That’s a great place to find us and chat: We’re pretty active with our discord community. Where on the Internet can people find you? That’ll help keep you motivated and focused. And when you make something of your own, try to pick a project that you will actually want to play yourself. It also is massively beneficial to getting work in the field if you already have examples of completed projects. Making things, in my experience, is the best and most rewarding way to learn things. I’d love to work with them and experience their process up close.ĭo you have any advice for aspiring developers that may be reading this? That Game Company has probably been the most influential on me as a game developer. If you had the opportunity to develop for a game with any company or any franchise, which would it be, and why? Beacon Pines is also a very different kind of game than what I’ve made in the past.
I often work with different people and it depends on how they prefer to work.
What lessons have been brought into the development of Beacon Pines from past developmental experiences? Lots (again the Reddit article has some great examples) Have there been any ideas at this stage of development that has since been scrapped or reworked? We just want to make a game that both looks mysterious/fantastical but also has a mature story that we as adults would want to play. No, we aren’t deliberately trying to subvert expectations with the art vs the story. Is Beacon Pines a deliberate attempt at subverting the traditional cutesy adventure game to any kind of extent, similar to what Chris Seavor did with Conker’s Bad Fur Day? Steam, itch, Switch, and hopefully Xbox and Playstation What platforms are you looking to bring the game to?
We really weren’t sure if people would get absorbed into the story or understand how the mechanics work (with words, story branching, etc.) but most people seem to jump right in and enjoy it. How well has the game been received so far? Even many of the names of characters and places in Beacon Pines were her suggestions based on Dutch names. Ilse takes a lot of influence from her surroundings: the people and places in the Netherlands have been a big influence on the art she created for Beacon Pines. On the Kickstarter page, it says in Ilse Harting’s description that “ There must be something in the water in the Netherlands that produced great artists!” Did any aspect of Dutch culture or Dutch artists in particular influence the design of the game?Ībsolutely. I could go through the details, but again the Reddit article probably does a better job of describing the challenges. Getting all the parts of the game mechanics to just click was the most difficult. What has been the most challenging aspect of development? Seeing people’s faces light up when they reach important or surprising moments or laugh at funny dialog or comment on how they love the art and music. What has been the most exciting aspect of development?īy far the most exciting part has been finally seeing people play the game on twitch and youtube after releasing the demo. We’re shooting for a September release date. How close are we to seeing the finished product? I’d reference this Reddit post as a good summary of the development journey over the past few years: What has the developmental process been like? Some that come to mind are shows like Dark, Twin Peaks, and Stranger Things, sci-fi books and old pulp novels, other games like Undertale, Night in the Woods, and Life is Strange. There have been lots of influences on the game. What were the influences behind your game? Here’s what Matt Meyer and Hiding Spot Games had to say about Beacon Pines:
BEACON PINES SWITCH RELEASE DATE FULL
Wanting to know more about this game, I contacted its soundtrack composer Matt Meyer and put forward to him and the team a few questions I had, and how the game will completely take shape by the time of its full release. The game has since been successfully funded on Kickstarter where it continues to gather momentum with several stretch goals having since been funded in addition. The game also gives the player the option to reverse decisions made in order to reshape events as they see fit. Developed by Dutch indie outfit Hiding Spot Games, the player takes control of both the characters in the story as well as the story’s narration itself in order to determine the outcome for themselves by filling in the gaps with words. Beacon Pines is a hand-drawn, open-ended 2D adventure game combining cuteness with horror. Once again looking for more indie video game prospects over the last few weeks, I came across a new game in development somewhat reminiscent of my recent interview with Chris Seavor.