#les fourmis

Le temps que vous lisiez ces lignes, sept cents millions de fourmis seront nées sur la planete. Sept cents millions d'individus dans une communauté estimée a un milliard de milliards, et qui a ses villes, sa hiérarchie, ses colonies, son langage, sa production industrielle, ses esclaves, ses mercenaires... Ses armes aussi. Terriblement destructrices.

Lorsqu'il entre dans la cave de la maison léguée par un vieil oncle entomologiste, Jonathan Wells est loin de se douter qu'il va a leur rencontre.

A sa suite, nous allons découvrir le monde fabuleusement riche, monstrueux et fascinant de ces «infra-terrestres», au fil d'un thriller unique en son genre, ou le suspense et l'horreur reposent a chaque page sur les données scientifiques les plus rigoureuses.

[Goodreads]

Jonathan Wells and his young family have come to the Paris flat at 3, rue des Sybarites through the bequest of his eccentric late uncle Edmond. Inheriting the dusty apartment, the Wells family are left with only one Never go down into the cellar. But when the family dog disappears down the basement steps, Jonathan follows--and soon his wife, his son, and various would-be rescuers vanish into its mysterious depths.

Meanwhile, in a pine stump in a nearby park, a vast civilization is in turmoil. Here a young female from the russet ant nation of Bel-o-kan learns that a strange new weapon has been killing off her comrades. To find out why, she enlists the help of a warrior ant, and the two set off on separate journeys into a harsh and violent world. It is a world where death takes many forms--savage birds and voracious lizards, warlike dwarf ants and rapacious termites, poisonous beetles and, most bizarre of all, the swift, murderous, giant guardians of the edge of the cars.

Yet the end of the female's desperate quest will be the eerie secret in the cellar at 3, rue des Sybarites--a mystery she must solve in order to fulfill her special destiny as the new queen of her own great empire. But to do so she must first make unthinkable communion with the most barbaric creatures of all.

[Goodreads]

This year’s Inktober I will work on illustration to improve my skills.

I will illustrate “Empire of the Ants” by Bernard Werber. 

The game is an exploration RTS blend that honestly reminds me of a mix of Pikmin & Brutal Legend with their shared active strategy mechanics infused with a gorgeous nature documentary aesthetic that seeps into the art style, graphics and gameplay at a foundational level which genuinely make you feel like you’re playing through the insect kingdom segments you’d see in nature docs like Planet Earth or Monster Bug Wars. All that’s missing is the running commentary of David Attenborough, Morgan Freeman or Werner Herzog; an inclusion that honestly I’d happily pay for DLC of 😄

The Xenofictional perspective of the ants does do a terrific job at immersing you in the mindset of an ant whose personal & colonial survival depends on clashing with a massive world where insects and bugs barely the size of a human thumb, rainstorms & hungry birds are all daunting threats for you & your Sister ants.

And speaking of Brutal Legend & Pikmin, the exploration aspect like them is similarly fun but to play the game means also earnestly engaging with the real-time strategy gameplay all share. Like those games, getting through EotA means getting adept with the plate-spinning style gameplay of building & strengthening units and bases while getting your Warriors or Gunners to battle encroaching hoards of enemies and using your personal skills to bolster said units & keep them alive lest you have to call for reinforcements and possibly fail altogether.

If you feel that sort of RTS gameplay is the type you love like I personally do or at least tolerate/feel you can comfortably handle, then I earnestly recommend giving Empire of the Ants of shot; particularly since the devs also put out a Roadmap outlining a deluge of major content additions in the near future, much of which is aimed towards expanding the strategic side of the game.