Empires of the Undergrowth News

[h3]"Sticky innards..... glorious feast..... hunger still gnawing.... appetite must be sated!"[/h3]

- The Hungry Spider, whenever he's awake

Tucked away in a dark corner of the world, this wolf spider hungers. His appetite is insatiable, and there lies a feast nearby. The Hungry Spider is back for Halloween. If you've not seen him before, look for something that needs dusting away on the main menu.

Be warned - this level is notoriously brutal, and few have accomplished it. If you do, you'll be rewarded an achievement - the rarest of them, of course.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thanks to Rensy for the screenshot used in the Steam artwork for this post!

This is hopefully the last release in this current beta before we move it to the main branch. Enjoy the new extra level, Excavators, that features spooky crickets lurking in the dark, grouping up to attack you! We’re fairly sure that’s the first time anyone has ever called crickets spooky, but y’know, ‘tis the season.

This will currently only affect you if you're participating in the optional beta. If you’re not participating in the beta and would like to, please see the details in this link. Note that the beta is only available to Windows Steam owners.

• Extra level Excavators is now available to all… wait.. did that exclamation mark just move???
  
• Fixed some minor underground tile graphical bugs
  
• Hungry Spider will no longer draw marker paths on the minimap
  
• Hungry Spider will now path on left click release rather than walk in a strait line to the location (if you hold down left mouse or right click it is still a straight line)
  
• Added in creature and food info toggles to the Hungry Spider levels (Halloween and Christmas)
  
• Tiles no longer highlight when hovered in the Hungry Spider levels
  
• Right clicking minimap is now disabled in hungry spider levels
  
• Creature scaling in freeplay now affects thorns and knock-back at 10% the rate of other stats
  
• Warning about AI colonies disabling save added into freeplay
  
• Thorns now includes a range check to the affected target so thorns cannot be applied from far away
  
• Fixed an issue where dead creatures would not show their food values
  
• Destructible barriers should save their state in Basin (when playing without AI colonies)
  

It's a bit overdue but due to popular demand we've set up an official Slug Disco Discord - and of course its main section is for Empires of the Undergrowth.

If you'd like to talk with friendly, nature loving gamers about Empires of the Undergrowth (or the other two games in Slug Disco's portfolio - Ecosystem and Beetle Uprising) then this is the Discord for you.

CLICK HERE for your Discord invite!

Thanks to everyone who has reported issues, this has allowed us to get to the bottom of them quickly! Some issues remain however the worst ones have been solved.

• Fixed a crash that would occur every time a save happened (such as starting a story colony or playing a story mission)
  
• Fixed an issue causing certain landmarks to float on the map Basin
  
• Fixed an issue in Tug Of War where ants were being sent home
  
• Fixed an issue where having map appropriate creatures set on Basin map would not always be rainforest creatures
  
• Fixed an issue where alliance starting points were not functional on map Towhead
  
• Fixed an issue with AI colonies markers sending ants home shortly after they get to surface
  
• Fixed a bug in freeplay setup where a setup is first saved it would not be selected from the menu but would act like it was
  
• New freeplay games with open the setup window with default settings now instead of trying to restore your previous settings (they have been issues with this functionality so it is being disabled until a fix can be found)
  

We’ve updated the currently-running optional beta including a new freeplay map! - this will only affect you if you're participating in said currently-running optional beta, detailed in this post.

New Features

• New freeplay map - Basin (This map is designed around a 2v2 match)
  
  • If you have a single ally, you will start in the same area and have quick access to each other's nests
    
  • This map also has destructible barriers at the top and bottom of the map which when destroyed open up new routes of attack (make sure the map option is on)
    
• Allied starting locations have been implemented on all freeplay maps (if possible allies in groups of two will be put next to one another)
  
• Towhead has had ramps added near each players nest, reducing both distance to landmarks and chance of being trapped by an enemy
  

Changes

• Markers rework
  
  • Ants will now all immediately leave the nest
    
  • In order to create trails some ant will turn around on their way to the destination and start coming home early
    
  • This video explains the changes:
    [previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
    

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash that would occur on “the other foot” level when creatures got close to bridge edges (after the formicariums are connected)