How My Childhood Favorites Breathed Life Into Botlings

Every game developer’s journey starts with the titles that shaped them. For me, the road to creating Botlings is a direct love letter to the gaming masterpieces I spent decades obsessing over - from classic childhood strategy games to modern automation giants.

I wanted to take a moment to share how those inspirations collided to create something entirely new.

The Roots: From Lemmings to The Settlers

Growing up, gaming was a family affair. I vividly remember sitting down with my dad to play Lemmings and Lemmings 2: The Tribes. It instantly became one of my favorite games of all time. That era sparked a deep love for clever puzzle titles like The Incredible Machine and The Lost Vikings.

But as I grew older, my heart truly belonged to the grand strategy and building classics. I was utterly captivated by the depth of Civilization, the tension of X-COM, and the pure mechanical joy of The Settlers. In fact, I loved The Settlers so much that I literally learned to play the piano just so I could perform its background music.

Those games taught me the beauty of complex, interlocking systems and world-building.

The Obsession: Getting Lost in the Automation Genre

Fast forward a couple of years ago, and I stumbled into a new obsession: factory building games. Naturally, it started with Factorio. Like anyone who plays it, I was instantly hooked. From there, I quickly ate through most of the genre's titans - building mega-structures in Satisfactory, exploring the cosmos in Dyson Sphere Program, and managing intense logistics in Captain of Industry. Later on, I eagerly dove into more recent gems like Microtopia, Alchemy Factory, Star Rupture, and the charming city-building of Timberborn.

What I realized about these automation games is that they possess a beautiful, puzzle-like quality that traditional strategy games often lack. They perfectly bridged the gap between my childhood love for puzzle-solving and my adult obsession with deep strategy.

The Mash-Up: Lemmings Meets Factorio

As much as I loved the genre giants, I felt there was still room for a completely fresh take. One day, the breakthrough hit me: What if we mashed together the unique charm of Lemmings with the complex loop of Factorio?

Initially, I thought about having the units gain special powers just like in Lemmings. However, I quickly realized that would force environment-driven resource collection rather than true automation. I also decided early on to use robots instead of living creatures because I really don't like seeing animals being abused or exploited in games - even fictional ones!

So, I shifted towards simpler robots but kept that distinct Lemmings style of movement. Then came the ultimate twist: Instead of modifying the robots, what if the robots became the factory?

From there, it wasn't much of a leap to have them transport all the resources, build the infrastructure, and perform all the manual labor themselves.

Botlings is the result of combining the mechanical DNA of Factorio with the nostalgic, chaotic charm of Lemmings. It's a puzzle, it's a factory game, and it's a tribute to the titles that made me a gamer.

The updated demo is live right now on Steam. I’d love for you to jump in, test your spatial logic, and share your feedback with me!

See you in the SWARM! PS. Part II about my inspirations is coming! Stay tuned JOIN DISCORD Steam post image