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