It’s the one year anniversary of Hiding Spot’s cute and creepy storybook adventure, Beacon Pines! Join us in wishing Luka a very happy birthday!
We’re kicking off celebrations right now: as part of the Fellow Traveller Publisher Sale on Steam where you can pick up Beacon Pines for an awesome 40% off. This is for a limited time only, so make sure you grab it now - and tell your friends!
To join in on the festivities, we sat down with Hiding Spot Games for a few words on their journey so far:
Fellow Traveller (FT): Every developer team has a backstory. How did you meet, and what made you decide to make a game together?
Matt: When I was searching for an artist to work with on Beacon Pines, I started by looking through ArtStation. Lots of great artists post their portfolios there along with their work availability. Ilse’s illustrations instantly caught my attention. We had an informal chat and clicked really well on ideas we had for making a game.
Brent and I met through a mutual friend years ago and worked together on a game for iPad called “Ephemerid: A Musical Adventure”. He created the art for Ephemerid by painstakingly cutting it out of paper and photographing it. Though Ilse was already creating the art for Beacon Pines, I knew Brent had great storytelling chops and so it was a natural fit for him to join the team to help tackle the writing.
FT: Beacon Pines has a lovely storybook feel to it. Being able to change the story outcome feels very satisfying, how did you come up with that mechanic?
Matt: One of the early ideas for the game was that of finding words through exploration and then using those words to make choices in the story. From there, it was a whole lot of prototyping and difficult design iteration to determine how that would function as a game. At a certain point, we discovered that it was most interesting if the words stayed with you, as a sort of inventory of potential choices to make. So, you could find a word and use it at a later point to change the trajectory of the game.
It really started to feel good when we added the Chronicle. It’s a sort of built-in visual save system that lets you go back to any previous decision point and use a different word to alter the story. Even better, after finding new words in one story branch, you can use the Chronicle to take them back to a previous “Turning Point” and go down a completely different path. We leaned into that idea pretty hard. The word-choices in Beacon Pines dramatically alter the direction of the story. The Chronicle makes this basically frictionless, as it means you can see every branch of the game without restarting.
FT: There are a few themes that run throughout Beacon Pines’ story. What were your inspirations for the game - did any games, movies, or particular art styles stick with you while you were developing the game?
Ilse: We took inspiration from the visual novel genre in general, the main visuals like the portraits changing expressions as they progress in their conversation for example. Unlike most visual novels, we wanted the player to be able to walk around in this small diorama-like environment to enhance the exploration!
Brent: Matt and I drew a lot from the many 80’s movies that revolved around putting normal kids in wild situations, stuff like The Goonies, The Neverending Story, and E.T.. Choose Your Own Adventure books and young adult mysteries like Nancy Drew and The 3 Investigators were also big sources of inspiration.
FT: All of the Beacon Pines characters are lovable or hateable, in their own way. You’re not supposed to play favourites but, be honest. Who’s your fave and why?
Matt: I like Beck a lot. Her personality is similar to mine in many ways. But more than anything, I just really like her art. Ilse did a great job (as with all the characters) giving her distinct and evocative facial expressions. Then again, it’s hard to top some of the Iggy story beats.
Brent: I’m with Rolo, ride or die. I love how he approaches every obstacle in his path with enthusiastic positivity.
FT: Launching a game is a huge deal. What was it like?
Ilse: It’s one thing to create a game in silence, the moment the game was announced and marketing started made it all very real and scary. There is always the fear that your hard work won’t be received well by the players before and during launching the game.
Matt: After almost 5 years working on the game, it was absolutely stressful leading up to launch. You can’t help but be glued to twitch, watching everyone’s reactions, and crossing your fingers hoping that it was all worth it. Now, having had a year of seeing the wonderful reception that Beacon Pines has gotten, and how kind and heartwarming the fans have been, I’m really happy with what we accomplished.
FT: Massive congratulations are in order. Well done on an incredible launch, Beacon Pines is a touching story with plenty of depth, emotion, and just the right amount of creepiness. Do you have any more plans for the game, or as a team?
Matt: While further updates to the game aren’t likely in the near-term, we still have some fun announcements for Beacon Pines fans coming up.
As for future plans for the team, we definitely would like to work together again, and have been percolating some ideas that will hopefully scratch an itch for the Beacon Pines audience and bring in some new fans as well.
Additionally, you can win a Luka plushie by jumping onto Twitter/X right now and sharing your favorite Beacon Pines moment. Make sure you tag us (@FellowTravellr) and use the hashtag #BeaconPinesParty with your submission.
The Competition begins on 9am PT, Friday 22 September 2023 and ends on 9am PT, Friday 6 October 2023.
Keep up with the party and follow Hiding Spot and Fellow Traveller on Twitter/X or join our Discord.