Updates on the Swarm Game

Swarm began as a real-time puzzle game about sculpting emergent behaviour through chemical fields. Over time, the project evolved into a combat roguelite inspired by games like Hades, but its central idea never changed:

The player does not command the swarm directly; they manipulate an ecosystem and allow order to emerge. 

For this reason, I deliberately avoided traditional hack-and-slash combat.

Instead, the playable character is intentionally weak and cannot deal damage directly. The player's role is to influence the swarm indirectly through pheromones:

• Passive Nest Pheromone: The character constantly emits a weak nest pheromone that nearby ants gently follow.

• Hunt Pheromone: The player can cast directional hunt pheromones that act as strong gradient fields, guiding the swarm toward enemies. Different casts include:

  • Direct Hunt

  • Looping Hunt

  • Multiple-Target Hunt

  • Bounce Hunt, where the signal jumps from one target to another.

• Scatter Pheromone: Disperses nearby ants, allowing the swarm to avoid incoming attacks or reposition quickly.

• Amplified Nest Pheromone: A stronger version of the nest pheromone that rapidly attracts ants toward the player.

• Localized Scatter Pulse: Emits a strong scattering signal around the player, instantly spreading out the swarm.

• Hide Pheromone: Temporarily conceals ants from enemies.

Despite these abilities, the swarm is never under direct control. The ants still obey the underlying ant simulation and pheromone-field mechanics from the original concept. The player cannot issue commands in the traditional sense; they can only influence the environment and allow complex behaviours to emerge from simple rules.

I also designed several enemies that specifically challenge different aspects of swarm control.

Enemies: 

Asassin

Description: 
Fast enemy that prioritizes attacking the player over swarm units.
Behavior:

• Targets player.
• Ignores swarm when possible.
• Re-targets player after knockback/distraction.

Purpose:
 Forces player movement and defensive swarm usage.

Predator

Description:
 Anti-swarm enemy that punishes large concentrations of swarm units.
Behavior:

• Searches for dense swarm clusters.
• Enters charge state when a cluster is detected.
• Charges through the cluster, damaging swarm units.

Purpose:
 Encourages alternating between gathering and scattering the swarm.

Firewall

Description:
 Heavy enemy surrounded by a pheromone distortion field.
Behavior:

• Slow movement.
• High health.
• Nearby pheromones are weakened or distorted.
• Swarm response becomes less reliable within the field.

Purpose:
 Creates areas where swarm control is difficult.

Parasite

Description: 
Enemy that infects swarm units.
Behavior:

• Infects nearby swarm units.
• Infected units emit incorrect pheromone signals.
• Infection can spread to nearby swarm units.

Purpose:
 Disrupts swarm behavior and creates confusion.

Collector

Description:
 Fragile ranged enemy that deploys collection pods.
Behavior:

• Stays at range.
• Throws collection pods.
• Pods capture nearby swarm units over time.
• Destroying the pod releases captured units.

Purpose:
 Creates secondary targets and punishes inattention.

Pheromone Flood Mine

Description: 
Mine that releases a large pheromone burst when triggered.
Behavior:

• Activates when approached or attacked.
• Creates a temporary pheromone field.

Purpose:
 Disrupts swarm positioning and control.

Pheromone Erasure Mine

Description:
 Mine that removes pheromones in an area.
Behavior:

• Activates when approached or attacked.
• Deletes pheromone fields within its radius.

Purpose:
 Destroys pheromone infrastructure and pathways.

Inverter

Description:
 Enemy that temporarily reverses player pheromone controls.
Behavior:

• Applies infection/status effect to player.
• Attack commands become Scatter commands.
• Scatter commands become Attack commands.
• Effect lasts for a limited duration.

Purpose:
 Disrupts player execution and decision making.