- Dev Diary #8: From Pocket to Desktop - 11 September 2026
Hello to all ant colonies!Ant Colony is coming to Steam soon, and that meant answering a question we'd never had to answer before: what does our game look like when it isn't sitting in your hand?A phone screen forgives a lot. You tap, you swipe, you only ever see one thing at a time. A monitor doesn't work like that – there's space everywhere, there's a cursor, and suddenly every single panel has to justify why it's on screen at all.So we rebuilt the interface from scratch. Here's how that went 👇🔍 Homework FirstWe didn't start in a drawing tool. We started by playing other games.We went through project after project hunting for solutions we could borrow – where to put things, which panels a colony sim actually needs, and, more importantly, which ones we could throw out. The goal was never to fit everything on screen. It was the opposite: strip it back until your attention lands on wha…
- Dev Diary #7: New Mountain Location Design - 4 September 2026
Hello to all ant colonies!It's time to talk about the design of the new locations.Four new episodes went through many stages of technical and artistic design. We assembled each map from different control zones, placed creatures where they would actually settle in nature, and distributed food sources so that capturing different areas of the map would bring tangible benefits to the colony.In addition, we did a lot of work on visual and narrative design. We tried to show the terrain as a moment frozen in time: how water has eroded the slopes for decades, carrying different soils down the terrain, how insects ate the vegetation around new bases and left behind traces of life.Each map should not just look beautiful - it should feel real. Real for a small ant colony that has emerged to the surface for the first time after spring.With the bases, we took into account the mistakes of past versio…
- Dev Diary #6: The First Ranged Enemy - 28 August 2026
Hello to all ant colonies!This is the bombardier beetle. When we added a ranged unit to the game, a huge number of players sent us this exact insect and suggested adding it. Yes, we are adding it. It's awesome.Shooting is a completely new mechanic for our game, so we are introducing it carefully. First, we test how it works in various game situations, and only then do we expand its use.We had to analyze dozens of complex game situations to come up with universal behavior rules for the bombardier. It is still being polished, but we decided to show one of the raid tests from the new enemy.New challenges in defenseBefore the introduction of ranged units, dungeon defense was quite monotonous. All battles took place between melee fighters.A ranged ant can obviously deal damage without taking hits from enemies, but it has no stopping power. Therefore, defense has to be a combination of melee…
- Dev Diary #5: Map Events - 21 August 2026
Hello to all ant colonies!One of the main new features is map events. This idea was inspired by the spiders from the marble quarry: sometimes they could eat their neighbors or even a raid that was heading towards the player. It looked unexpected, alive, and very funny.We decided to develop this mechanic and teach enemies to interact with each other. At the same time, we deliberately did not tie events to the player's actions — they really happen on their own. Sometimes such situations make enemy bases more vulnerable, and you can take advantage of the moment. For example, this is what a wasp attack on beetles looks like.MantisesMantises have become another type of enemy to receive a new mechanic. Large mantises now live and hunt separately, each with their own base. Sometimes they come to their favorite leaf cave on the riverbank to breed.First, the mantises dance for a long time, and t…
- Dev Diary #4: Big Mountain Update - 14 August 2026
Hello to all ant colonies!Today we want to share with you a development diary of the new mountain episodes. We have added new events on the map, made wasps aggressive to other opponents, and developed many changes, about which we have prepared a series of several diaries.In older versions of the game, each biome had only one level on normal and high difficulty. Over time, we realized that we wanted to develop this idea further: even in one location, you can show much more interesting things. And for a full acquaintance with our cute opponents (cute, except for wasps and goliaths), one level turned out to be not enough.We have already made episodes of 2–3 levels for many old maps, and now it's the mountains' turn. Instead of two similar levels, four completely unique episodes have appeared.What will happen to the bases? And what about the rhinoceros beetle?We have preserved all the insec…
- Dev Diary #3: New Underground Enemies - 7 August 2026
Hello to all ant colonies!The next major part of the underground update is the introduction of new enemies and changes to how underground spiders are generated.Currently, spiders spawn one or two per cave, and after just a few locations, they stop being a serious threat. At the same time, we really like the mechanics of underground enemies: it works well, creates tension, and makes the underground more fun. Therefore, we decided to develop it further.Termites and SpidersThe first thing we did was add underground termites to the semi-desert. They are much less dangerous than spiders, but they settle in large groups, and their glowing eyes in the dark are hard to miss. Termites have become a great tutorial enemy: they help players gradually understand how to fight underground foes.Once the player is ready, underground spiders appear. They are much more dangerous than termites: just two sp…
- Dev Diary #2: Updated Dungeon - 4 August 2026
Hello to all ant colonies!We didn't realize right away how empty the dungeon looked without decor - until we added it. Usually, such details are almost invisible: they just quietly complete the picture. But as soon as you remove them, the emptiness immediately catches your eye.The key elements of the new decor are pebbles on the floor, grass in the caves, and cobwebs. Moreover, grass and cobwebs are not just decorations, but a separate mechanic. They appear in caves with mushrooms or enemies, as well as a short distance away in neighboring voids.If you see a cobweb - be careful. There might be a spider nearby.Cave improvementFor a long time, almost all underground rooms in the game were 2 by 2 tiles in size. This is exactly what we decided to change first. Now rooms can be of different sizes and contain different amounts of resources.Along with the new sizes, we reworked the variety of…
- Demo now has survey - 11 May 2026
We Want to Know You BetterYour feedback helps us shape the future of Ant Colony: Wild Forest.We’ve added a new in-game survey that appears after completing the demo (or not). It only takes a couple of minutes, but it helps us understand:what players enjoy the most,what feels confusing or frustrating,which features should be expanded,and what kind of colony experience you want to see in the full game.Whether you loved building your ant colony, exploring the forest, or surviving against enemies - we’d love to hear your thoughts.Thank you for helping us improve the game and supporting the development of Ant Colony: Wild Forest!
- Dev Diary #1: Ranged Units and a New Mode - 4 May 2026
Greetings to all ant colonies! We have added a new ant to the game: the "Dart". It can attack enemies from a distance and shoot through obstacles. Additionally, a new game mode has been introduced, and we want to tell you more about it in our first development diary.A bit about the Dart:It has become the first ant capable of attacking enemies from a distance. We planned to create such an ant during the first year of development, but we kept postponing it due to the complexity of the shooting mechanics. The turning point that made us realize it had to be added was our desire to evolve the combat system. Right now, players mostly rely on Daggers or Tanks and play the entire game using them. The new ant is intentionally designed to be vulnerable in close combat, and we've taught enemies to react to being shot. These traits of the Dart make it impossible to use effectively without the suppo…
- Developer playing - test stream - 30 April 2026
We are doing the test live
- Try our demo at Steam Next Fest! - 23 February 2026
Steam Next Fest is live - and this is the best moment to finally jump into our demo!Ant Colony: Wild Forest is a systemic colony sim where every decision affects the stability of your underground. Expansion is not just about digging more space - it’s about maintaining resource and units balance!What you’ll face in the demoBuild and shape your underground colonyEstablish efficient resource routesBalance population growth with food supplyMain campaign of 6 levels in locations Field, Forest and TropicsA limited set of ant cards up to Epic rarity20 unique enemiesPlay the demo now!The demo already reflects months of iteration and tuning. It’s a solid slice of the core experience - not a prototype, but a working foundation!If you’ve been watching the project, now is the time to try it.Play the demo. Stress-test your colony. And if you enjoy it - Wishlist the game.See you underground. 🐜
- 40 000 Wishlists - How Ant Colony Came to Life [PT2] - 20 February 2026
We have reached a new milestone of 40,000 wishlists! That means it's time for the second part! This is a continuation of the previous post about our team. In this post, I will tell you how Ant Colony started its way to became exactly what it is.If you open the game page today and look at the tags, you can see: City Builder, Colony Sim, RTS, Tower Defense. A lot of mid-core tags, lots of control, management, strategy.But originally, Ant Colony wasn't intended as a strategy game at all. The first prototype aimed to create a simple simulator where the player could just watch their ant colony develop.The idea that led to 1,000,000 downloadsBack in 2018, ant terrariums became popular on YouTube. I was just learning how to make games and tried prototyping concepts in random genres and settings. The terrarium theme seemed interesting to me; writing artificial intelligence for units is always f…
- Mac OS support - 18 February 2026
You can now comfortably play Ant Colony on MAC!
- 30 000 Wishlists - How Ant Colony Came to Life [PT1] - 14 January 2026
When we first put our game on Steam, we honestly didn’t expect much interest. Games about ants don’t seem to be very popular on the platform, so we were prepared for a long and quiet road.We’re very happy to be wrong.Recently, Ant Colony reached 30 000 wishlists, and this number means a lot to us. To make this journey more personal, I decided to share stories about our team and the development process every 10 000 wishlists.Ant Colony is our very first project. Most of the team had never made games before. We’ve been developing it for exactly six years.When we started, there were only 3 of us, working in our free time while studying or having full-time jobs:DeveloperArtistGame DesignerToday, our team consists of 7 people working full-time:Art Director / UI DesignerPixel Artist / Animator / Illustrator / Environment DesignerConcept ArtistGame Designer / DeveloperEnemy Developer / Git Mas…
- First demo patch & Asian languages support! - 28 December 2025
Added Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese languagesThe game is translated with the power of communiy on Crowdin. If you see any mistake in the translation - please suggest a fixHelp translate the gameAdded screen resolution settingAdded screen mode setting (Fullscreen, Borderless..)Added VSync settingAdded Background play setting (when you Alt+tab - game keeps going if on)Mouse scroll now has 15x better sensetivity in all UIZoom out in the foreround can now be widerRain sound no more plays when the sound is offTab button now switches between underground and foregrounCompleting the level without completing any quest doest brake the game anymoreOther minor fixes
- DEMO is available now! - 1 December 2025
We've finally prepared DEMO version so you can try out almost full game experience on PC. What's included:1 field level, 2 forest levels, 3 tropics levels (6 in total)About 10 unique ant typesRarity of cards up to EpicIt currently supports Windows, Linux and Steam Deck, soon we'll also add Mac support.Have fun!
- We're Almost There: Steam Release Roadmap - 28 July 2025
We're Almost There: Steam Release RoadmapJust a few things remain before we're ready for the Steam release!⚠️ Disclaimer: This roadmap is not final. We're still learning, and plans may change frequently. However, here's a broad overview of what we aim to include before launch:Endless Mode (Done ✔️)The endless mode is already complete and fully functionalA new ant unit, Dagger, has been addedA new tutorial location, The Field, is now availableEpisodes SystemWith this update, each area will be split into 2-4 shorter levelsThis will allow us to teach mechanics gradually, increase difficulty step by step, and help players avoid getting stuck and grinding too muchPlayers will be rewarded for collecting stars, and we'll use this to smoothly introduce new mechanics through bonus rewardsNew LocationsThe game currently has only 7 levels, but we’re expanding!We’re adding new enemies, mechanics, a…
