About

<h2>Overview</h2><figure data-align="right" data-size="small" data-img-src="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/original/32/320697/2901223-simant_1.png" data-ref-id="1300-2901223" data-ratio="0.75" data-width="640" data-embed-type="image" style="width: 640px"><a class="fluid-height" style="padding-bottom:75.0%" href="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/original/32/320697/2901223-simant_1.png" data-ref-id="1300-2901223"><img alt="No Caption Provided" src="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_small/32/320697/2901223-simant_1.jpg" srcset="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/original/32/320697/2901223-simant_1.png 640w, https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_medium/32/320697/2901223-simant_1.jpg 480w, https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_small/32/320697/2901223-simant_1.jpg 320w" sizes="(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px" data-width="320"></a></figure><p>SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony, known in-game and in some versions simply as <em>SimAnt</em>, is a real-time strategy and <a href="/ants/3015-3968/" data-ref-id="3015-3968">ant colony</a> simulation game developed and published by <a href="/maxis-software/3010-205/" data-ref-id="3010-205">Maxis</a> (with <a href="/ocean-software-ltd/3010-6983/" data-ref-id="3010-6983">Ocean</a> co-publishing in Europe) for <a href="/pc/3045-94/" data-ref-id="3045-94">DOS/Windows PCs</a> and <a href="/mac/3045-17/" data-ref-id="3045-17">Macintosh computers</a> in 1991, with an <a href="/amiga/3045-1/" data-ref-id="3045-1">Amiga</a> release in 1992.</p><p>Part of the studio's <a href="/sim/3025-1032/" data-ref-id="3025-1032">"Sim"</a> series of simulation games, SimAnt puts players in control of a colony of black ants in a suburban backyard, where they must grow and overpower a rival red ant colony while surviving against <a href="/hunger/3015-677/" data-ref-id="3015-677">starvation</a> and other hazards, both nautral (including <a href="/spiders/3015-1873/" data-ref-id="3015-1873">spiders</a>, <a href="/antlions/3015-3498/" data-ref-id="3015-3498">antlions</a>, and <a href="/rain/3015-3077/" data-ref-id="3015-3077">raindrops</a>) and manmade (including <a href="/lawnmower/3055-1084/" data-ref-id="3055-1084">lawnmowers</a> and bug spray). Along with a <a href="/tutorial/3015-1085/" data-ref-id="3015-1085">tutorial</a> "Tutorial Game", a sandbox "Experimental Game" and the basic "Quick Game", SimAnt features a fully-featured "Full Game" which focus on maintaining multiple colonies on a 12×16 board that represents both the entire backyard and part of the connecting <a href="/house/3035-5532/" data-ref-id="3035-5532">home</a> (which have their own unique gameplay mechanics), with a side-objective being to drive the homeowners out.</p><p>Rather than directly controlling a group of ants, similar to other real-time strategy games, players control a single ant (highlighted in yellow) and move around, either in an overhead perspective (above ground) or a side-view perspective (underground), performing specific tasks, such as gathering food, digging pathways, and assaulting enemies. Players can switch between different types of ants, recruit groups of ants to help with a task, and manage the colony's autonomous behavior and production. Like the other Sim titles, the game features a complex multi-windowing and graphing system.</p><p>The game later received an enhanced CD-ROM re-release in 1993, featuring updated graphics and sound, as well as <a href="/full-motion-video/3015-604/" data-ref-id="3015-604">full-motion video</a>, and was bundled (as <em>SimAnt Classic</em>) with <a href="/simcity/3030-15035/" data-ref-id="3030-15035">SimCity</a> and <a href="/simfarm/3030-1103/" data-ref-id="3030-1103">SimFarm</a> as <em>SimClassics: 3 in 1 Pack</em>. It also received conversions in Japan in 1993 by <a href="/imagineer-co-ltd/3010-374/" data-ref-id="3010-374">Imagineer</a> for the <a href="/nec-pc-9801/3045-112/" data-ref-id="3045-112">NEC PC-98</a>, <a href="/sharp-x68000/3045-95/" data-ref-id="3045-95">Sharp X68000</a>, and <a href="/fm-towns/3045-108/" data-ref-id="3045-108">FM Towns</a> computers. It also received a <a href="/super-nintendo-entertainment-system/3045-9/" data-ref-id="3045-9">Super Nintendo Entertainment System</a> release, first in Japan (by Imagineer) on February 1993 and then in North America (by Maxis) on October 1993. The SNES version, developed by <a href="/tomcat-system/3010-5594/" data-ref-id="3010-5594">Tomcat System</a>, include unique graphics and audio while supporting the <a href="/snes-mouse-support/3015-3659/" data-ref-id="3015-3659">Super NES Mouse</a> and introducing a bonus scenario mode ("A Year in an Ant's Life").</p><h2>Gameplay</h2><p>The player maintains control over a single yellow ant in the black colony; control can be swapped to another ant by simply double-clicking on it. The player's ant can pick up food, order other ants to follow him, and leave a scent trail for the colony to follow to food or enemies.</p><h3>The World</h3><figure data-align="right" data-img-src="https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/5168/641808-yardview.gif" data-ref-id="1300-641808" data-size="small" data-ratio="0.50097847358121" data-width="511" data-embed-type="image" style="width: 511px"><a class="fluid-height" style="padding-bottom:50.1%" href="https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/5168/641808-yardview.gif" data-ref-id="1300-641808"><img alt="The backyard to be conquered." src="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_small/0/5168/641808-yardview.gif" srcset="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/original/0/5168/641808-yardview.gif 511w, https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_medium/0/5168/641808-yardview.gif 480w, https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_small/0/5168/641808-yardview.gif 320w" sizes="(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px" data-width="320"></a><figcaption>The backyard to be conquered.</figcaption></figure><p>The SimAnt world is represented by 3 levels of detail. First, there is an ant farm perspective used to see what is going on in the underground colonies. This is useful for tracking the larvae and food supply of a colony. Second is the above ground view, which shows all activity on the surface in a single grid area of the world map. This is where hazards, or disasters, will present themselves.</p><p>The world map is represented by the backyard and inside kitchen of a human family that is active throughout the course of the game. In the full game, the victory objective is to traverse the backyard with new colonies until a colony can be created in the kitchen.</p><h3>Expanding</h3><p>The unit creation system in SimAnt is based on an ant colony's caste system, with the player controlling amounts of workers, soldiers, and breeders to be born. Behavior--split into digging, foraging, and fighting--may also be modified. When new queens are born, they have wings that allow them to fly to other areas of the SimAnt world. These newborns can dig below ground and start broods, allowing the colony to start breeding new worker ants to support the colonies' needs. Through this expansion, it is possible to reach the inside of the house on the other side of the starting point in the backyard.</p><h3>Disasters</h3><p>Although there are no disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes that the ant colonies will have to deal with, there are events that can occur that can spell disaster for your ant and colony. From time to time, a human will mow the lawn, which will wipe out all ants above the surface when it passes over the grid space. Children will run around the grass, and their footprints will smash any ants in their path when they reach the lawn grid. Rain will sometimes wash away ants and the scent trails you have laid down for the rest of your colony, as well as flooding portions of the nest. Indoors, electric sockets or ant poison can be found in abundance. Spiders and other insects pose a threat throughout all levels; if killed, though, these enemies provide a good deal of food for the colony.</p><h3>Ant Wars</h3><figure data-align="right" data-img-src="https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-641845" data-size="small" data-ratio="0.75" data-width="640" data-embed-type="image" style="width: 640px"><a class="fluid-height" style="padding-bottom:75.0%" href="https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-641845"><img alt="An underground colony." src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" sizes="(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px" data-width="320" class="js-lazy-load-image" data-src="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_small/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg" data-srcset="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/original/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg 640w, https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_medium/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg 480w, https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_small/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg 320w"><noscript><img alt="An underground colony." src="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_small/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg" srcset="https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/original/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg 640w, https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_medium/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg 480w, https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/scale_small/0/5168/641845-simant1.jpg 320w" sizes="(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px" data-width="320"></noscript></a><figcaption>An underground colony.</figcaption></figure><p>In all game types, there is a competing colony of red ants trying to reach the same victory goals that the player is working towards. The red colony isn't superior in any mechanical way; the enemies are simply red to help the player distinguish friend from foe. When a red and black ant meet, they engage in a quick skirmish that will leave one of the ants dead, with the victorious ant most likely tired and unable to fight much more. In order to take over a red ant colony, the player must leave a scent trail that will lead other worker and soldier ants to it, so that a steady stream of black ants can lay siege to the underground network and eventually kill the breeding queen.</p><p>Once the colony is taken over, a queen can be placed in the vacated network of tunnels, or the area can be deserted and left unused. In the Quick Game mode, the only objective is to take over the neighboring red ant colony in the same grid space - once that has been accomplished, the game is finished.</p>