Everyone who has played ARC Raiders knows that Scrappy the Rooster exists. He’s a quirky little bird that struts around your Raider Den, collecting all kinds of resources while you’re off topside fighting the ARC – and other Raiders. But nobody really knows how he got there and what his purpose in life is, besides gathering scrap items.
Embark Studios has just set the story straight on where Scrappy came from and why he exists in ARC Raiders.
Scrappy Has an Origin Story
In a post on the ARC Raiders website, Johan, a 3D artist working on the game, revealed the origin story behind Scrappy, everyone’s favorite and lovable rooster character:
I was living with my parents at the time – they happened to keep chickens. Mid-zoom meeting, the birds somehow snuck into the house and strutted around behind me, instantly stealing the show and derailing the meeting entirely. Among those birds was Hȧkan, the rooster that would go on to become Scrappy.
Hȧkan was unlike the other roosters. Friendly, cuddly, and blind in one eye, he had a habit of stepping in his food and tripping over himself. I adored him.
One day, I decided to photoscan Håkan and sneak him into the game as a silly little easter egg. In early builds, you could sometimes spot a rough version of Hȧkan sprinting around the cantina.
But then, Hȧkan got his chance to shine. The team needed an in-game asset that would be used as a “resource producer,” something that would provide you with materials after each raid.
We cycled through many ideas: robots, cats… robot-cats! But the art team didn’t have time to build them and the meeting stalled, until someone raised their hand and said, in a moment of brilliance, “don’t we have a rooster?”
That spark of inspiration turned into a phenomenon. Scrappy went from hidden easter egg, to “temporary mesh we’ll definitely replace later”, to a beloved and irreplaceable part of the ARC Raiders universe. So next time you see Scrappy, tell him I say hello!
It’s a quaint story, but it perfectly explains why Scrappy exists in a world so devoid of animal life. Most of the humour has been sucked clean out of the world on account of it being a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but knowing that Scrappy is waiting for you when you return to Speranza is always a nice touch.
Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server how much you love Scrappy in ARC Raiders.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that ARC Raiders is not an extraction shooter
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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