Our squidgies are planning a takeover of the universe. With a bit of help from you, of course!

The new Tasmanian-developed game for Nintendo Switch, Squidgies Takeover, was launched last week. The game is the latest from indie developers Giant Margarita who have had success with arcade games Party Golf and Party Crashers.

Giant Margarita describe it as a ‘puzzle game where you control the Squidgies, hapless little blobs of adorableness, that need your help to break free from their Mumma and make their new home on planets across the galaxy. Your job is to swing, fling, float, and teleport them all to victory…can you do it?

Arts Minister Elise Archer noted that Giant Margarita is a unique blend of commercial business and educational institution with students from the University of Tasmania joining their teachers in working professionally on the game’s design to fast-track their careers and receive credits on released titles.

ICT student Andrew Mendlik said that being involved with the production of a commercially-released video game as part of his degree was an invaluable learning experience. ‘I’ve been a Nintendo fan forever, and to work on a game released on a Nintendo console at UTAS was a dream come true!’

The development of Squidgies Takeover was supported by Screen Tasmania and the Enterprize innovation hub which enabled the small team to collaborate with Tasmanian artists, musicians, and entrepreneurs.

Early responses to the game have been positive. Vooks found it ‘an oddly addictive affair; we expected we’d spend 20 or so minutes hands-on with the game, but ended up playing for close to an hour’. Fanbyte wrote that ‘key things are communicated well: hazards are clearly marked, the exit is always in view, and, again, the character design seems to have been engineered to instill a powerful maternal protective instinct in the player.’

Zeepond wrote that it ‘provides gameplay that is deceptively simple to understand, but with a deep challenge for players who enjoy really pushing the boundaries of a game’s mechanics.’ Switchaboo gave the game a rating of 74%.