A Scrappy origin story

Hey Raiders!

Johan here, a 3D artist on ARC Raiders!

Today I want to spotlight an essential, but often overlooked character in the game. Some may even call him the soul of Speranza. 

Of course, I’m talking about our loot-collector-in-chief! His name is Scrappy, he’s a rooster, and we go waaaaay back. 

It all began when a flock of chickens crashed my Zoom meeting. 

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!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go and find 12 mushrooms.