Hi, I’m Davey Boy Hoek, one of the four developers and the artist working on Here Comes The Swarm. Back in the day, I used to spend days playing strategy games like Stronghold and MMORPGs like RuneScape. Later, I got into shooters like Halo and Call of Duty, but eventually found myself gravitating more toward strategy games again. The feeling of defending and attacking large castles in Stronghold and the satisfaction of watching cities grow in Anno both left their mark on me. Later, They Are Billions introduced me to the rush that only comes from standing against impossible numbers.
Journey to Development
When I played Halo as a teenager, I found myself less focused on the shooting and more so looking at the environments and how the world looked, studying the way flora was made and how concrete rubble looked with the limited performance budget that was available back then, wondering if I could create my own fantasy world in 3D. That curiosity pushed me to start watching gamedev videos online and eventually shaped my career path. I went on to study at the Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam, where I earned my diploma in Game Art.
How Here Comes The Swarm Began
When They Are Billions came out we all played it and were talking about how we could create our own RTS game with some influences of other genres. We brainstormed what we would think could be fun mechanics that would keep the core loop interesting, give players lots of replayability and also keep the time between waves challenging.
Our earliest concept of Here Comes The Swarm, back then named Reapers Moon, leaned into a lovecraftian “light versus dark” theme, but over time we realized that this was not going to fit our artistic and gameplay focussed needs.
After some additional brainstorming, we settled on a fantasy desert theme, this allowed for better readability, giving players instant visual feedback to what was happening during combat.
Eventually we dropped the whole light versus dark to get even better readability, and we did quite some iteration passes for the unit colors to get to that perfect instant readability.
The desert setting we switched to gave us everything we needed artistically, design and performance wise: sharp contrasts, immediate readability and less lights to manage. That visual philosophy where clarity is important, was one of the pillars for the project.
Our goal was to pull together what we loved most from the games that shaped us: the sharp, responsive combat of StarCraft, the city-building of Anno, and the overwhelming enemy waves of They Are Billions.
Our combat is inspired by Starcraft, where animations are not leading but instead the player input is and animations follow, we really tried to get that snappy feeling of being in total control.
As for building, we wanted it to feel like your settlement is expanding as if it was a real human population. This meant buildings should be connected to roads and dwellings have cravings before they can upgrade to the next tier. These cravings are met through other buildings like a church and tavern, these buildings have a sphere of influence resulting in pockets of upgraded dwellings after some time. The auto upgrading feature we have implemented is clearly visible in this gif.
As for the Swarm we like to let the game speak for itself. 🙂 We have done quite some iterations over unit collision, color and silhouette to get that swarming feeling of units and have taken our main inspiration from real life insects and bugs instead of games.
My Role & Passion in the Project
As one of the studio owners, I wear many hats. But what drives me most is making sure Here Comes The Swarm communicates through play itself. Settlements evolve visibly, from tents to wood to stone, as you expect from city-builders. On the battlefield, silhouettes, shapes, and colors guide player decisions without words. I love all the small details that go into that “just right” feeling. This can be achieved in various ways, think movement, animations, particles and sounds, and when everything comes together you get this amazing fluidity in a game. My passion is making sure mechanics and visuals fuse seamlessly so players always know when they’re safe, when they’re threatened, and when they’re thriving.
Closing Quote
At its core, Here Comes The Swarm is about agency and adaptability. Every battle is yours to shape, and that’s what I can’t wait for players to experience.
What's Next
We are currently working on a new unit for the Swarm, keep an eye out for one of the next devlogs!