Few projects evolve as dramatically during development as Showgunners did. What began as a dystopian police simulation eventually transformed into a brutal reality TV show concept in a game format, reshaping both its narrative and design direction mid-production.

In this interview, CEO and Creative Director of developer Artificer, Kacper Szymczak, reflects on that transition and what it meant for the game’s core pillars, from level design and combat readability to pacing and player experience. 

Originally released on PC in 2023, Showgunners is now also available on consoles. 

Showgunners blends turn-based tactics with a dystopian reality TV show format. What were the core pillars that guided the project from a design and production standpoint?

Kacper Szymczak, Artificer CEO: Showgunners started off as a completely different project.

It was originally to be a game about a police force in a dystopian city - think Dredd, Robocop. With everything that entails, difficult moral decisions have to be made on the spot. But with the events happening in the US at the time, our partner & investor made the call to change the game into something entirely different.

We were therefore severely limited by all the work we’ve created until that point - especially the art assets, characters, enviro assets, and looking for a setting that’s not far off from what we already built, and an exciting theme; a formula that allows for a lot of elasticity, where all the exploration maps can quickly be redesigned.

And that’s when the game became Showgunners: a tactical game in the setting of a brutal TV show.

From the design standpoint, I feel we ticked off everything we aimed for. Perhaps some aspects ended up in the background of the experience. 
In hindsight, I’d make it a brutal TV show game that has tactical combat. Making more sacrifices in the genre DNA to make the game have a broader appeal and escape the gravity pull of a genre niche.

Anyways—here’s the high-level vision deck that we put together. We used it as a compass throughout the production to ensure we’re headed in the right direction.

The game features fully handcrafted levels designed around traps, puzzles, and combat encounters. How do you approach level design to balance authored experiences with player freedom?

Kacper Szymczak: Our goal was to primarily create a streamlined, high-octane, tight experience.
Overall, I’d say the common thread of all our games is deeper thinky games for people who don’t have the time for XCOM Long War, Crusader Kings, and the likes, but don’t want to play minimalist puzzle games either.

Therefore, player freedom was never super high on our priority list

For Showgunners combat encounters, it was about making sure every level has a distinct premise/problem/modifier/objective, etc. Frequently adding a new character, new ability, new tool, or new enemy to the range of content, and then creating just enough pressure that they have to handle the added complexity before they’re overrun.

Therefore, as a result, levels are part-tactical, part-puzzle—there are several effective ways to approach them given the constraints and obstacles.

From a technical standpoint, what engine are you using, and what made it the right fit for a turn-based tactics game with real-time exploration elements?

Kacper Szymczak: This wasn’t a decision based on genre, but on production/studio strategy.
Back in the day (before Artificer was founded, when we were working at a different studio, long story for another time perhaps) we made the call to switch from Unity to Unreal.

There were a few key reasons for that:

• With the proliferation of blueprints, it was becoming clear that this is a way to have the whole team tinker with many aspects of the game; this greatly derisks production, removes chokepoints, allows for smaller teams.
• I first tinkered with Unreal Engine in the previous century (omg), and with Epic having Fortnite success and Tencent money, it stands to reason a LOT of cash is pumped into the development of this tool; having worked in both Unreal and Unity, 10 years ago, it was clear to me at that time that Unreal is, simply, the superior software to work in; in terms of UX, stability and so on. (This opinion might be outdated; there’s a non-zero chance it might have been wrong at the time too.)
• Since I’m a designer, I can always design around technical issues and obstacles

The game’s visual style combines gritty sci-fi with exaggerated, almost theatrical elements. How did you define the art direction, and what were your main inspirations?

Kacper Szymczak: It all stems from the design pillars; art was to follow the TV theme. It had to be bombastic, with plenty of fire and explosions. Heavy and fast, but sporty music (based on the ESPN TV theme).

The environment had to be hostile - sharp edges everywhere; barbed wire, spikes. Lots and lots of sharp steel things around, constantly. All that was engulfed in the visual noisiness of a TV reality show vibe.

What does your asset pipeline look like for environments and props, especially given the need for highly readable combat spaces?

Kacper Szymczak: This is a lesson that goes back all the way to our times working on Hard West (Artificer’s team carries the torch from Phantom Doctrine and Hard West, our previous games, which we made when working at another studio).

In a game where cover is important, and the universal language for cover is a wall or a box, it’s important for all shapes to be fairly boxy, or at the very least, fill the tile visually.

A tactical gridded game fails the player if they position their character behind an obstacle only to learn that this object is not considered as cover. Therefore, it must be clear at a glance whether something is cover or just eye candy.

I cover this, among other things, in my talk about turn-based tactical design fundamentals, which is a summary of over a decade of designing turn-based tacticals.

You can watch the whole recording of the talk, and here are the slides.

Combat readability is critical in tactical games. How do you ensure clarity in animations, VFX, and UI while maintaining the game’s visual intensity?

Kacper Szymczak: Beyond the stuff I covered above:

For tacticals, in terms of animation and VFX—it’s not about readability, it’s about close-to-zero waiting times; one of the big challenges of making tactical games is that they require multiple characters on both sides, and they all have to do; something significant, and player must follow all that, and at the same time can’t be waiting and watching enemy movements for longer than a dozen seconds.

Were there any custom tools or internal workflows developed specifically to support encounter design or pacing?

Kacper Szymczak: I’ll have a misleading high-level answer here. I’ve seen two kinds of mistakes when it comes to tools.

One is not doing enough tools; when the decision makers see tool development as a waste of time. Making tools, after all, doesn’t make the game bigger or better; it merely paves the way.

The second problem is the opposite. Making tools, and focusing on them, neglecting the cost and limitations incurred by the tools. Naturally, a tool will make only some things faster, effectively limiting what the game can be, narrowing developers’ thinking, and limiting creativity. I feel this is often neglected by devs who love to tinker.

I had a chat with a friend the other day, discussing the merits of being organized and professional in our work. He pointed out that professionalism, as a value and goal in itself, can be misleading, and a hindrance. I see the point, but I wasn’t entirely convinced. He then went and made Peak, so maybe, perhaps, he wasn’t entirely wrong!

Performance optimization can be challenging with dense environments and layered systems. What were some of the biggest technical hurdles during development?

Kacper Szymczak: There weren’t any specific optimization issues that needed addressing. As a general rule, we avoid things that cause massive optimization headaches, unless they’re the technological centrepiece of the game.

We encountered some issues with Steam Deck, mostly when it comes to stability, performance, video playback, and UI to a lesser degree. We had to learn from it and come up with the appropriate solutions, since Showgunners was our first game where we actively pursued the Steam Deck Verified status (which we eventually achieved).

Gladly, the game did not require a specific, deep optimization pass to run on Steam Deck, giving us one less headache to deal with.

Looking back, what were the biggest lessons learned when building a tightly authored, cinematic tactics experience?

Kacper Szymczak: Strategic games are all about these peak, exciting moments where a plethora of systems work in unison to create a unique moment; an exhilarating cliffhanger moment in the arc of the player's story. These moments are no surprise; they’re the result of a whole orchestra of mechanics harmonized in a symphony of numbers.

These moments are designed backwards; from the peak target experience, from a range of systemic outcomes, systems able to provide them, and design binding and overlapping them, leading into raw emotional sensation of experiencing an elaborate, complex simulation in a personal, unique way. 

Finally, are there any behind-the-scenes materials—such as greybox levels, encounter layouts, or in-engine debug views—you can share to help developers better understand your workflow?

Kacper Szymczak: Here’s an example of a level design document (note: this is seriously old, ie. from before the game was pivoted), and here’s a gameplay video from the same level, years after.

Kacper Szymczak, CEO of Artificer

Interview conducted by David Jagneaux

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