Empires of the Undergrowth

**Empires of the Undergrowth** is a real-time-strategy game developed and published by Slug Disco Studios, a British developer team. Early Access version was released on December 1st 2017.

## **Overview**

**Empires of the Undergrowth** is an ant-colony-management game, in a fast-paced real-time-strategy style. Ants claim territory, gather resources, overwhelm fearsome enemies and clash with other colonies on the surface. They excavate and construct chambers to store resources and raise brood underground. Nest design, colony size, army composition and attack timing are keys to victory.

The primary game mode is the narrative-driven story mode. You follow the simultaneous progress of a lab experiment centred around a fictional gene-thief ant colony. You gain resources through a series of documentary missions that explore various ant species in their natural biomes.

## **Features**

* Construct underground nest to suit your strategy.

* Engage in fast-paced colony-vs-colony battle, with little micro-management.

* Overcome powerful titans in the undergrowth.

* Enjoy documentary-styled narrated missions inspired by real life challenges.

* Customize your gene-thief ant colonies and bring them to freeplay.

* Unlock secret rewards by beating extra missions.

## **History**

**Empires of the Undergrowth** was planned to be a tug-of-war game on mobile phone. The developers tried to create the game using their own homemade engine.

The first kickstarter campaign started on November 17th 2015. Although it failed, the game gained 300 backers and was greenlit to be on Steam. The developers decided to make the game for PC using Unreal Engine 4 because building their own engine proved to be too time consuming and constricting.

The second kickstarter campaign started on April 20th 2016, along with the release of the first demo. They reached the goal in just a week and the kickstarter ended at 180%.

The developers changed their approach for the game, focusing on quality over quantity. Only species that offered the most unique gameplay or combat abilities were kept in the game. Basic mmechanics were built upon the original concepts, leaning more toward simulating ant behaviors in real life. The main story was changed to take place in a lab.

The game entered early access on December 1st 2017, after a lot of delays. The reception was very positive. Freeplay mode was released on July 2nd 2018 in respond to popular demand.

Leafcutter ant update, along with the its demo mission, was released on April 25th 2019. 12 extra missions were added over the next 2 years to keep players occupied while waiting for new contents.

Fire ant update, along with the its demo mission, was released on July 27th 2022. The game went through major aesthetic changes in 2023 after new artists joined the team.

Hooded Horse became the new co-publisher for the game in 2023.

The game is currently moving toward the final release.

## **Trivia**

* The basic mechanics were inspired by **Dungeon Keeper**. The narrations were inspired by Andy Serkis from **Empire of the Desert Ants**.

* The developers didn't know about the existence of **Sim Ant** until they did some market research for the game.

## **Media**

### **In-game screenshots**

Gene-thief antBlack antWood antLeafcutter antFire antBig-headed antLittle black antSlavemaker ant, trap-jaw ant and army ant

### **Videos**

Empires of the Undergrowth – Early Access TrailerFirst trailerLeafcutter Trailer - Empires of the Undergrowth Early AccessSecond trailerFire Ant Trailer - Empires of the Undergrowth Early Access-2Third trailer

## **Social media**

Youtube

X

Forum

Steam

Discord

## **References**

1. ↑ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eotu/empires-of-the-undergrowth/posts/1446380
2. ↑ https://slugdisco.com/kickstarter-ends-at-180-funded/
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1iyqSkO6cU
4. ↑ https://www.indiedb.com/games/empires-of-the-undergrowth/features/designing-a-single-player-campaign-story-for-ants
5. ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/app/463530/discussions/0/3416558908187245550/