Usually, when a bird finds an abandoned lighthouse, it sits down, relaxes a bit, maybe leaves the number two and flies away. Not so Guardian, upcoming third-person puzzle adventure game from Double Fine Productions; here the lighthouse grows legs, makes friends with a bird and sets off on an ambitious journey.
Although exclusive Guardian announcement at Gamescom replied Some my questions, it also sparked a desire to learn more about this absurd tale of a lighthouse and a bird, so I sat down with Lee Petty, inventive director Guardianto shed featherlight on his team’s colorful work.
Though fundamentally built as an adventure game, Petty tells me so Guardian aims to provide a unique experience by combining a surreal visual style, the mystery of the world, the accessibility of puzzles and, most importantly, the lack of words. He calls the game a “palate cleanser,” a miniature adventure unlike any you’ve played before.
“Guardian communicates less than a typical game,” he says. “It was important to us that the player could relax a little bit and not worry about screwing up; just take a moment to try to process the weirdness of it.
So, Guardian it’s not just a sequence of challenges, nor is its exploration very goal-oriented. Set in a post-apocalyptic land without humans, you’ll explore the world as a living lighthouse accompanied by a helper bird named Twig, but you can’t die, there are no skill trees, and you’ll never have to grind for items.
“When we started designing puzzles, we wanted to create puzzles that were very integrated with the world and the characters. In a typical adventure game, you might find the problem first,” Petty explains. “You think, oh, I can’t get in through that door, and you usually understand that because there are people there telling you that through dialogue.”
“But in our game, we really wanted to create the feeling of an unusual, evocative world, rather than saying exactly what it is. Our puzzles work a little differently, so you often find yourself wandering through them without understanding what you should be doing.”
To give the game a “handmade” feel, Guardian avoids using multiple variations of the same concept. “We do this to a certain extent because it’s not like everything is done exactly once and thrown away,” Petty explains, “but there are a lot of unique settings. From every little distance you see something completely different from the rest of the game.”
I point out that keeping a player’s attention may be more hard without setbacks and clear goals, but Petty is adamant: “I think we capture the player’s attention through the unexpected. You’re not really sure what’s going to happen around every corner.”
This curated approach is also noticeable in Guardianrestricted set of interactions. You don’t need more than a few buttons to find your way through the surreal world, as the main way the lighthouse interacts with the world is through the spotlight, which has a default mode and a focused mode. For example, you can aim it at plants to make them grow, illuminate a creature to make it squint, and employ it to uncover secrets and solve puzzles.
Twig, the faithful avian companion of the lighthouse, usually perches on the lighthouse, from where he flies away from time to time to show the way further or reveal secrets. In addition to these automatic movements, the beacon can also direct the bird to do things like pick up objects, pull levers, or – perhaps most interestingly – attach to creatures.
This last one is a perfect example of how to do it GuardianThe minimalist approach to the control system still offers a wide range of gameplay mechanics. Different environments, objects and creatures open the way to unique interactions and especially metamorphoses.
“For example, there is a moment where the pink cotton candy-like dust sticks to the lighthouse, making it lighter. In this part of the game, the lighthouse can jump, float, and move,” Petty says. “Get some fresh air from being glued to the ground. So we try to pick up the pace in a lot of different ways.”
However, jumping and manipulating the environment is not the only task given to the lighthouse and its bird; they must also convey a story of friendship, companionship, and overcoming obstacles together to reach a magnificent mountain peak. To complicate matters, they must do so without using words and without the kinds of gestures and facial expressions that a human form might rely on.
Although Petty assures me that I will feel more expression than I would expect from a lighthouse, the bird in particular plays a major role in conveying emotion. “When they’re driving around the lighthouse, you actually have a whole button dedicated to the emotion of the bird, and in many cases it reflects the emotional tone of the area,” he says.
“For example, when you’re in a tense or darker place, the bird will crouch and curl up around the top of the lighthouse. And if you press the emote button, instead of playfully chirping or directing you, it will look around and duck down.”
By “the darker area,” Petty means the threat of something called the “Wither,” a sinister ecosystem. As the lighthouse and Twig continue their journey, they will see more and more of this purple, virulent substance, which can sometimes take the form of blackberries, vines, and insects. “That’s where Twig flies away,” Petty explains.
Unlike wither, most creatures in Guardian they are actually cordial. For example, when Twig emotes towards one of the strange creatures, it can reciprocate and possibly create ambient noise – in the absence of words, sound effects and music are another tool used to communicate this. Guardianhistory.
I wonder if this is a way of non-verbal storytelling GuardianThe narrative ends with a mysterious ending, but Petty assures me that there will be balance. “It’s not a complete mystery, but because there are no words, it’s inherently open to interpretation. We purposely wanted to leave some space for that, because that’s my favorite thing about art: the discussions that happen when people experience something,” he says, “But we provide specific narrative threads and an ending.”
One look at Guardiansnow-capped mountains, elaborate cave systems, and strange rock formations will tell you that the natural setting was one of the main inspirations for this human-less tale. As Petty tells me, the setting isn’t inspired by any venerable place: “I live in California, and there are a lot of really cool mountains here,” he says. “There is an old mercury mine near where I live that was abandoned about a hundred years ago and turned into hiking trails. It’s one of my biggest inspirations. It’s nothing fancy, but the numerous hills are interesting, and as you climb, from time to time you come across old machines that you don’t even know what they were used for.”
“They look like strange monuments, just sitting in nature and nature reclaiming the space. When I look back at the game and the artifacts of humanity within it, I see a direct connection to my journey through all of these things.”
While Petty jokingly calls the lighthouse hero “the obvious choice,” it makes a lot of sense. “There is an aspect of this game that is about change and overcoming obstacles. In the case of the lighthouse, in the context of our post-human game, these are remnants of the old world that no longer serve any function; no ships come in, so they have sat idle for a long time,” he says.
Which brings me to my last and probably most essential question: If Lee Petty could go on a real trip as a lighthouse or a bird, what would he choose?
“Well, I’ll answer in the nerdiest way possible, which is when I play Dungeons and Dragons or RPGs, I always play rogues and thieves. Since my core is agility and hiding in the shadows,” he says, “I would play a bird because a bird is much more agile and can get away from danger faster than a beacon, which I think is better if you like playing tanks or stronger characters. This is the bird for me.”
