Press
Short fact sheet below. For interviews, coverage, or specific questions, email rob@axpr.net.
Fact sheet
- Title
- Subterrans
- Developer
- Rob Ogilvie (solo, with AI coding agents)
- Genre
- Colony simulation
- Lineage
- Spiritual successor to SimAnt (Maxis, 1991)
- Platforms (current)
- Web browsers
- Platforms (planned)
- Mobile; desktop and Steam are a post-1.0 aspiration
- Engine
- TypeScript + Phaser 3, custom deterministic simulation
- Status
- Phase 3 shipped — spider, AI invasion, combat math, reproduction lever, difficulty tiers. Playable demo at subterrans.com.
- Website
- subterrans.com
- Source code
- github.com/LightAxe/subterrans
- Press contact
- rob@axpr.net
Story beats
- Player and AI colonies share the same simulation code — enemies are real colonies, not scripted obstacles.
- Pheromone system is a grid of scalar fields, not a particle system. Cost scales with grid size, not ant count.
- Fixed 20 Hz timestep with a single seeded PRNG — same seed and input log produces the same final state, tick-for-tick.
- Built as an experiment in AI-agent development: multi-reviewer pull requests, architectural tripwires enforced via lint, and a planning-first workflow (GSD).
Assets
Key art and gameplay screenshots aren't bundled yet — the game is still in programmer-art mode by design. Ask and I'll send the most current build captures. Logo and a short pitch video will land on this page closer to launch.
Related
- · About the game — the seven essential systems and the current state of the build.
- · The experiment — AI-agent methodology.
- · Roadmap — current status, no dates.
- · Devlog — ongoing notes from development.