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Logo of the game Paws of Destruction
ne of the absolute best parts of working at PlayerXP and Hertzian is getting to look over the horizon and see who is building the future of video games. Ours is an industry fuelled entirely by fresh ideas, late-night coding sessions, and pure passion. A few months ago, we got to experience that energy firsthand when we hosted a crew of incredibly talented students from Falmouth University’s Games Academy at our offices for a day of mentorship, design teardowns, and real-talk industry discussions. Among the brilliant minds in that cohort were Ellie Smith and Sam Lloyd, a duo who brought along a prototype that instantly stole the room's attention: a mobile title called Paws of Destruction.
If you’ve ever owned a dog, you already know the core gameplay loop of Paws of Destruction by heart. The concept is beautifully chaotic. You are tasked with saving a house from a lovable, high-velocity pup who has gone full "zoomies." As your hyperactive four-legged roommate tears through the living room, you have to frantically drag, drop, and reposition furniture out of harm's way before absolute wreckage ensues. It’s fast, it’s intuitive, and it captures that exact, panic-inducing hilarity of real pet ownership.
"It was awesome meeting Ellie and Sam during our Dragon's Den event," says Benny, Solutions Manager here at PlayerXP. "They brought in a playable prototype of Paws of Destruction, and their absolute drive to get this into players' hands was obvious. On both the creative and technical sides, they’ve thought through the player experience in a way that really impressed us for a first project."
What blew us away wasn't just the clever mechanics of the game, but Ellie and Sam's attitude. They didn't just come to show off; they came to learn, take constructive feedback on the chin, and iterate. The games industry only works when it pays it forward. Whether it’s sharing hard-earned telemetry data, giving a brutal but necessary UI/UX critique, or just opening up a contact list to make a crucial industry connection, the time established studios invest in students changes the trajectory of their careers.
Today’s student devs are tomorrow’s community managers, technical artists, game directors, and studio founders. We want to make sure they have a clear runway to take off.
👉 Play it right now: Head over to Itch.io to download the build, test your reflexes, and see if you can outmatch the zoomies: Paws of Destruction on Itch.io
Ellie and Sam have officially put the game out there, and now it’s our turn as a gaming community to rally behind them.
💬 Over to you, Devs & Gamers: If you’re an industry veteran, a fellow indie dev, or a hardcore player, what is the single best piece of advice you wish you knew when you were launching your very first project? Drop your wisdom, feedback, or words of encouragement to the students; their contact details are on their website.
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