The Empires of the Undergrowth auto-battler mode is back with a new level. Tug of War 2 continues our Sequel Season of extra levels - with a new set of ants to use, and a whole different set of enemy builds to fight against. Tug of War 2 is a short-form level versus an AI opponent. Army composition is everything in this auto-battler game mode.

You do not control your ants directly - they will all hatch together, in waves, and immediately rush to take down the enemy queen - but your opponent has the same goal. Resources are given at regular intervals, and you'll have to make every seed count. You don't want to be playing catch-up - fall too far behind and you'll quickly find yourself overwhelmed.



Extra levels are relatively easily-made content (since they re-use existing assets and systems) that we spend a little of our dev time on whilst we work on the much bigger stuff. We always have fun making them, and we're currently in the midst of Sequel Season - follow-ups to previous extra levels, playing on their ideas in a slightly different way.

In other development news, we've made an update to the black ant (Formica fusca) model which will be rolling out with the next update, made some sensible changes to menu options, as well as made large strides towards getting the improved colony AI from the 4.x levels compatible with freeplay. In the next week or so there will be a vlog detailing these developments and more!

There’s a new seasonal level, New Year’s Feast, and it’s available now with the latest patch! We like to break from reality with our extra and seasonal levels, and we’ve had a lot of fun making this one. Play it by clicking on the lantern that has appeared in the main menu.


It’s almost time for Lunar New Year, and the fire ant queen is making her famous New Year's Eve hotpot for her family and friends. However, in the chaos of the party preparations, her daughters have forgotten to forage for the ingredients for the broth. Help them find the correct spices in time for dinner, whilst making liberal use of festive firecrackers to clear enemies and shorten your path.

It’s not just a fire ant level, though - this New Year’s party has many guests who have gotten lost in the undergrowth. Rescue them from peril and bring them home safely - to show their gratitude, they’ll add their species to your colony!

This is a very special seasonal level and we can’t wait for you to have a go - so jump right in! There are a bunch of other fixes and changes that also arrive with this patch, so let’s break down the full patch notes.

• Help the fire ant queen gather ingredients for her New Year’s hotpot
  
• There’s an explosive accompaniment to go along with the broth
  
• Rescue friendly ants to add their species to your colony
  
• New artwork & music set the tone of this festive level

• Adventure
  • Players can now choose between Royal Guard & Royal Decree
    
  • Supermajor abilities no longer cool down when game is paused
    
  • Royal Guard ants are now leafcutter-shaped if used in a leafcutter colony
    
  • Updated some text to say ‘nimble’ rather than ‘evasive’
    
  • Inaccessible leaf made accessible
• Fixed level selection menu disappearing after winning a formicarium challenge
  
• Fixed a foliage rendering issue
  
• Creature swarming optimisations
  
• Tweaked animation distance optimisations
  
• Rotting Log aesthetic added to tutorial level
  
• Rotting Log aesthetic added to Hold Out & The Nest demo levels
  
• Correct loading screens attached to demo levels
  
• Corrected spelling mistakes here and there
  
• Fixed some text formatting issues in various localisations
  
• Fixed BHA workers showing as wood ants in the UI
  
• UI buttons should now only appear on appropriate levels (creature climbing, etc)
  
• Voice credits updated
  
• Freesound credits updated

Hang on a minute, where on Earth did 2022 go? That whole fire ant update thing went by in such a blur. It still feels like it was last week, but it was very nearly six months ago now! Welcome to a brand spanking new year - 2023, which kicks off with several more extra levels in our 'Sequel Season', as well as a surprise or two along the way.

Happy New Year from Medin on our Discord

Before we get into upcoming stuff for EotU and things happening in Slug Disco as a company, I'll just take a moment to thank each and every one of you for making 2022 by far the best year that Empires of the Undergrowth has had, in every reasonably measurable metric. We make this stuff, but it's you who makes it a success and gives us the drive to continue. We hope to carry on with that energy in 2023.


Our Sequel Season of extra levels continues soon, with Tug of War 2 arriving in the next few weeks. Like its predecessor, it is a 1v1 versus an AI enemy where you build up an army with timed injections of resources, which will hatch at regular intervals and automatically battle with the opponent.


It's tuggin' time

The surface layout is a little different than in Tug of War 1 (and with the swamp aesthetic), but the main difference here is the army composition. This time around you'll have access to units such as little black ant soldiers and big-headed ant supersoldiers. This provides a markedly different experience to the first one, and will require different strategies to prevail.

We still have another few levels to go that are a part of Sequel Season, and we'll continue releasing them a month or two apart until we're done. We also have a new seasonal level that is apart from it, so let's talk a little bit about that next.


In the near future there will be a new seasonal level appearing on the main menu. Like the gift and cobweb for the Festive and Hungry Spider levels respectively, a new object will appear whilst this level is available and must be clicked to access it.

Whilst seasonal, the only thing I'll say about this one is that it's not another Hungry Spider one. It'll just appear one day on the main menu - keep an eye out for it, it’s gonna be a cracker!


Now that we've completed our rework of the look for the 'rotting log' levels, our environment artist Dan C has moved on to creating some higher fidelity assets to improve the look of the beach levels. We don't have any finalised things to show you on this front just yet, but rest assured that the beaches will be adorned with a wider variety of plant life and the new sand will be more coarse, rough and irritating than ever!


I know pebbles aren't all that exciting but look, the remastering is happening!

When he first started working on new materials and textures for the swamp levels shortly after joining us at Slug Disco, Dan requested an expansion of Matt's texture system to allow for different looks for the environment - the damp, reflective and swamp-like look of the 4th tier levels are achieved through this expansion. Expect to see that at work with the updated beach environment.


Work is continuing apace on fairly large changes to freeplay - probably the most notable of those recently is the addition of large creatures (bullfrogs, blue skimmers and huge whip spiders) as special, rarer-spawning landmarks in the mode. These large creatures, like in their campaign levels, will not represent an existential threat to your colony but do represent an area denial, as well as a food source once they’re defeated.


Large creatures and fire ant bridges are detailed in this vlog post (4:45)

In the case of the skimmer, they will be a bit trickier - until their home landmark is happened upon by the player, they will be flying around the map - so you’ll be aware of their presence, but you won’t know exactly where their home turf is until you try to walk through it and it lands!

Getting fire ant bridges to properly work and save properly in freeplay is another ongoing area of development (and source of much frustrating busywork) - both pure Solenopsis invicta and gene thief Formica ereptor colonies will be able to build bridges. In the case of the latter only fire ants will be able to build bridges, but the other ant varieties in the colony will be able to use them.


We've got quite a lot of work on the fifth tier of the formicarium very nearly ready to show off, but we want to make a bit of an event of the official reveal for the focal species for the final levels of the campaign. Several critters are complete and ready to show, but giving away even one of them will spoil a whole lot more by association!

A little while ago, we decided that we will do an official announcement, very likely with a video, showing the new ants and some of the new creatures when we've got some updated environments to show them in. Since we're now working on the beach revamp, that's going to be our milestone - we'll use the updated beach to show off the tier 5 ants, even though that won't be their final environment.

As always, we don't really like doing much in the way of estimates (since we are so frequently incorrect with them) - we much prefer firm dates, or just dropping things out of the blue.

As far as where we're at with tier 5 - the campaign levels are blocked out, and many specific one-off systems needed for them are being developed. Particularly exciting to see has been a sequence of events involving one of the new large creatures that will appear in one of the levels - but that's enough about that for now!


We spoke about the ICS (Insane Completionist Slugs) Discord server a few newsletters back, but it's worth mentioning them again now. They're a small community dedicated to insane-difficulty completion and challenges that really push the limit in Empires of the Undergrowth, and they're constantly working to beat what was previously thought to be impossible in the game, and more often than not they're succeeding.


The ICS. A noble institution.

Some of the more recent challenges that have been worked on include workers-only runs of the entire campaign in increasingly higher difficulties, and even deathless runs (no loss of colony members) of individual levels - you have to be a specific kind of person to be able to put in the grind for this kind of thing, but if that's what you're into, then the ICS is for you. You can join their server at this link. They're a friendly bunch and you're welcome to join the server just to partake in their community, even if you're not going to do all of the challenges.


In the past few weeks, we've had two new team members join us - please welcome Kaidi and Lin to Slug Disco, who are joining Mike & Dan P in the community management / marketing department. If you frequent services such as Bilibili, Tieba and Douyin, you're likely to be talking to them in the future if you interact with our official accounts.


We will soon be adding a new project to the pantheon of Slug Disco-published games. As with all of our games besides Empires of the Undergrowth, we will not be developing it directly, but publishing it - meaning we are using some of our marketing resources to help get the game out to the world.

We'll have a segment in the next vlog by Dan that talks to the developer of this project in a little more detail, and the dev hopes to have a playable demo ready before that time so you can get stuck in. We're not quite ready to announce what the game is just yet - but we will be doing so very shortly. Keep your eyes on our socials later this month for the scoop!


Always the best part of the newsletter to write, this time around all of the entries for Screenshot Central come from the Steam Community page. That’s one way to get screenshots to us - another is to use our Discord, which has its own dedicated screenshot channel that is posted on by our regulars. I usually take the weekly Screenshot Saturday post from there.

A little tip - if you hold down shift whilst pressing your photo mode button (F9 by default), the camera is freed from the confines of the arena and you can get some very interesting angles using the controls!


The swarm by zomboss479


A festive wood ant queen from leonardo.balda.01


An ultrawide shot of the rotting log from SHO

Occupation 2 is available now in the Extra Levels section!

The first in our Sequel Season of extra levels - this little black ant mission follows many of the same lines as its predecessor, but with a more urgent twist! Many critters will not wait patiently to be unearthed and will take a proactive approach to challenging your colony.



Extra levels take us very little time to develop, so we release them periodically as some nice bonus content for the community whilst we work on the bigger stuff!

We're currently working on large changes to freeplay, upgrading the art assets for the beach levels and creating the tier 5 levels.

We have several more planned for Sequel Season - stay tuned in the new year.

We're back with another vlog! This time Mike goes over upcoming changes to freeplay, how the Adventure + update went (and some changes coming to Adventure in the future) as well as talking briefly about a new unique seasonal level that will arrive in the not-too-distant future.

Towards the start of the video, our product marketing manager Dan talks about two other games that are published (but not developed) by Slug Disco, Ecosystem and Adapt. If you're not interested in those, skip to timecode 2:28 for the Empires of the Undergrowth meat.

What could get you more into the spirit of the season than defending gifts against a horde of insects and arachnids using more insects and arachnids?

The Festive Spider is here for the holidays! Touch the gift box on the main menu to play.



Help the Hungry Spider keep the gifts safe from the invaders. Be warned - like the Halloween level, this one is punishingly difficult and unforgiving - expect multiple playthroughs to perfect your strategy. This unique tower defense game mode is sure to keep you on your toes well into the new year.

We've made some updates to the free demo - if you've not taken the plunge yet then now's a great time to try out the demo, and if you like it, the game is 10% off for Steam's Autumn sale! This update adds the tutorial level that we recently added to the main game, as well as a limited form of the Battle Arena - a mode where you can easily pit the various critters found in the demo against each other to see what wins.

• Tutorial added to demo
  
• Battle Arena added to demo with creatures included in the demo
  
• Demo levels The Nest and Hold Out updated to use rotting log textures
  
• New menu added to demo
  
• Various smaller changes from the full game are now reflected in the demo
  
• Support in demo for recently-added languages

V0.302036 has been released, addressing a few issues that came up over the last couple of days as well as making some mainly visual changes to the Hungry Spider level.

Patch notes below:

Additions

• The Hungry Spider level now uses the new rotting log tile set
  
• Enjoy the Hungry Spider event for longer - now until Nov 10th!
  
• A few extra pillars for cover and lighting near spawn on Hungry Spider
  
• Queens now have a gentle spotlight on them

Fixes

• Fixed invisible cricket issues in Adventure
  
• Fixed a visual error in 1.2
  
• Tweaked rotting log materials
  
• Removed any possibility for unfinished landmarks to spawn in freeplay
  
• Notification given in the tutorial will always appear regardless of settings

Surprise, we’re doing it now! As it turns out, everything we talked about in yesterday’s newsletter is good to go, so here it is! The Adventure + update is available now.

This is a ‘regular’ update, but quite significantly larger than most of our regular updates. As well as the long-awaited extra level Adventure, we’ve also put the even longer-awaited velvet worm into its rightful place in the 3.x levels - including previously unheard narrator lines!



This update also includes a feature that has been overdue for a long time - tutorial mode. New players will be encouraged to first play through the tutorial before diving into the campaign, and even more experienced players may benefit from the refresher course it provides. A redesigned menu integrates this addition into the game, with a new section called the ‘arcade’ for extra levels, battle arena, and demo levels

Finally, the 1.x levels now have their own tile set - the rotting log will no longer look like sand! A new texturing of decomposing birch wood and crumbly soil will set it apart from the beach. Full patch notes below.

• Added to 3.x levels, freeplay, battle arena & new extra level Adventure
  
• Long creature with the ability to spray slimy glue at its enemies that slows them
  
• Comes in 3 sizes of varying strength

• A long-form leafcutter extra level with unique mechanics
  
• Build up XP to upgrade your colony & unlock new units
  
• Unlock the uber velvet worm for use in freeplay as a reward

• A new 10-15 minute tutorial to explain the basics in a practical way
  
• Goes over digging, hatching, pheromones, combat & more
  
• Both new & experienced players should benefit from this thorough tutorial

• More descriptive buttons to guide players to the right place
  
• Will highlight tutorial mode for new players
  
• Added an arcade section for battle arena, extra levels & demo levels

• Woody, crumbly textures added for the rotting log environment
  
• 1.x levels no longer use the beach underground tile set

• Big-headed ant workers are no longer encumbered when carrying
  
• Camera rotation buttons are now rebindable
  
• Resource, tile & creature info toggles moved to side of pheromone panel
  
• Reworked underground lamp distribution
  
• Hold Out scoreboard changed to match that of Extremis
  
• Added thumbnails for demo levels
  
• Some rewording of objectives & descriptions
  
• Numerous improvements & optimisations to many game processes
  
• Updated localisations

• Enemy colony in 3.1 should no longer hide underground permanently
  
• 1.1 victory cinematic reworked slightly to not show the ‘sky’
  
• Subtitles no longer overlap if a certain creature is killed too quickly in FC4
  
• Fixed an issue that caused lynx spiders to shrink on loading a freeplay game
  
• Fixed accidental switching of some minor improvements menu descriptions
  
• Status effect particles now present for the hungry spider
  
• Extra level scoreboards now all display the difficulty
  
• Fixed some spelling mistakes

We've had a remarkably busy couple of months since the last newsletter, and there's a fair few things to discuss relating to the next update for Empires of the Undergrowth. Most of this newsletter will be going over progress made in matters written about in the previous one. We're currently in a consolidation phase, working on improving under-the-hood systems to increase the efficiency and reliability of many game systems, as well as improving the onboarding process for new players and revamping some of the older artwork. We've also made some fairly extensive changes to the main menu.


A river crossing from Discord user Ice Age 2

We’re also very close to introducing a long-awaited enemy to the game – the velvet worm, and have several extra levels lined up over the next few months. To preempt the question of when all of the changes detailed in this newsletter will arrive, the answer is in the near future (fingers crossed)!

On the community side of things, we’ve also made the first edition of a new video series that will work alongside and in tandem with these newsletters. We’ll discuss the plans for those at the end of the newsletter, after all the game news. Let’s get to it!


The velvet worm is ready for its debut!

It was intended to complete the menagerie of critters for the leafcutter levels (third tier), way back in the before-times of 2019. However, it was cut for time – it has what was at that point a unique way of moving its long, slender body, and this required an inordinate amount of time for our animator Matt to perfect for just one creature. However, the system was brought up to scratch for the fourth tier – both the salamander and newt use it. So, now is the time to bring back the slime-launching velvet one!



Velvet worms are voracious hunters of other invertebrates – they are equipped with twin slime cannons near their mouths, which they use both to ensnare prey by tangling them up in a sticky web of glue, and to deter potential predators. The velvet worm will see its return to glory in the 3.x levels, but you will also be able to fight it in the next extra level to arrive – Adventure.


Who would win – two dozen angry leafcutter ants or one velvet boi?


The first of several planned extra levels coming over the next few months, Adventure is likely to yield the longest playtime of any level in the game so far, so ensure you have a couple of hours set aside for it! Adventure is a leafcutter level with a unique XP system and many creative challenges.


I’m looking for someone to share in an Adventure. It’s you.

Complete the multitude of objectives and engage in combat to increase your XP, unlocking new units and upgrades for your leafcutter colony. There’s a host of dangers, both environmental and colony-based, as well as another encounter with Big Whippy the huge whip spider (in her fourth appearance in a level) and of course several variants of the new velvet worm.

You will also have the chance to raise a unique character, a mighty champion of the leafcutters, but let’s wait for the level to be released before I spoil too much – you’ll be playing it soon!


During this consolidation phase, before we fully return to our work on the fifth tier, we have an opportunity to revisit some of the older parts of the game and improve them. After completing work on the green swamp, our environment artist Dan C has been focusing on making a rotting log environment – up until now, the 1.x levels have borrowed the beach tile set, which is why the environment looks like sand rather than soil and wood.


Have you ever seen something so rotten yet so beautiful in all your days?

Taking inspiration from decomposing birch logs, we think this combination of crumbly wood and soil looks fantastic and finally gives the introductory levels of the campaign their own identity separate to the rest of the game. It’s quite possible that some of the extra levels will use this tile set in the future, too. Once the new look for the rotting log is complete, we intend to put some work into bringing the beach levels up to 2022 standards as well.


Some serious isopod action in the rotting log environment


We thought that now was the time to make some changes to the main menu – this incorporates the tutorial level in easy view along with a new submenu called ‘arcade’ – this will be the new home of extra levels, the battle arena and the demo levels.


It’s a menu, not sure what else to tell ya pal

This new menu format gives us room to describe each menu choice in an aesthetically pleasing way – the description will appear at the bottom of it when hovering the cursor over it.


Tutorial mode is now functionally complete – we are simply waiting on the last of the localisations for it before we include it in a patch.

As detailed in the previous newsletter, by far the most common reason given for someone who requests a refund for Empires of the Undergrowth is our lack of a dedicated tutorial, or proper onboarding. Whilst the in-game tips and hints do teach the entirety of what there is to know about the game, relying on them alone is a large reading task and we realise they are ignored by many players.

Enter tutorial mode. Players will be encouraged to play through this special level (averaging 10-15 minutes) before jumping into the campaign. It gives a thorough understanding of the digging, hatching, food collection, and camera movement systems and a basic overview of combat. The popup tips will remain an integral part of ongoing training as a player progresses through the campaign, and the tutorial reinforces that at one point.


Tutorial mode – simple, but educational

The tutorial mode highlights relevant parts of the UI as it goes on, giving visual indicators of what to do (and where). UI highlighting in this way is integral to a proper tutorial system and we’ve taken significant care to get it right here.

We have also observed during our time exhibiting the game at events that a not insignificant portion of players jump straight into freeplay, which does not come with its own training. New players will be encouraged to play the tutorial and campaign first, but can of course still go straight to freeplay if they wish (an ‘open wiki’ or trial-and-error approach is still a valid way to play for those who wish to do so).


A less flashy but vitally important part of what we do is profiling and optimisation of the game processes. As we continue, we identify older areas of code and art assets that are suboptimal by various methods. Matt, our engine specialist, has put significant time recently into identifying many systems that could do with having a few bolts tightened here and there. For example, a process that is executed every tick (loop of the UE4 program) might not actually need to be called so often to have the same effect, and profiling helps to identify these inefficiencies.

Whilst this work doesn’t have direct evidence to show for itself in the form of a screenshot or video, it means that frame rates should be up across the board. This work is ongoing and is likely to continue as long as the project is still in development.


As mentioned earlier, at the start of last month we put out the first of our vlogs – a kind of video form of the newsletter that is intended to be its counterpart. Mike put himself in front of a greenscreen and talked freely about upcoming changes, some of which have been detailed further in this newsletter. Mike also realises he’s now typing in the third person and that’s really weird.



Note that the vlogs are not intended to replace the newsletters at all, just augment them. We’ll be doing one of these every other month, in between the newsletters. The next one is due towards the start of December, and Dan P (our product marketing manager) will be joining in that one with a section about Ecosystem and Adapt, two of the other games that Slug Disco publishes.


Given that this upcoming update is rather leafcutter-themed, what with the velvet worm and Adventure and all, I thought we’d keep with that theme for the screenshots section. As always, if you’d like your screenshots featured in a future newsletter or in the weekly Screenshot Saturday hashtag we participate in on Twitter, the easiest way is to join our Discord and post in the appropriate channel. Alternatively, you can upload them to the Steam community or email them to mike@slugdisco.com. F9 enters photo mode (by default) to get some cool angles – holding shift whilst pressing it will uncouple the camera from the ground for total freedom.


A moonlight harvest from Ay_Mar


The army is on the march from Xxgamingduo


Purple army ants munching on a dead leafcutter queen from AhYesANTS!