Square Go

Square Go

A Glasgow-set, GBA-style RPG about debt, hard men, and giving folk a square go.

You're a lad or a lassie from the scheme, and Honest Eck wants your name for his book. You owe him £800 for a telly, you've got three fish suppers, twenty quid and Wee Rab, and the bookie's your first stop.

Slap folk. Build your crew. Get tooled up.

Forget catching creatures. You're collecting the characters of Glasgow. Batter someone down, then give them the Bitch Slap: land it and they're too ashamed to say no to joining your crew. Then take them back out and see what they become.

Every fight leaves its mark. Take enough blade hits and your trackie top might become a stab vest. Keep landing them and your bare hands might give way to a wee knife, a big knife, or something considerably less subtle. Get battered, leg it, or take on the polis, and your fighters develop their own ways of dealing with life.

Accept the changes, or pay a fish supper to resist them. Your crew's history is written in their kit.

A whole scheme to get into trouble in

From the tenements and the bookies to the Barras, the riverside, a booze cruise doon the watter, and a full Sub Crawl, Glasgow and beyond are waiting to give you a doing. Crews hang about the canal and the Gallowgate in twos and threes, and once they clock you, they walk right up.

* Lad or lassie: name yourself, and the whole of Glasgow calls you son or hen accordingly.

* 32 characters to meet, fight and recruit.

* 105 moves across five damage types, from a straight skelp to a proper gobbing.

* A living crew: weapons, armour, street smarts and temper change according to what happens in battle.

* Hard men and square gos: take on rival crews, earn your reputation, and work your way towards the Gaffer.

* 35 interiors to explore, with folk to talk to and trouble to find.

* Side jobs and minigames: deliver papers on your bike, punt a few quid on the dugs, and earn enough to keep the bailiffs at bay.

* Original music and sound effects, with a different tune for the places you visit and the fights you pick.

The book never stays paid

Honest Eck wants his money. Pay him off and the debt moves up the food chain, bringing a bigger lender and a bigger problem. Jobs pay, strangers carry cash, and the NHS will patch you up for free, provided you don't mind losing six days while the interest piles up.

Eventually, money won't be enough. You'll need a reputation that reaches from the scheme to Edinburgh and the Highlands before the Gaffer agrees to see you.

Scottish patter. Cartoon violence. Absolutely no dignity.

Square Go is a broad, cartoonish comedy RPG inspired by the creature-collecting games of the Game Boy Advance era, with Glasgow characters, original pixel art, turn-based fights and a distinctly Scottish approach to financial management.

No blood, no graphic violence, and no pretending the polis are your pals.

The debt is £800. The interest is daily. The square go is inevitable.

Controls

Keyboard only. WASD works everywhere the arrow keys do; on a Mac, Enter is Return. In the browser, click the game first.

On the map

Arrows / WASD: walk (push into something to face it)

Shift: hold to walk faster

Enter: talk to the person in front of you, read a sign, pick something up, get on the bus

Escape: the team screen

M: the region map · B: the Bag · P: the Who’s who

Talking

Enter: puts the rest of the line up, then picks an answer

Left / Right: pick an answer

Escape: step back

In a fight

Arrows / WASD: move between Fight, Bitch Slap, Bag, Roster and Leg It

Enter or Space: choose

Escape: back out of the moves, the Bag or the roster

Enter: moves the text on, and turns the pages of the summary after

The team screen

Up / Down: pick a person · Left / Right: Kit, Moves, History

Enter: Move them, Put first, or bail them out of the jail

O: options (music, sound, text speed)

Escape: back to the map

The Bag

Left / Right: turn the pockets (Items, Fight, Key items)

Up / Down: pick · Enter: use it · Escape: back

Minigames

Paper round: Up / Down change lane, hold Left / Right for slower or faster, Enter or Space throws a paper

The dugs: Up / Down pick a dug, Left / Right the stake, Enter to bet

The keys also show along the bottom of the screen on your first few maps.

Current version: 0.4.5.0

Platforms: Windows PC and macOS. The macOS build is currently untested.

Controls: Keyboard only.

Content notes: Cartoon violence, weapons, fictional drug references, alcohol, gambling and police encounters.

Development: Built in Godot 4.7 with AI-assisted coding and artwork generation, under human direction. All music and sound effects are original.