A living ant tower defense, upgrade abilities to increase competitiveness. Combine different ant species to form an aerial defense and kamikaze attacks. Deploy ants to collect honey. Breed ants to expand your territory and compete against red fire ants to save the natural environment of the island.
All Reviews:
No user reviews
Release Date:
Jul 28, 2023
Developer:
Publisher:

Sign in to add this item to your wishlist, follow it, or mark it as ignored

Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“This game is the result of two years of continuous research and development by me.
I believe that it has unique mechanisms that other games do not have, and I want to let everyone try it out.
I have many ideas for the future development and direction, but I need to verify if the game's mechanisms really have an audience, so I want to adopt an early access approach.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Although the development time cannot be guaranteed, it can be estimated to some extent. The following are the estimated time frames:
  • For each new mechanism and its corresponding level, it will take at least 2-4 months.
  • Artwork may take about 3 months in total.
  • Testing the game may take about 4-6 months.
The estimated total duration is at least 1.5 years and at most 2.5 years.

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“In the future, I will try different types of level tasks, combining them with existing mechanisms to create new levels.
Somes are a series of connected levels, while others are interesting individual attempts.
On the artistic side, I hope to improve it further.
Although it may be difficult to improve the style, I can make changes in the same style so that each series of levels can have a different look, such as island style, ant style, trees, rocks, and so on, making the game art look very rich.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Currently, the game is a playable demo for testing purposes.
It includes 6 levels, a basic game mechanism, and an additional set of layered game mechanisms, with each set consisting of 3 levels.
The artwork is all created by me, but there hasn't been enough time to make it look significantly different for each level.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“The price will definitely increase. The full version of the game will be a complete package that includes mechanics, levels, art, music, story, and effects, many of which are not yet in place. As the game content and playtime increase, the price will gradually go up.

In terms of the extent of the increase, it will mainly be influenced by the mechanics and levels. The more rich and diverse the mechanics and levels, the longer the gameplay time, and the price will rise within a reasonable range.

Regarding the art and music, the final game content will increase, but they are not the main selling points of the game and will not have a significant impact on the price increase.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We will use a Discord server to allow players to interact directly with the developers and provide faster suggestions and feedback.
When developing new features, we also want to make greater use of videos to showcase them, without needing to build a new version on Steam each time.”
Read more

Buy Antkeep (Windows + Mac + Linux)

 
See all discussions

Report bugs and leave feedback for this game on the discussion boards

About This Game

Game Mechanism

There are many different elements in the game, all aimed at enhancing the ants and giving them the ability to fight back.
  • Upgrade ant abilities by collecting honey
  • Breed ant colonies in test tubes
  • Launch defensive ants to form a protective barrier
  • Use kamikaze-style attacks against the opponent's ant colony
  • Deploy ants to collect honey
  • Use buckets to temporarily slow down the opponent's attack


Game Story

As an environmental conservationist, you are sent to explore the ecology of Antilles islands and investigate the local ant population.
You discover that the island has been invaded by invasive red fire ants, and the native ants are on the brink of collapse.
You must quickly supply the native ants with the resources they need to fight back against the fierce red fire ants.

Game Features

  • Breeding “Towers”: Once the ant nest is upgraded, its offspring will also become stronger.
  • Different Strategies: Different strategies can be used to face enemy attacks, whether it's adventurous, conservative, fast-paced, or steady.
  • Different Ant Species: Ants can be converted into spreading nests, patrolling and intercepting, or suicidal attacks to match different strategies.
  • Ant Simulation: A gamified simulation of ant growth.
  • Islands: Different islands have not only different missions, but also different species of ants and ecologies.


About the Team

I'm Michael Pan, a student from Taiwan’s Tatung University, and the sole member of the team XD.

I have participated in many game productions before, but this is the only time where I'm responsible for the entire process from start to finish, including planning, designing, programming, art, and marketing.

There is still much room for improvement and learning.

Idea Origin

This game started as a school project, it was a "serious" game that teach player invasive ant.

After the semester ended, I felt that the game had unique qualities.
So I planned some future directions for its development.
With the help of my internship unit 'Team9', I continued to develop the game mechanics and planning, constantly refining the game.

Today, we're excited to bring our unique game concept to Steam!

All About That Ant

The most well-known invasive ant is the red fire ant, they have strong live, grow rapidly, disrupting the ecological chain.
There are many ways to control invasive ants, such as liquid nitrogen, hot water, poison, etc.
Each with its advantages and disadvantages.
This game focuses mainly on "biological resistance."

Biological resistance is achieved through strong native species to resist invasive species.
When it's time to mate, ants will take to the air and mate outside of the nest, building a new nest in a new location.
The nesting process is the most vulnerable time for ants, as the ant population is low.
If there are already strong native ants competing for food nearby at this time, it will reduce the likelihood of invasive ants spreading.

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
SteamOS + Linux
    Minimum:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10 (64bit)
    • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E5200
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: GeForce 9800GTX+ (1GB)
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10 (64bit)
    • Processor: Intel Core i5
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: GeForce GTX 560
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    Minimum:
    • OS: macOS 10.14 Mojave
    • Processor: 2.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: 2013 MacBookPro 15 inch
    Recommended:
    • OS: macOS 11 Big Sur
    • Processor: 2.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Radeon Pro 555x
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: 2018 MacBookPro 15 inch
    Minimum:
    • OS: SteamOS 3.0
    • Processor: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: Steam Deck Recommended
    Recommended:
    • OS: SteamOS 3.0
    • Processor: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: Steam Deck Recommended

Customer reviews for Antkeep

Review Type


Purchase Type


Language


Date Range
To view reviews within a date range, please click and drag a selection on a graph above or click on a specific bar.

Show graph



Playtime
Filter reviews by the user's playtime when the review was written:


No minimum to No maximum

Display
Show reviews in selected display order





Learn More
Show graph
 
Hide graph
 
Filters
Excluding Off-topic Review Activity
Playtime:
Played Mostly on Steam Deck
There are no more reviews that match the filters set above
Adjust the filters above to see other reviews
Loading reviews...