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I'm attempting to prototype a big game idea by building a series of little games based on some aspect of the larger game's functionality.

For instance, my big game will (among other things) have you controlling swarms of drone fighters in space. I'm trying to get the "controlling swarms of X" functionality hashed out. I figured one decent idea for this is commanding an ant colony. My simple game idea is to have the ant hill next to a picnic blanket full of food, with the gameplay being that the player lays beacons that tell the ants where to go find it. The "goal" is to clear the board as fast as possible ... maybe with a set series of levels so players can compare their best times to level X.

This fits perfectly with the functionality I'm trying to work out, but doesn't really sound like a very fun game. Anyone have suggestions for a "lead a swarm of ants with beacons" game that's a little more interesting than this?

have a look at Boids and Steering behaviour in particular follow the leader behaviour http://www.red3d.com/cwr/steer/LeaderFollow.html

I think you'd be surprised how much fun that could turn out to be. Especially if you extend it slightly to add foods that the ants don't want to go near, maybe some terrain related dangers also.

Kev

And the food could become rotten. Or other insects (wasps) could steal food. And then there's the occasional insect spray.
And of course the beacons are based on smell / odor and fade away after a while and the ants wander around aimlessly...

@Kappa: nice link and nice read - thanks!

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Lots of great ideas, thanks guys. And that's for the link, kappa, looks like just the thing I needed.