Hello Scholars,

We're excited to finally release Academia : School Simulator Version 1

Check out the Steam update here!

We have an amazing 30% off sale happening right now, so this is the best time to buy the game! Thanks for all the support for the past 4 years everyone, we couldn't have done it without you!

Hey everyone, Squeaky Wheel is celebrating its 5th Anniversary with a weeklong sale of our games! On top of that, were celebrating by giving away games with some of our friends! Follow our Steam publisher page to be alerted about the giveaways!

What games are going to be given away?
Awesome indie games including Project Highrise, Democracy 4, and more! Follow our publisher page to get the daily updates!

Dates and Schedules
Game giveaways will be from October 19-26 at 4PM and 8PM (GMT+8), with a special giveaway on October 25 and 26 at 9AM! We will be making the announcements on this page, so follow our publisher page to get updates and prepare for the giveaways!

Mechanics
Follow our steam publisher page to get daily updates on what games will be given away. Then follow the squeaky wheel Twitter page for the giveaway Tweet and RT it for a chance to win a copy of the games!

The long way is over! Ruinarch is now out and available on Early Access! Find out more how you can rain down destruction on people here:

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/909320/view/2756720156534028046

Thanks for all the support everyone, and we hope you enjoy the game!

Hey Everyone,

We know we've been away for a long while, but we're back to address the pragmatic achievement issue in the game. I want to apologize for taking so long to get to it, but please understand that we are a small team with limited resources and we have to focus on the tasks that can keep us afloat as a company.

We were also recently invited to join a local cultural event in the Philippines, and we decided this would be a good time to fix the issue as well as add Filipino localization. As some of you may know we are from the Philippines, and while most gamers here speak enough English that the localization actually not a good investment, we're proud to add it. I was excited to add it to the list of languages on Steam before realizing there is no checkbox for adding Filipino. :D

Apologies once again to everyone who has waited on this fix for a while. If you see any future bugs, please email marnel@squeakywheel.ph so we can log them down. I can't promise when the next update will be, but we will try to find time to fix them one at a time.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/909320/Ruinarch/

Let's face it, 2020 has been a pretty terrible year, so we're excited to give you a chance to let off some steam with the Ruinarch demo! You have 5 in-game days to try to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting village. Can you do it without rousing the divine wrath of angels? See if you can find the evil easter egg we've hidden in the game!

If you like the demo, do us a favor and wishlist the game and tell a friend about it! Then leave us some comments in the discussion boards or head on over to our discord server to tell us what you think!

Hello Overlords,

While we initially promised a release date of May 2020, were sad to announce that we will be pushing back release by a few months, to August 2020. Even though were pretty evil, it felt a little bit tone deaf to be releasing a game about ruining peoples lives while the world seemingly falls apart on us because of the covid-19 pandemic.

You wont have to wait too long though, because were only moving the launch to August, by which point hopefully the world will be on the road to recovery (so we can wreck virtual worlds guilt-free). Well take that extra time to add more polish and content to the game so that youll get a much better game upon release.

In the meantime to whet your appetite, check out this new and improved trailer we made! We hope it gets you as pumped up for Early Access release as we are!

[previewyoutube=7I_ByK6h1Ak;full][/previewyoutube]

Thats all from us for now, stay safe, stay indoors, and wash your hands!

Hi all, just wanted to share with you that Squeaky Wheel's first published game, Ruinarch, will be coming to Early Access in May 2020!

Ruinarch is a devilishly fun simulation/sandbox game where you are an evil demon overlord creating havoc and invading fantasy worlds. A rich and fertile land lies before you, ripe for the picking. Take over regions one by one, spreading your influence inexorably towards the heart of the kingdom. Turn heroic defenders into pitiful wretches by unleashing an array of demonic spells upon them, creating a hellish chronicle for the ages.

If that sounds like fun to you, please do wishlist the game now!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/909320/Ruinarch/

[h3]Can You Win the Elections and Keep Your Paws Clean?[/h3]
No matter who your candidate is, its important to practice Democracy and the fine art of campaigning. Now that Political Animals is 90% off, it's the perfect time to practice! Campaign, rally, or straight up bribe your way to victory in this elections simulation game!

[h3]Need Even More Democracy in Your Life?[/h3]


And if you're looking to practice for when you finally win the elections, why not check out this bundle which includes Democracy 3, Democracy 3 : Africa, AND Political Animals. The bundle is a whopping 63% off and great deal for anyone who loves political games.

[previewyoutube=fmb1jImbWAQ;full][/previewyoutube]

Hello candidates,

We're back with an exciting announcement. Squeaky Wheel is publishing its first game, called Ruinarch!

Ruinarch is a wickedly fun evil overlord simulator where you cause havoc on peoples lives before taking their lands. Inspired by story generators like Rimworld and Dwarf Fortress, create an infernal narrative for your victims as you poison food, raise the dead, and inflict endless misery upon them.

If the trailer and description sound up your alley, please wishlist and follow the game now!

We're super excited to be taking this journey with a fellow Filipino studio, and we hope that you will join us! That's all for now, more Academia updates coming soon!

Four years ago on this month, Tristan, Marnel and I became officially registered as Squeaky Wheel Studio Inc.Well be taking a break today and having dinner with some of our gamedev friends to celebrate, but in the meantime let me take a walk down memory lane.

September 2015

I am at EGX 2015 for the launch of Prison Architect. The IVSoftware team have kindly flown me and my wife over to celebrate the launch, so I use this as a way to pitch our game Political Animals to publishers. I meet Cliffski for the first time and pitch the game to him.

Within a couple of days he offers me a publishing deal. Anyone who has done a publishing deal before will know that this is an extraordinarily short amount of time to get a deal done. It helps that we got along and Cliffski is a one-man show studio that answers to no one, but still.

October 2015

After landing back in Manila I immediately set about establishing a company, which is not a trivial process in the Philippines. I end up paying more than I probably needed to in order to have another company help me set up my company, such is life here. We are officially registered with the SEC by October 28, 2015

Funny aside, I had thought that we had incorporated on October the 15, which is why we are celebrating our anniversary today. :P

November 2016

After almost a year of working nonstop on Political Animals and taking it to conventions like BICfest, TGS, and PAX, we release the game. Even with all the advantages that we had, it is a flop.

September 2017

A mere 10 months later, we launch Academia : School Simulator in Early Access. It succeeds well enough to save the company and we continue development of the game.

October 2019

It has been a little over 2 years since Early Access launch, and 3 years since initial development of Academia. We have hit many highs and lows, but the game continues to make enough income to support our team.



This brings me to an announcement from the future. At some point before October 2020, we want to launch version 1 of Academia : School Simulator. The game has made major strides since it first came out. While there is still more work to be done, we can finally see the finish line.

Games like Academia : School Simulator are tricky things. While there is the potential to build on it infinitely, we believe were coming close to a point that we are personally satisfied with it. Version 1 doesnt necessarily mean the end of development, but it does mean a change of focus for the team. Its been a long road, and were excited to slowly inch our way to something new, whatever that may be.

Spoiler Alert, we have some exciting news coming up soon, so stay tuned!

Thanks to Everyone

We want to thank everyone that has supported us throughout this journey. Thanks to everyone who has played the game (if you enjoyed your experience please write us a review because it really matters!). Thanks to our partners, our parents and families for supporting us. Thanks to our fellow devs, streamers, and publishers for supporting us, spreading the word, and putting your faith in us.

We hope that youll stick around for the years to come!

As some of you might know we started working on a new game a few months after Political Animals launched.

After 9 months of hard work, were very pleased to finally be able share Academia : School Simulator with you all! Ill keep this short and sweet as we are exhausted and already mentally preparing for your support emails!

For our Early Access launch of Academia we have 4 different tiers of the game that you can purchase, with corresponding benefits. Ill go over them very quickly here.

$20 Base Game



This gets you a copy of Academia School Simulator. Thanks for supporting us!

$25 Political Animals Bundle



If you have already bought Political Animals, you get 20% off on Academia even after the Launch sale!

$35 Name in Game



You get all the above plus your name in the game! You can only get this using the humble widget. (Steam keys provided)

$200 Custom Teacher Sprite



You get all the above plus a customized teacher sprite made in your image! You can only get this using the humble widget. (Steam keys provided)

Launch Sale!

All tiers have a launch week sale of 20% off, except for the custom teacher sprite, which is only 10% off.

Thanks so much guys, hope you enjoy the game, and well be in touch soon! For fans of Political Animals (we know you're out there!) this means that we won't be working on the game anytime soon. But if Academia is a successful game, that means we can hire some people to help out with development of Political Animals, so please help us spread the word!

As some of you might know we started working on a new game a few months after Political Animals launched.

After 9 months of hard work, we’re very pleased to finally be able share Academia : School Simulator with you all! I’ll keep this short and sweet as we are exhausted and already mentally preparing for your support emails!

For our Early Access launch of Academia we have 4 different tiers of the game that you can purchase, with corresponding benefits. I’ll go over them very quickly here.

$20 Base Game



This gets you a copy of Academia School Simulator. Thanks for supporting us!

$25 Political Animals Bundle



If you have already bought Political Animals, you get 20% off on Academia even after the Launch sale!

$35 Name in Game



You get all the above plus your name in the game! You can only get this using the humble widget. (Steam keys provided)

$200 Custom Teacher Sprite



You get all the above plus a customized teacher sprite made in your image! You can only get this using the humble widget. (Steam keys provided)

Launch Sale!

All tiers have a launch week sale of 20% off, except for the custom teacher sprite, which is only 10% off.

Thanks so much guys, hope you enjoy the game, and we’ll be in touch soon! For fans of Political Animals (we know you're out there!) this means that we won't be working on the game anytime soon. But if Academia is a successful game, that means we can hire some people to help out with development of Political Animals, so please help us spread the word!

Hi everyone! We have always wanted to make our game as accessible to as many gamers around the world as possible, so we are delighted to announce the addition of Japanese localization for Political Animals!

Special thanks to our localizer:
Toyochさん ( http://steamcommunity.com/id/toyochzor/ )

Hi everyone! We have always wanted to make our game as accessible to as many gamers around the world as possible, so we are delighted to announce the addition of Japanese localization for Political Animals!

Special thanks to our localizer:
Toyoch ( http://steamcommunity.com/id/toyochzor/ )

The French Presidential election is heating up, and nobody knows who will win! But whether you support the left, the right, or center, surely we can agree that the right to vote is something worth celebrating. So we’re happy to announce that Political Animals will be on sale at 50% off for one week, starting April 16 to April 23!

Vive la France! Vive la démocratie!

Hi everyone! We have always wanted to make our game as accessible to as many gamers around the world as possible, so we are delighted to announce the addition of Polish localization for Political Animals!

Special thanks to our volunteer localizers:
Michal Tosza - FreeIndieL10N.com
Tomasz Kontny - kontny.org.pl

Hi everyone! We have always wanted to make our game as accessible to as many gamers around the world as possible, so we are delighted to announce the addition of Polish localization for Political Animals!

Special thanks to our volunteer localizers:
Michal Tosza - FreeIndieL10N.com
Tomasz Kontny - kontny.org.pl

Hello citizens!

We’ve listened to your demands and we finally made it happen! Political Animals now has local multiplayer and more! Thank you to everyone who gave their feedback and suggestions, we couldn’t have done this without you.

Local Multiplayer

Why argue over your political differences if you can fight it out in a no-holds barred political campaign? Two player mode is where your true political colors come out, with you and a friend trash-talking each other all the way to the polling stations. Do you think you can make it through the election campaign with your morals intact? There’s only one way to find out!

New Map: Pink Island



The French presidential elections are coming soon, and what better way to celebrate than to add a new map for our players in France! This land of love is no stranger to salacious scandals, so let the citizens eat cake while you lead your opponent to the political guillotine.

Interesting New Traits!



Do you fancy running as a Donkey Demagogue or a Lazy Lion? We’ve added some new traits so you can make even more unique and customized candidates! The traits include : Inquisitive, Community Leader, Demagogue, Lazy, Salesman, and Irresponsible!

Once again, thanks for playing everyone! Stay tuned for more and always feel free to reach out to us for anything you want to know or share.

Hello citizens!

Weve listened to your demands and we finally made it happen! Political Animals now has local multiplayer and more! Thank you to everyone who gave their feedback and suggestions, we couldnt have done this without you.

Local Multiplayer

Why argue over your political differences if you can fight it out in a no-holds barred political campaign? Two player mode is where your true political colors come out, with you and a friend trash-talking each other all the way to the polling stations. Do you think you can make it through the election campaign with your morals intact? Theres only one way to find out!

New Map: Pink Island



The French presidential elections are coming soon, and what better way to celebrate than to add a new map for our players in France! This land of love is no stranger to salacious scandals, so let the citizens eat cake while you lead your opponent to the political guillotine.

Interesting New Traits!



Do you fancy running as a Donkey Demagogue or a Lazy Lion? Weve added some new traits so you can make even more unique and customized candidates! The traits include : Inquisitive, Community Leader, Demagogue, Lazy, Salesman, and Irresponsible!

Once again, thanks for playing everyone! Stay tuned for more and always feel free to reach out to us for anything you want to know or share.

Happy Year of the Fire Rooster! We're doing our biggest sale yet at 40% off all weekend, so it's the best time for you to try out the game!

Happy Year of the Fire Rooster! We're doing our biggest sale yet at 40% off all weekend, so it's the best time for you to try out the game!

Hey everyone, we're excited to announce some awesome updates to Political Animals!

Linux Version

We're happy to finally be able to release the game on Linux! Thanks so much to the folks on r/linux_gaming/ for their help in testing the game on multiple distros. We hope you enjoy the game.

There are a few known issues with Linux which we have shared in our community page. Please let us know if you find any issues and we'll do our best to sort them out.

Quick Play

We always imagined Political Animals to be the bite-sized strategy game that you play in between grueling rounds of Crusader Kings 2 or Civilization VI. That's been further reinforced with Quick Play. Now regular players of Political Animals who just want a quick fix can simply click on the Quick Play button on the main screen and take on a random campaign.

In the settings menu you can set the parameters for your quick play sessions, setting the difficulty, campaign length, and starting campaign funds.

New Candidates!

We've added the Penguin, Otter, Ferret, and Reindeer (for a little holiday cheer) to our roster of candidates! If your favorite animal isn't yet available, feel free to request for one and we'll get on it!

Thanks for playing everyone! We'll have more updates soon so stay tuned!

Hey everyone, we're excited to announce some awesome updates to Political Animals!

Linux Version

We're happy to finally be able to release the game on Linux! Thanks so much to the folks on r/linux_gaming/ for their help in testing the game on multiple distros. We hope you enjoy the game.

There are a few known issues with Linux which we have shared in our community page. Please let us know if you find any issues and we'll do our best to sort them out.

Quick Play

We always imagined Political Animals to be the bite-sized strategy game that you play in between grueling rounds of Crusader Kings 2 or Civilization VI. That's been further reinforced with Quick Play. Now regular players of Political Animals who just want a quick fix can simply click on the Quick Play button on the main screen and take on a random campaign.

In the settings menu you can set the parameters for your quick play sessions, setting the difficulty, campaign length, and starting campaign funds.

New Candidates!

We've added the Penguin, Otter, Ferret, and Reindeer (for a little holiday cheer) to our roster of candidates! If your favorite animal isn't yet available, feel free to request for one and we'll get on it!

Thanks for playing everyone! We'll have more updates soon so stay tuned!

*WARNING - One of our players has noted that their saves have been lost following the update. If you have previously downloaded the game please wait until we resolve this issue before updating. Sorry about that.

Hi everyone! We have always wanted to make our game as accessible to as many gamers around the world as possible, so we are delighted to announce the addition of Simplified Chinese localization for Political Animals!

Special thanks to our volunteer localizers:
简体中文本地化由游戏古登堡计划提供，Indienova 强力驱动。
鸣谢下列参与人员（排名不分先后）：
Sissel　　程是颐　　craft　　Allucinaria　　carter
潦倒困　　yiren　　daqicheng　　希哲　　Cure蟹老板
弓水文　　谜之声　　doodle　　胡萝卜

Hi all, just announcing a quick update to address some issues. This release includes:

- Bug fixes
- Fixed crash on finish of North Island
- Fixed localization related bugs
- Pause after election such that players can take screenshots
- Settings are now saved (your language and sound/volume setting will be saved until you change them)

As usual we would greatly appreciate any feedback/bug report on our Steam community page.

Thanks to everyone who bought the game and left reviews! We received reports of the game hanging in some situations and we've scrambled to put out a fix as soon as possible. If you've been having issues with the game hopefully this update will resolve that. Thanks again!

Political Animals is Now Available on Steam and is 10% off!*

Political Animals is an election simulation game set within a fictional world populated by corrupt crocodiles and meritocratic mice. In a political contest where corruption is always around the corner, we want players to find out how incorruptible they really are.



In a world where politicians are animals and corruption is everywhere, do you have the integrity of Mousey, or the ruthlessness of Croccy? Will you fight your campaign on issues and in the best interests of the people, or will you succumb to the easier path of bribery and intimidation? Will you win votes...or will you buy them?

*Offer ends November 9 at 10AM Pacific Time

On November 2, 10am Pacific Time, Political Animals will finally be available on Steam. It's been a long 2 and a half years since this game was first started, and we're happy (and relieved) that it's finally out. We hope that you enjoy the game and visit the community forum to tell us what you think, what you'd like, and how we can make it better.

Thanks, and happy campaigning!