Squirrels Draw Your Level

You draw the platforms, then you sprint for the acorn

Squirrels Draw Your Level is a two-player race game where the “level design” part is literally the match. You and another player sketch the platforms, ramps, and walls, then both squirrels spawn in and try to reach the acorn first.

It’s not a careful puzzle game. It’s fast, messy, and mostly about who can turn a scribble into a usable route under pressure.

The hook is simple: if the level is bad, that’s on you. If it’s unfair, you probably drew it that way. And if someone wins in three seconds, it usually means the other player helped by accident.

Cosmetically, there are 5 squirrel skins, and each player gets their own color version. That ends up being 10 distinct looks total, so you can tell who’s who even when both characters are piled up on the same tiny ledge.

Controls and the basic loop

Movement is split cleanly between the two players. Blue uses the arrow keys: left/right to run, up to jump. Red uses WAD: A/D to run, W to jump.

The round flow is basically: draw, then run. Once the level is in place, both squirrels go for the acorn and the first one to touch it wins the race. There’s no combat system and no items to manage. It’s platforming and whatever chaos your drawing causes.

Because you’re both staring at the same play space, you’ll feel the “local multiplayer” vibe immediately: one person tries to make a clean staircase, the other person tries to turn the middle of the map into a jagged fence. That’s the whole point.

• Blue player: Arrow keys (Up to jump)
• Red player: W/A/D (W to jump)

How rounds evolve (and why the difficulty jumps)

The game doesn’t hand you curated stages with a neat difficulty curve. The difficulty is self-inflicted. Early rounds tend to be easy because people draw obvious stuff: a flat path, a big ramp, one or two platforms.

Then it gets harder for a dumb reason: players start getting clever. Someone draws a “shortcut” that’s only reachable with a tight jump. Someone else adds a wall that blocks the direct line. The level becomes a half-functional obstacle course, and suddenly the race is decided by who can recover from slips faster.

Expect most rounds to end quickly once you both understand what kinds of shapes actually work. A lot of matches are basically 10–20 seconds of running once the drawing is done. The long rounds happen when the acorn is placed behind a bad jump or when the drawn surfaces create awkward little snag points that kill momentum.

You’ll also notice a progression in attitude: at first it’s “let’s draw a fun track,” and a few rounds later it’s “I’m drawing a vertical wall two pixels from your spawn.” The game doesn’t stop you, so the difficulty often spikes just because people stop being nice.

What catches people off guard

The biggest surprise is how easy it is to draw something that looks playable but isn’t. A ramp that’s too steep might as well be a wall. A platform that’s “close enough” might be one squirrel-length too far, which means you’ll bonk the edge and fall like an idiot.

The second surprise: messy lines can create tiny lips and hooks. You won’t notice them while drawing, but during the race they grab your character and ruin a jump. That’s why the cleanest-looking level often wins, even if it’s longer. A smooth route beats a “genius” shortcut that fails half the time.

Also, blocking works both ways. If you scribble a barrier to trap the other player, you’re still going to have to cross the same area. A lot of people lose by building their own prison and then realizing too late they didn’t leave themselves a reliable exit.

One more thing: because each player’s squirrel is a different color version of the skin, it’s easy to track who’s ahead. That sounds minor, but in a tight race it matters—you react faster when you can instantly see the opponent’s position instead of squinting at two similar sprites.

A blunt tip: draw boring, win more

If you actually want to win instead of just making a mess, stop drawing “cool” levels. Draw a boring one with a single obvious route and no precision jumps. The other player will usually sabotage it anyway, but you’ll still have the cleanest baseline path.

Specifically: build wide platforms and gentle ramps. Leave more vertical clearance than you think you need. A jump that requires perfect timing is a coin flip, and coin flips are how you lose races you should win.

Good habits that pay off fast:

• Make the first jump easy. If you miss right out of spawn, the round is basically over.
• Keep the acorn reachable without a “pixel-perfect” landing.
• Avoid jagged edges and tiny steps; they kill speed more than long distance does.
• If you’re going to block, add your own bypass at the same time.

Who this is for

This is for people who want a quick two-player rivalry and don’t need the game to be fair. If you like the idea that the level can be ruined on purpose, you’ll have a good time. If you want carefully designed platforming with consistent rules, this will annoy you.

It also works best with someone sitting right there, because half the fun is watching the other person realize the “helpful bridge” you drew is actually a trap. If you’re okay with that kind of petty back-and-forth, Squirrels Draw Your Level does the job.