Beacon Pines Is a Narrative Adventure Where Everything Can Change With a Single Word
In Beacon Pines, stories and decisions made are mapped into a tree, showing branching paths from a single moment that changed the course of the story. For developer Matt Meyer, that was true in real life as well. His journey to develop his Beacon Pines began many years ago with his one simple and inevitable decision made almost on a whim.
“I was working for a company in Chicago for about five years, and then one day, all of a sudden, I quit,” says Meyer. “It wasn’t really about the job. It was the traffic. I was in the car for an hour and a half every day…I hate traffic so much. So I just snapped one day. I was like, ‘I’m moving,’ and I moved to Austin with no plans.”
Without a plan, Meyer wanted to write music specifically for games. But after he played a bit, he realized that if he made a game, he could put his own music in it. He eventually teamed up with Brent Calhoun and Ilse Harting and thus Beacon Pines was born…as the RPG Rhythm Butler.
“It looked cool, it sounded cool, it had a cool idea, but we just couldn’t get a feel for the design,” he says. “I tried many different ways, and it was a functional game, but it didn’t spark.”
But what stood out for Meyer and others were the characters Harting created, especially Luka. A small deer creature. So the team took the risk. I discarded anything that wasn’t working and started pretty much from scratch, initially focusing on characters and environments.
“This was terrifying, because not only did we throw away a lot of work, but we also kind of threw away the hook,” continues Meyer. “Rhythm battle arena games… sounds cool. And you tell them we’re making a story game. So we had to bring something else interesting to the table. ”
Apart from that, there was Beacon Pines’ unique narrative structure. This is already sampled from the first few hours of play. From his rhythm-game origins, Luka has been revamped a bit into the famous Berg’s young hero, brimming with a cozy and cute aesthetic perfect for fall – twee sweaters, funny animal people, cozy hearths. , a child’s prank quickly devolves into a sinister mystery.
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As Luca explores Beacon Pines’ gorgeous storybook artwork, he stumbles upon a “charm.” For example, he finds “junk” in his bedroom, is “tickled” by his early encounters with dandelions, and sits “contemplating” in a comfortable chair by the fireplace.
Players then use these words to pave branching narrative paths. Some choices are not so important. For example, he can choose between “junk” (for pieces of thread) or “tickling” (for feathers) as fishing bait. Far more important are the narrative “turning point” moments, when words determine which of multiple branching paths Luke’s story will take. Tutorial his version of this (answering my grandmother about what to do that afternoon) is pretty mild and doesn’t affect the plot (well, as far as I know). But future decisions will be, and dramatic. That’s a big burden – Meyer told me that while you can play with words to humorous effect, some characters could get killed off if the choices were whimsical.
But even if it does, it’s not the end. Important to Beacon Pines, and fascinating to me, is that you can always go back and revise these choices, including using words you haven’t yet acquired at that point. It’s an exciting prospect that will force you to revisit it to see if any new words you find are there.
Meyer calls it something of a “narrative metroidvania.” This is a bit nerve-wracking for him to use given what the audience expects, but after a few hours of playing it felt very appropriate to me.
“Because we’re exploring all the branches of the story, exploring different branches of the story allows us to unlock previously locked branches of the story by finding new parts,” Meyer said. I will explain. “A charm you have, even though you went to another branch where you might not have found that charm the first time. This is similar to a Metroidvania, because in a Metroidvania, you can reach It’s unlocking power that will allow you to reach new areas that were previously unheard of.”
Meyer adds that there had to be limits on where the story could go. They’re a small team and couldn’t handle a huge story with hundreds of turning points, but as players solve the exact story puzzles that give Luka and his friends a happy ending. is full of interesting branches, backtracking, and mistakes. Beacon His Pines lurks a sinister mystery, and its discoveries mesh nicely with themes of growth, friendship, and change. Meyer calls it “Winnie the Pooh meets Stranger Things”. The protagonist is young, but it has a Night in the Woods feel to it.
Beacon Pines has been a tough road for Meyer and his team. He says he’s happy and proud of what he’s created, but adds that it’s been “the hardest of his life so far.”
“Making games is such a wild thing, because at least all the games I’ve made, most of them take years,” he says. “Why do something that takes years and you don’t know if it will succeed? I have.”
Like most developers I’ve spoken to, Meyer hopes Beacon Pines will do well enough to fund new work. But first, he’s taking a break. Like Luka in the opening of Beacon Pines, the game launched last week and just before his next adventure, he’s about to enter the space of change.
“Someone asked me recently, what do you want people to think about it at the end of the game?” Meyer says. “And I just said ‘in peace.’ The game, with its kind of canonical ending, we all leaned heavily into the feeling of being at peace. Things are good, and hopefully most people feel that way.”
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. you can find her on her twitter @duck valentine.
