Congrats! Here’s a little quickstart guide for your first couple of days with your Ant’s Life Studio.
<aside> 💡 If you live in Japan, you can use the AC adapter. There is anecdotal evidence that using the AC adapter outside of Japan can fry the internals of the unit due to differences in standard electrical current between countries. Use with caution if you decide to plug in the unit. If you would like to purchase an adapter for use in the US, please see the “US Adapter Information” at the end of this page.
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Buying an Ant’s Life Studio secondhand means there’s a chance you may have save data from a previous user on it. If your startup isn’t as described here, please skip ahead to “Resetting My Data”.
Once you insert the batteries, you may need to press the Reset button, which is found on the front of the unit below the control buttons.
The unit will then load a splash screen asking you to press any button and then set the time and date.
You will then see a cutscene of your new queen ant landing and she will begin digging. During the first few days, there will not be anything for you to do as a player. There will be no predator attacks and nothing to feed to her.
When she completes digging the first chamber of the nest, she will lay two eggs. The eggs are initially incredibly small and easy to miss, but you can use the radial menu and select the “Data 🐜” option to see if they are present. The “Data 🐜” option shows how many adult ants are currently present (1 queen + all the workers) and how many “Eggs Etc.” (eggs, larva, pupae) are currently present.
One egg on its first day of development.
Two eggs on their second day of development.
Once the workers hatch, gameplay begins.