Dr. Derk's Mutant Battlegrounds
Train and battle AI creatures in a wonky western-themed MOBA!
Developer
Publisher
Release
July 28, 2020
6 years and 6 days ago
Steam Reviews
Mostly Positive23 reviews73.9%
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Game contextLatest: IGF Team
| ContextThe evidence factors used to assess whether this game belongs on IndieGame.Fan. | Status | Notes Latest Contributor: IGF TeamEdit notes |
|---|---|---|
Updated: Jul 11, 2026Developer scaleThe operating scale of the game's developer. | ||
Updated: Jul 11, 2026Publisher scaleThe operating scale of the game's publisher. | ||
Updated: Jul 11, 2026Publisher statusHow the game's publishing relationship is classified. | ||
Updated: Jul 11, 2026Release statusWhether and how the game has been released. |
Media
20 itemsAbout the Game
Welcome to Dr. Derk's Mutant Battlegrounds!
This is a game where you train Derklings, a creature with a neural network brain, to fight for you! The game takes place in a wonky western-themed MOBA setting, and as you battle other players you earn upgrades and items for your Derklings. The challenge is to figure out the best loadout and training strategy for your Derklings!
There are tons of strategies to explore, as the Derklings can be taught to do an endless number of things (thanks to the neural networks). How about teaching one of them to heal a tanky Derkling? Or make one of them dash through the opponents and go straight for the opponents statue? Or an all-out DPS team? Or try to make them trick the opponents? There's a lot to explore.
The game employs "real" artificial intelligence. The Derklings have neural networks with over 3,000 parameters. They can "see" over 30 things and take decisions on their own. The technology is similar (but simplified) to what researchers at OpenAI used to beat top DOTA players two years ago.
Some things to look forward to:
Dr. Derk wishes you and your team the best of luck!
This is a game where you train Derklings, a creature with a neural network brain, to fight for you! The game takes place in a wonky western-themed MOBA setting, and as you battle other players you earn upgrades and items for your Derklings. The challenge is to figure out the best loadout and training strategy for your Derklings!
There are tons of strategies to explore, as the Derklings can be taught to do an endless number of things (thanks to the neural networks). How about teaching one of them to heal a tanky Derkling? Or make one of them dash through the opponents and go straight for the opponents statue? Or an all-out DPS team? Or try to make them trick the opponents? There's a lot to explore.
The game employs "real" artificial intelligence. The Derklings have neural networks with over 3,000 parameters. They can "see" over 30 things and take decisions on their own. The technology is similar (but simplified) to what researchers at OpenAI used to beat top DOTA players two years ago.
Some things to look forward to:
- A dead simple way to get started training your own neural networks creatures. Just load them up, set some goals (bounties) and hit train!
- Some technical details; the agents employ a RNN with over 3,000 parameters and 32 memory slots, and are trained with GA (Genetic Algorithm). Plenty enough for them to come up with all kinds of strange, funny and clever solutions!
- A bunch of fun upgrades, such as a horn, a shell, huge guns, bubblegum and much more. They all change what the Derklings can do and what they might learn.
- A global ladder where you can battle other players and earn new items.
- Neural network visualizations for those who wish to dig deeper into the brains of the Derklings and fully understand their behaviors.
- A community of people fascinated by AI and neural networks.
Dr. Derk wishes you and your team the best of luck!
