Our second FIEA rapid prototype was titled Dick Squirlé: Private Investigator and had us explore story in games using Panda 3D. Our professor (Ron Weaver) challenged us to explain story completely through game elements without giving him any information before our presentation. A private investigator theme lent itself well to this. The game focused on stealth.

You play as a squirrel named Dick Squirlé, infiltrating Big Ratsy’s hideout to get the Diamond Nut back from him and his henchmen. (who are also also rats) There was an inventory mechanic planned that included cheese and nuts to lure away and stun the rats respectively, but we didn’t get it in time for our 2 week deadline. Such is the industry.

For this project I did dialogue & story development, QA, and researched reference material that fit our setting/theme. Researching music to use was pretty fun. Lots of big band stuff. I also was in charge of the rat placement in the final room.

Before you play, you’ll need:

• Panda3D v1.5.2 – It’s very easy to install

To run the game after you’ve installed Panda3D, simply unzip the zip file and double-click the “Run Dick Squirle Private Investigator” file within.

Download Dick Squirlé: Private Investigator

Team members: (Team 2) Me, Darrell Christmas, Carlos Garcia, Travis Hawk, Brent Hunter, Neal Sukkert