Swarm is a truly unique comedy action game in which players hand-train herds of strange little creatures called "Swarmites" to perform increasingly complex tasks in an attempt to render a desperately polluted planet habitable again-and bring down the evil corporate polluters who nearly destroyed it! Swarm combines the chaotic atmosphere of "swarm management" gameplay with a unique and innovative "imitation learning" A.I. mechanism.

Pudgy, generic, and a little daft-looking, the Swarmite is an endearing little 'blank slate' which travels in herds. Swarmites must be taught
any behaviour they need to perform (other than their inborn habits of humming and blinking). Through training and sheer numbers, Swarmites
become a powerful tool shaped by the player.

The player acts as a kind of “shepherd”, herding swarms through their various missions, often by taking control of a single “demonstrator” Swarmite and performing physical tasks (jumping, throwing, etc.) for the other Swarmites to imitate. Anything the player does with the controlled Swarmite is mimicked by the rest of the swarm, resulting in an unprecedented multiplication of the player’s actions, often with funny and surprising results. Each mission provides new opportunities for the player to experiment with silly, creative, or impressive behaviours they can teach the swarms.

Life on the tiny planet of Esalea is succumbing to an environmental disaster brought on by the evil mega-polluter “Synec Industries Corp”. In a last ditch effort to save the planet, a lone biogeneticist developed “Swarmites”: mass-produceable organisms capable of sweeping across the landscape en masse and cleansing the polluting elements. But the silly-looking Swarmites simply don’t inspire confidence as planetary saviors, and the hopeless inhabitants of Esalea abandon the planet to become one giant factory. However, in an underground lab in a cave far from Synec headquarters, the prototype Swarmite population huddles in readied anticipation. Their task is now twofold: clean the planetary surface, and undertake guerilla tactics to disrupt Synec and bring it to its knees!

Chaotic Action with Positive Themes:
Swarm combines an overarching environmental theme with wild comedy and edgy undertones of corporate sabotage. The restoration of life, beauty, and color to the previously devastated landscape provides a visceral positive feedback for players' successes.

Creative Experimentation:
Swarm combines action-oriented gameplay with open-ended problem solving and creative experimentation. Each mission offers players new opportunities to discover and teach funny, creative, or impressive action sequences.

Innovative "Machine Learning" Gameplay:
Players teach herds of Swarmites what to do simply by playing the game with one Swarmite while the rest of the herd watches and learns to imitate. With comically mixed success, the player's unique abilities - and faults - spread through the swarm.

"David versus Goliath" Challenge:
The pudgy little Swarmites are obvious underdogs pitted against Synec's monstrous mechanical leviathans. Each encounter challenges players to discover the best ways to train and unleash their Swarm against Synec machinery-with epic takedowns as the reward!

Swarm is a wild, funny game based on a genuinely novel gameplay mechanism: having your actions mimicked by an entire herd of silly creatures. Players can train their herd of Swarmites to accomplish complex tasks through careful teamwork, or simply see what kinds of crazy antics they can uncover through freestyle experimentation. Whatever the challenge, each player can use it to show off their own swarm's creative, silly, or sophisticated trained behaviours. The simplicity of the "learn-by-watching" teaching mechanism keeps the game fast-paced and accessible. We believe players will become deeply attached to these endearing characters who eagerly imitate the player's unique style with no regard for common sense or personal safety.

Finally, Swarm also distinguishes itself by pairing engaging, non-violent action gameplay with timely, positive themes of environmental reclamation. Players are charged with saving a planet, and are rewarded throughout the game with powerful visuals as strange and beautiful plants and animals repopulate the lands they reclaim from the corrupt hands of the megapolluters.

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Hothead Games is a platform-agnostic company headquartered in downtown Vancouver, dedicated to creating and delivering engaging video game experiences to as wide an audience as possible.

Currently we are working on Swarm, a unique comedy action game chosen as a finalist in the Telefilm Canada Great Canadian Video Game Competition. Our studio is also developing the highly anticipated web comic title Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.

Hothead's team of industry veterans has a track record of creating titles that are both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The Canadian New Media Awards (CNMA) has recently recognized Hothead as the Most Promising New Company of the Year at their annual awards ceremony. Read more about us and get the latest news on our games at www.hotheadgames.com.