TORONTO — While his American companions enjoy grand, over the top celebrations when they level up, Scott Howlett, the lone Canadian party member of the RPG Bound for Mother Earth, levels up in a much more subdued and subtle fashion.

“Each of the characters in the game are American except for Scott and we wanted to really showcase how this makes him different beyond the fact that healing him costs no mana points,” explained lead gameplay designer Keanu Atwood. “When a member of the party levels up it’s a big event. The character flashes gold, we play a grand jingle, the words level up appear in the center of the screen with fireworks. That makes sense for the American characters but not the Canadian. Scott, who always levels up just before the Americans, he flashes a little bit, the words level up appear above his head in medium font and he gets a move and that’s it. It’s a quick little celebration because it deserves that at least but it’s not really a big deal to anyone. Not even Scott.”

Gord O’Hara, the lead writer of party interaction said that the character’s differing level ups were an important part of the party dynamic.

“With each level up there is an opportunity to showcase characters and how they function together. All the American characters get really hyped when they level up, they high five, they smash their heads together and just have a crazy celebration in spite of all the death and destruction they’ve left in their wake. Scott congratulates them but doesn’t really join in. When Scott levels up he doesn’t really do anything. He gets the little level up flash, there’s a very slight smile of pride on his face but he just keeps going like it’s not a big deal. None of the other party members react at all. It’s like they don’t even know he leveled up. They don’t care.”

Canadian players have reacted positively to the way Scott levels up in the game.

“It’s great to finally see some real Canadian representation in a game. There’s a lot of Canadian developers but they rarely make characters that are authentically Canadian. I finally feel seen,” said Canadian gamer Martin Mochrie before apologizing to someone who bumped into him.

At press time, the developers have announced that in an upcoming patch Scott will also celebrate his level ups with an assorted pack of stale Timbits.