An Interview with the Developers of Microtopia
An interview with Cordyceps Collective on how real insect behaviour inspired their design and much more
There is more overlap between video games and insects than you might expect. Satoshi Tajiri was inspired to create Pokémon by his time hunting bugs as a child. Hollow Knight shows us that insects can be as central to a Metroidvania game as vampires and space parasites, and Animal Crossing would just feel incomplete without the trusty bug-catching net.
Cordyceps Collective are a Netherlands-based development team who display their insectoid inspiration proudly. In Microtopia, released in February 2025, players use robotic ants to construct massive colonies, while advancing up a sprawling tech tree. I reached out to interview them to discuss their new game.
SUPERJUMP
Tell us a bit about the story of Cordyceps Collective. I understand, from your site, that you're a team of three. How did you meet, and how did you decide to start making games together?
Cordyceps Collective
That's right, weâre a three-person team composed of Tijmen Meijer (Game Director), Floris Kaayk (Art Director), and Maarten Brouwer (Lead Developer). Floris and Tijmen actually attended the same art school in Breda, the Netherlands (though ten years apart). They met when Floris wanted to explore the world of game development, and Tijmen, who had recently graduated, offered to help. In addition to Microtopia, they also created Next Space Rebels. Maarten has been part of the team from the beginning, contributing to the programming back-end.
Credit also goes to our composer, Rutger Zuydervelt (alias Machinefabriek), who delivered the amazing ambient soundtrack.
SUPERJUMP
Why did you choose the name "Cordyceps Collective"? Isn't Cordyceps a parasitic fungus that infects insects?
Cordyceps Collective
We wanted to come up with a new group name for this project rather than reusing our previous one. After tossing around ideas, Maarten suggested Cordyceps Collective. You are right, as you might know from a rather famous video game and TV series, it is a type of fungus that infects insects, altering their brains to turn them into zombies that walk high into the treetops for the fungi to grow out and release their spores. We are but the drones of a greater cordyceps network that instructs us in its objective of creating Microtopia. That and it has a nice ring to it.
SUPERJUMP
Can you tell me about the inspiration behind Microtopia? Was there a single lightning bolt moment where the idea of the game suddenly formed, or was it more gradual?
Cordyceps Collective
The idea struck Tijmen while watching a Kurzgesagt video about the inner workings of an ant colony. In real life, ant colonies organize themselves using an intricate system of pheromone trails. âExplorerâ ants wander around randomly until they find food or another point of interest. Once they do, they follow their own scent trail back to the colony, reinforcing the path for other ants to follow. The more successful trips ants make, the stronger the trail becomes. As food gets depleted, the scent fades, and the process naturally redirects resources elsewhere.
In essence, this behavior functions like an algorithm, where simple rules lead to complex, adaptive solutions, similar to how slime molds find efficient pathways. Tijmen was struck by the idea of replacing this organic system with player interaction. After creating an early demo, combining the theme of life functioning like a machine with the structure of a factory game, everything quickly fell into place. Electronic ants crawling around, collecting and processing resources, while the player, acting as a hive mind, manages the colonyâs logistics.
SUPERJUMP
How much did the behaviour of real ants inform your design?
Cordyceps Collective
We started with the core inspiration of pheromone trails and then expanded on it by introducing ant castes, a defining feature of eusocial insects, where individuals within the same species have specialized roles and appearances. A key gameplay objective is colony reproduction, which requires ramping up production to create gynes (young fertile queens). These queens then embark on a nuptial flight (or "flying ant day") to mate with drones from other colonies.
Beyond these biological influences, we incorporated many automation and management conventions, such as harvesting and smelting iron, building robotic factories, and researching technology to progress through a tech tree.
SUPERJUMP
Why did you decide to make the ants in your game robots? Is this a commentary on the way actual ant colonies function?
Cordyceps Collective
For a long time, we envisioned the game with realistic ants, going through multiple iterations. However, from a gameplay perspective, they needed to construct buildings, smelt iron, and perform other tasks that felt unnatural for real ants. We experimented with giving them culture and intelligence, but it didnât quite work.
Then we remembered a short film Floris made 20 years ago about insects composed of electronic components that evolved from e-waste. The idea fit perfectly with the game. It serves as a form of satire, illustrating how, even in an environment polluted by humanity, life finds a way to survive and thrive. Once we embraced the robotic ant aesthetic, everything clicked into place. The industrial colony, resembling a circuit board, felt like the perfect setting. From that point on, there was no doubt about the direction of the design.
You can watch the film on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jUZhbRVjsE
SUPERJUMP
Was there anything about ant behaviour that you weren't able to adapt, or that you had to take some creative liberties with?
Cordyceps Collective
One common expectation about ants is that they go to war with other colonies. This is something we chose not to incorporate into Microtopia. While robotic soldier ants would be cool, Microtopia is not a game about destruction. Colony-building is a slow and deeply engaging process, and after hours of work, it wouldnât be fun to start over because an aggressive neighbor wiped out your larvae.
SUPERJUMP
The gameplay in Microtopia involves the different roles that ants can play in a colony. Queens, workers etc. Some of these roles have been created for the purpose of the game, like inventor ants. How did you go about making up these new ant roles?
Cordyceps Collective
Inventor ants serve as the equivalent of research stations in other management games, generating a resource that allows players to unlock new technologies. We chose to combine this standard gaming convention with inspiration from real-world honeypot ants. These ants have specialized members that store excess food, developing enormous abdomens filled with nectar to feed the colony during shortages.
Many of Microtopiaâs mechanics blend traditional game design principles with natural inspirations.
SUPERJUMP
What happened to humanity in the world of Microtopia? There are gears lying around, and other hints that human beings may have once existed (someone has to have designed the robot ants). Are we still around?
Cordyceps Collective
Florisâs original short film ended on a dark note, with electronic insects becoming the dominant life form and taking over the world. Microtopia is set 10,000 years after that event. The expansion of these robotic insects triggered an apocalypse. Humanity is long gone, and the world is shattered and broken. All that remains is a new form of electronic lifeâone that thrives through cooperation rather than destruction, carrying on where organic life left off.
SUPERJUMP
Why did you choose the name "Microtopia"?
Cordyceps Collective
Roughly translating to "small place," Microtopia represents both the physical scale of your ant colony and your attempt to create a microscopic utopia for these strange, industrious creatures.
SUPERJUMP
Do you have any future projects in mind? Will these also be insect based?
Cordyceps Collective
Right now, Microtopia demands all of our attention. We donât have any concrete plans for future projects yet, but whatever comes next will likely be another game that encourages players to be inventive and creative.
We'd like to thank the team at Cordyceps Collective for making time to tell us all about Microtopia, which is available on Steam. Stay tuned to SUPERJUMP for more interviews!