“When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.” I don’t know who first said these words, but they have given me great comfort over the years. I truly believe that memories can be a treasure, and often the most precious treasure there is.
But what if we took those memories and channeled them to create something special and new, which would then help others experience something similar? This is what Hyper Luminal Games has done with Pine Hearts, its wholesome take on the Metroidvania genre, and similar to what fellow Metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: Zau did at launch in April.
Pine Hearts welcomes players into the walking boots of Tyke, a cute little guy who returns to the Pine Hearts campground he visited as a child. As Tyke makes his way through the grounds, he can help other campers with tasks such as collecting firewood and scaring off crows. So far, so indie. But you soon realize there’s more to the game beneath its bright and unassuming exterior: a deeper story of love and loss that serves as a heartfelt tribute to creative director Rob Madden’s father.
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Madden’s father Roy passed away in 2019, shortly after a sudden discovery of cancer. “The diagnosis when he got it was, ‘It’s inoperable,’” Madden explains via video call, sharing his story with me. “There was nothing that could be done. The stage of any recovery was well past.”
Understandably, it was a huge shock to Madden and his family. “He was always such a wholesome man, and in many ways you always look up to your father as some kind of immortal being, even in your 30s,” Madden continues, recalling how his father was quickly moved. to palliative care. Six weeks later Roy died.
After the death of his father, Madden was consumed with grief, so he turned to something he had always been passionate about for comfort: creating games. “I’ve always loved that. I’ve always been artistic and creative that way, so it became a natural thing to want to build something that felt cozy and was a fun place to be,” he says. “I made myself ‘warm’ somewhere.”
Madden quickly realized that there was an opportunity to tell a story through this game that was “much more directly related to the game”. [his] experiences,” and the idea began to grow from a self-soothing project into something more.”[Hyper Luminal Games] has built games before that have a story element, but we’ve never really used them as a vehicle to tell something about a very specific human experience,” says Madden of the studio he co-founded with Stuart Martin.
The team soon got to work and the end result was Pine Hearts, a game about childhood innocence, camping fun and the memories of loved ones, loosely based on where Madden’s family would go on holiday. Early in the game, Tyke arrives at the titular campsite, hoping to climb the mountain that rises above it. However, he doesn’t have all the equipment he needs. So to prepare for the climb, he makes his way through the campsite, helping others and gaining new skills in the process.
“The main premise of the game in terms of what you do and how the structure is laid out is largely inspired by something my mother said to me when she was reminiscing about my father,” says Madden. “She said, ‘Well, of course your father lives on through you.’
“I thought, that could be the theme and the tagline that the game is built around: how do people we love, whether they’re family members or friends or whoever, live on, how do their spirit and their values live on through the things we can do? or the way we behave or interact with the world? There was something very profound about that. It really touched me.
Madden ultimately wanted the game to convey a sense of hope, and this idea of hope and looking forward became the core of Pine Hearts. “I knew if we made a game about this subject it would be inherently sad, and – you know, it sucks – I didn’t want to make a game where people finished it and felt worse,” he says.
“I felt it was important to build something where, wherever possible, you would feel like you’ve taken a step forward… and if we can be a source of comfort to even one person, that’s great. I hope that certainly anyone who has experienced something like that can take something positive out of it.”
I ask Madden about his mother and how she feels seeing a game inspired by her husband’s memory. Smiling, Madden says she is his “biggest fan” and that both of his parents have always been his biggest supporters. They had been together for more than forty years, he says, and met when his mother was only seventeen. “And they got married when she was 18, so they spent most of their lives together,” he says. “So it’s valuable to see something being created that’s inspired by that life experience, and she appreciates that.”
While Madden’s story has been a key element in the creation of Pine Hearts, he has full praise for the rest of the team at Hyper Luminal, who have all played an integral role in bringing the game to life. Yes, Madden’s personal experiences were the catalyst, but love and loss are universal parts of life. This is why the father and son in Pine Hearts need to be somewhat ambiguous in their design, serving as an embodiment of those special people in all of our lives, rather than specifically Madden’s father.
Madden describes the game’s father as “someone you look up to and who has been a formative figure in your life, someone with whom you have made many happy memories and who you want to continue in the way you conduct yourself”. He might as well be a friend, brother or sister, or mother. The point is the connection and emotion behind that relationship.
Madden now hopes that Pine Hearts will spark conversations and in turn help others going through similar experiences. He admits it’s still hard to talk about his father, and there were times during Pine Hearts’ marketing when he worried he’d “bitten off more than enough.” [he] can chew emotionally. But even though it’s hard, he’s grateful that it’s given him the opportunity to be more open with his feelings.
“I certainly wouldn’t have been so open about something so personal if it wasn’t for the game,” he says. “I’m quite a private person, I’m quite quiet… but to be able to talk about something like this, I think that’s really helped. It’s given me a good perspective that everyone goes through things like this, and it’s important to talk about it. It can make you feel better. Even though you may feel worse at the time, you will feel better afterwards.’
“It also made me appreciate the time you have with people,” he concludes with a laugh. “You have to make the best of it.”