Post by Vendayn on Jan 2, 2009 2:56:46 GMT
Yeah this is three pages long, so this will be a long read.
There is a very distinct lack of colony games, there is Sim Ant...but that isn't that great anymore. Empire of the Ants was the worst ant game ever (imo anyway). Ant Wars while better than Empire of the Ants is more aimed for kids and there isn't much to it. There was a mod for Half Life 2 where you played as a termite/ant or bee, never played it though and I don't have half life nor interested in getting it.
Thats about all the colony games I know of. Kinda disappointing because it would be really cool to take Sim Ant but on a much MUCH larger scale.
I'll share my idea with you, its kinda primitive as its only really been in my head...but here it is...also I decided to post this elsewhere on gaming forums and insect forums I go to, so you may see this in other places.
You would start with a queen (ant, termite or bee) and there would be sub-species (many species of ant to choose from, termites have a variety of species to choose from...most live where its moist, but a few species live in deserts or do not need moisture. And I don't know anything about bees, so I won't talk about them)
So I'll start with termites. Termites would be pretty easy to play as, wood is easy to find even in the desert and really the main enemy are ants. The more moist areas would be harder to start out with because ants are a bigger problem, termites actually generally do better in the desert...less people and ants aren't as big of a threat.
Lets go back a little...the gameplay starts with first you choosing your insect (ant, termite or bee) and then choosing a sub-species which have pros/cons. Sim ant only really had two ants (black and red) that was incredibly boring because there are a lot more ants then just that. A wide variety of choices (which some would be a lot harder to play as, creating a challenge) is better and more fun.
Once the insect and species is chosen, you choose a place to start...maybe something simple at first, like a menu that has a list of habitats to choose from. Cities would generally be easy to find food, but harder because of people. Deserts would be easier in that there isn't many enemies to worry about in the desert, harder to find water and harder to find food though. Ants can dig down to 20-25 feet underground, so they have a source of water underground even in the barren desert. Termites dig down to the water level as well, so water shouldn't be a problem when your colony gets bigger. Then the other habitats like forest/rainforest/marsh/mountains and any others I didn't list. Again, some harder or easier and all would have cons to them.
Once you choose a habitat to live in, then you fly around looking for a place to nest. So if say you started in the mountains, you would fly your queen...OH and actually habitat should be selected first because that would narrow down your species list you could play as...okay so, you would fly your queen with wasd keys and using the mouse to control the camera. You see a small stream and a hill next to it with some plants around and a perfect place to nest. You chose an ant species to play as.
The colony grows a little and fall comes (and the game should really always start in spring...starting later like in the winter would be pretty hard if its a snowy climate. Though players should always be given choices, so they would choose the time of year they start in)...your colony is doing well and hasn't met any enemies yet. Whoops...you started in a riverbed...rains hit and now your colony is dead...underwater. Though you may have been able to avoid it...
There would be good and bad choices of starting somewhere, it would be up to the player to learn what the bad/good choices are. And the map should be sorta big, not huge but at least a good size.
I did say you might be able to have avoided it, and by that if you knew, you could have blocked up the nest with pebbles and dirt/sand. Though even this would probably not have been enough. Though, if your colony grew fast enough it might have had parts of the nest connecting out of the riverbed you moved out of...or not.
So now you decide to make a termite, eww they look gross...ugg is that the queen? (termite queens grow over time, so they wouldnt start off huge or ugly, they start kinda small...they can be 3-4 inches long!) Okay, so you decide to start in the woods. You fly around (though not very well since alate termites are incredibly bad flyers) and crash land into a tree...ah well this is a...river. You float down the river and eventually are able to crawl to land. The male termite as been with you the whole time (for ease of gameplay and since queen termites NEED a male to make a colony, so you control the male at the same time or it just auto follows you around or hangs on to your back or something.) and both of you (started as a subterranean species) find a old rotten log, been already partly eaten by a previous termite nest which never finished for some reason and plenty of food left. Besides, the longer you crawl the more likely a predator or ant will find you and eat/kill you. Great now you've laid your first batch of eggs...though of course, you wouldn't need to wait a month for the worker to hatch like in the real world...that be kinda boring. I guess game time could be really fast, but that (at least for me) is even worse..nothing worse than seeing day and 10-30min later its already night in a game :-| Anyway, so maybe after 5-10 min game time...maybe longer or shorter, I just chose this time, this game idea is more of a simulation of a real colony and meant to be a lot more realistic, not some arcade style game...and it shouldnt have an end either, more sandbox style. You can always start over if you get bored any how. Something different happens each time you start
Maybe a different layout of the mountains and new things in those mountains (or whatever habitat you chose). This is also a game where you can learn about termites/ants/bees. Okay so, your worker hatches, and now you officially started your first colony! Over time it gets bigger and probably eaten the wood or ran out of space...you've already started digging underground and now you try to find wood if you haven't already. You also being Subterranean might have already moved underground as well, since being above ground is probably not the safest place. Note: Sorry if this isn't how it really is, if it isn't don't be too mad! 
I'm actually not too sure what Subterranean queens start in...do they start a colony underground or do they nest in wood for food? Or does it depend? I assume they would start in wood that is buried or touching the ground.
Great! winter passes and your colony is a good size...but, the ants have awoken. Seeing that termites are better at fighting in tunnels than ants are, the ants generally leave you alone...they do invade gaps in some of the wood you are eating and carry off your workers for food. Maybe you should have blocked some of those gaps and holes with mud/dirt?...well you know next time. You also have a good amount of soldier termites to defend the colony. Oh oh, a large group of ants broke through one of your mud tunnels! Luckily you had soldiers traveling through to fortify another area...and soldier termites have a big head. You use the soldiers head to block the tunnels and the ants futile attempts of trying to get through eventually stop. You protected the main nest...but the other direction has almost no protection. You just lost a lot of termites, some soldiers and a lot of food source. Well, at least the queens are alive...and yes, now you have many queens as secondary reproductives are now in your nest and helping lay eggs. They don't always stay with your queen, some of the ones not yet able to lay eggs can be sent to other areas in case the colony loses connection to an area for whatever reason and then they become the queen and lay eggs. Worker termites can slowly turn into a queen too, unlike ants if they lose all their queens the colony dies...termite workers (subterranean termites) can turn into reproductives and become one (though not as big as the main queen and takes a few reproductives to match the egg laying process of the queen)..now done with that little info. Well even the reproductives couldn't make it out of the ants wrath. Most of the wood you were eating was either occupied by ants or all the termites were killed.
Well over time you find new wood and the ants leave you alone for whatever reason (maybe defeated by another ant colony thats close to them but further away from you?)...GREAT! You now have alate termites! Some days/weeks/months pass and the time is right to fly. Now your species has spread...now after this I'm not sure what would happen, there wouldnt be tiles like in sim ant...just new colonies would sprout up. After this (and if your ant species spreads, same thing) it might get boring, and I'm not sure what could be done about this. At the same time, I wouldnt want to have the player just forced to start over again if he/she didn't want to. Maybe you control the new colonies too, and it gets increasingly harder because you meet a lot more enemies or something? Not sure.
That was an example of part of the gameplay. It wouldn't be static, so starting out would be different each time and new things would happen. Could start in a city as well, but that would be like "hardcore" gameplay...as people would pose a big problem for your colony..get to be a problem they'll just wipe you out! On the bright side, it would be funny if you started as a termite and ate all the homes and watched them collapse
So you could wipe out the city! Somewhat being funny and somewhat being serious about the idea.
And you wouldn't control one measly termite/ant/bee like in sim ant...you would actually control the colony (including queen(s)) and a lot would be automated (kinda like in sim ant) cause if everything was manual that would be too much I think. But you could give workers commands and stuff, if you didn't notice...say there is a gap in wood, if you didn't block it up, ants (or some other insect that could kill or eat you) would be able to come in. There would be a lot of little things like this that you would be like "darn...well, what can I do next time?" and you would either figure it out right away or it would take time to figure it out and/or trial and error.
Anyway, thats just my idea of a game where you choose a social insect and control the colony (be it if it ends for the bad or good). Still wish I could think of a way to make it more fun later on...but maybe some of you will give some ideas. Maybe this idea sucks and all this thinking (and all this typing) on it is for a waste
But might as well share it.
There is a very distinct lack of colony games, there is Sim Ant...but that isn't that great anymore. Empire of the Ants was the worst ant game ever (imo anyway). Ant Wars while better than Empire of the Ants is more aimed for kids and there isn't much to it. There was a mod for Half Life 2 where you played as a termite/ant or bee, never played it though and I don't have half life nor interested in getting it.
Thats about all the colony games I know of. Kinda disappointing because it would be really cool to take Sim Ant but on a much MUCH larger scale.
I'll share my idea with you, its kinda primitive as its only really been in my head...but here it is...also I decided to post this elsewhere on gaming forums and insect forums I go to, so you may see this in other places.
You would start with a queen (ant, termite or bee) and there would be sub-species (many species of ant to choose from, termites have a variety of species to choose from...most live where its moist, but a few species live in deserts or do not need moisture. And I don't know anything about bees, so I won't talk about them)
So I'll start with termites. Termites would be pretty easy to play as, wood is easy to find even in the desert and really the main enemy are ants. The more moist areas would be harder to start out with because ants are a bigger problem, termites actually generally do better in the desert...less people and ants aren't as big of a threat.
Lets go back a little...the gameplay starts with first you choosing your insect (ant, termite or bee) and then choosing a sub-species which have pros/cons. Sim ant only really had two ants (black and red) that was incredibly boring because there are a lot more ants then just that. A wide variety of choices (which some would be a lot harder to play as, creating a challenge) is better and more fun.
Once the insect and species is chosen, you choose a place to start...maybe something simple at first, like a menu that has a list of habitats to choose from. Cities would generally be easy to find food, but harder because of people. Deserts would be easier in that there isn't many enemies to worry about in the desert, harder to find water and harder to find food though. Ants can dig down to 20-25 feet underground, so they have a source of water underground even in the barren desert. Termites dig down to the water level as well, so water shouldn't be a problem when your colony gets bigger. Then the other habitats like forest/rainforest/marsh/mountains and any others I didn't list. Again, some harder or easier and all would have cons to them.
Once you choose a habitat to live in, then you fly around looking for a place to nest. So if say you started in the mountains, you would fly your queen...OH and actually habitat should be selected first because that would narrow down your species list you could play as...okay so, you would fly your queen with wasd keys and using the mouse to control the camera. You see a small stream and a hill next to it with some plants around and a perfect place to nest. You chose an ant species to play as.
The colony grows a little and fall comes (and the game should really always start in spring...starting later like in the winter would be pretty hard if its a snowy climate. Though players should always be given choices, so they would choose the time of year they start in)...your colony is doing well and hasn't met any enemies yet. Whoops...you started in a riverbed...rains hit and now your colony is dead...underwater. Though you may have been able to avoid it...
There would be good and bad choices of starting somewhere, it would be up to the player to learn what the bad/good choices are. And the map should be sorta big, not huge but at least a good size.
I did say you might be able to have avoided it, and by that if you knew, you could have blocked up the nest with pebbles and dirt/sand. Though even this would probably not have been enough. Though, if your colony grew fast enough it might have had parts of the nest connecting out of the riverbed you moved out of...or not.
So now you decide to make a termite, eww they look gross...ugg is that the queen? (termite queens grow over time, so they wouldnt start off huge or ugly, they start kinda small...they can be 3-4 inches long!) Okay, so you decide to start in the woods. You fly around (though not very well since alate termites are incredibly bad flyers) and crash land into a tree...ah well this is a...river. You float down the river and eventually are able to crawl to land. The male termite as been with you the whole time (for ease of gameplay and since queen termites NEED a male to make a colony, so you control the male at the same time or it just auto follows you around or hangs on to your back or something.) and both of you (started as a subterranean species) find a old rotten log, been already partly eaten by a previous termite nest which never finished for some reason and plenty of food left. Besides, the longer you crawl the more likely a predator or ant will find you and eat/kill you. Great now you've laid your first batch of eggs...though of course, you wouldn't need to wait a month for the worker to hatch like in the real world...that be kinda boring. I guess game time could be really fast, but that (at least for me) is even worse..nothing worse than seeing day and 10-30min later its already night in a game :-| Anyway, so maybe after 5-10 min game time...maybe longer or shorter, I just chose this time, this game idea is more of a simulation of a real colony and meant to be a lot more realistic, not some arcade style game...and it shouldnt have an end either, more sandbox style. You can always start over if you get bored any how. Something different happens each time you start
Maybe a different layout of the mountains and new things in those mountains (or whatever habitat you chose). This is also a game where you can learn about termites/ants/bees. Okay so, your worker hatches, and now you officially started your first colony! Over time it gets bigger and probably eaten the wood or ran out of space...you've already started digging underground and now you try to find wood if you haven't already. You also being Subterranean might have already moved underground as well, since being above ground is probably not the safest place. Note: Sorry if this isn't how it really is, if it isn't don't be too mad! I'm actually not too sure what Subterranean queens start in...do they start a colony underground or do they nest in wood for food? Or does it depend? I assume they would start in wood that is buried or touching the ground.Great! winter passes and your colony is a good size...but, the ants have awoken. Seeing that termites are better at fighting in tunnels than ants are, the ants generally leave you alone...they do invade gaps in some of the wood you are eating and carry off your workers for food. Maybe you should have blocked some of those gaps and holes with mud/dirt?...well you know next time. You also have a good amount of soldier termites to defend the colony. Oh oh, a large group of ants broke through one of your mud tunnels! Luckily you had soldiers traveling through to fortify another area...and soldier termites have a big head. You use the soldiers head to block the tunnels and the ants futile attempts of trying to get through eventually stop. You protected the main nest...but the other direction has almost no protection. You just lost a lot of termites, some soldiers and a lot of food source. Well, at least the queens are alive...and yes, now you have many queens as secondary reproductives are now in your nest and helping lay eggs. They don't always stay with your queen, some of the ones not yet able to lay eggs can be sent to other areas in case the colony loses connection to an area for whatever reason and then they become the queen and lay eggs. Worker termites can slowly turn into a queen too, unlike ants if they lose all their queens the colony dies...termite workers (subterranean termites) can turn into reproductives and become one (though not as big as the main queen and takes a few reproductives to match the egg laying process of the queen)..now done with that little info. Well even the reproductives couldn't make it out of the ants wrath. Most of the wood you were eating was either occupied by ants or all the termites were killed.
Well over time you find new wood and the ants leave you alone for whatever reason (maybe defeated by another ant colony thats close to them but further away from you?)...GREAT! You now have alate termites! Some days/weeks/months pass and the time is right to fly. Now your species has spread...now after this I'm not sure what would happen, there wouldnt be tiles like in sim ant...just new colonies would sprout up. After this (and if your ant species spreads, same thing) it might get boring, and I'm not sure what could be done about this. At the same time, I wouldnt want to have the player just forced to start over again if he/she didn't want to. Maybe you control the new colonies too, and it gets increasingly harder because you meet a lot more enemies or something? Not sure.
That was an example of part of the gameplay. It wouldn't be static, so starting out would be different each time and new things would happen. Could start in a city as well, but that would be like "hardcore" gameplay...as people would pose a big problem for your colony..get to be a problem they'll just wipe you out! On the bright side, it would be funny if you started as a termite and ate all the homes and watched them collapse
So you could wipe out the city! Somewhat being funny and somewhat being serious about the idea. And you wouldn't control one measly termite/ant/bee like in sim ant...you would actually control the colony (including queen(s)) and a lot would be automated (kinda like in sim ant) cause if everything was manual that would be too much I think. But you could give workers commands and stuff, if you didn't notice...say there is a gap in wood, if you didn't block it up, ants (or some other insect that could kill or eat you) would be able to come in. There would be a lot of little things like this that you would be like "darn...well, what can I do next time?" and you would either figure it out right away or it would take time to figure it out and/or trial and error.
Anyway, thats just my idea of a game where you choose a social insect and control the colony (be it if it ends for the bad or good). Still wish I could think of a way to make it more fun later on...but maybe some of you will give some ideas. Maybe this idea sucks and all this thinking (and all this typing) on it is for a waste
But might as well share it. 
