< Humbug Tales: Keeper of the Swarm
Why Humbug Tales?

What if humans related with bugs the way we do with dogs, cats, or horses? What if we shared their tiny world—where every leaf is a canopy, every raindrop is a cannonball, and every sunbeam reveals a new environment teeming with life?
I was fortunate to grow up amidst the beautiful wildlife of the Mojave Desert. Red-tailed hawks patrolled our home for a constant barrage of animal visitors, from basking reptiles to quail and roadrunners gathering twigs for their nests. Beneath these feathered sentries, I spent my days combing the desert soil for new friends from a tiny cast of insect and arachnid characters.
As experiences like mine have grown increasingly rare, I’ve noticed a bit of a generation gap. Some have experienced a seeming excess of nature, but for a younger and more urban populace, the day they encountered a mantis on their stoop and touched it with their own hands is a unique and treasured memory.
I’ve noticed something else, too: no matter where I go, from the orange sand dunes of my native region to the sprawl of the big city, I can always flip over a rock and find an ant.

What makes ants so fascinating? As I watch these tiny creatures scurry about, I can’t help but notice human traits:
- Adaptability
- Teamwork
- Self-sacrifice
Maybe that’s why we enjoy games about ants, such as SimAnt and Empires of the Undergrowth. These games allow us to command an army of insect troops from a familiar perspective: looking down upon them like a god, omniscient and omnipresent. (From our place in the sky, we’re spared the adversities of these mere mortals.)
But what if we weren’t?
When you begin your Humbug Tale, you’ll become a denizen of the insect world–with a flock of buggy followers that depend on you as much as you depend on them. From this new immersive perspective, you’ll experience everything bugs can be: cute, majestic, scary, and just plain weird!
You will become: Keeper of the Swarm.

James Lonnie Bowler
Creative Director
Next: What is a Humbug?