Lil' Guardsman is a deduction adventure game set in a cozy fantasy kingdom called the Sprawl. In a curious twist, players step into the shoes of 12-year-old protagonist Lil to do her dad's gate guard duties. It sounds like the perfect recipe for chaos and mischief as players decide which characters to admit, deny, or arrest, determining their fate and the story. Yet, that's only the tip of the iceberg for decision-making in this upcoming indie game for Steam and consoles. Lil' Guardsman throws all kinds of comedic scenarios at players with multiple possible choices, outcomes, and tools like time travel.
Game ZXC recently spoke with Hilltop Studios' co-founders Artiom Komarov and Scott Christian about Lil' Guardsman's time-travel mechanics, such as Lil's ability to rewind time. Komarov and Christian also revealed more about the cartoons that inspired Lil' Guardsman's nostalgic art style vibes. The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Q: What inspired you to create a gate guard sim set in the Sprawl?
Christian: We started with the character of Lil and the idea of a regular kid existing in an epic fantasy world. It’s the ‘janitor on the death star idea’... What are the human stories happening in the background of epic, fantastical events? The idea to have a kid manning the castle gates came out of that as a way for the player to directly or inadvertently shape the epic story through their decisions (and meddling!).
Q: Could you tell us a bit about how Papers, Please, and Night in the Woods inspired the game and how you feel about the comparisons to Papers, Please in particular?
Komarov: Night in the Woods was an important reference for us because it’s such an achievement in emotional storytelling in gaming, not to mention being incredibly ‘vibe-y’ and quirky. We knew the two most important ingredients in our storytelling would be humor and heart (which Night in the Woods has both of in spades). No matter how funny our game was going to be, the player needs to really care about Lil, her family, and friends.
Papers, Please is a towering achievement in indie gaming that jump-started a whole new genre. We obviously think it’s a genre that could be explored a lot more. We’ve enjoyed a number of the games it inspired (like Yes, Your Grace and Death and Taxes). We really liked the idea of a funny, fantasy, cozy take on Papers, Please.
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Q: The Monkey Island games look like they had a big inspiration on the game’s sense of humor, with equipment like the Wicket3000 and Chloe’s ode to ‘A Pirate I Was Meant To Be’ from The Curse of Monkey Island. Could you talk more about the comedy inspirations for Lil’ Guardsman?
Christian: I enlisted two of my colleagues from the comedy scene here in Toronto (Matt Bernard and Jeremy Lapalme) to co-write the game with me. To tackle writing the game, we tried to emulate a TV comedy writers’ room. This meant we’d do ‘table reads’ of what we’d written to feel out the comedy and the dramatic bits. Unlike with linear media like TV, doing this was a challenge because of how branching every single turn is, so one of us would be the ‘player’ and make choices, while the other two would act out the dialogue. As you can imagine, we’d end up having to run them each a bunch of times to hear all the branches.
I played and loved the funny classic adventure games like Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, and Monkey Island, where Matt and Jeremy are both just huge comedy buffs generally.
Q: Could you explain more about the process of crafting a comedy narrative in a fantasy setting?
Christian: In Lil’ Guardsman, we obviously went all-in on the comedy, but didn’t shy away from the story being emotionally impactful and epic. Even though we want the players to laugh, we want them to care a lot about what’s happening to the characters.
Q: Could you explain how the game’s time-travel, do-over mechanics work and how they fit into the story?
Komarov: Tying back into Papers, Please - part of what makes that game so brilliant is the tension created by the setting and story, but also by the timer counting down. We knew we wanted Lil’ Guardsman to have a more cozy feel, and we also wanted to make sure a player could experiment, poke around, go back, and try different things before moving forward. Early on, I would challenge the team to ‘make failing fun’. Scott and the writers came up with the Chronometer3000 idea - a device for the rewind mechanic that’s cooked into the plot and narrative.
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Q: What possible outcomes might there be for rewinding time too much?
Komarov: The rewind mechanic is not unlimited. It’s generous, to encourage experimentation, but not unlimited. But worst case, for the player who wants to try absolutely everything - if you use up the allotted rewinds, you can go back to the beginning of the guard shift level freely, which is not too much backtracking. In terms of the story outcomes of rewinding too much, you’ll just have to play the game to find out!
Q: How does Lil’ Guardsman’s huge word count and interrogation choices influence its replayability?
Christian: Our game is like an iceberg: if you want to race through, there’s a lot you will miss out on seeing and hearing. But we think that version of the game is really fun too! But there’s definitely greater depth if you poke around a bit more. I like the idea of a complete playthrough where Lil is trusting and kind, and then going back to the beginning and doing a ‘chaos run’ playthrough where you mess with the NPCs as much as possible!
Q: How many story endings are there and how many playthroughs would it take to see everything?
Komarov: One of the big challenges with Lil’ Guardsman was balancing player choice and branching options against telling the strongest possible story. There are key choices that affect major plot variables, and dozens of smaller choices that have a more subtle impact on the story, world, and characters. Our team is very curious to see how many times people go back to see the alternate versions of events!
Q: How did you approach making sure the interrogation mechanics weren’t too intense for some players?
Christian: We talk a lot about the cozy gaming genre and how it intersects with Lil’ Guardsman. The fact that our game is funny and cute sure makes it seem cozy. But a lot of the humor is outrageous and the story can be intense and deal with adult subject matter at times, and some of the choices can even be life or death (thank goodness for the generous rewind mechanic!). All of this seems to put us outside of the cozy genre. But like with comedy, ‘cozy’ is so subjective. I think the fact that Lil’ Guardsman is non-violent, doesn’t require fast reflexes, and has a lot of heart will make it a great fit for a lot of gamers.
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Q: Could you explain the differences between night levels and day shifts?
Komarov: The majority of the levels/guard shifts are set during the day. But the two levels that happen after dark are a lot of people’s favorites. The writing team had a lot of fun playing with horror tropes, and it’s a nice departure from the flavor of the other levels.
Q: Were there any specific cartoons that inspired the game’s nostalgic 90s cartoon art style, and what do you think this aesthetic adds to the game experience?
Komarov: From a visual perspective, I was inspired by illustrations and cartoons that have stuck with me for a long time. Two of these are Adventure Time and Gravity Falls. Both are beautiful and lead with a very cartoony aesthetic, but then tell earnest, impactful stories and take their characters on big arcs. It’s a great balance. Back to the conversation about cozy gaming, the idea was to take the mechanics of Papers, Please in a different direction - we do that mechanically but also visually. I think it sets a very distinct tone for Lil’ Guardsman.
Q: What are some of your favorite or most memorable characters?
Christian: One of my favorite characters is Stabitha Grieves, from the Level 10 night shift. She’s an amalgamation of a bunch of 80s slasher horror tropes, and it’s just so funny and creepy.
Komarov: I’m a big fan of ‘Magnus the Magnificent’, who has been with us since we made the playable prototype. Spoiler alert: Magnus is not the powerful wizard he claims to be: he’s two stacked goblins in a wizard’s robe.
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Lil' Guardsman releases January 23, 2024, for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.