Today sees the arrival of Denki's wholesome 3D hidden object shooting game, Sniper Dan, on Steam. If you're familiar with the Scottish studio's work, you'll know that Denki (founded by former employees of DMA Design in 2000) does a great line of whimsical video games supported by killer gameplay hooks, and Sniper Dan is no exception.

While the gameplay revolved around shooting things with your trusty sniper rifle, this isn't a violent game in the tradition of Grand Theft Auto, which Denki staffers worked on during their time at DMA Design. Instead, it offers family-friendly fun as players attempt to solve puzzles, discover secrets, capture photos, and unlock a wealth of upgrades.

Keen to learn more, we sat down with Genki's Gary Penn to chat about all things Sniper Dan. Enjoy!

Steam Hype: Where did the idea for Sniper Dan come from? Why combine hidden-object puzzles with a sniper game?

Gary Penn: The idea for Sniper Dan came out of nowhere from Aaron (Puzey, the other half of Denki).

He’d been mulling over loads of different ideas and ended up wondering what else you could do with guns instead of using them to kill. From that seed, a whole bunch of interesting, daft, fun thoughts grew, but it was thinking about using a sniper rifle and the telescopic sight that triggered the whole hidden object angle. It’s an unexpected, stupid mix that makes us smile and feel good.

The first time I knew about the concept was when Aaron shared a simple prototype with me, and I was all like, “We gotta do more with this!” So we did. It took longer than expected to figure out a format we liked and to get a good game flow going, but we got there in the end, in no small part thanks to ongoing player feedback.

For example, we used to penalise players for shooting anything in the world other than designated targets, but that proved too punitive and also made players less likely to experiment, which is the opposite of what we wanted. It’s fun to explore the world and to shoot everything in it to see what happens and end up pleasantly surprised by the reactions.

Fairly early on, we realised that we wanted to focus less on precision targeting skills and more on using clues to find silly everyday problems to solve with shots. That said, there are some fun variations on carnival shooting galleries thrown into the mix to shake things up a bit - not to mention using your sniper rifle to play games like Ten-Pin Bowling, Tennis and Air Hockey.

What inspired the game’s humour and visual style?

The game’s humour is very us: very silly; not nasty. Most of the time the ideas came from everyday life, just looking around and wondering how a gun might be used to do something. We tried to focus on stupid actions, stupid interactions and stupid reactions. There’s also a lifetime of loving the likes of Looney Tunes, Panique au village, Richard Scarry’s Busytown... Heh. We almost went with bipedal animals instead of humans at one point.

The overall style is very Denki. We don’t do serious. We also felt the cute vibe worked well with the oddity of using a lethal weapon to be benevolent instead of violent.

Is there a behind-the-scenes story you haven’t shared before?

In the early versions of the game, you could shoot the birds to explode them in crude cartoon fashion. We also used to have jobs that involved killing zombies, but we quickly dropped that because it felt misplaced, especially as the job list grew longer and sillier and a cohesive cosy world took shape.

What’s your favourite moment or detail in the game?

It’s hard to pinpoint a fave moment or detail. There are hundreds of silly little stories dotted around, which give the world so much life and character. I still smile coming across some of the ones I’d forgotten about. I do like the tension I feel when shooting the hats off people. Aaron finds the Jiangshi fun to find and wake up.

Looking back at your work on the original GTA, is there anything from that experience that still influences how you make games today?

The lingering influence from working on games like the original GTA... Hmm. Not really. Well, there’s a broader appreciation for the importance of actually finishing something and the power and value of editing.

We’re asked if we set out to parody gun culture or violent games. We didn’t, but the fact that people wonder that suggests we might’ve ended up there.

What do you hope players feel when they play Sniper Dan?

It is nice to just spend time chilling out in an active space without any pressure to perform. Hopefully, when people play Sniper Dan, they’ll experience surprise and delight peppered with laughter.

Sniper Dan launches on Steam today.