🔫🐿HEY SQUIRREL SQUAD!
Here's a little progress update of the features added in Squirrel With A Gun for the year 2022. We'll try to keep it a bit more regular moving forward.
Squirrel made a splash as a tech demo in May, which showed off Unreal Engine 5's fur capabilities. It also happened to wield a MAC-10, which was a thing people seemed to like.
In August, we added a mechanic to rob NPCs, which was a thing people REALLY seemed to like. Squirrel With A Gun went viral and was featured on websites like IGN, PC Gamer, and Kotaku.
Around the same time, we made secret lab location where Squirrel begins its adventure. Squirrel must find a way to disable the energy shield. Otherwise it gets electrocuted and ragdoll'd.
Anyone viewing the steam page is probably familiar with the trailer ːsteamhappyː In retrospect, should have called it alpha footage cuz there's still a ways to go on our squirrely adventure! The trailer features a takedown mechanic, inspired by the Heat Actions in the Yakuza series. It also shows how Squirrel can use a gun's recoil to cross large gaps. And we also see an early look at the neighborhood where he wreaks havoc.
At some point, we figured that climbing may be an important feature in a squirrel game, so we did just that. Squirrel must sacrifice his held item in order to climb.
Some time in September, we added a little variety to the Agents' move set by giving them a dive attack. They track your velocity to predict your location when they strike (Inspired by the frustrating accuracy of the machines in the Horizon series). Serpentine! Serpentine!
We also expanded the pole climbing mechanics to work with a human's limb colliders. Yes, Dan is a huge fan of Shadow of the Colossus.
This is an early look at the title screen for Squirrel With A Gun. Navigating the menu dramatically switches the camera, a la Twisted Metal Black. The only trouble is going to be making enough menu items to fit all the camera angles.
Acorns will be an abundant collectible in the game. We asked the community if they should be regular or golden. Ultimately, we went with "regular," and had bigger plans for a Golden Acorn.
On Halloween, we took a small break to torment our poor NPC, Remy. This time with a spooky jack o' lantern. 🎃
Pitt, our composer and sound designer, reveals the secret to making the most comical squirrel screams.
And finally, we have here a gun dispenser! Pay it some acorns and it will unlock, allowing you to spawn some weaponry. Generally, it is meant to dispense only one gun at a time, but perhaps we'll keep the infinite dispenser as a gag.
And there we have it for 2022. We appreciate the Steam community's incredible enthusiasm and support for this game and we look forward to continue development on Squirrel With A Gun!
Until next time!