Optional Beta - The Beach Brawl Update, New Creatures, Maps & UI

It's been a long time coming, but it's time to test out the Beach Brawl update! The beta is available on Windows (not Mac at this time), and we'd love to hear your feedback on the changes made.

The largest and most obvious change is to the game's user interface, which has been completely reworked in almost all aspects to update it, make it more logically functional and make it friendlier for gamepad / controller play.

Speaking of which - playing the game with controllers is now better than it ever has been, with new UI elements designed with them in mind. A new radial menu will be in play when using a gamepad. If you're playing on a Steam Deck or with any sort of gamepad, we'd love to hear about your experience using it.

Also, we have two new maps! Custom game enjoyers should get stuck into Causeway as soon as possible - it's a brand new map that can support 5 computer-controlled colonies, so it's perfect for a 3v3. There are also five new uber creatures from the fifth tier of the game. Causeway - Chowder is a special extra level based on its layout with the objective of taking out the huge shore crab.

That's a perfect segue to the final part of the new content - we have two new creatures! The shore crab and sand lizard will be taking up huge creature landmarks in custom games.

Code: beachbrawlbeta

If you would like to join the beta, the code is beachbrawlbeta. If you don’t know how to join a beta and would like to, follow the instructions below:

Find Empires of the Undergrowth in your Steam library, right-click on it and choose "Properties"

1. Choose the "Game Versions & Betas" tab

2. In the box titled "Private versions", enter beachbrawlbeta

3. After the "Access code correct" information appears, make sure you've chosen "optionalbeta" from the "Select the beta you would like to opt into" drop-down menu

4. Press close - the game will now update to the beta branch.

Headline Features - Beach Brawl Update

• Causeway: a new beach-themed custom game map for skirmish & freeplay supporting up to 6 colonies!

• Two new critters to inhabit it, plus variations!

  • European shore crab (Carcinus maenas)

  • Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis)

• New extra level based on Causeway - Chowder!

  • The causeway is home to many crabs, and in particular one very large individual. Build up your forces to take down the huge shore crab before burrowing crabs at night overwhelm your nest!

UI Overhaul

• Complete redesign of user interface across the game

• All menus reworked & reorganised with a new styling

• Reworked campaign mission launcher is now descending rather than ascending,

• Icons redesigned with improved resolution

• Radial menu added with controllers in mind

• Improved visibility and readability should help with handhelds & TVs

Additions & Changes

• Added savannah uber creatures:

  • Uber giant centipede

  • Uber alligatorback scorpion

  • Uber rainbow lizard

  • Uber huntsman spider

  • Uber sun spider

• Updated artwork and/or animations for the following creatures:

  • American bullfrog

  • Whip spider

  • Eastern newt juvenile

  • Emperor scorpion

  • Alligatorback scorpion

  • Spiny devil bush cricket

  • Checkered beetle

  • Great blue skimmer (wings)

  • Dragantula (wings)

• Huge creatures can now be enabled or disabled in custom game setup to control what spawns at their landmarks

• New creatures added to Battle Arena

• Added military-style rank stripes in Battle Arena spawner to show creature size

• Added a walk animation to the great blue skimmer (for Battle Arena purposes)

• Added team stripes to colony creatures that were missing them

• Updated victory & defeat dioramas for colonies with updated artwork

• Updated water plane material for a more controllable look

• Fixes to leafcuttter minor tile appearance

• Overhaul of the way dithering works for foliage / terrain visibility dissolve

• Tiles marked for excavation now use a pulsing colour (the old striped pattern can be restored from the “Other” section of the settings menu)

• Changes to custom game launching to configure up to 6 colonies on supported maps (only the new Causeway supports this thus far)

• Added hotkeys to jump to colonies 5 & 6 (currently relevant only in Causeway)

• Termites from landmarks will now spoil on death

• Icons for the DLCs added to the main menu

• Text size increased in several places for readability

• Changes to the spline creature system to accommodate new & updated artwork

• Added option for gamepad with trackpad to support controllers which have a trackpad attached

• Added an option for displaying advanded tile information

  • Defaults to off

  • Causes numbers from contributing tiles to be hidden by default

• Added an option to unlock the camera from 90 degree rotational increments

  • If enabled, the camera will be free-rotating and can be returned to default with another bindable button

• Fixed large underground creatures destroying tiles at the edge of the play area

• Woodworm, woodlouse & earwig nymphs now spawn much less frequently in custom games

• Queens in 1.x levels are now immune for the duration of victory sequences

• Main menu now has a brief camera animation on load & a button press to begin

Fixes & Optimisations

• Significant optimisations to textures & materials across the game

• Ensured the newer sapling models appear on freeplay maps & landmarks

• Fixed cursor drift when using keyboard to move the camera

• Various spelling & grammar corrections

• Fixed small plant vegetation dissolve

• Driver ant soldier ability now mentions movement speed increase

• "The Savannah" title now displays correctly on its loading screen

• Lignocellulise information will no longer display on storage tile tooltip if the play is using exploding termites

• Vacuum in The Real FInal Experiment now uses newer ant models

• Numerous other small fixes