they correctly come out of the tunnel exit
•   Minor cosmetic fixes to 2.2 (water edges and painting issues)
•   Dug out a tile that should have been in the leafcutter demo level (on top of the tunnel exit)
•   Fixed some potential issues with bots
•   Improved checks added to food pickup meaning food should go ignored less
•   Freeplay AI enemy colonies will now leave an enemy’s nest faster after the queen is dead
•   Fixed an issue with freeplay AI colonies that caused them to sometimes place a marker off the map resulting in the associated ants breaking
•   Fixed various minor issues with Freeplay AI colonies

Features
•   Extra levels now come with a description and minimap when selecting them from the menu

Updates
•   Minor bot optimisations


Thanks to syrian dugong on our Discord for the screenshot used in the artwork for this post!

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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #80 on: May 10, 2021, 11:50:32 PM »
May 2021 Newsletter
Mon, 10 May 2021



Covering news and progress from April to May 2021
Good lord, it’s May already. This newsletter will spotlight some more enemies coming for the fire ant update, with a particular focus on nature’s favoured form – the beetle. We also have some talk about new AI systems that we’ve been working on over the past few weeks, which will be used in the last of the campaign levels and eventually in freeplay too!


A classically red Formica ereptor queen from GlitchyGamer


We’ve still got quite a few critters to show off as we complete work on them, as well as a few we don’t want to spoil until we get very close to release time.

4th Tier Creatures – Beetles

Ah, beetles. They are the most diverse group of insects, and arguably of all animals. They appear throughout human culture and history, in art and science – they exist just about everywhere that we do. Naturally, we need more beetles in Empires of the Undergrowth (but perhaps not so many as to cause an uprising…) so we have a few more joining our various tiger beetles and rove beetles in the upcoming fourth tier.

Bombardier Beetle

Bombardiers are a kind of well-armoured ground beetle. There are several species – this one is called Brachinus alternans
. They get their name from the distinctive popping sound they make when threatened, and a closer look at the cause of this sound reveals a defensive system that can be deadly if you happen to be small and in its way.


A bombardier beetle faces off against fire ants


By mixing various chemicals and enzymes together in a special internal chamber, the beetle produces a violently exothermic reaction. The resultant mixture reaches close to the boiling point of water and is expelled by the rapid rise in pressure through an opening pointed at the beetle’s enemy.


Near-boiling liquid is explosively fired at the beetle’s enemies


If you’re a large vertebrate predator, this irritant is likely to be enough to put you off having a bombardier beetle for dinner. If you’re the size of an insect, however, the momentary boiling temperature of this liquid can easily be fatal. With the large area of effect this defensive spray has, it’d be wise to consider carefully whether the bombardier beetle is worth the inevitable casualties.

False Bombardier Beetle

Mimicry is seen everywhere in the animal kingdom – creatures evolve to look like more dangerous ones, which gives them a deceptive advantage. The false bombardier beetle (Galerita bicolor
) has evolved to look almost identical to its namesake, with some minor differences in colouration and morphology.


An impostor among us – a false bombardier beetle looking sus


This helps it avoid predation, but the false bombardier beetle is not without defences – it’s significantly larger than the true bombardier, has the same chitinous armour, and uses muscle action to spray a solution that is mainly made of a familiar substance – formic acid.


Size comparison to the false bombardier (left) and the true bombardier


Whilst not as deadly as the boiling liquid that is explosively fired by the true bombardier, formic acid will still do considerable damage to small creatures. It’s the same acid used by the ranged wood ants of the 2nd tier, and it’ll have a similar in-game consequences – an area of effect venom-type attack.

Checkered Beetle

Cleridae – the checkered beetles – are distributed worldwide. This particular species is called Enoclerus rosmarus
, and it’s a common sight in North America. They’re active hunters, and their preferred habitats are moist and sunny – qualities which will bring them into conflict with your fire ants.


A checkered beetle minding its own business


Checkered Beetle Larva

Checkered beetle larvae are also hunters, which in Empires of the Undergrowth will give them a similar role to rove beetle larvae in previous levels. They’re more vulnerable in this state, before they develop the chitinous armour they have as adults – but they’re still a force to be reckoned with.


Checkered beetle larva fights fire ants


AI Scanning

At the moment, the various AI colonies we have in the game are either heavily scripted (as in 2.2) or reliant on preset “points of interest” which they use to decide where to send their forces (3.1, freeplay). This makes them relatively robust but doesn’t allow them to make very complex decisions on a changing battlefield. Liam has been working on a scanning solution that will let colonies periodically scan the surface for interesting things, giving them the ability to make much more relevant choices.




Green squares represent areas of interest the AI scan has found


These will be used on all of the remaining campaign levels, all of which will feature AI colonies in some form. Eventually, we hope to transplant this feature to freeplay too – after fire ants, we are likely to do another big round of freeplay changes to bring that game mode closer to its release form.




Two colonies scan for points of interest on one another – light orange is the real scan, the maroon is a skipped scan where it decided to use saved data from a scan not so long ago in the same place


Community Wiki

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the fan wikis that crop up; fandom.com is one of the more prominent ones. We’ve been slightly bemused by these and not entirely sure what to make of them – up until very recently, they were simply placeholders with very little in the way of articles. However, thanks to some dedicated community members, the Empires of the Undergrowth fandom.com wiki has had some big content additions over the past couple of months.

Particular thanks to thanhmk28
on our forums for putting a lot of time into the fandom wiki, and writing / formatting a majority of the articles so far. On it you’ll see creature stats and abilities (taken from a version of the spreadsheets that the game uses that we host on our website) that might well be useful for people looking for a more solid idea of what various creature’s strengths and weaknesses are until we implement a way to see these in the game.


The EotU Fandom Wiki


There’s even a dedicated spoiler page for the upcoming 4th tier update, which details all of the new stuff we’ve revealed in Screenshot Saturdays and these newsletters. This wiki is open to further contributors, so if you’d like to help thanhmk28 out with writing some new articles then by all means do! Our community continuously proves itself to be one of the best there is, and we couldn’t be more thankful for that.

For final release, there will be plenty of information accessible in-game with our own encyclopedia system. Even after that’s implemented, there will always be a place for community-driven wikis like these – they’re definitely an appropriate place to post guides, creative strategies and suchlike that won’t be in the game itself.

Ecosystem Updates

A couple of months ago, Tom Johnson released his evolution simulation game Ecosystem into early access on Steam. Slug Disco are the publishers for it, and it’s been a joy to see how it’s been received and how community feedback is already shaping the direction Tom has decided to push things.

About once fortnightly, Tom has been sharing his progress and direction with us and we’ve been posting these as articles on the game’s Steam page. He’s now at a point where he can share the path he’s chosen for Ecosystem’s first major update, which will focus on graphs and analytical tools so the player can see plant, predator and prey relationships in much greater detail than before.


The graphs and analytical tools coming soon to Ecosystem


Ecosystem continues to progress rapidly as a project and if you have an interest in speculative evolutionary biology, serene aquatic environments, or even just producing abominations such as human-like fish then we heartily recommend giving Ecosystem a spin. It has a demo which shows a lot of the basic features, but the full thing is gearing up to be something altogether more special.

Screenshot Central

Seriously, I feel like this section is just for me – every time I write a newsletter, I look forward to the bit where I have a browse through some recent screenshots posted to our Discord or uploaded to the community, and select three of my favourites. If you’d like to participate, by far the easiest way to get your screenshot to us these days is Discord. You can also email them directly to mike@slugdisco.com.


A pleasing formicarium from BrickyGraph631



Trapjaws under attack from a hidden jumping spider from Rarity



A close call in extra level Excavators from Crazlex9

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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #81 on: July 18, 2021, 11:51:10 PM »
Cramped - New Extra Level - Out Now!
Mon, 17 May 2021



Can you guide your leafcutter ants to domination with limited resources and VERY limited nest space?

Cramped is a new extra level for Empires of the Undergrowth, and it's out right now! This leafcutter level is very tight on space - with a tiny underground nest and many enemies that must be slain, only a superior knowledge of the game systems will allow for victory. Find the level now in the "Extra Levels" section of the menu.
 


Your game client will not need to be updated to play; the level will already be in the list. Thanks to everyone who helped test and balance this level when it was in beta.

Notice about the campaign we must post with each new extra level:
For those concerned about extra levels taking up dev time, please know that compared to the campaign content, these missions take practically no time at all to develop - just a few short hours apiece (you can watch John do most of the development for these on stream). Because they all use existing assets, systems and artwork, one of our devs can create an extra level very fast indeed.

We're still charging full steam ahead with the fire ant update - we just thought there's plenty of you who would appreciate something new to play in the meantime.


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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #82 on: July 30, 2021, 11:56:14 PM »
A Deep Dive into the AI of Empires of the Undergrowth | Devs of the Undergrowth
Jun 22, 2021




In the first episode of Devs of the Undergrowth, we chat with Liam who talks us through all things AI in the game, including how it was historically, and what we will be changing going forward to the Fire Ant update.

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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #83 on: August 23, 2021, 11:58:01 PM »
Gamescom 2021 Fire Ant Demo Level Available Now! - 0.2313 Release
Mon, 23 August 2021



We're at the Indie Arena Booth this week, and to celebrate there's a limited-time demo level, featuring fire ants!

We love events, but for obvious reasons we've so rarely been able to attend them recently. Enter the Gamescom 2021 Indie Arena Booth, an online event that is running from 25th-29th August! We have a booth in the virtual world, which you can visit with your 2D avatar. There's an NPC representation of the scientist there to answer some questions, and of course we'll be there ourselves too!

To celebrate this, from the moment of this post there is a limited-time demo level available. For the first time we're letting fire ants loose for a preview before their appearance in the upcoming 4th tier levels! In
The Promised Land, you'll need to use the fire ant's bridge building skills to acquire resources from neighbouring islands, before building as long a bridge as you can to reach the aforementioned land that was promised on the right side of the map.

Simply place a pheromone marker on an island you wish to reach, and your fire ants will use their bodies to make a floating bridge for their sisters to use. Beware of falling water levels stranding them - ants that get cut off from the colony will panic and quickly die. Also, keep an eye on the bombardier beetle population - they'll attack your colony together with their near-boiling liquid spray.

The Promised Land will be available until August 29th, when Gamescom ends.

Full patch notes below:

Features
•   Fire ant demo level The Promised Land available between 23rd and 29th of August (accessible through a pop-up in main menu) whilst Gamescom is running
•   Vulkan can now be used in Windows (add -vulkan to launch options)

Improvements / Changes
•   Improved walk cycles across game (creatures should now longer look like they are sliding when slowed)
•   Enemy underground tabs will now stretch to the full available size above the minimap rather than just taking a set size (this allows up to 6 colonies on a map, needed for future levels)
•   Creature’s slow resist will now also resist attack slows

Fixes
•   Really slow creatures wiggle left and right less
•   Fixed an issue with creatures killed during pickup getting stuck in the creature’s jaws
•   Disabled colony section of the colony setup tab in freeplay setup (due to a bug that could cause it to be inconsistent with the basic setup tab)
•   Fixed a bug that could sometimes cause ants to spin on the spot for a short amount of time
•   Reward tooltips will no longer display if the mouse is hovered over the invisible reward area on levels without rewards

The Promised Land
Your Solenopsis invicta fire ants are trying to reach a bountiful area of the jungle. Build floating bridges to nearby islands by placing a pheromone marker on it, when water allows. New objectives will appear as you complete the existing ones. Beware the bombardier beetles!



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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #84 on: October 25, 2021, 11:55:19 PM »
The Hungry Spider Returns
Mon, 25 October 2021




He's back for his annual spooky session.... and he's so very hungry.
It's that time of year again. The nights are drawing in, the air is getting colder.... and the Hungry Spider awakens, and finds that he is ravenous.



The Hungry Spider level will be around for the remainder of the spooky season - to access it, click on the cobweb that has mysteriously appeared in the lab. In this level you directly control an endlessly starving wolf spider (although I am of the belief that he has some sort of terrible metabolic issue) as he eats his way around a web-shaped map.

To those who haven't played this one before, it is a brutally
difficult level and few have achieved victory in it. The uber creatures are the real killer, and you'll have to take them all out to win. Upgrade your abilities as you level up, improving your chances against the monsters.

But in the end, of course, the real monster is you.

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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #85 on: November 26, 2021, 11:57:31 PM »
November 2021 Newsletter
Fri, 26 November 2021



Covering updates and news from October to November 2021


Welcome to 2021’s last newsletter! We’ll get straight to the point about where we’re at with the fire ant release plans after this introduction. We’ve also got a very special extra level set to come out shortly before the holidays next month – so plenty of details on that. There’s a final creature we want to show off, some finished animations and game mechanics for a creature revealed a while back, and some finished artwork for the swamp environment in which the 4th tier will be set, as well as the first of our carnivorous plants.


Trap jaw ants on the march from Kacper on our Discord


4th Tier Release Plans

Those of you who have been following along on our social media and particularly our Discord will probably have gotten the impression over the last few months that we intended to get the fire ant update out before the end of the year. Indeed these were our plans, and obviously shortly before Christmas would have been the ideal time for that – but we’ve realised that we won’t be able to hit that goal.

As is always the case with game development and ambitious projects, pinning down how long things take is exceedingly tricky. What would appear to be an easy task ends up taking a long time, unexpected complications arise, and priorities change. We are confident enough at this point to say that the update will come in early 2022, but exactly how early is yet to be finalised
.

Our marketing team will be getting together soon to work on some promotional material, and a short while after this we will have a much better idea of when we’ll be able to give you a date for the long-awaited update. Expect some more firm news on this before the end of the year!

We can let you know that we’ve been working with the voice cast again recently, and it’s been great hearing new words from devious scientists and sombre narrators again. We took advantage of this fact to have the narrator record some extra voice lines for a new extra level. Which leads us on to:

Extra Level Coming Soon – Hibernation

Although we realised we wouldn’t be releasing the 4th tier this year, we still wanted to do something a little special to close out 2021. Many of the extra levels are rather fanciful, playing fast and footloose with reality and we get very silly scenarios such as Beetles Rise Up! Not so with Hibernation, which will play out much more like a campaign level and is based on a real-world scenario. In it you play as wood ants living high in alpine mountains – where winters are harsh and ants must adapt or die.




It will be arriving shortly before Christmas, and it’ll be the first extra level to have completely new narration and music. Liam has snuck plenty of Yuletide-themed tunes in the new music! Here’s a little preview of that.

To survive and compete against nearby colonies, your wood ants will have to gather not just food, but slow-decomposing vegetation as well. As vegetation is broken down, it releases heat in much the same way a compost heap does. Decaying pine needles will warm nearby creatures in the nest, staving off the harsh cold outside and allowing ants to remain active for longer.

It’s shaping up to be a really fantastic extra level, and combined with the winter-themed music it should feel suitably seasonal. The ultimate goal is to allow your colony to settle down for the winter, safe with its warm vegetation chambers gently giving off heat, and enter a state of torpor until the spring sun warms the colony again. It’s set to be released just in time for all your holiday ant action.

Eastern Newt

The last of the amphibians that will be in the 4th tier update is the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) – more specifically the juvenile version of it, known as the red eft. They are bright orange or red, and have toxic skin – any assailant wishing harm upon the newt will have to cope with the potent tetrodotoxin. In-game, this is likely to manifest as them reflecting back some of the damage they receive back at their attacker as venom-type damage.




They love damp, swampy conditions – and your fire ants have made their home nearby. They will be unimpeded by water, and will be able to swim across the surface to reach islands much more easily than the invertebrates.

Swamp Environment

Our small but skilled art team has been working away on the swamp environment for several months now, and we’re now at a point where we can show off some of the surface! Whilst underground is a teal-tinted world full of roots, slime moulds and other such growths, the surface is green with algae, mosses, leaves and carnivorous plants.


A ramped area in the swamp adorned with dead wood, moss, lichen and algae


This damp environment will have changing water levels and a variety of new resource types, such as seed-rich pinecones and nectar-like secretions from the carnivorous plants. A huge variety of creatures live here, making their homes in the unique ecological niches allowed. This includes creatures adapted to hide amongst the traps of the meat-eating flora, such as the green lynx spider.


A wide area with a nest in the background on level 4.1, titled “Cold Blood” (WIP)


We’re well into the decoration phase now, with our dedicated environment artist Dan flexing his painting muscles to give the two campaign levels of the fire ant tier their distinctive final look. The rest of the team have been waiting as patiently as the rest of you have to see the results, and we think they’re stunning.

Venus Flytrap

When one thinks about carnivorous plants, the Venus flytrap is what immediately springs to mind. Although there are many kinds of plant adaptations that can extract nutrition from animals, such as pitchers and sticky traps, the iconic, dramatically-spiked leaf traps of the Venus flytrap are the most famous.


Two flourishing flytraps


The trap heads themselves are adorned with tiny, barely-visible trigger hairs. If more than one of these hairs is touched in a short enough space of time, the hairs will trigger a relay of chemical and mechanical actions that close the trap, and the struggling of the doomed invertebrate only makes the trap hold on tighter. Eventually, the trap will seal, forming a kind of “stomach” in which to dissolve the prey. Inevitably the victim is broken down into a liquid by digestive enzymes which is then absorbed by the plant.


A closer view of the leaf traps themselves


Despite their name, flying insects make up a very small proportion of the plant’s diet – roughly a third of its prey items are ants. Plants that consume animals do so as an evolutionary adaptation to poor soil quality in their area, lacking in phosphorus and nitrogen.


A closeup of a single trap, showing the tiny trigger hairs


The in-game mechanics of the flytrap will involve them exuding a kind of sugary nectar-like food on the traps, which will likely look similar to the honeydew globules that aphids provide. There will be a percentage chance to trigger the traps, killing any ants currently on them. There will be a balancing act to collecting enough of the nectar to make it worthwhile whilst being able to respawn lost ants sustainably.

Materials Breakdown

Related to the environment work detailed above, Dan C was kind enough to provide me with a breakdown of a rocky material used in the fourth tier campaign levels. It shows the amount of detailed layers needed to make surfaces realistically react to light, from the base layer, to displacement mapping (adds runtime detail to geometry), to normal mapping, which is a computationally efficient way to add extra non-geometric detail.


Many layers go into making a realistic material


Red Velvet Ant In Action

We announced the red velvet ant (Dasymutilla occidentalis) a while back, but we thought it’d be nice to show some of its movement and in-game mechanics. This creature is in fact not an ant at all, but a kind of wingless wasp. The females crawl on the ground and amongst vegetation, their bright red striping a warning about their excruciating stinging capabilities. They are not colloquially called the “cow killer” for no reason!

At high health, she will use her jaws to bite assailants. Eventually, as she feels more threatened, she will enter a state of panic when her health is reduced below a threshold amount. Her movement will become much faster, and she will switch to using her sting – one of the most potent insect stings in existence. The sting will allow her to cut down fire ants much faster as she fights for her life.




She also has an extremely tough exoskeleton, allowing her to take a lot of damage whilst in this frenzied state. You’ll have to weigh up the cost of replacing the ants you will inevitably lose before engaging in a tussle with this notorious resident of the green swamp.

EGX 2021

Back in early October developer Liam, product marketing manager Dan and community manager Mike travelled down to London to go to our first live event in over two years – EGX 2021 at the ExCeL centre. Our main aim was to get back into the swing of things with live events, and of course to show off the game to new and old players alike!


The three stages of man – Dan P, Liam & Mike at our EGX booth


It was fantastic to be able to see people playing the game in person after so long (whilst frantically taking mental notes on what needs to be improved, I think we should warn people off freeplay somehow until they’ve played the campaign!) and it was wonderful to see people discovering it for the first time. We’re hoping to do more live events again going forward if the world allows it.


We exhibited alongside Paul Hervé, developer of Adapt


Screenshot Central

Every time I write a newsletter I look forward to this part. If you’d like to submit an Empires of the Undergrowth screenshot for consideration in a future newsletter (or the occasional community Screenshot Saturday on Twitter and Facebook) then by far the easiest way to do so is to join our Discord and post in the screenshot channel. To get some nice angles, remember to use photo mode – F9 by default. If you hold down shift whilst hitting F9, your camera will be unbound to the surface for added creativity.


An uber whip spider strikes in this shot from Frazzz (check out his YouTube!)



The truth revealed by Atta cephalotes Boi


An uber falls from HamAndCheeseSandwich


Year’s End

With our bimonthly newsletter cycle, that concludes the newsletters for 2021.

It’s been a challenging year for all of us, for very obvious reasons, and I said the exact same thing last year. In spite of that, we sincerely hope you’ve had reasons to be thankful and celebrate too. Our friends in the US have just had thanksgiving, and this seems like a good moment to try and remember what we’re thankful for. We here at Slug Disco are eternally grateful and thankful for the patience, support and kindness you’ve shown to us, as we continue to shape our vision for EotU and Slug Disco as a whole. We know things take time – but they’re worth the wait, and the wait is no longer so long. Look out for more news before the year’s end, and we’ll see you in 2022 to continue our journey into the Undergrowth.

Mike & the Slug Disco Team
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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #86 on: March 02, 2022, 12:26:24 AM »
0.2331 Released - Controller Support, New Language Localisations
Tue, 1 March 2022



The main feature this time is full support for gamepads (Steam Deck, XBox One and PlayStation 4 controllers are all officially supported).

If you prefer to play with a gamepad or would like to try it out, now is the time! We are also adding six new languages localisations (we are not updating our store page to say we officially support these yet; they should be considered to be in beta for now). The languages are Czech, French, Japanese, Korean, Dutch & Polish.

There’s also some fixes and changes, detailed below, including a fix for Mac so Mac users should be able to play Hibernation now! We have also moved the game files to an encrypted form, so the download is likely to be larger than a regular patch since Steam won’t recognise the encrypted files.


Headline Features

•   Gamepad support added
o   All standard gamepad buttons now have functions which can be viewed from the options menu
o   When using a gamepad, key bindings show gamepad glyphs
o   Several notifications have been added or replaced to explain gamepad support when using them
o   The Hungry Spider can now be properly controlled with a gamepad
o   XBox One, PlayStation 4 and Steam Deck gamepads can be selected from the options menu to display the correct glyphs
o   When using Big Picture mode on Steam, or the Steam Deck the on-screen keyboard will display when needed

•   Several new localisation languages added for testing (Czech, French, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish)

Other Fixes & Changes

•   Mac build is now updated to include the Hibernation extra level
•   Fixed a memory leak in creature despawning
•   Fixed some minor pathing bugs
•   Several areas in the game with small text have had their text size increased
•   Fixed an issue where the mouse pointer would not change until moved in some circumstances
•   Fixed an issue where brood chamber hover information would come up overground after having it come up underground
•   Fixed an issue where ants could get stuck on the overground nest exit
•   Fixed an issue where sometimes level setups could drop off the screen at the bottom
•   Minimap pings will now display more consistently
•   Fixed an issue where dragging the mouse during a cutscene could cause tiles to tag for digging
•   Fixed an issue where tiles would be left highlighted when tabbing to surface
•   Fixed an issue where dead creatures could sometimes be carried off to the side of the carrying ant
•   Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor would change when hovering over an enemy nest but not change back when moving off it
•   Added in quick build / upgrade key binding (default to thumb mouse button 1). Hold to automatically select the upgrade or build tool most suitable for where your cursor is


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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #87 on: March 31, 2022, 11:12:52 PM »
March 2022 Newsletter
Thu, 31 March 2022



A shorter-than-usual newsletter because we've run out of things we want to spoil

This will be a shorter-than-usual newsletter, just catching up with the last of the things we’ve posted on our social media before the fire ant update. We’re rounding the corner to the home stretch on that front now, and whilst we’re not quite ready to announce a date (that will come out of the blue one day with a trailer) we are at a point where we don’t want to spoil anything else, as we still want there to be plenty of surprises for when the update drops.

We’ll go over a few things that have been previously announced – all of the things shown in this newsletter are from the 4.x missions.

Environment Showcase

Our environments for the fire ant update are near complete, and we put together this short video to highlight some of the artwork by our dedicated environment artist, Dan C. Level 4.1 will be called “Cold Blood”, and this is the arena in which it is set. The swampland has poor soil so many of the plants here have evolved to be carnivorous.




Venus Flytrap in Action

One such carnivorous plant is the iconic Venus flytrap. The leaves are tipped with traps that exude nectar, attracting ants and flies. Trigger hairs on the inside of the trap cause it to snap shut when touched, effectively turning the traps into stomachs which then digest the prey. The flytrap will act as an “area denial” obstacle – ants will climb it but will inevitably trigger the traps, before re-opening after a cooldown.
 



Caterpillars & Sweetbay Magnolia

Caterpillars have recently hatched on this young sweetbay magnolia sapling. Such an infestation may well be fatal, but help is at hand – the resident fire ants are very glad of the extra protein. Caterpillar-spawning plants will provide a rich food source for your fire ants, as long as you can survive the competition required to keep the supply lines open.
 



Milkweed & Aphids

Milkweed plants are often homes to sap-sucking aphids. The aphids excrete a sweet substance called honeydew, which fire ants find irresistable. The ants will care for their aphid flocks, protecting them from predators, jealously guarding them from competing colonies and even moving them to safer locations.


A fire ant tending to aphids on a milkweed



A milkweed stripped of aphids

Screenshot Central

Let’s close out this shorter-than-usual newsletter with the traditional Screenshot Central post! The easiest way to get these to us is to post on the #screenshots channel of our Discord – I usually have a look through it once a week or so for great snaps for social media and the newsletters.


A whip spider glows in the moonlight from realpumadog


rmy ants have defeated an uber mole cricket in this shot from Anthony Gaming


A ladybird beetle flies off from SamThePro

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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #88 on: July 27, 2022, 02:11:06 PM »
Fire Ant Update Coming 6 PM UK Time Today: 'How To Play', Launch Livestream
Tue, 26 July 2022




The fire ant update is dropping at 6pm UK time tomorrow! Also, some details about how to play as fire ants in a new vid.
Just a very short post to confirm that the launch of the fire ant update won't be occurring at midnight but at 6 pm UK time tomorrow
, or approximately 23 hours after this is posted. Converted to some other times this comes out as:

1 pm: US East Coast
10 am: US West Coast
7 pm: Most of Europe
3 am on the 28th: Most of Australia

A quick search engine query should let you convert your own local time from the team's 6pm BST (British Summer Time).

Today we posted a quick tutorial video that should help you quickly get up to speed with some of the major new mechanics introduced with this update. It doesn't spoil anything that hasn't already been revealed, but if you're trying to keep entirely unspoiled you'll probably want to skip this one.



Roughly an hour before we launch the game, some of the team are going to do a livestream on YouTube going over some of the new mechanics, changes, and other such things. A quick breather before we push the button! Join us over there:

YouTube™ Video: FIRE ANT LAUNCH STREAM!
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We're launching the fire ants very shortly! Join us for a light-hearted breather before we push the button. =================================== Empires of the Undergrowth is a real-time strategy game...


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Re: Empires of the Undergrowth
« Reply #89 on: July 28, 2022, 08:20:05 PM »
Fire Ant Update OUT NOW!!
Wed, 27 July 2022



It's finally here, and we can't be more grateful for your patience. We hope you enjoy it!

Here's a moment we've been waiting for as long as you have - we're burning with joy to be releasing the fire ant update to everyone! Let's keep this introduction short, because I'm certain you want to dive right into that lovely swamp as soon as you can. Here are the full patch notes for the update.


Patch Notes - The Fire Ant Update

The Fire Ants Invade!

Fire ants are nothing if not adaptable to new challenges. These swamplands that young queens, fresh from their nuptial flight, have landed in are not in their native range. The changing, often-flooded environment will test their flexibility to the limit.
•   A whole new formicarium tier, featuring 2 new documentary scenarios:
o   4.1 Cold Blood: a newly-settled fire ant queen must deal with the threat of the amphibians & other denizens of the green swamp
o   4.2 A Bridge Too Far: use the fire ant’s abilities to traverse water and reach all the resources you can, whilst an ominous shadow looms overhead

•   New focal ant species: fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) which come in two soldier variants:
o   Pervasive fire ants will respawn for free after a while
o   Vigorous fire ants will have a buff to their stats for a time after spawning
o   The tiles of both variants can support 2 ants at a time at level 3

•   Fire ants introduce several new ant skills:
o   Bridge building: fire ants can build floating pontoons over water to reach resources previously unplundered, but beware of changing water levels!
o   Aphid relocation: relocate yellow aphids from distant milkweed plants and bring them closer to home for a reliable source of honeydew, but other colonies may not like that!
o   Titan climbing: very large new enemies can be climbed for extra damage!

•   New auxiliary ant species:
o   Big-headed ants (Pheidole morrisii) have an ancient genetic variant waiting to be awoken
o   Little black ants (Monomorium minimum) use a chemical threat display called gaster flagging

•   New swamp environment
•   A menagerie of new swamp-dwelling critters with unique stats & abilities
•   New voice acting from the narrator & scientists
•   New music for our dynamic conductor system


Formicarium Challenge 4 Awaits!

Once you’ve completed the documentary scenarios and are back in the formicarium with your rewards, the fire ant soldiers will make a fine addition to your collection. Add them to your formicarium to help you with the challenges ahead! They have 4 formicarium upgrade options:

•   Surefooted: gains extra attack damage when mounted on an enemy
•   Evasive: gains a small chance to take no damage from a hit
•   Last Stand: at zero health, will survive for a short time longer with reduced attack speed
•   Last Laugh: upon death, the fire ant will deal high damage to its closest enemy if in range


After you’ve completed your upgrades and stocked up your resources, the scientist has an idea - and he’ll take the opportunity to put it into action. As always, Formicarium Challenge 4 will be a climactic test of your colony’s prowess and your own skills as a player, so be prepared.

Other Changes

•   Buried creatures (! & ? icons underground) will now display on the minimap
•   Additions to the minimap & more consistent minimap pings
•   Woodworm & woodlice will now appear as food on the minimap
•   Escape key will now close the in-game menu
•   Made Formicarium Challenge 3 a little easier on Hard & Insane
•   Holding Insert & PageUp keys now rotates the camera view 90° left & right respectively
•   Added a quick build / upgrade tool which detects nearby tile type to use, thumb mouse button by default
•   Delete tool can now be used on tiles where building has not yet started
•   Added an entirely new set of icons for the Formica ereptor

adaptations menu
•   Added a check for progress file corruption on game startup. If detected progress file is wiped and a new one made
•   Added victory & defeat images for Beetle Rise Up! & the Hungry Spider levels
•   Power-scaled creatures will have a star next to their health overlay displaying their scale level (currently only used in freeplay and some extra levels)
•   Creatures will now correctly display the status effect they are currently experiencing
•   Renamed worker "evasive" ability to "nimble" to avoid confusion with fire ants
•   Formicarium level setup rewards on gateway levels now appear as zero before difficulty select
•   Clicking an active underground minimap tab will now take you there from the surface
•   The Promised Land demo level reinstated
•   Moving buried creatures will now throb on the minimap
•   Dead harvestable creatures in the Battle Arena will now not sink for 2 seconds
•   Credits updated

Fixes & Optimisations

•   Colony rehousing will now give the correct jelly amount for level 3 tiles (previously it was counting level 3 tiles as level 2)
•   Fixed an issue where wood ants could get stuck in a deployment animation when a line-of-sight check was failing
•   Huge improvement to render times for all 2D overlays (upgrades, health, food, etc)
•   Numerous optimisations to swarming, pathfinding & movement
•   Numerous optimisations to rendering for many individual assets
•   Fixed an issue in Battle Arena where some ant levels weren’t working
•   Fix for a rare pheromone marker crash
•   Fixed a rounding error causing incorrect number of creatures to spawn in battle arena
•   Fixed an issue where creatures dying mid-air had their food collection point far from their corpse
•   Fixed an issue causing underground tile highlighting to stick on some tiles
•   Connecting bridge in the interlocking formicariums will now load correctly

Localisation

•   Updated, fixed and changed many interface & game narration lines in existing localisations
•   Various menus & UI elements adjusted to allow for translations that were the wrong size for them
•   Font changes for CJK languages
•   Added 7 new officially-supported localisations. These are:
o   Czech/ Čeština
o   Spanish/ Español
o   French/ Français
o   Korean/ 한국어
o   Japanese/ 日本語
o   Dutch/ Nederlands
o   Polish/ Polski

Known Issues
•   Extra level Extremis is currently crashing on launch (caught this one too late to re-package the project in time; will be fixed for the next patch)

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