Little Hellions nearing deliverance after seven years

gamesindustry.biz:

Brendan Sinclair

Managing Editor

Wednesday 22nd June 2022

Little Hellions began life as a game jam project in 2015. Developer Jace Boechler expect it to launch into Early Access in the fourth quarter of this year.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Boechler says they wouldn't recommend anyone plan on taking seven years to make a game, but they also can't say they regret having done it themselves.

"I wouldn't want to have released Little Hellions two years from when I started it because it would have sucked, frankly," Boechler says. "It wouldn't have been good. I would have been embarrassed by what I had made, whereas the thing I've made now, I'm really proud of. I'm really attached to it, and I think it stands on its own as its own thing, regardless of whether it's everyone's cup of tea or not."

As for how they would describe that tea, Little Hellions is pitched as "the passive aggressive fighter where you can't fight": a four-player arena fighting game where you can't directly attack other players, so you have to put yourself in the path of one of the game's environmental hazards -- trains, lava geysers, bomb pigs, etc. -- and then use a Trick Hook mechanic to swap places with them at just the right/wrong moment.

While Boechler doesn't regret the time spent to get Little Hellions where it is today, they also are careful not to valorize it.

"I wouldn't recommend doing this to anyone," Boechler says. "This isn't how you make video games, I don't think."

They add, "I've been told that working on a game this long isn't all that different from working on your Masters degree or something like that, in terms of time commitment. I think there are a lot of analogies there. There's a lot of room for doubt with what you're doing with your