When the So Many Games team were approached about interviewing the developers of “something completely wacky”, we were already sold, but little did we know that we would be talking to Scope Creeps, the creative minds behind the outlandish gun-toting, gun-smooching, conspiracy-em-up Polyarmory.
Set in the same universe as OnlyCans, the game features a combination of first-person shooting, intense, hardcore dating, and the wittiest dialogue this side of Police Squad! Combine this with some smashing subtext, and we were rapt.
How did the idea for OnlyCans originally come about?
Alex: OnlyCans came about during the [Covid-19] pandemic; it was a weird time for everyone – we’d been playing a lot of Phasmophobia, and in that game there was a drink machine with the name “Shize” written on it. Several in-jokes later and a prototype of a photo-taking minigame later, and we ended up with a very silly game about rampant capitalism, dead kids, and parasocial relationships.
What was your reaction when The Stupendium released Vending Machine of Love?
Alex: I approached Stupes about the game very early in its development when we’d gotten the first few cans made – Stupes adored the concept, and I’d asked if they’d be down to make a theme song… Roughly a day later they sent me the first version of Vending Machine of Love, and our first thoughts were, “Oh god, this is far too good; we now need to make the game polished enough to do this justice.”
What led to the shift from can-based erotica to smooching firearms?
Alex: This game came about with a different group of friends, actually. We were talking about maybe making a game for the Seven Day First Person Shooter game jam – the phrase “Gun Dating Sim” was uttered, and then the puns started to flow, and before we knew it, the game started to snowball. It went from a seven-day project to a seven-month joke.
Can you explain the cactus? I need answers, and it haunts me at night in my dreams.
Alex: Xander The Cactus, alongside the infamous “pooping minigame”, was a moment we built into the game to be a silly, memorable bit that put the player in a situation guaranteed to cause mental whiplash. We wanted to take the player to some silly places, and… well… the desert does mighty strange things to a man, and that shapely cactus had us all acting unwise.
What was the biggest inspiration for the themes of Polyarmory?
Artt: Polyarmory is ultimately a game about seeking community with others. When humans feel isolated, they seek out this connection wherever they can find it – in religion, political affiliation, conspiracy theory groups, pickleball meetups, or a group of guns that all want to date you. The main narrative thread Polyarmory revolves around the question “Is any of this real?” But if you risk losing your community by simply questioning the narrative, does the answer even matter?
If you could smooch any gun, which gun would it be and why?
Alex: I’d love to smooch a minigun – that rotating barrel is enticing.
Art: 22 rifle, it’s got a looong barrel that goes all the way.
Jen: The flak cannon from Unreal Tournament 99. Gives me daddy vibes.
Rashika: The only gun I want to kiss is a Gundam, because gunDAMN!
Jameson: FAMAS. It just has a look to me.
Spooky: Derringer, give it a cute little smooch on the head like a puppy.
What is your favourite conspiracy theory?
Alex: The Bigger Luke Theory
Art: JD Vance killed the pope
Starling: Delaware isn’t a real state
Robyn: Other billionaires bankrolled Elon’s purchase of Twitter with the understanding he would intentionally tank it so it couldn’t be used to coordinate further rebellion/protests
(Editors Note: Our legal team insists we add that the above theories relating to real people are for satirical purposes, because litigation terrifies us and we don’t have the budget to duke it out with billionaires.)
Will fans of OnlyCans (OnlyCansFans for short) find any hidden nods to it in Polyarmory? [This section contains brief OnlyCans spoilers.]
Alex: There are a couple of references here and there! We wanted to make something that stood on its own whilst having the odd nod to the other game – I can tell you now that there’s definitely some deep lore hidden in there for game theorists! Funnily enough, it was only recently that some players of OnlyCans discovered a secret hidden in plain sight the whole time – that John Shize’s mother, Johanna Shize, was the founder of the company, not him! (Something Nessa, who was the Narrative Lead on that project really wanted to do was highlight the hidden women behind some big discoveries – so when you see a can that says “J. Shize & Sons” and instantly think that’s a man, you’ve fallen right into our trap!)
What inanimate objects could we expect to be smooching in the future?
Alex: There are so many different potential silly dating sims out there – I’ve got a notepad with a bunch of pun-based titles that gets longer on an almost weekly basis! These things tend to be little projects to blow off creative steam between bigger game titles (I say this even though this game took seven months) – watch this space, I suppose!
Why did you decide to release the game for free?
Alex: As it’s a jam game, we had so many people contribute little bits to it, and not only would it have been a logistical nightmare to share any kind of money we’d make from it, but it just didn’t feel right to charge for what is, deep down, one colossal joke of a game.
Art: Capitalism is the root of all evil and will destroy friendships and creative endeavours.
Robyn: It’s a product of (gun) love
The Scope Creeps team were also kind enough to share their own personal visions for the game, which offers a delightful insight into how different minds can come together to create something unique:
Artemis: [Polyarmory] is a game about looking backwards to look forward. Much of the story (and Colt Michigan radio segments) were inspired by my personal experiences growing up in the southern US, where conservative personalities and talking points were blasted 24/7 across every channel. My childhood was filled with angry men yelling about government overreach and perpetual, imagined threats to their lives, households, and freedoms. If you were to take these personalities at face value, the only reasonable response for a gun-loving American would be to go hide out in a bunker and wait for the world to end. So we made a game about someone who loves his guns so much, he decided to do just that.
Alex: We wanted to tell a story about how often, after distinct loss and grief, a lot of men will go down the wrong path or a path that further isolates them. The game is also a commentary on the lack of support systems, the seductive nature of toxic masculinity and how easy it is to externalise blame when the guidance just isn’t there.
Artemis: […] and how there are opportunistic grifters that profit on this isolation and misery to peddle conspiracies, lies, and hatred to these men, enriching themselves, and blaming nebulous groups of ‘others’.
Robyn: In the absence of religion, we have made our own idols.
Anna: I think it’s unfortunately easy to laugh at people who fall down various radicalisation pipelines. One really unexpected facet of the narrative of the game was that we actually took a look at the isolation and inner emotional turmoil that often drives people toward conspiratorial thinking. Unfortunately, the United States has multiple overlapping mental health crises, and it would be both foolish and ignorant of anyone who wants to provide commentary on the current political climate fuelled by conspiracy to ignore it. So while, yes, we can laugh at the cloud people or whatever, sensitively approaching the psychology of the player character provided a much-needed human element to our game otherwise about romancing firearms.
Starling: A lot of the story is also about repression. The compulsory cis-heteronormativity that is deeply rooted in American society is the driving force of this repression and makes people like the main character of Polyarmory just be… very weird. This repression causes people, particularly conservatives, to go through some wild mental gymnastics to be able to experiment with and enjoy the full range of people they may be attracted to. In making all the Hot Lead magazines, I tried to capture a fairly wide range of gender presentations and body styles. I also wanted to combine that with the kind of ’50s-ish throwback style of the magazine covers to try and represent the intersection of desire, repression, and the misguided ’50s nostalgia that is so prevalent in conservatism today.
Polyarmory is available to download for free via itch.io, where you can also find a full list of credits for the incredible team behind the game. Polyarmory is also coming to Steam in the very near future.
