Dev Info #6 – Trailer, Hardcore & saving your progress

This dev log is a bit later than planned – I’ve been sick for a while and more stuck in bed than inside Unreal. But I finally have some important progress on the core systems of the game.

🎬 A first little trailer is live

In case you missed it: I put together a small “work-in-progress” trailer and published it on Steam.

It’s not a final cinematic, but it should give you a first feeling for the island, the mood, and our raccoon + drone duo.

Any feedback is welcome – this trailer will definitely be refined later.

💾 Savegames & Hardcore foundation

This week was less about pretty screenshots and more about systems:

• Savegame system prepared – There are now real save slots instead of temporary testing.

• Hardcore logic wired in – The game can now tell when you’re truly dead. – Later this will turn your run into a gravestone save and a dedicated gravestone map.

Right now, the in-game text (work in progress) says:

In Hardcore, your save is fragile: If you die, that slot turns into a gravestone map. No reloads, no respawns, no switching back to Softcore.

This is how Paws & Circuits is meant to be played. No dopamine spam – just you, your drone and a broken world.

All Steam achievements are earned only in Hardcore, so every decision and every step actually matters.

For the upcoming demo it will still stay “soft” – you’ll be able to keep playing and testing without losing everything. But the long-term goal is clear: if you choose Hardcore, you play with real consequences.

🔜 What’s next

Short-term I’m working on:

• a small, polished starting island as a demo slice

• first tests of the Hardcore flow (death, info message, back to main menu)

• a bit more life around the beach and the early game

As always: Every Steam wishlist helps a lot and keeps Paws & Circuits moving forward. Thanks for sticking around, even when the “weekly” dev infos don’t always land exactly weekly. 💚

– Michael (solo dev of Paws & Circuits)