On the occasion of the publication of Beacon Pines September 22ndlet’s go back to some points from an interview with some members of the development team. This was done by The Xbox hub with Matt Meyer (Creative Direc tor and Co-Author), Ilse Harting (Lead Artist) and Brent Calhoun (Co-Author).
What is Beacon Pines?
Beacon Pines (…) it’s a bit as if Winnie Pooh met stranger things. You play both as the reader of a mysterious book and as its main character, Luka. Strange things are happening in the town of Beacon Pines, and it’s up to you and your friends to figure it all out. As you explore the city, you will find amulets with words engraved on them. You can use these words at certain points in the book to completely change the course of the story.
Matthew Meyer
The game mechanics
The peculiarity of Beacon Pines lies in these collectible amulets. The idea was to make a narrative game, not simply giving a choice between multiple answers, but playing with words that modify the course of things depending on the context.
This implies that the story has multiple branches. These are obviously numerous with complex connections between them.
We have a big chart of all the connections in the story and when I look at it I can’t help but wonder why it works. (…)
Once the story reached a certain level of complexity, adding or changing even the smallest part felt like putting a piece on an unstable Jenga.
Matthew Meyer
Good, that Beacon Pines While being a solo narrative game, Matt Meyer points out that certain elements still allow for some replay value. In fact, there are small humorous touches and allusions here and there that we don’t necessarily understand at first. There are also mini-games that rely on non-story amulets. This allows amulets to be used in different ways.
inspiration
Beacon Pines draws inspiration from miniature dioramas, with these presentations reconstructing small scenes from life. But aesthetics also relates to childhood with a rather singular tendency. So these scenes are fragments, like childhood memories.
This story is based on a childhood summer adventure. If you remember your memories, chances are you don’t remember everything, only the things that seemed important to you as a child.
We wanted the image to reflect this by not showing everything and blurring the edges, you only live the parts [de l’histoire] which are wonderful and important to little Lukas.
Ilse Harting
The presentation in the form of a book is also intended to reinforce this phantasmagorical side as if pulled out of a fairy tale. But Matt Meyer warns that despite its childlike looks, it’s still no brainer and some of the branching out is pretty spooky.