Like the helpful soul Anvilfolk pointed out I'm reposting the news about a game that I'm working on in this forum. He said it's more visible here
Here's the gist:
"yes, I too was playing Dwarf Fortress and thought (while my third fortress flourished and I just made my first adamantine sword) :
"this is so great, so much detail!
"These dwarfs look like my own personal busy ant-hive..."
"... wait someone should totally make a game about an ant-hive controlled like dwarfs in DF!"
Being a mathematician by trade (like toady) I got slightly distracted for a month, putting lots of effort into realistic plantlife (properties and colors based on their genes, reproduction, usage of nutrients based on groundmaterial etc) and now heavily working on more commands I can give my little ants.
The simulation-core is written in C++, the current 2D graphic-layer in Apples Spritekit.
Here's a first screenshot (from the underground management of one's ant hive):
And here's another one of the surface with bugs, beetles, plants and butterflies (everything has genes, chromosomes and a metabolism and reproduces including the plants):
If you like to support us, any little bit is appreciated, just a like/share or a vote on greenlight would be great
Furthermore I was asked about the different casts of ants that we will have, here is the answer:
The default worker is the one you can see in the pictures, the normal type of soldier is already drawn and animated but not in the videos yet. Ranged acid-sprayers and honeypot (living food storage) are discussed.
Leafcutting specialists are another branch. Then there is the suicide bomber caste (which are all just representations of real world ants).
Tiny low-energy-consumption nest-maintenance caste. Really big tank ants. Poison attack ants... I can go on a long time, just a matter of time&money to enlarge the pool.
Another question we got is that ants are not building rooms/buildings/workshops, traps, furniture, etc. , how can we have enough complexity?You can tell your ants to dig tunnels, strengthen walls with stone, build above and below-ground earth/stone walls and structures, build nurseries, build underground fungi-gardens. Furthermore the genetic system is a piece that adds a completely different game-element. In Dwarf Fortress you only get to train the dwarfs. You can design the very body and genetics of your ants, shaping them to your needs. Where Dwarf fortress has Equipment and clothing to individualize your workers, in formicarium you get to modify their bodies.
EDIT: We only reached 68% of our goal, still pretty good for a completely new and unknown game. We keep working on it in our spare time and will be back 2015. If you want to be informed of the latest developments, we have a newsletter signup at www.formicarium.org.
