phenome level, however, Langton’s ant shares a core characteristic with biological ants: its simple
decisions and actions lead to complex emergent behaviors. Langton’s ant set a precedent for
abstract representation of ants in Interactive Media. Leafcutters attempts to bring representational
authenticity to its subject matter, both at the level of the individual insect and the colony level of
complex, emergent behavior.
The Concept
Gameplay Designed to Evoke Real-World Engagement
Leafcutters was conceived as an interactive game experience that evokes engagement
with subject matter drawn from the natural world. We use the term engagement to refer to
curiosity, interest, and knowledge in the game’s area of content. The subject of ants was chosen
because cursory research revealed that the subject matter was full of interesting features at a
variety of depths, so that an ongoing play experience could continue to reveal facets of interest to
an engaged player. The world of ants is a mysterious, alien universe that is also quite close to
home for anyone on the planet.
The choice to create a digital game was not made lightly. For example, an interaction
with real ants could more directly evoke engagement with them as a subject. However, the video
game medium allowed for interactions and forms of play that would otherwise be impossible.
The traditional monitor, mouse, and keyboard were chosen to allow for the greatest accessibility
of the game via online distribution. Making the game available online also allows for discussion
between users, which could serve as another tool for player engagement.
The core mechanic of Leafcutters is the player’s encouragement and discouragement of
urges in the minds of the ants in response to specific situational cues by which the ants
understand their surroundings. The ants ultimately make their own decisions in response to these
urges, and the player never has direct control over individual ants.
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