Ant Colony: Wild Forest

Pixle Cells - Indie game development studio of 8 people
Currently developing mobile strategy Ant Colony: Wild Forest
Our discord:

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

More bases, more vibes! 🔥
Part 2 of our massive rework reveal is here. We are pushing the boundaries of the original designs to bring you something truly special

#gamedev #indiedev #conceptart

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

@ivelsoul Hi there! Do you do freelance work?

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

We've started a massive rework of the mob bases, and work is in full swing! 🛠️ Here is some fresh concept art to give you a sneak peek of what's coming.
Spoiler alert: there will be a LOT more of these in the future, so stay tuned! 👀
What do you think of the new look? Drop your thoughts in the replies! 👇
#gamedev #conceptart #indiegame

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

While our little workers are busy building the colony, we have some fresh frames for you to enjoy! Take a look at the daily life under (and above) the ground🐜✨
#AntColony #indiegame #screenshotsaturday #gamedev

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

Here’s our rough roadmap for 2026.
yoooo?

#AntColony #IndieGame #GameDev #ColonySim #Ants #Gaming

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

A development diary for the new version of the game. We go into detail about what’s coming, how it was developed, and reveal a bit of our future plans.

• A new ant, Dart - the first ranged attacker, changing the traditional defense tactics in the game
• A new mode where we combine endless mode and classic gameplay formats within a single level

You can read more about this on our Steam: https://t.co/SrNCZq3VY2

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

To keep you entertained while waiting for more news, we’ve brought you a few beautiful screenshots!

#screenshots #indiedev #indiegame #gamedev

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

The Death Desert location is temporarily unavailable while we work on fixes and improvements.

Sorry for the inconvenience - we’ll bring it back as soon as it’s ready 🙏

#gamedev #indiedev #gamedevupdate

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

The second game from our studio straight from Ludum Dare 59! ✨

As a reminder, we split into two teams and created two projects in 72 hours based on the theme "Signal." While the first team was conquering a dark ocean, the second team prepared something magical for you!

Introducing the game - You Are His Spellbook 🧙‍♂️

Here, you take on the role of a mentor secretly giving hints to your student during an important mage exam. Signals must be delivered using only your hands, cleverly combining finger symbols. Help the poor guy pass the test!

Credits:
• Legosky 007 - animations
• sahil exile - art
• ijirok - code
• Svyat - game design
You can help the young mage here:
🎮 On Ludum Dare: https://t.co/bbmTrRcse9
🎮 On https://t.co/4fCxD6qvfM: https://t.co/pvgRfu3G88
Jump in, play, and tell us in the comments which of our two jam games you liked more! 👇
P.S. Meanwhile, we’re already back to working on new updates for our ant game - coming very soon. Stay tuned! 🐜
#gamedev #indiedev #gamejam #ludumdare #ludumdare59 #indiegame

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

This past weekend, our studio took part in Ludum Dare 59 - the largest game jam in the world! 🚀

The theme of the jam was "Signal." Since our team is already quite large (there are 8 of us!), we decided to run an internal competition, split into two groups, and created TWO games in just 72 hours.

Introducing the first team's project - MAYDAY 🚢

You are the captain of a rescue ship. You pick up distress signals and navigate through the darkness to help those in need. But there’s a catch: not every signal is sent by a human. You can’t trust everyone. The ocean is full of creatures disguising themselves as survivors. You’ll need to read between the lines, search for clues, and decide who to sail to - and who to avoid.

Credits:
• MotherOfAnts - game design and project lead
• @phemeralit - illustrations and stunning, vibrant characters
• @d1splaytor - pixel art and environment (drew every single tooth on the shark!)
• senya0 - legendary code
• WaerCat- dialogues, vibe, and game design
Check it out, play, and rate it here:
🎮 On Ludum Dare: https://t.co/glyMIsRHoG
🎮 On https://t.co/4fCxD6qvfM: https://t.co/Mid6RvF4FF

#gamedev #indiedev #gamejam #ludumdare #ludumdare59 #indiegame

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

And here’s what the new ant’s card will look like

#gamedev #indiedev #concept

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

Here are a few more shots of how the new ant plays.👀

#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

The next ant is going to have a really interesting mechanic…

#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegames #teaser #gamedevlog

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

Showing you a little secret - here’s what the early concepts of Dead Sands looked like 👀

It's always fascinating to see how ideas evolve over time. From sketch roughes to the world we’re building today - this is where it all began.

#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #conceptart

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

@devolverdigital Ant Colony Strategy game!
Btw we are looking for publisher

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

@devolverdigital Ant Colony Strategy game!
Btw we are looking for publisher

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

Hey everyone! It’s been a while, but that’s about to change 👀
A major update is on the way - we’ll share more details very soon. In the meantime, our team is gearing up for the biggest game jam of them all: Ludum Dare 🎮 There’s a chance we might even pull off 2 games this time!

Lots of exciting things coming your way very soon!

#gamedev #indiedev #LudumDare #AntColony #devlog #comingsoon

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

Ant Colony has always kept up with technology, so after the release of the new DLSS 5, we couldn’t resist adding it to our project. You can try it out in the demo version on Steam https://t.co/7YOjQiSLZV

[Ant Colony: Wild Forest @Pixel_Cells]

How Ant Colony was made - Part 2 🐜

Ant Colony didn’t start as a strategy game at all. The very first version was just a small simulation where you could watch your ant colony grow and organize itself.

Back in 2018, ant terrariums were suddenly popular on YouTube. I was still learning game development and experimenting with ideas, and ants felt perfect for a small prototype. Together with another developer I met on forums, we built a simple version in about two weeks. You played as the queen and could only spawn different ants - the colony handled everything else on its own.

We uploaded the game to Google Play just to share with friends… and forgot about it.

A few months later I checked the developer console and realized something unexpected had happened. The game had been featured, downloads were growing rapidly, and this tiny pixel ant prototype had reached over 1 million players.

That’s when we realized the idea deserved something bigger. A few years later a team formed around the project, and the simple simulator slowly began evolving into the strategy game Ant Colony is becoming today.

Here are a couple of early prototype screenshots and concept arts from the game that we’ve never shared before. 🐜

More about that transformation in the next part.

#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #AntColony #gamedevelopment #pixelart