When will the next update be?
We have a policy of not announcing release dates before we're sure we can meet the date. To be honest this stems from a history of being terrible at meeting predictions we've made for ourselves! We're not alone in this - even the really big developers have trouble pinning down when an update will be done.
Smaller patches without major new features are likely to come unannounced, but larger patches will likely get a few week's notice.
What's next for the game?
Now that the fire ant update is out (as of 27th July 2022), the next big update will be large additions and changes to freeplay, to bring it much closer to its final release form. At some point around this time a challenge mode - featuring the six-spotted fishing spider (Dolomedes triton) - will be added to the fire ant levels. In the meantime, there will be fixes, balance changes and a multitude of new extra levels.
Also on the cards is a further food rebalance, pending some careful design decisions and feedback, to lessen the "tipping point" nature of certain levels when the game becomes unintentionally very un-interactive. This is likely to require extensive optional beta support from the community.
When will the game be complete?
We are calling the game version 1.0 once we've completed 5 formicarium tiers. That means that now that the fire ant update is in, which is tier 4, there is 1 more major update before we take the game out of early access.
That does not mean that development will end at this point. As long as things are still going sustainably we will continue to add new things to the game. At some point we will likely want to move onto a new project but excluding outright catastrophe we don't see ourselves ending support for the game entirely.
Why can't we move the queen? Queen ants move in nature.
We're fully aware that most queen ants are very mobile in the real world - but Empires of the Undergrowth is not a simulation. Quite simply this is a choice of game mechanics - Our primary inspiration for this game is Dungeon Keeper. It has a "Dungeon Heart" mechanic which is a central point that must be defended. The levels are designed and balanced around this.
If it were possible to move the queen, the obvious tactic would be to move her to a much more easily defensible position than she starts in, far behind your forces. Unlike most RTS games we don't have a wide open arena - the underground is bound by many walls and allowing the player to do this would cause insurmountable balance issues.
Why can't we build dirt tiles? Do you plan on adding this?
The answer to this is similar to the queen one above. Allowing the player to build dirt tiles would unbalance the game by allowing the player to create labyrinthine paths to the queen, or force clunky things like path checks to make sure there's always a way to access the queen and brood chambers. This feels inelegant. We've been thinking about the game mechanics since 2014 and haven't come up with a way for building dirt tiles that we like and doesn't break things.
If this were to find a place in the game, it's not at all likely to be in the campaign.
Why can't the game be saved mid-level but freeplay can?
Early on in the project it was decided that in-level saving for the campaign missions would not be a thing - it's for purely practical reasons; with a small team it would take an inordinate amount of time to implement. Since the campaign levels are heavily scripted there's a lot of one-off variables that a saving system would have to account for, and it'd have to be done individually for each level.
Freeplay is a different beast entirely - it has no scripting, and everything about it can be saved in a nice, predicatable manner.
We've often thought that if we were beginning the project again with the knowledge we've gained since we started, we might include a checkpoint system, but probably not a full saving system.
What are the creature / ability stats?
Eventually these stats will be in the game in the form of a wiki system, but for now here's the CSV sheet that the game uses for creature stats and abilities. You can see the base stats for the various ants, their upgraded versions and other creatures here:
http://eotugame.com/stats/CreatureStats.csv
http://eotugame.com/stats/Abilities.csv
http://eotugame.com/stats/Effects.csv
Note: these are not in a user-friendly format, they are literally the spreadsheets the game uses, but you should be able to decipher them.
Will the game have multiplayer?
EotU will not have multiplayer.
The game has not been designed to be multiplayer, and we are committed to finishing our promised single-player campaign and freeplay mode. It would be a very significant undertaking to make EotU capable of supporting multiplayer, requiring some very fundamental rewrites that would affect the entire project in an unpredictable way - we would effectively be starting from scratch.
Will we be able to make our own maps?
The in-house solution we use is great for us but isn't fit for public consumption. Making a level editor fit for purpose outside of the dev team would take a lot of time and we'd have to weigh up whether it'd be worth it. Again, we will assess this post-release.
Will you add more things outside of the main formicarium story?
Yes. Extra missions are a semi-regular feature when we're not in the throes of being close to a major update. They can be found from the "Other Modes" option on the main menu.
We might also add more event and demo levels.
Where are the saved game files located?
For Windows users, the save files are at:
C:\Users\[YOUR USER NAME]\AppData\Local\EotU\Saved\SaveGames
If you're using a Mac, the save files are at:
/Users/[YOUR USER NAME]/Library/Preferences/EotU
For Linux, saved games are at:
~/.config/Epic/EotU/
The game uses Steam Cloud saving, and that's active by default for everyone playing on that system. We are aware that other systems such as GOG Galaxy also allow a cloud save - we're looking into it.
Is the game available on Android / iOS / consoles?
No, and there are not currently any plans for support outside of Windows, Mac and Linux. If this changes in the future we will make an announcement about it.
An important related point here is that if you see a game purporting to be Empires of the Undergrowth on any mobile stores, they are certainly not us and may in fact be dangerous to your device or personal data. Please report them to the stores and to us.
Are we going to get challenge modes for campaign levels that don't currently have them?
Yes - in the finished game, all the main branch campaign levels will have an associated challenge mode. These are usually added after their initial release.
My computer won't run the game / runs slowly / crashes. Why?
The most common cause of this is that your system doesn't meet the minimum recommended hardware specs for the game. These are listed below:
Windows:
I meet the minimum specs but I'm still crashing. How do I report it?
Make sure you're not just clicking the "send" button on the UE4 crash dialogue - that goes to Epic Games, makers of the engine, not us. Instead please follow the instructions in this thread on Steam to make sure the correct information gets to us.
Anything contextual you can give us when you send the email will be very helpful - your computer specs, what you were doing at the time of the crash, if it's easily repeatable, etc. The more information we have the faster we can get to the bottom of the matter.
Can you add weaver ants to the game?
Weaver ants deserve a special mention, since they are requested so often.
No, weaver ants will not be in EotU. For starters, their nesting systems are incompatible - they create conical nests made of leaves, high up in trees. Secondly, trees - they are arboreal (tree-dwelling) and do not dig into the dirt to create their nests. As I've often said, there is a fantastic game to be made about weaver ants - but it is not EotU.
How big is the development team / why do big updates take a long time?
There are 3 developers / directors and an environment artist. Outside of the immediate dev team, there's also a marketing manager and a community manager.
As you can see, we're a really tiny team! We ask you to be patient with us whilst we make quality work that's worth your time.
We have a policy of not announcing release dates before we're sure we can meet the date. To be honest this stems from a history of being terrible at meeting predictions we've made for ourselves! We're not alone in this - even the really big developers have trouble pinning down when an update will be done.
Smaller patches without major new features are likely to come unannounced, but larger patches will likely get a few week's notice.
What's next for the game?
Now that the fire ant update is out (as of 27th July 2022), the next big update will be large additions and changes to freeplay, to bring it much closer to its final release form. At some point around this time a challenge mode - featuring the six-spotted fishing spider (Dolomedes triton) - will be added to the fire ant levels. In the meantime, there will be fixes, balance changes and a multitude of new extra levels.
Also on the cards is a further food rebalance, pending some careful design decisions and feedback, to lessen the "tipping point" nature of certain levels when the game becomes unintentionally very un-interactive. This is likely to require extensive optional beta support from the community.
When will the game be complete?
We are calling the game version 1.0 once we've completed 5 formicarium tiers. That means that now that the fire ant update is in, which is tier 4, there is 1 more major update before we take the game out of early access.
That does not mean that development will end at this point. As long as things are still going sustainably we will continue to add new things to the game. At some point we will likely want to move onto a new project but excluding outright catastrophe we don't see ourselves ending support for the game entirely.
Why can't we move the queen? Queen ants move in nature.
We're fully aware that most queen ants are very mobile in the real world - but Empires of the Undergrowth is not a simulation. Quite simply this is a choice of game mechanics - Our primary inspiration for this game is Dungeon Keeper. It has a "Dungeon Heart" mechanic which is a central point that must be defended. The levels are designed and balanced around this.
If it were possible to move the queen, the obvious tactic would be to move her to a much more easily defensible position than she starts in, far behind your forces. Unlike most RTS games we don't have a wide open arena - the underground is bound by many walls and allowing the player to do this would cause insurmountable balance issues.
Why can't we build dirt tiles? Do you plan on adding this?
The answer to this is similar to the queen one above. Allowing the player to build dirt tiles would unbalance the game by allowing the player to create labyrinthine paths to the queen, or force clunky things like path checks to make sure there's always a way to access the queen and brood chambers. This feels inelegant. We've been thinking about the game mechanics since 2014 and haven't come up with a way for building dirt tiles that we like and doesn't break things.
If this were to find a place in the game, it's not at all likely to be in the campaign.
Why can't the game be saved mid-level but freeplay can?
Early on in the project it was decided that in-level saving for the campaign missions would not be a thing - it's for purely practical reasons; with a small team it would take an inordinate amount of time to implement. Since the campaign levels are heavily scripted there's a lot of one-off variables that a saving system would have to account for, and it'd have to be done individually for each level.
Freeplay is a different beast entirely - it has no scripting, and everything about it can be saved in a nice, predicatable manner.
We've often thought that if we were beginning the project again with the knowledge we've gained since we started, we might include a checkpoint system, but probably not a full saving system.
What are the creature / ability stats?
Eventually these stats will be in the game in the form of a wiki system, but for now here's the CSV sheet that the game uses for creature stats and abilities. You can see the base stats for the various ants, their upgraded versions and other creatures here:
http://eotugame.com/stats/CreatureStats.csv
http://eotugame.com/stats/Abilities.csv
http://eotugame.com/stats/Effects.csv
Note: these are not in a user-friendly format, they are literally the spreadsheets the game uses, but you should be able to decipher them.
Will the game have multiplayer?
EotU will not have multiplayer.
The game has not been designed to be multiplayer, and we are committed to finishing our promised single-player campaign and freeplay mode. It would be a very significant undertaking to make EotU capable of supporting multiplayer, requiring some very fundamental rewrites that would affect the entire project in an unpredictable way - we would effectively be starting from scratch.
Will we be able to make our own maps?
The in-house solution we use is great for us but isn't fit for public consumption. Making a level editor fit for purpose outside of the dev team would take a lot of time and we'd have to weigh up whether it'd be worth it. Again, we will assess this post-release.
Will you add more things outside of the main formicarium story?
Yes. Extra missions are a semi-regular feature when we're not in the throes of being close to a major update. They can be found from the "Other Modes" option on the main menu.
We might also add more event and demo levels.
Where are the saved game files located?
For Windows users, the save files are at:
C:\Users\[YOUR USER NAME]\AppData\Local\EotU\Saved\SaveGames
If you're using a Mac, the save files are at:
/Users/[YOUR USER NAME]/Library/Preferences/EotU
For Linux, saved games are at:
~/.config/Epic/EotU/
The game uses Steam Cloud saving, and that's active by default for everyone playing on that system. We are aware that other systems such as GOG Galaxy also allow a cloud save - we're looking into it.
Is the game available on Android / iOS / consoles?
No, and there are not currently any plans for support outside of Windows, Mac and Linux. If this changes in the future we will make an announcement about it.
An important related point here is that if you see a game purporting to be Empires of the Undergrowth on any mobile stores, they are certainly not us and may in fact be dangerous to your device or personal data. Please report them to the stores and to us.
Are we going to get challenge modes for campaign levels that don't currently have them?
Yes - in the finished game, all the main branch campaign levels will have an associated challenge mode. These are usually added after their initial release.
My computer won't run the game / runs slowly / crashes. Why?
The most common cause of this is that your system doesn't meet the minimum recommended hardware specs for the game. These are listed below:
Windows:
- OS: Windows 7 64-bit or higher
- Processor: Intel Core i3-4340 / AMD FX-6300
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB / AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- OS: Mac OS X 10.12.6
- Processor: Intel Core i3-4340 / AMD FX-6300
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB / AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- OS: Any reasonable new Linux distro (Ubuntu 16.04)
- Processor: Intel Core i3-4340 / AMD FX-6300
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB / AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB
- Storage: 2 GB available space
I meet the minimum specs but I'm still crashing. How do I report it?
Make sure you're not just clicking the "send" button on the UE4 crash dialogue - that goes to Epic Games, makers of the engine, not us. Instead please follow the instructions in this thread on Steam to make sure the correct information gets to us.
Anything contextual you can give us when you send the email will be very helpful - your computer specs, what you were doing at the time of the crash, if it's easily repeatable, etc. The more information we have the faster we can get to the bottom of the matter.
Can you add weaver ants to the game?
Weaver ants deserve a special mention, since they are requested so often.
No, weaver ants will not be in EotU. For starters, their nesting systems are incompatible - they create conical nests made of leaves, high up in trees. Secondly, trees - they are arboreal (tree-dwelling) and do not dig into the dirt to create their nests. As I've often said, there is a fantastic game to be made about weaver ants - but it is not EotU.
How big is the development team / why do big updates take a long time?
There are 3 developers / directors and an environment artist. Outside of the immediate dev team, there's also a marketing manager and a community manager.
As you can see, we're a really tiny team! We ask you to be patient with us whilst we make quality work that's worth your time.
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