Moveing ant queen

[ForeverFaithful]

Have you ever though of making it where we can move the ant queen thru the nest?

[Mike]

We've thought about it, but it doesn't really fit the ethos of the game we're trying to make. The queen is very much like the dungeon heart in Dungeon Keeper - you need to center your nest around her and consider her position to keep her safe.

[SpeedLife808]

I'm not sure I understand because ant queens are known to move around. Not only that some species are queenless and have sudo queens who take on the role as dominate ant queen. Some of the placements start you off in a bad position. The queen if unsafe would move to a new location. There's a youtube channel I watch where a guy has an entire ant kingdom of setups and his queens have been spotted on the move. This should definitely be a feature even if its limited to a number of times or only if an emergency arises like flooding or intruders. My queen is dead smack in the middle of the entrance tunnel to the formicarium and my first challenge she was annihilated.

[Tenebrais]

It's a game mechanic, not a simulation thing. For game purposes, the queen is a building. The structure and layout of your nest is one of the key elements of EotU's gameplay, so having the queen be immobile gives the developers an extra constraint on the player to make each level different and interesting.

[Mike]

As mentioned, remember we're not making a simulation - it's a game, and the central point to defend is one of the game mechanics. If we were making a straight simulation of course the queen would move.

[Wolfium]

Originally posted by Mike:

As mentioned, remember we're not making a simulation - it's a game, and the central point to defend is one of the game mechanics. If we were making a straight simulation of course the queen would move.

what about freeplay mode?

[Rylanor the Unyielding]

I like the idea of the queen moving but if we're honest we'd put her in the furthest part of the nest. Now in player vs player, it could work to some extent, but otherwise, it will hurt map balancing when they design levels. At least right now since it's early access.

If the goal is for the queen to be more like the dungeon heart then it'd be great if she wasn't placed so close to the entrance. I'd also love more control in the brood tab, such as turning melee and food off to focus on laying eggs in the brood chamber.

That said, I kind of hope we might see moving queens one day where you can build a queen chamber and upgrade it as well as creating princess ants to replace a dead queen if you have the food to afford it. It would kind of give an Alien vs Predator vibe to me. In one of the AVP RTS games, you could do all that. It was a lot of fun. Though let me be clear this is just wishful thinking.

[Rylanor the Unyielding]

Perhaps I have a compromise. How about we allow queens to choose their nesting sites. In other words, design the map where she can't nest just anywhere but she does have potential nest sites to choose from, each choice would have its own pros and cons.
Once settle she can't move or make it costs a lot of food to move her somewhere else.
In this regard maybe that's how we could make the army ants work.

[Mike]

Just to make it clear here - the queen will not be move-able in the campaign, probably ever. Remember our primary influence for this game is Dungeon Keeper, and that central dungeon heart mechanic is definitely carried over to our game.

To allow her to move unbalances the entire design of the game way too much. If we ever do allow it it won't be in the main campaign.

[Buster]

Originally posted by Mike:

As mentioned, remember we're not making a simulation - it's a game, and the central point to defend is one of the game mechanics. If we were making a straight simulation of course the queen would move.

I think an ant simulation should be next on your list ;)

[Psychedelic Shadow ^_^]

Originally posted by Mike:

Just to make it clear here - the queen will not be move-able in the campaign, probably ever. Remember our primary influence for this game is Dungeon Keeper, and that central dungeon heart mechanic is definitely carried over to our game.

To allow her to move unbalances the entire design of the game way too much. If we ever do allow it it won't be in the main campaign.

This is actually why I first got the game to be honest. When I saw it, it gave me that old feeling of Dungeon Keeper which is one of my childhood games. Loved it then, love it now. XD Honestly I do not mind if she remains the Dungeon Heart. ^_^

[Zeradus]

Originally posted by Mike:

We've thought about it, but it doesn't really fit the ethos of the game we're trying to make. The queen is very much like the dungeon heart in Dungeon Keeper - you need to center your nest around her and consider her position to keep her safe.

The only difference is that on Dungeon Keeper you can REBUILD tiles so that you can form a long tunnel of traps and troops. You can't do that here.

[Zeradus]

Originally posted by Notre Dame Burns... Heresy:

I like the idea of the queen moving but if we're honest we'd put her in the furthest part of the nest. Now in player vs player, it could work to some extent, but otherwise, it will hurt map balancing when they design levels. At least right now since it's early access.

If the goal is for the queen to be more like the dungeon heart then it'd be great if she wasn't placed so close to the entrance. I'd also love more control in the brood tab, such as turning melee and food off to focus on laying eggs in the brood chamber.

That said, I kind of hope we might see moving queens one day where you can build a queen chamber and upgrade it as well as creating princess ants to replace a dead queen if you have the food to afford it. It would kind of give an Alien vs Predator vibe to me. In one of the AVP RTS games, you could do all that. It was a lot of fun. Though let me be clear this is just wishful thinking.

That game was AVP Extinction. I loved that game.

[Lord Bongos]

Originally posted by Mike:

We've thought about it, but it doesn't really fit the ethos of the game we're trying to make. The queen is very much like the dungeon heart in Dungeon Keeper - you need to center your nest around her and consider her position to keep her safe.

Ok, but putting the queen right at the entry to the surface is ludicrous. I played Dungeon Keeper, DK2 and Battle for the Overworld. The level design put the heart far enough back that you can build defenses. Not just blob your warriors and turtle

[The Anax]

Originally posted by Mike:

Remember our primary influence for this game is Dungeon Keeper.

Traps and ant torture chamber when? :P

[Mike]

Closing zombie thread