Desktop Ant Farm Simulator news & patch notes

Desktop Ant Farm Simulator is Leaving Early Access in August

Hey all,

I want to do a devlog on my current thoughts for Desktop Ant Farm Simulator. As I've been tinkering with Update #10, cleaning up text issues, adding another dozen lofi tracks, a new font option, etc, I've realized that the rough edges that were intentionally left rough so that I could start Early Access have been smoothed.

I set out to have a rich full lofi soundtrack, which is as of the current status of Update #10, sitting at 36 tracks. I set out to create an Idle Mode that stood separate from Productivity mode, and the Forager Ants/Nutrients/Age System all went an extremely long way in making a satisfying loop

This whole project started as an idea to make a digital distraction. Something my ADHD coded brain could stare at while I did my real job. The original concept was completed to my level of desire months before Early Access even started. To release it to an actual audience required some basic needs, like settings and controls info. Easily the most boring part of game development. Just writing code to accomplish basic features that exist in every game.

What was left on the drawing board at Early Access launch was that next brush of creative development. How can I make it look better? Make it easier to work on any monitor so that it could just run idly while people do their own thing? What ways can I expand the Idle Mode without making it require *too much interaction? It needed to stay minimal, it's a distraction not a focus.

Over the course of the 10 Early Access patches I addressed nearly all of my thoughts about how to polish this project off, and took several great suggestions from the community to heart. Early Access was the perfect choice for this project. How else was I supposed to focus on making more without it also running in the corner of the monitor as a distraction?

Version 1.0 is not the end of my time working on this. It just marks that level of polish that I feel comfortable selling a project as a complete idea and saying it represents my goal from the outset. There's other systems and ideas I absolutely plan to add but at this point those felt "extra" to the original idea. The second they felt extra, I realized I was feeling happy with the state of the game.

Take a look at the other projects I've released, the formal release is always just the start of the next free-er state of development. Adding fun ideas as I think of them, un-beholden to a timeline or a massive signposted "end". I'm a solo dev making games in my free time after my full-time non-gaming job. The fact I've gotten so many ideas across the finish line feels like a massive personal accomplishment.

So yeah, Desktop Ant Farm Simulator is having its full-release version 1.0 in August. I'm not picking a specific date. I will keep tinkering with Update #10 the next 3-5 weeks and one day I'll pull the trigger and say it's time. I'd be happy doing that today frankly, but I'm going to let it stew for a few weeks.

Thanks all who joined me on the Early Access journey, this was a great experiment and it was a neat way to create a game.

-kyle

Hi all,

The Jukebox update is here! This one doesn't have a lot to explain. I added 12 new Lo-fi tracks by artist Redlight Chill, and added a new "now playing" banner that pops in when you are in the ant farm and a new track starts. So you can see the song name and artist of the new track. Fairly simple concept that proved more difficult than I thought to create with modular window sizes and screen layouts. Creating a one-size fits all approach to a nice little track window took some trial and error. The 12 new tracks are excellent vibe-y lo-fi and fit in well with the existing roster of tracks. On to the patch notes.

v0.6.0

• Added a Now Playing Banner to the ant farm that displays when a new track starts playing

• Added a page 2 to the Jukebox menu that matches the page system seen in the Stats menu

• Added 12 new lo-fi tracks from artist Redlight Chill, bringing the total track count to 24 lo-fi beats

There are some small additional features I want to add as v0.6.x patches here but I wanted the brunt of the patch out now since the core elements of it were done. I'm gonna stick with version v0.6.x for around a month here. Do some small iterative clean ups and improvements before heading to the next title update which will again re-focus on expanding the depth of gameplay in the Idle Mode.

Thanks all,

Kyle

Hi all,

Version number leap time! I was slated to finish this by May 15th. Really dates I put on myself to self-motivate and hold myself accountable. As it turns out, I am done with what I wanted to accomplish. I don't think anyone will complain about me getting these updates out faster than schedule, right?

The Stats Update accomplishes a main goal of mine: pull the Steam Stats and Steam Achievements in-game with a stats menu and badge system. I knew along with that I needed a main menu refresh to make everything fit so I took some time working on the menus and sprucing them up. Let's just jump into patch notes!

v0.5.0

• Title display now has a window and chain link graphic with a subtle animation

• Added a shade layer between the menu options and the menu ant farm in all menu screens to help text and menu blocks pop more

• Main menu ant farm is now persistent between menu screens (swapping between the main menu, settings, jukebox no longer keeps resetting the little demo ant farm in the background of the menus)

• Shrunk the size of the Jukebox menu button to fit the Stats menu button next to it

• Added the Stats Menu

• Added 8 Stats cards to the Stats menu with three badges each, all corresponding to the thresholds for Steam Achievements

• Added a tab system in the Stats menu to flip between pages of stat cards (a system that will be carried over to other areas of the game in due time)

• Adjusted Font Choice 2 to fix display issues due to it's larger character spacing

• Out of game: refreshed the Steam Store page with fresh screenshots and information

So what is next? I want to capitalize on some momentum and motivation I have right now so v0.6.0 will release on June 5th tentatively. The Jukebox Update. A companion really to this updates. A dozen new lo-fi track, a Jukebox menu overhaul, and a toggleable "Now Playing" UI to display a track title and artist when it starts in the ant farms. June 5th. But it could be earlier again.

Anyways, thanks all for playing Ant Farm and sharing kind words and ideas and feedback. Let me know if there is something you want to see in the game!

-Kyle

Hi all,

Wanted to generally chat about the path to the next title update, v0.5. Tentatively releasing on Friday May 15th.

This patch will be the Stats Update. I want to capture as many stats as possible, create as many systems to catch as many stats as possible, display them all in an in-game stats hub. I'm starting this work with the v0.4.X patch series but the title update will represent the culmination of this plan.

I'm very happy with the gameplay wrinkles added in v0.4 and want them to vibe for a bit and get a feel for what works really well and where I want to push the idle gameplay next. So for now, it's a meta level update. Stats galore for everyone to peruse.

This will include an in-game badge system that replicates the Steam Achievements so that even those are all fully houses in-game.

The extra nugget this patch will receive as part of the domino effect of making a stats menu, is that the main menu will get some extra passes and polish. Mentally I also already know where I'm going for v0.6 and it will only be a few shorts weeks after the next title update. Expect a significant amount of growth for this project throughout the Spring and into the early Summer.

Looking all the way to the end goal here: on the Steam store page I mention Early Access lasting less than a year. That's on pace and still the plan. I'd imagine crossing the 1.0 finish line in the Autumn. But I will support this game with updates and ideas for as long as they pop up even after the main launch.

So there's a loose roadmap for the next title update with a planned release date, and some insight to the development at large.

Thanks for playing! If you like what you've played, please leave a review! If you don't like what you've played, let me know on a discussion board thread and I'll see what I can do to address the issues.

Have a great week,

Kyle

Hi all,

I've got a small patch today fleshing out the expanded view of stats in Idle Mode. This includes displaying 5 stats to the player for Farm information, including two new stats being documented. This is just to give you more numbers to pour over as you develop you ant tunnels. The two new stats being tracked won't require new farm saves, but they won't backdate to the start of your farm. The new stats are total blocks destroyed in a particular farm and the total number of dirt clods collected in a particular farm. Lifetime total stats for these were already collected, but now they are collected for each individual farm. These stats are also collected for each individual play session.

So just some stats for you all this time. Simple lil patch. Mentally I'm moving towards v0.5 which is tentatively the "Stats Update" and will add an extensive and thorough in-game stats menu to the main menu. This will include the lifetime values for as many stats as I can grab and the start of an in-game badge system that follows the steam achievements already created. A whole in-game view of these stats and achievements.

As I move towards v0.5 I will do another couple small patches like this capturing as much data as possible so that when v0.5 launches, the game already has been tracking as much as possible.

Thanks all,

Kyle

v0.4.1

• Expanded Info menu in Idle Mode has 5 more stats shown with farm information

  • Clods Earned in Session

  • Clods Earned in Farm

  • Current Nutrients

  • Nutrients Earned in Session

  • Blocks Destroyed

Hi all,

This is a fairly gargantuan update, the largest by far for this project since it's release. I'm gonna chat about it for a moment and then get to the patch notes.

v0.4.0 marks a dramatic level up for the ants of ant farm. They individually store a lot more data and systems which are core to the overall new experiences. All of these changes are for the Idle Mode, and the Productivity Mode with no interaction does not need these Idle game systems. Ants now have individual hunger levels, as well as age. And more importantly, they can perish. How all of this works is inherently tied to the new ant type: Forager Ants.

Forager Ants are slower and more expensive than a Worker Ant but they are the only ants that can gather the nutrients left behind after breaking some dirt blocks. When an ant's hunger meter empties, it must eat a single nutrient to completely restore it's hunger meter or risk death. A Nutrient Blob left behind by a destroyed dirt block (a 10% spawn chance to start) with yield you 10 nutrients. That's 10 ant's hunger reset per Nutrient Blob.

In addition to buying Forager Ants, you can now upgrade the spawn chance of Nutrient Blobs by 2% per purchase. To coincide with two new purchasable upgrades as well as the need to re-buy perished ants, the math formulas for cost scaling have been adjusted across the board.

As ants become too old, they have a chance to Perish naturally regardless of their hunger meter. Currently this is measured as ~100 trips to and from the underground. If you only have 1 ant remaining, it cannot die of old age.

It's also easier than ever to see your stats and buy upgrades now that not only is the shop keyboard friendly, but mouse friendly too. The GUI elements for each upgrade display what they are on hover and you can click them to upgrade right there. The expand information button on the B key now breaks down relevant stats for your current ant farm.

There are a handful of loose threads I plan to follow off of this major patch as smaller iterative patches. It will be a slower path to the next title update (v0.5.0) but the interim patches in the meantime will expand on the ideas here is meaningful ways, with new upgrades, more stats shown, and more. Stay tuned for those small updates and stay further tuned for a v0.5.0 Roadmap plan sometime in the next few weeks.

With all of these changes, existing Idle Mode ant farm saves may not perform as intended (although they should load), so a clean Idle Mode ant farm save file is recommended to enjoy these changes as they were intended.

On to the full notes:

v0.4.0

• Added Forager Ants

• Added Nutrient Blobs

• Added Nutrient counter to the HUD

• Added upgrade "Increase Nutrient Spawn Chance"

• Added Ant Hunger system

• Added Ant Age system

• Added Ant Perishing system

• Adjustments to Ant Save Data

  • Ant Hunger, Age, Location, and more now save and load between sessions

• Adjustments to Idle Mode Save Data

  • Nutrient Blob locations, nutrient count, and several other variables associated with Forager Ants now save and load between sessions

• Added Clickable GUI Elements

  • On Hover - upgrades display information, cost, and current value

• "B" Expand info menu now display a range of ant stats in one location pertaining to the current ant farm

• Slightly lowered the cost scaling of Worker Ants

• Increased the cost scaling of Ant Strength

• Added 9 New Steam Achievements

• Added 3 New Steam Stats

• HUD now displays total ant count, sprite change to reflect total of both types of ants

Hi all,

Today's patch focused on giving the three purchasable stats in Idle Mode new formulas that were exponential curves rather than linear curves. This is to help control the pacing of an ant farm so that you get to play any individual farm for a suitable amount of time, since it's supposed to be a good experience to vibe in the background with.

These new formulas make the early stages of a farm quicker, but the later stages slower. Mostly, it puts an amount of control on the re-worked Strength stat which went live earlier than I wanted. And I enjoy how the stat works, but it was far too cheap for what it accomplished. Leading to the ability to clear farms far to quickly.

The patch notes are very small, but the re-tooling should be fairly noticeable. Happy digging! Please leave any feedback as you hang out with your ant farms, here or in the discussion boards. And leave a review if you want. Anything helps the game grow and expand and become the best ant farm vibe.

- Kyle

v0.3.2

• Stat Formulas in Idle Mode

  • New Ant Cost, Ant Speed, and Ant Strength all scale exponentially with new formulas

Hi all,

Work is underway on the approach to v0.4! There are a lot of changes coming to Idle mode adding a substantial new gameplay loop. To facilitate those changes and make them communicated better, I've put work into a new Idle Mode UI. You can see this below.

The UI is perhaps intentionally leaving out some information right now, but I'm happy with how clean it is and how it communicates some information easier.

Let's get into the whole patch notes. Happy digging!

- Kyle

Edit: The strength re-work is also now live in this patch. This wasn't intentional but it was finished so it's staying rather than be packaged with v0.4.

v0.3.1

• Strength Re-work

  • Strength now increases by full values of 1 rather than iterative steps

  • Strength now increases the amount of clods you bring back to the surface in addition to just doing extra damage to blocks

  • Cost of strength upgrades have been made much more expensive to match their impact on the flow of the game

• Idle Mode UI

  • $ replaced with clod icon

  • clod icon is shown in buy menu to show what currency value purchases which thing

  • quick help hot key items along the top to help you buy things without opening the expanded shop menu

  • total ant count is shown in the info bar

  • B to Expand prompt in UI to guide players to open the buy menu in Idle Mode

• Reduced the default font size of Font 2 from 32pt -> 30pt to accommodate the UI better

Hello all!

I wanted to detail the work happening behind the scenes as I work towards the next big update. At this point I'm referring to v0.4 as The Ant Update. I went back and forth on what I wanted to do next and landed on doing a gameplay focused follow up to the Camera Update. Tentatively, barring any roadblocks, v0.4 will release March 31st. I'm planning on doling out a small patch or two this month as I build to v0.4.

So what's the goal with The Ant Update

• Rework Ant Strength Stat

  • Currently it is basic and rudimentary and makes ants dig more per trip, that's it. I want the scaling and reward for increasing strength to matter more.

• Pet the Ants 2.0

  • Currently petting an ant makes them happy which means nothing other than you know they are happy. I want to revisit this so that happy ants age slower.

• Ant Age

  • Ants will age over time and after a long time can pass away of natural causes. A happy ant will love longer. As will a well fed ant.

• Nutrients

  • In the underground, pockets of nutrients can be uncovered. They aren't required to complete an ant farm but they will make your ants live longer and be stronger. At a regular time interval your collected Nutrients will be consumed in place of an ants aging. Nutrients are completely ignored by Worker Ants who just want to dig though.

• Forager Ant

  • A new kind of ant. Will dig tunnels the same as Worker Ant. Unless there are nutrients accessible. If there are nutrients accessible to the path of a Forager Ant, they will choose to collect those instead.

There are other ideas in the works. Maybe for this update. Maybe for a later one. So I don't want to over promise for March's update. These gameplay changes are completely for the Idle Mode. Productivity Mode will always remain the completely hands off autonomous ant farm mode.

See you soon!

Kyle

Update #3: The Camera Update

Hi all,

We're kicking off the first major version number update today with the Camera Update. Follow up small patches to v0.3.0 will cover a scattershot of feedback and small additions as we build up to the next major update. Let's talk about this update though!

The main version updates will be holistic overhauls of one system. Looking at every part of it and trying to improve on it. For version 0.3.0 that was the camera system. And I crammed several new options in here, including two community requests (so thank you for using the Discussions boards!). The major take-away is the entire camera/view/perspective can now be controlled solely with the mouse.

Thanks all for supporting ant farm game and I can't wait to continue tinkering with it to make it as full featured as possible! Expect some small v0.3.x patches in the coming couple of weeks, and I will make a similar announcement as I did with this patch with anticipated release date for a v0.4.0 when we get closer!

-Kyle

Let's hop into some patch notes:

v0.3.0

• Mouse Wheel now controls zoom level (in addition to the alt key)

  • Scrolling in either direction zooms in or out respectively

• Zoom UI has been updated to just look nicer than a random bar at the top of the screen

• Perspective now automatically updates between Portrait and Landscape when resizing the window, no key input needed!

• Pressing the Mouse Wheel now makes the window borderless (in addition to the tab key)

• Community Suggestion- Ctrl key now locks the camera view in place

  • Adjusting Zoom keeps the lock point centered

  • Holding down right mouse click to drag the camera view snaps the view back to where it was locked

  • Pressing Ctrl again unlock the camera back on to a random ant

• Community Suggestion- F key now makes the window full screen

• Controls menu text have been updated to reflect changes

• Fixed an issue with text color in the main menu under certain conditions

• Fixed an issue with menu boxes jittering in the main menu under certain conditions

• Changed the outline color of menu boxes in the main menu

• Added a text pop-up when hovering over the controls menu button

• Pressing mouse wheel on the main menu will make the window borderless

• Added 3 new Steam Achievements for lifetime ants purchased

The Camera Update - February 20th

Hey all,

I wanted to communicate the date of the next update which will be a chunky one (v0.3.0). As I outlined in my loose roadmap of update themes, each major update will be a holistic overhaul of a single system, mixed with new content and bug fixes of course. The first major update will be The Camera Update. What should you expect?

Update #2: Scattered Additions

Thanks all,

v0.2.2

• Lifetime Spending stat added

• 3 New Steam Achievements for lifetime spending

• Farm Clears stat added

• 3 New Steam Achievements for lifetime farm clears

• 3 New Steam Achievements for mid-range dirt removal (upper threshold now 250,000 dirt clods)

• 2 new lofi tracks from Rusted Music Studio added to the playlist

• General code clean-up and movement, and background work for future content

Update #1: You Can Pet The Ants

Hi all,

Wanted to put my best foot forward and push out a little new update. This is my first time doing an Early Access project. I've released two other games on Steam, and one on consoles, but Early Access carries a different vibe. That expectation that if you jump on the train early you see meaningful engagement from the developer. I've played enough Early Access games myself to know it's annoying to never see one finish or just move. so. slow.

Anyways, you can pet the ants now. By using the mouse cursor, if you pet an ant for a little over a second it will become happy which has a little visual animation. The ant will remain happy for the remainder of the session. A happy ant does nothing else so far other than your personal knowledge that the ant is indeed happy <3

I also put in the first community request!! The best part of this early access process. Thank you FireCat for suggesting a settings toggle to turn off Window Priority. If you don't want your ant farm to always persist on top, don't worry about it now, just toggle it off in the settings!

This is a short and sweet start and I wanted to put something goofy in as well as knock out that first community request. If you have any suggestions, please make a Discussion topic, I will be active in the boards.

Thanks all for a good first day of early access. This is going to be a lot of fun.

-Kyle

Here's the full notes:

v0.2.1

• Pet the ants

• 3 New Steam Achievements for petting the ants

• Pet happiness variable added

• Hovering your mouse cursor on an ant will stop them indefinitely

• Pressing ESC while the controls menu is open on the main menu closes the controls menu and *not the game

• Community Suggestion- A toggle in the settings to turn Window Priority off

Desktop Ant Farm Simulator is Available Now!

Hello all! Kyle here. I'm super pumped to release my ant game into Early Access. So let me talk about the ant game, Early Access, the state of the game now, and where it could be going.

Digital Ant Farming

This is a desktop companion type deal. It will persist over other windows when you are in your ant farm. The window is full stretchable as you see fit, and if you peep the controls in the help menu, there is a decent bit of camera options to get it the size and look you want. A simple press of \ switches the view between portrait and landscape. Pressing \ makes the window borderless. There are options to make the window that works for your persistent ant farm.

So what's the point of digital ant farming? It's satisfying to watch and a good distraction while you are stuck in some other computer task. I've got some good ADHD and I like to multi-task. I want more screens. So working remotely while having an ant farm in the corner was satisfying. I made this idea for me. This release is made for anyone though and I tried to pack in plenty of settings at Early Access launch to fit different tastes.

There are plenty of audio settings, effects settings, and even 3 fonts to choose from. Beyond that, for folks that would also be putting on random lo-fi while they work anyways, like me, there is lo-fi here. 10 lo-fi tracks at Early Access at launch which play in a shuffled playlist.

You can choose from two styles of ant farms at Early Access launch:

Productivity Mode: 80 ants on a fresh farm. No interaction. Let them dig and do their thing while you work.

Idle Mode: the basic starting elements of an idle version. Start with 1 ant. Buy more ants. Make them faster. Make them stronger. Early Access exists to flesh this mode out.

I wanted to release this as only the Productivity Mode because that is what *I liked to engage with. Obviously, that incremental growth thing ticks specific parts of the brain though. So I added that as well. The Idle Mode exists to collect thoughts and vibes. The cost scaling is far from final and there are no caps on anything. You can get as many ants as you want and make them as fast as you want. I've pushed this pretty dang far myself without hitting the limits of the engine. We'll see what happens. I'm excited to routinely build on Idle Mode.

Upcoming Core Features and Updates

There is a short list of already planned core features and updates that will hit ant game within it's first few months. They each focus on one aspect of the game.

The Camera Update: This will make the camera even more sophisticated. Goals include the game automatically switching between portrait and landscape, and more sophisticated control UI.

The Jukebox Update: In addition to adding 10 more lo-fi tracks, creating a favorites playlist is on the menu. Also an in-game pop-up to display the new track when it starts playing.

The Idle Stats Update: The goal here is to refine the three current stats and add 2 more incremental stats to shake things up further.

The Worm Watching Update: You know how bird watching is a thing? Now do that with worms. They are all over the underground and will become exposed as your ants dig tunnels. Can you spot them all?

The Settings Update: More settings for everything and anything. More visual options, colorblind toggle, more fonts, anything to make the experience more modular.

Ant Farming Begins Now

There is plenty on the horizon. I am sitting right back down after this post to continue working on the game. I enjoy letting an ant farm idle there on my desktop for days and wanted other folks to get the chance. The EA release state matches a level of settings and structure/polish I feel proud putting out there. It is an obvious work-in-progress, and is a niche little thing in general, but I love it and I hope you do too.

Thank you,

Kyle