Squirrel or Die DeveloBlog
Hey Fight Fans,
Indie games are there own weird animal. In the past three years, we've sold over 700 "handcrafted" Squirrel or Die (SoD). We're extremely proud of our 7-minute game of backyard rodent survival. It's success has allowed us to make our way to conventions from Minnesota to Rhode Island. SoD laid the foundation for our community which then helped us launch End of the Line. So what's next?
There's three main requests from fans of Squirrel or Die: make it more collectible, make it more approachable, and make it expandable. These requests are a bit at odds, however. We've been addressing the first two while ruminating on the third.
Collectible: people who love that Squirrel or Die comes in different colors and small runs are interested in versions of the game that are even more deluxe and unique. Since the Limited Edition Nuclear Green SoD were such a success, we've decided we'll be doing another limited edition with the expansion to End of the Line: the Inevitable Machine Revolt (IMR). Since IMR is so future science, we'll be doing this one in full color printed on clear plastic. The folks at Muse on Minis said they'd help us out again.
Local gaming great John Redmann was the graphic designer for the original SoD's, Mel did the visual heavy lifting on the Nuclear Green and now artist Graham Judd is stepping up for the new limited edition tile art. Also, we'll be changing the rules again slightly. New art, new material, slightly new rules, and a short run - hopefully, we've heard our SoD fans correctly and this hits the sweet spots for "collectible." In addition, we've discontinued the original alder finish making those earliest copies of Squirrel or Die that much more precious.
Approachable: in the exact opposite direction of "collectible" are the folks who love the game but want something that isn't so high end. Making a game in the US, in limited quantities, with deluxe materials meant SoD would have a more limited audience; we always knew that. Some folks see SoD more as a companion to games like "Love Letter." For those folks, we've been working on the illustrated Squirrel or Die.
The illustrated SoD will be full color printed on either card board tiles or playing card material. We're looking at 3.5"x3.5" to show off the art by Graham Judd. The illustrations are more than just illuminated game icons; we really worked hard on filling the images with as much of the story of the backyard as possible.
We're currently getting quotes from manufacturers hoping to do this cost effectively and in the US if possible. The art is complete, the design is close, and the instructions are being reformatted. We're looking to have this ready for the holiday season 2017.
