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[hidingspot]

Overview

Beacon Pines, a town where everything is normal and nothing is ok.
Luka Vanhorn is just trying to grow up as the world falls down. Something's afoot in Beacon Pines and he and his friends are the only ones taking notice. Help him: Sneak out late, investigate creepy labs, throw some pigs, uncover the truth, and maybe survive the summer.



Winnie the Pooh meets Twin Peaks. Beacon Pines is a game about a book about a town about to change. You play as Luka VanHorn, a sweet but sarcastic deer-boy who lives with his grandma. As you explore the Beacon Pines, you and your friends will uncover its dark past.



The story is inspired by the amazing work of the game's artist Ilse Harting, and also takes cues from the mystery pulp novels of ol'.

Mechanics

• An adventure game where your inventory is the words you carry with you
• Explore an illustrated mountain town to collect new words
• Use those words to solve puzzles
• Use those words to make friends (or to annoy the townsfolk)
• Use those words to uncover the truth of Beacon Pines

Live now on Kickstarter!


Join us on Discord to follow development in real time!


Wishlist now on Steam!


Follow on twitter for occasional fun gifs of the game.
https://twitter.com/hidingspotgames

[Thaumaturge]

This is rather intriguing, and quite visually lovely! Following! ^_^

[oahda]

This is such a cool concept! And it looks great too.

[JobLeonard]

What the others have said: looks great and the concept sounds very interesting. Looking forward to reading the devlog and eventually playing it!

[ChrisLSound]

I also think this looks and sounds rad. Excited to see more!

[hidingspot]

This is rather intriguing, and quite visually lovely! Following! ^_^

This is such a cool concept! And it looks great too.

I also think this looks and sounds rad. Excited to see more!

Thanks everyone.  One of my biggest worries has been that people wouldn't grok or find interesting the core mechanic of the game: collecting words that can be played directly into empty slots in the text of the story.  Some early play tests I've done have given me more confidence, but it's great to hear that there is also interest based on the summary above.

What the others have said: looks great and the concept sounds very interesting. Looking forward to reading the devlog and eventually playing it!

Like many, I'm the type of person who panics at the idea of putting an unfinished thing on the internet.  But I know how massively valuable it can be to get feedback early and often.  That being said, I hope to share a demo in the next few months for anyone who's interested in trying it out and giving feedback.

At the moment we're putting some time into fun little slice of life interactions like the one below.  One of the core pillars is a sense of childlike playfulness.  But don't be fooled, that doesn't mean that the intended audience is children.  Given the nature of the wordplay in the mechanic, there will be some fairly adult (if not simply bizarre) conversations.

[Arvianth]

Great concept! Looking forward to updates!

[ProgramGamer]

I'm also eager to see more of this conversation system, posting to follow!

[hidingspot]

It's always exciting finding new art in the dropbox folder, spending some time integrating it into the game, then running around the environment.  Especially when working with such a talented artist like Ilse.

Currently working interactivity for the wheat field:


Generally, we want to add lots of little interactions like this which help breath life into the environments.

[ChrisLSound]

I can already tell there's going to be some fantastic atmosphere/mood in this game.

[JobLeonard]

I can practically smell that meadow

[oahda]

wow! <3

[hidingspot]

Piglet on the loose!


Another slice-of-life type of interaction that may turn into more of an actual quest at some point.  Currently, we don't have any actual quests in the game.  You explore and interact with the environment to collect words/cards and use those words in the story as it progresses.

If that doesn't feel gamey enough, we're considering having more actual designed quests that reward the player with a word/card, or some sort of currency which could be used to purchase more words/cards.

I'd love to get some outside opinions on those two possibilities: get words/cards from simple exploration/interactions, or from quests given by other characters (in the above gif it may be the farmer asking Luka to return the missing pig to the pen, after which the farmer gives Luka a reward)

[YogX]

I can't look away. Been watching the same loop for a few minutes now 

[ChrisLSound]

I love it!

I'd love to get some outside opinions on those two possibilities: get words/cards from simple exploration/interactions, or from quests given by other characters (in the above gif it may be the farmer asking Luka to return the missing pig to the pen, after which the farmer gives Luka a reward)

I'd be most excited by the former, assuming:

• There's some indication that an area/interaction could reap cards, as opposed to blindly clicking on everything/scouring every inch of the world. Sort of like in Persona 4/5 where some events/interactions reward you with a boost in social stats.
• There are more incentives to explore than just getting new cards. Fun/memorable dialogue, extra items(?), open a shortcut(?), etc. Whatever is appropriate for the game

However, I think using both approaches could be great. Having a guaranteed way of growing your deck via quest rewards sounds helpful.

[Thaumaturge]

I'd love to get some outside opinions on those two possibilities: get words/cards from simple exploration/interactions, or from quests given by other characters (in the above gif it may be the farmer asking Luka to return the missing pig to the pen, after which the farmer gives Luka a reward)

Hmm, tricky. I could see either working, depending on how they're handled.

In the former case, it might add to the mystery and reward of exploration. (And indeed, there's another game on the forums here that does something similar, and in that example I feel that it works rather well.) It may also encourage players to interact more thoroughly with the game-world.

In the latter case, it might provide more reward for undertaking quests: completing tasks gives the player more tools to work with.

(You could even go with a hybrid approach, with questing providing the backbone of the player's collection, and exploration providing supplemental cards/words--or vice versa.)

The former approach perhaps also lends itself more-easily to a sense of progression being more open, while the latter perhaps lends itself more-easily to a more-structured approach. That said, either could go in either direction if developed so, I think.

Ultimately, it might depend on just what sort of game you want to make: the feel that you want it to have, how heavily it relies on questing, the place of exploration within it, and so on.

[hidingspot]

I could see either working, depending on how they're handled.

I think using both approaches could be great. Having a guaranteed way of growing your deck via quest rewards sounds helpful.

Thanks for the thoughts!  I think you're both right, that it probably doesn't need to be one or the other.  Having varying degrees of exploration, quests, and perhaps even puzzles could all work as fun ways to acquire new words.  I'll update the devlog with progress as things develop.

[hidingspot]

We're playing around with another style of background:


Instead of a grayish mostly solid color, what do you think about the more painted sky look?  It has a bit of a surreal look when backdropped behind the scenery itself (our shorthand for the little areas is "ramas" as in dioramas).  The thing I like most about the new backgrounds is the sense of feeling and atmosphere it adds to each area.  One concern might be that it is a bit more distracting than the mostly solid colored backgrounds.

[JobLeonard]

It kind of feels like the cards are like learning a language: the more you have, the bigger your vocabulary, and the more options you have. There's something almost philosophical about it. Maybe an interesting angle to explore deeper?

I like the new backgrounds! It adds a feeling of a larger world existing outside the "ramas" - otherwise it becomes so much of a white cube (well, gray cube) look

[dackerman]

Instead of a grayish mostly solid color, what do you think about the more painted sky look?

From the images in here so far, I think I actually like the solid color better. With a solid color, it's almost making no statement about what's around the rama, so you fill it in with whatever's in your head (or you don't even notice it).  With the painted sky, it's actually filling that area in with something, so I think the bar is then higher for what to put back there since it pulls away your attention a bit (if that makes sense). Maybe if it was just a bit more subtle with colors and smoother gradients?