Ants Take Over The World is fun, but it is long without a good acronym "ATOTW". Ants Take Over I think sounds better "ATO". ATO could also be the base for expansions, such as Ants Take Over: The Garden Ants Take Over: The House Ants Take Over: The World Ants Take Over: The Galaxy Ants Take Over: The Universe That is more long term of course, but it could also be you expanding through levels if you have different biomes Ants Take Over: The Plains Ants Take Over: The Jungle Ants Take Over: The Desert Ants Take Over: The Artic etc.
I prefer some of the commented names, like "InhabitAnts" or the shortened "Ants Take Over". I just feel like they sound a bit more cutesy and charming, which fits the art style!
I 100% agree with Glytch and Isaiah’s name ideas. Inhabit-ants is a very simple and catchy name that clearly represents the fact that you are a bunch of ants that live somewhere. Ants Take Over is very modular as Isaiah suggested so I think it would be better if you’re planning on adding loads of things and levels since the name lends itself towards the idea of progression.
Looks great Liam. Pharaoh was great back in the day and one thing that frustrated me was doing the same thing over and over. Like on the first level you build buildings 1,2,3, then on the second level you start again and do 1,2,3,4, then the next level you do 1,2,3,4,5 etc and the first part got really tiring. What I wanted was 1: levels which have different resources so it's possible to develop in a different way each time. 2: some kind of links between the cities I'd made. So if I spend ages making a city the exported a lot of pottery then other cities could import pottery without having to build up so much of their own industry. I felt like that would have easily made it feel like a whole big kingdom and not just a lot of independent cities. 3: returning to earlier levels but with new tech. I liked the idea of going back to my first tiny city after a while and upgrading it with all the new things I'd unlocked and making it better. That would have felt really satisfying to end the game with 10 fully upgraded cities I'd played in multiple times rather than 30 levels of just slowly growing complexity. Love the idea and how it's shaping up, good work :)
I believe the name "Antennae" would be a good fit because; - Contains "Ant" - The game is centered around pheromones which are used to communicate with the ants - Antennae is only one letter off of antenna, and antennas represent/enable connection (the most essential part of a kingdom or dynasty) - Ants have antennae - Sounds pretty snazzy Ants take over the world is also nice, I'd just shorten it to "Ants Take Over"
I've always liked the naming structure of feeling + context. Satisfactory uses this formula masterfully its a factory game that leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction. Your current naming is in the direction of applying context focusing on words like ants and colony. Though the feeling seems a little mix. The aesthetic is definitely driving a cozy/relaxing/satisfying vibe. The city builder/resource gathering mechanics add an element of exploration, and the tower defense aspect seems like it adds a feeling of stress/pressure.
I love all of this! Name #2 or "Queen of the Anthill." Some thoughts: It's starting to look like a (worker) management game due to the pheromones, and personally I love that. Leafcutting into mushrooms, and aphid farming would be wonderful. About the Mega Colony idea, I think it makes perfect sense if you have a Queen Emperor and her capitol colony and she sends you (her daughter(s)?) out to do her bidding (like in Against the Storm) hence why you start new colonies all the time from scratch! Suggestions: We have yet to see the Queen! She is important, at least in the lore or story even if she is never seen on the map. I think it'd be funny and appropriate if the colony had a flag with their queen in profile on, or if the coins did. Just throwing it out there that the queen should figure in somehow. I think taking a page off the leafcutter ants and being able to build something to cross terrain would be nice, or having your antlings clump up to create a living bridge of their bodies, for something less static. On that note, I think it's time to add some terrain that block paths, and maybe something (weather or enemies) that can disrupt the pheromone trails? I think it'd be cool if there was an enemy that could use the pheromones against you, a sneaky enemy perhaps. Or perhaps imposter "ants" that try to disrupt your settlement (you'd probably want some antoganistic ant colony enemy, which could lead you down a path of multiplayer-style play - not my first choice)?
"Ants Take Over the World" is definitely the better title in terms of SEO. "Mega Colony" also has the issue of someone forgetting whether it's "Mega" or "Super" and getting a legitimate but wrong result, where "ATOtW" doesn't have anything like that.
May I suggest aphids in a future update? Many ants domesticate them like how we domesticate cattle. Maybe in the game they could be used as a renewable resource/battle mount?
I love the idea, that if you have finished a level you get a point to use in a skill tree which then upgrades your ants. Some ideas for the tree would include: more ants from the beginning, buildings cost less, you get more clay or other resources, ants move faster, etc. For the branches it could be things like: An easier Start, easier in the long run, defensive, aggresive,...
Hope I didn't comment this before but I have a production chain idea that could be level-dependant: flowers + Wax into perfumeries (which are luxury/culture) which feed into censer-towers that can help extend the pheromone trails ????
Maybe just ATO - "Ants Take Over"? It's concise and fits well with game titles like It Takes Two, A Way Out, and Life is Strange. Plus, it's easy to extend with a subtitle later on, similar to what was done with Life is Strange: Before the Storm.
If you want to look at a game that did "city builder levels that incentivize different playstyles" check out *Against the Storm,* they do their varied incentives via roguelike randomness, but lesson can definitely be taken for a more linear/less roguelike approach. Limiting base resources, changing which type of villagers you have with each type having different wants and specialties, randomising buildings available, finding random "improved buildings" on the map that the player could create their economy/production line around, etc.
Different name suggestion: "Antix". You could even have your other names as a subtitle. "Antix: Ants take over the world". Although, simply "Ant people" still would be a good name.
I think it should be a simple name that can be easily remebered and mentioned online but still give a hint about the game while being a bit silly, i like the second name more, but its too long and has a weird acronym, also i got an name idea while writing this : "Humble Ants" or "Humble Ant Colonies"
You could go with something like "Formicarium" for a name. Google says that's basically a fancy term for an ant farm, but also says its "designed primarily for the study of ant colonies and how ants behave and for the enjoyment of ants as pets" which I think fits the game pretty well.
i have watched a video talking about naming games, the main takeaway was that names that dont explain the game are more intriguing because they are mysterious and spark curiosity. something like "hollow knight" or "dead cells" over "portal" or "minecraft", yet all of these games are massively popular. i distinctly remember that the video picked examples that do some comparison on the popularity of a game, which might apply more to indie games which have to earn the slightest bit of attention carefully
If you're up for a big change, the underground could be interesting. you could see the queen, move her to different places in case the castle gets destroyed and add internal base defense. I can see the different houses being connected to an underground labyrinth too.
In the vein of the mega colony and ants take over the world theme, a feature (big and scope creepy indeed) that would be really cool is for each play through to be a “world map” you are trying to secure as ants. i.e. building a mega colony that spans the levels. So when you complete a level it secures that sector of the world map. The map updates and shows your ants have spread to that zone. Then you can choose where to go next. And maybe further away areas mean you get less starting resources since you are cut off from the main body of the colony, but closer ones start with more ants to work and fight. You win when you control the whole map, or lose when all your ants get pushed out of every sector. You could have enemy ant colonies you have to push out, you could have other big invasions you have to defend against. Don’t know could be a fun way to make it replayable. Especially with the idea of other ant species. Some randomized maps and zones + a few ant types? Tons to do
I hope there is eventually a secondary way play, like to just let them run in an "ai" style model, where they just kinda run themselves, Sims style, and watch them like an ant colony, with little/no interaction. Just to like a live wallpaper style thing almost. Absolutly will be playing this as is though, it looks so fun
How about either/or: “Ant Conga” because it’s like a conga line of ants. “Ant Army” or “Army of Ants” because a group aof ants is called an army and it’s a literal ‘army of ants’. “The dotted/speckled line” because a bunch of ants following each other look like a dotted line. “Marching Ants” because it’s like they’re marching together.
Either the name Ants Take Over the World or something like Ant ventures would be really cool. No matter what you pick, still gonna keep watching this amazing series. Keep up the good work!
The "Ants Take Over" suggestion is cool, but I think it would be a fun reference to one of the things you've stated have influenced this project- (the) Gnorp Apologue- by making the title "Ants Take Over (the world)" or something in that vein. Makes the title interesting and also lets people pick their poison; if they want to shorten it, sure! If not, also sure!
"Ants take over the world" is funny and easy to remember but it might also be interesting to incorporate the pheromone mechanic into the title. Maybe simply "Pheromone" or something like "Pheromone Builders", "Pheromone Empire" or "Pheromone War"?
out of the two names, i think Ants Take Over The World would be the best one, i like both but the latter has more fun to it. Also, i think "Ant People" would work great as a name, simple and effective
My name suggestion went toward something with "trail" since, as you said in the video, the trail feature is a pretty unique mechanic and makes the game stand out. So something clever with "trail"... "Trail to Oregant", Trailbuggers", "Tiny trail" etc. Or combining it with "Inhabit-ants" because that is a great name/pun =)
Since you took some inspiration from termites a few episodes ago, which aren’t that closely related to ants, I think there’s a lot you could do with incorporating other eusocial insects. Maybe they could have honey and paper as industries to reference bees and wasps. Maybe each different species could be primarily inspired by a different insect/combo of insects to influence their mechanics. Maybe you could even include elements from eusocial animals that aren’t insects, like some shrimp or naked mole rats? You probably couldn’t call them “ants” if you were to do this, though I think they were never _just_ ants anyways. Not sure what else to call them though
I would love to see this game become a little more like CIV or something, i would love to explore a world and encounter different species and maybe even different ant colonies and get to know and trade and fight with them. About the name, Ants Take Over... is a bit too silly for the game play, i think. Since it is a sort of management game, i would not expect that from the name.
I like Ants Take Over The World. Mega Colony is too vague to tell me anything about the game at a glance, whereas ATOTW is more descriptive and a bit silly, which I think fits the game's style. Game's looking great, keep up the good work!
If this concept was applied to a online game, it would be crazy. Imagine all of this real time resource management and defending your colony against other players instead of just bots.
Id recommend changing the archery range into a spitter ant raiser to keep with the ant theme. They can still be technologically advanced ants but i think where possible it would be cool to see mechanics be more related to real life ant behaviors
For the luxury resource mechanic, I don’t think having that be the win condition for anything except a tutorial level that explains it works with the theme of the game. Mechanically speaking I think it’s an interesting way to level up the various buildings but without that end condition there’s no incentive for the player to do it. Either you “take over the world” by having luxury items or you can ignore that mechanic altogether because it isn’t linked in any way toward progressing and winning the game. I suggest that as you level up the buildings with those luxury items, they become more effective/efficient, and you could even tie some luxury items into specific bonuses. For example a luxury item involving a stronger material than the dirt being used for the huts grants that building additional health or defense to protect it from being attacked. As the player, your incentive to produce those luxury items is to boost the stats of your buildings which increases how quickly you can complete the level, or maybe allow access to different parts of the map that might be blocked off by terrain, and each luxury item(or just some specific ones)gives a different kind of boost to those buildings which gives the player more choices and decisions to make on top of that. “Do I want to increase the efficiency of my buildings, and if so which type of luxury boost do I want to work towards?”
I think the win condition could work, but in the way that Factorio does it, where you get a victory screen but can then build towards a "mega-base" after reaching this point. You could take this post-victory content in two directions: optimization (infinite upgrades) or aesthetics (add decorations or repainting buildings). Or both but that might increase scope too far for a single dev. The point of this would be for replayability and also for community (posting their mega-bases and worlds online to share designs). But it would still encourage using the luxury resources since it would be required to unlock these post-victory options.
Random events - rain, snow, mudslide , bird attack boss Various types of ants to fend against various enemies ie Archer ants do damage against birds and warrior ants against slugs but they fail to attack the other kind. Making you build various types armies with various kinds of attacks
One other Enemytype could also be other Ant species, which are also building a Colony on their on. You need to destroy their Castle, while they want to destroy yours. This could bring the game to another lever of complexity.
Damn, you sir are working really hard. This game is definitely going to be one in which I and many others will love to put many many hours into it. That being said, it wouldn't be my comment if I didn't say that, since you finally mentioned different ant species. How about bringing back Mosslings as friends of the ants, maybe they could be additional people of one of the ant kingdoms? Anyhow, wonderful progress! Wish you (and anyone who reads this too!) a great day!
i think it could be really fun if you included weaver ants, a species of ants that uses their larvae's silk to essentially glue leaves together and build better homes. maybe they could produce textiles or armor or something like that?
The game it is turning amazing, a true potencial in my perspective. For me, i prefer this type of game to be a never ending fase, for what it's been said by u, i would prefeer a level type thats never ending somewhat like Rimworld or Dwarffortres. It would have to be a map generated endlees, but still i already enjoy what you are showing. Great job!
I thought of a story for the game, there's a kid that lives with her dad, an insect exterminator, becuase of that the kid as he saws the ants in his garden he hide them, and thats why the player will hace a limited space/terrain and as we progress we increment the terrain, we use ants for breaking ibject that hide us until there is no more object, the dad saw the ants and kill us and the game is over
I wonder if you can create different maps. I mean, you could create ants in the jungle that lived at different height levels. In the desert with many tunnels and traps in the sand. In the snow they have the need to improve their defenses against the cold, or even add segments of water, where they would have to build boats and take care of fish for example, which they would not be able to face until they had more effective weapons against their scales. There can even be bosses!? Wow, how wonderful if you work well.
I think Ants Take Over The World is a perfect name for the new game, of which I have no bias towards. Mega Colony is an okay name, too. Overall, excited to see the progress on this game continuing forward!
I got two great ideas! The name World DomANTnation, and the idea of a more active play style where you can be the queen ant roaming around telling your underlings what to do directly, sort of like pikmin.
As many others said, I think Ants Take Over is a good reduced option! It's short, sounds interesting and allows for many different subtitles. Mega Colony is not bad, sounds generic and can be confused with SuperColony, as you said.
Maybe you could create termites, ants that don't build their buildings in different places, but all in one structure, like the big termite mounds in Africa. The difficulty with this species might be that you have to control the temperature of the mound.
I dont see the "ants" as ants, I think they should have a different name but It is fine. I have some colonies of ants and I think that the game "ants" are really oposed to real life ones mainly in combat, but idk, I just like ants
even tho i dont usually play games like these, the simplicity and art style of this one is really appealing i remember playing world of warcraft allll the way back in i dont even know when yk when it was a troop commanding strategy game like this and not a weird mmo
Would love to see some kind of endless mode maybe sometime in the future, maybe? I can imagine every 10 or so days the environment changes so you have to strategize and cover your bases to prepare for future environment changes?
A good name is Unique (stands out from the crowd, doesn't get confused with other things, has good SEO), Easy to Say, Easy to type, As short as possible (1 syllable is king, 2 or 3 is great, 4 or more and its getting away from us), and Captures the vibe of the game. Mega Colony is 5 syllables which is pretty long, and it's not unique. But it is easy to say and easy to type, and does convey something about the vibe of the game. Though I don't think it captures how cute the game is. Ants Take Over the World is surprisingly only 6 syllables despite being 5 words long!! But overall too long imo. Even shortened to Ants Take Over, its crossing that 3 syllable goal marker imo. It is unique and easy to say though, and it does capture something about the vibe, though it reads to me kind of like a campy monster movie title. Which again, doesn't capture how cute and "magical forest"-y the game is so far. Ants Take Over makes me think of like a human populated city being overrun by giant ants or something, campy horror type stuff. So I would say you ideally want something 1-3 syllables, 1 or *maybe* 2 words long, cute sounding, and conveys foresty nature kinda vibes.
I'm not sure if you should put ants in the title of your game when the creatures are just inspired by ants and aren't actual ants. Personally I would much prefer them having a unique name the same way Pikmin do.
I think the name “Inhabitants” works well because it fits the fact that youre controlling a bunch of ants but still references the old name
Ooooo that's amazing
omg
Nailed it
we will not accept any other
Anthabitants
I 100% agree with two commenters' suggestions here:
"Ants take over"
"Inhabit-ants"
Humants
People + Ants = Pants
I love the simple name Antlings
This is actually a great suggestion. Short, cute, unique, captures the vibe well.
Ants Take Over The World is fun, but it is long without a good acronym "ATOTW".
Ants Take Over I think sounds better "ATO".
ATO could also be the base for expansions, such as
Ants Take Over: The Garden
Ants Take Over: The House
Ants Take Over: The World
Ants Take Over: The Galaxy
Ants Take Over: The Universe
That is more long term of course, but it could also be you expanding through levels if you have different biomes
Ants Take Over: The Plains
Ants Take Over: The Jungle
Ants Take Over: The Desert
Ants Take Over: The Artic
etc.
this is SUCH a strong name for it
Great thinking
Love it!
i suggested the same name but your expansion on it is genius
YESYESyesyesyesyesyesyesYEEESyesyesyeeesYESSSS
I prefer some of the commented names, like "InhabitAnts" or the shortened "Ants Take Over". I just feel like they sound a bit more cutesy and charming, which fits the art style!
"Ants in my Plants" would be a fun/silly name
This absolutely fits the concept of a silly, clickable name
It's giving "Squirrels in my pants" lol I like it
this deserves more likes omg
lmao my brain just said "Ant-lantis" but that's a little goofy when we're not underwater 😂
I 100% agree with Glytch and Isaiah’s name ideas.
Inhabit-ants is a very simple and catchy name that clearly represents the fact that you are a bunch of ants that live somewhere.
Ants Take Over is very modular as Isaiah suggested so I think it would be better if you’re planning on adding loads of things and levels since the name lends itself towards the idea of progression.
Ants take over the world sounds like a game where giant ants are attacking cities which I don't think fits the game
Agree. If he want to keep it simple then the _"Antpeople"_ is a pretty fine name.
I like "Ants Take Over the World".
My suggestion: "Age of Anthills"
I like Ants Take Over, more than the longer version. Not crazy about Mega Colony. Love the progress, keep it up!
Looks great Liam.
Pharaoh was great back in the day and one thing that frustrated me was doing the same thing over and over. Like on the first level you build buildings 1,2,3, then on the second level you start again and do 1,2,3,4, then the next level you do 1,2,3,4,5 etc and the first part got really tiring.
What I wanted was 1: levels which have different resources so it's possible to develop in a different way each time.
2: some kind of links between the cities I'd made. So if I spend ages making a city the exported a lot of pottery then other cities could import pottery without having to build up so much of their own industry. I felt like that would have easily made it feel like a whole big kingdom and not just a lot of independent cities.
3: returning to earlier levels but with new tech. I liked the idea of going back to my first tiny city after a while and upgrading it with all the new things I'd unlocked and making it better. That would have felt really satisfying to end the game with 10 fully upgraded cities I'd played in multiple times rather than 30 levels of just slowly growing complexity.
Love the idea and how it's shaping up, good work :)
I believe the name "Antennae" would be a good fit because;
- Contains "Ant"
- The game is centered around pheromones which are used to communicate with the ants
- Antennae is only one letter off of antenna, and antennas represent/enable connection (the most essential part of a kingdom or dynasty)
- Ants have antennae
- Sounds pretty snazzy
Ants take over the world is also nice, I'd just shorten it to "Ants Take Over"
antennae is the plural form of antenna
I love it
@@mozarteanchaos Oh- well, this language we call English can be a bit inconsistent sometimes.
Thank you for letting me know.
@@BambooStalks26 yeah, it's one of the less intuitive ones lol
yes
100% “Ants Take Over the World”
It’s got a certain tongue-in-cheekness that’s just so charming.
I've always liked the naming structure of feeling + context.
Satisfactory uses this formula masterfully its a factory game that leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction.
Your current naming is in the direction of applying context focusing on words like ants and colony. Though the feeling seems a little mix. The aesthetic is definitely driving a cozy/relaxing/satisfying vibe. The city builder/resource gathering mechanics add an element of exploration, and the tower defense aspect seems like it adds a feeling of stress/pressure.
I love all of this! Name #2 or "Queen of the Anthill."
Some thoughts:
It's starting to look like a (worker) management game due to the pheromones, and personally I love that.
Leafcutting into mushrooms, and aphid farming would be wonderful.
About the Mega Colony idea, I think it makes perfect sense if you have a Queen Emperor and her capitol colony and she sends you (her daughter(s)?) out to do her bidding (like in Against the Storm) hence why you start new colonies all the time from scratch!
Suggestions: We have yet to see the Queen! She is important, at least in the lore or story even if she is never seen on the map. I think it'd be funny and appropriate if the colony had a flag with their queen in profile on, or if the coins did. Just throwing it out there that the queen should figure in somehow.
I think taking a page off the leafcutter ants and being able to build something to cross terrain would be nice, or having your antlings clump up to create a living bridge of their bodies, for something less static.
On that note, I think it's time to add some terrain that block paths, and maybe something (weather or enemies) that can disrupt the pheromone trails? I think it'd be cool if there was an enemy that could use the pheromones against you, a sneaky enemy perhaps. Or perhaps imposter "ants" that try to disrupt your settlement (you'd probably want some antoganistic ant colony enemy, which could lead you down a path of multiplayer-style play - not my first choice)?
"Ants Take Over the World" is definitely the better title in terms of SEO. "Mega Colony" also has the issue of someone forgetting whether it's "Mega" or "Super" and getting a legitimate but wrong result, where "ATOtW" doesn't have anything like that.
This was exactly my thoughts as well.
"mega colony" also sounds like some generic scifi game
Honestly, while I do like "Ants Take Over" and some other suggestions, "For the Colony" I've seen here and there and I like that direction quite well!
I prefer "Ants Go Marching" over the other suggestions I see.
That’s way better than my “ant conga” or “the dotted line” name I came up with. Maybe call it “Marching Ants”
With a preliminary google search, there is already a game called “March of the Ants”
May I suggest aphids in a future update? Many ants domesticate them like how we domesticate cattle. Maybe in the game they could be used as a renewable resource/battle mount?
I like the suggestions by other people in the comments here:
- Inhabitants
- Ants in my Plants
- Ants Take Over
I love the idea, that if you have finished a level you get a point to use in a skill tree which then upgrades your ants. Some ideas for the tree would include: more ants from the beginning, buildings cost less, you get more clay or other resources, ants move faster, etc. For the branches it could be things like: An easier Start, easier in the long run, defensive, aggresive,...
Ant-tics could be a way to include some more of the whimsy or odd tone you want. However it might be too silly.
0:24 beer and clothing in las vegas
Hope I didn't comment this before but I have a production chain idea that could be level-dependant: flowers + Wax into perfumeries (which are luxury/culture) which feed into censer-towers that can help extend the pheromone trails ????
Maybe just ATO - "Ants Take Over"? It's concise and fits well with game titles like It Takes Two, A Way Out, and Life is Strange. Plus, it's easy to extend with a subtitle later on, similar to what was done with Life is Strange: Before the Storm.
If you want to look at a game that did "city builder levels that incentivize different playstyles" check out *Against the Storm,* they do their varied incentives via roguelike randomness, but lesson can definitely be taken for a more linear/less roguelike approach.
Limiting base resources, changing which type of villagers you have with each type having different wants and specialties, randomising buildings available, finding random "improved buildings" on the map that the player could create their economy/production line around, etc.
Different name suggestion: "Antix".
You could even have your other names as a subtitle. "Antix: Ants take over the world".
Although, simply "Ant people" still would be a good name.
I think it should be a simple name that can be easily remebered and mentioned online but still give a hint about the game while being a bit silly, i like the second name more, but its too long and has a weird acronym, also i got an name idea while writing this : "Humble Ants" or "Humble Ant Colonies"
I like the names "Inhabitants" and "Age of Anthills" as suggested by other people in the comments
You could go with something like "Formicarium" for a name. Google says that's basically a fancy term for an ant farm, but also says its "designed primarily for the study of ant colonies and how ants behave and for the enjoyment of ants as pets" which I think fits the game pretty well.
That would be great
Love to see some varying architecture based on environment and preference to give variety to people's bases
Quickly becoming one of my favorite devlog series!
You could add a season system, so there could be droughts, snow, wet season, and other hazards
i have watched a video talking about naming games, the main takeaway was that names that dont explain the game are more intriguing because they are mysterious and spark curiosity. something like "hollow knight" or "dead cells" over "portal" or "minecraft", yet all of these games are massively popular. i distinctly remember that the video picked examples that do some comparison on the popularity of a game, which might apply more to indie games which have to earn the slightest bit of attention carefully
You sould have a survival mode to see how long someone could survive bigger and bigger waves of enimies
If you're up for a big change, the underground could be interesting.
you could see the queen, move her to different places in case the castle gets destroyed and add internal base defense.
I can see the different houses being connected to an underground labyrinth too.
In the vein of the mega colony and ants take over the world theme, a feature (big and scope creepy indeed) that would be really cool is for each play through to be a “world map” you are trying to secure as ants. i.e. building a mega colony that spans the levels. So when you complete a level it secures that sector of the world map. The map updates and shows your ants have spread to that zone. Then you can choose where to go next. And maybe further away areas mean you get less starting resources since you are cut off from the main body of the colony, but closer ones start with more ants to work and fight. You win when you control the whole map, or lose when all your ants get pushed out of every sector. You could have enemy ant colonies you have to push out, you could have other big invasions you have to defend against. Don’t know could be a fun way to make it replayable. Especially with the idea of other ant species. Some randomized maps and zones + a few ant types? Tons to do
I hope there is eventually a secondary way play, like to just let them run in an "ai" style model, where they just kinda run themselves, Sims style, and watch them like an ant colony, with little/no interaction. Just to like a live wallpaper style thing almost.
Absolutly will be playing this as is though, it looks so fun
How about either/or:
“Ant Conga” because it’s like a conga line of ants.
“Ant Army” or “Army of Ants” because a group aof ants is called an army and it’s a literal ‘army of ants’.
“The dotted/speckled line” because a bunch of ants following each other look like a dotted line.
“Marching Ants” because it’s like they’re marching together.
Anteaters should be a boss enemy
Either the name Ants Take Over the World or something like Ant ventures would be really cool. No matter what you pick, still gonna keep watching this amazing series. Keep up the good work!
The "Ants Take Over" suggestion is cool, but I think it would be a fun reference to one of the things you've stated have influenced this project- (the) Gnorp Apologue- by making the title "Ants Take Over (the world)" or something in that vein. Makes the title interesting and also lets people pick their poison; if they want to shorten it, sure! If not, also sure!
"We will watch your career with great interest."
"Ants take over the world" is funny and easy to remember but it might also be interesting to incorporate the pheromone mechanic into the title. Maybe simply "Pheromone" or something like "Pheromone Builders", "Pheromone Empire" or "Pheromone War"?
This game is an unreasonable amount of fun for how simple it is
Ants Take Over the World is a very intriguing title that I would check out. And the visual style helps the title a lot. I’m loving the prototype
out of the two names, i think Ants Take Over The World would be the best one, i like both but the latter has more fun to it. Also, i think "Ant People" would work great as a name, simple and effective
My name suggestion went toward something with "trail" since, as you said in the video, the trail feature is a pretty unique mechanic and makes the game stand out. So something clever with "trail"... "Trail to Oregant", Trailbuggers", "Tiny trail" etc. Or combining it with "Inhabit-ants" because that is a great name/pun =)
Since you took some inspiration from termites a few episodes ago, which aren’t that closely related to ants, I think there’s a lot you could do with incorporating other eusocial insects. Maybe they could have honey and paper as industries to reference bees and wasps. Maybe each different species could be primarily inspired by a different insect/combo of insects to influence their mechanics. Maybe you could even include elements from eusocial animals that aren’t insects, like some shrimp or naked mole rats? You probably couldn’t call them “ants” if you were to do this, though I think they were never _just_ ants anyways. Not sure what else to call them though
Name idea: Colonial Ants
'Super Ants Domination'
what about A Nice Tiny Species: A.N.T.S
I would love to see this game become a little more like CIV or something, i would love to explore a world and encounter different species and maybe even different ant colonies and get to know and trade and fight with them.
About the name, Ants Take Over... is a bit too silly for the game play, i think. Since it is a sort of management game, i would not expect that from the name.
I like Ants Take Over The World. Mega Colony is too vague to tell me anything about the game at a glance, whereas ATOTW is more descriptive and a bit silly, which I think fits the game's style.
Game's looking great, keep up the good work!
If this concept was applied to a online game, it would be crazy. Imagine all of this real time resource management and defending your colony against other players instead of just bots.
Id recommend changing the archery range into a spitter ant raiser to keep with the ant theme. They can still be technologically advanced ants but i think where possible it would be cool to see mechanics be more related to real life ant behaviors
Ha! Though of the Pharaoh before you brought it up. Sierra city builder formula was really iconic.
For the luxury resource mechanic, I don’t think having that be the win condition for anything except a tutorial level that explains it works with the theme of the game. Mechanically speaking I think it’s an interesting way to level up the various buildings but without that end condition there’s no incentive for the player to do it. Either you “take over the world” by having luxury items or you can ignore that mechanic altogether because it isn’t linked in any way toward progressing and winning the game.
I suggest that as you level up the buildings with those luxury items, they become more effective/efficient, and you could even tie some luxury items into specific bonuses. For example a luxury item involving a stronger material than the dirt being used for the huts grants that building additional health or defense to protect it from being attacked. As the player, your incentive to produce those luxury items is to boost the stats of your buildings which increases how quickly you can complete the level, or maybe allow access to different parts of the map that might be blocked off by terrain, and each luxury item(or just some specific ones)gives a different kind of boost to those buildings which gives the player more choices and decisions to make on top of that. “Do I want to increase the efficiency of my buildings, and if so which type of luxury boost do I want to work towards?”
I think the win condition could work, but in the way that Factorio does it, where you get a victory screen but can then build towards a "mega-base" after reaching this point. You could take this post-victory content in two directions: optimization (infinite upgrades) or aesthetics (add decorations or repainting buildings). Or both but that might increase scope too far for a single dev.
The point of this would be for replayability and also for community (posting their mega-bases and worlds online to share designs). But it would still encourage using the luxury resources since it would be required to unlock these post-victory options.
It's insane how different the game looks now, great work !
FOR THE COLONY 🔥🔥
I like that as a name option lol
Like this a lot too, more catchy
hi-hi! Anthony approves! FOR THE COLONY!!!
Could go for FOR THE QUEEN then too
YES
Random events - rain, snow, mudslide , bird attack boss
Various types of ants to fend against various enemies ie Archer ants do damage against birds and warrior ants against slugs but they fail to attack the other kind. Making you build various types armies with various kinds of attacks
You one of my favourite TH-camr I miss you
One other Enemytype could also be other Ant species, which are also building a Colony on their on.
You need to destroy their Castle, while they want to destroy yours.
This could bring the game to another lever of complexity.
Damn, you sir are working really hard.
This game is definitely going to be one in which I and many others will love to put many many hours into it.
That being said, it wouldn't be my comment if I didn't say that, since you finally mentioned different ant species.
How about bringing back Mosslings as friends of the ants, maybe they could be additional people of one of the ant kingdoms?
Anyhow, wonderful progress! Wish you (and anyone who reads this too!) a great day!
i think it could be really fun if you included weaver ants, a species of ants that uses their larvae's silk to essentially glue leaves together and build better homes. maybe they could produce textiles or armor or something like that?
I like the idea of ants take over the world but shortin it
Ant-People could be called "Anthros"
"Ant-Thros" ?
Perhaps?
Ant means Ant
Anthro means humanoid
The name 'Ant People' caught my eyes more then mega colony, it reminds me of mobile games, but 'Ant People' or 'Ants take over' would be very nice
Pharaoh (and the slightly updated re-release Pharaoh: a new era) is probably my all-time favorite game.
The game it is turning amazing, a true potencial in my perspective. For me, i prefer this type of game to be a never ending fase, for what it's been said by u, i would prefeer a level type thats never ending somewhat like Rimworld or Dwarffortres. It would have to be a map generated endlees, but still i already enjoy what you are showing. Great job!
I thought of a story for the game, there's a kid that lives with her dad, an insect exterminator, becuase of that the kid as he saws the ants in his garden he hide them, and thats why the player will hace a limited space/terrain and as we progress we increment the terrain, we use ants for breaking ibject that hide us until there is no more object, the dad saw the ants and kill us and the game is over
Instead of levels, this feels like a type of game for randomly generated worlds, like the Civ series
Ant Trail, maybe? Might have been suggested already
I wonder if you can create different maps. I mean, you could create ants in the jungle that lived at different height levels. In the desert with many tunnels and traps in the sand. In the snow they have the need to improve their defenses against the cold, or even add segments of water, where they would have to build boats and take care of fish for example, which they would not be able to face until they had more effective weapons against their scales. There can even be bosses!? Wow, how wonderful if you work well.
an anteater boss at the end of a level, with lot of hp and a tongue attack would be rad as hell
Ants Take Over sounds really fun!
I like both but I just can’t get antocropy out of my head
I think Ants Take Over The World is a perfect name for the new game, of which I have no bias towards. Mega Colony is an okay name, too. Overall, excited to see the progress on this game continuing forward!
mm yes absolutely no bias at all......
I got two great ideas!
The name World DomANTnation, and the idea of a more active play style where you can be the queen ant roaming around telling your underlings what to do directly, sort of like pikmin.
i love the taking over the world one, its just so funny
As many others said, I think Ants Take Over is a good reduced option! It's short, sounds interesting and allows for many different subtitles.
Mega Colony is not bad, sounds generic and can be confused with SuperColony, as you said.
The anteater threat could reuse the pheromone tech for the anteaters tongue somehow
i love this dev the devlog and the game i am also a small developer but i could never dream of making such a polished and good game
Thanks, Ants!
You could make the cursor a flying ant.
Maybe you could create termites, ants that don't build their buildings in different places, but all in one structure, like the big termite mounds in Africa. The difficulty with this species might be that you have to control the temperature of the mound.
"Ants Take Over The World" for sure.
I dont see the "ants" as ants, I think they should have a different name but It is fine. I have some colonies of ants and I think that the game "ants" are really oposed to real life ones mainly in combat, but idk, I just like ants
even tho i dont usually play games like these, the simplicity and art style of this one is really appealing
i remember playing world of warcraft allll the way back in i dont even know when
yk when it was a troop commanding strategy game like this and not a weird mmo
Would love to see some kind of endless mode maybe sometime in the future, maybe? I can imagine every 10 or so days the environment changes so you have to strategize and cover your bases to prepare for future environment changes?
Well, just Ants Take Over without "the World" feal catchy for me
i think the base concept would work as like a city builder rougelike really well
A good name is Unique (stands out from the crowd, doesn't get confused with other things, has good SEO), Easy to Say, Easy to type, As short as possible (1 syllable is king, 2 or 3 is great, 4 or more and its getting away from us), and Captures the vibe of the game.
Mega Colony is 5 syllables which is pretty long, and it's not unique. But it is easy to say and easy to type, and does convey something about the vibe of the game. Though I don't think it captures how cute the game is.
Ants Take Over the World is surprisingly only 6 syllables despite being 5 words long!! But overall too long imo. Even shortened to Ants Take Over, its crossing that 3 syllable goal marker imo. It is unique and easy to say though, and it does capture something about the vibe, though it reads to me kind of like a campy monster movie title. Which again, doesn't capture how cute and "magical forest"-y the game is so far. Ants Take Over makes me think of like a human populated city being overrun by giant ants or something, campy horror type stuff.
So I would say you ideally want something 1-3 syllables, 1 or *maybe* 2 words long, cute sounding, and conveys foresty nature kinda vibes.
I came up with a name, “Humant Hive”, idk, I thought it was fun
my game name idea "Antville"
also i like the suggestion Ants Take Over: The world
I'm not sure if you should put ants in the title of your game when the creatures are just inspired by ants and aren't actual ants. Personally I would much prefer them having a unique name the same way Pikmin do.
finally some fucking good ant colony game.................
Could you give them randomly generated names that are just puns? Like Antony or somethin just as an easter egg?
also first
Yesss it would be so cute
How about calling it Queen of the Hill?