Indie Spotlight – Pine Hearts captures nostalgia and hope in a thoughtful narrative journey

Story Highlights

Pine Hearts is a relaxing narrative adventure set in the picturesque Pine Hearts Caravan Park.
The team at Hyper Luminal Games shared fascinating insights about the game’s inspiration, future plans, and more.
You can now try free 20-minute demo gameplay before purchasing it.

Secret Mode has released its adventure game, Pine Hearts, which you can now download on Android and iOS devices. This highly praised story-focused game puts you in the shoes of Tyke, who revisits a familiar place to reflect on themes of love, life, loss, and the importance of family.

Featured Column – Indie Spotlight

GamingonPhone’s Indie Spotlight helps new and small game studios and developers gain recognition and become more visible in the indie game community. As part of this feature, we offer helpful summaries and share perspectives from the developers themselves. If you’re an indie studio interested in being featured, please contact us with any questions at editor@gamingonphone.com.

Game Overview

Pine Hearts, created by Hyper Luminal Games, is a relaxing story-driven game where you get to explore a charming world. It’s set in the scenic Pine Hearts Caravan Park, nestled in the lovely Scottish countryside. You’ll be able to wander along calm paths, by rivers, through parks, and discover many other peaceful spots.

Relive cherished childhood memories and rediscover old adventures with your dad. Explore to find helpful items and use tools to open up new routes, documenting everything in your hillwalking journal. Along the way, you’ll make new friends, meet cute dogs, and complete fun quests given by the people you meet.

Offering easy-to-solve puzzles, relaxing exploration, charming characters, quests, meaningful moments, a way to keep track of side quests, a better map, options to adjust visual effects, and much more, Pine Hearts provides a comfortable and engaging gaming experience designed for today’s players.

Why you should play Pine Hearts

A thoughtful narrative adventure with gentle puzzles and laid-back exploration.
It is a critically acclaimed title with positive reviews across multiple platforms.
Meet whimsical characters, help locals with quirky quests, befriend adorable dogs, and unlock new abilities and equipment.
Packed with mobile-friendly features like side-quest tracking, improved map, visual effects toggles, and more.

From concept to creation: Developer Insights

During a discussion with GamingonPhone, the team at Hyper Luminal Games – including Creative Director and Co-founder Rob Madden, Producer Niamh Loughran, and Lead 3D Artist Katy Wood – revealed interesting information about Pine Hearts, covering topics like what inspired the game and its unique art style.

Mr. Rob described his studio’s approach, saying, “We like to make games with thoughtful stories, quirky gameplay hooks, and gorgeous visual styles.” He also mentioned that they are an independent games studio located in Dundee, Scotland.

A personal story at the heart of Pine Hearts

Mr. Rob explained that the game’s origins were very personal, stating, “Pine Hearts was inspired by the sudden death of my dad back in 2019.” He developed the game as a means of processing his grief, while also aiming to express “in a way that looked to the future with hope.”

As a fan, I learned the setting is actually a real place! The creator told me it’s based on a real caravan park in the north of Scotland called Kingussie. He has such fond memories of spending his summers there – he talked about exploring the forests, finding critters, and spending time with family – and said it just felt like the perfect place to set this story. It really explains why the location feels so authentic!

Defining what cosy really means with Pine Hearts

Then, Producer Niamh Loughran explained that the game offers more than just appealing graphics and a relaxing soundtrack. She stated, “While playing, you won’t feel rushed or need to plan carefully,” allowing players to advance however they like and at their own speed.

It was great to learn that little details, such as allowing players to seat Tyke on a park bench with the camera panning out during the music, were included just to enhance the experience.

She also noted that many relaxing games still have stressful parts, such as “a time limit system in the game, or a need to carefully plan and execute your actions.” By leaving those out, Pine Hearts became, as she describes it, “a game in which you can actively relax.“

Bringing nostalgia to life through captivating art direction and visuals

Being an artist, I wanted to understand how the team developed the art style and visuals to create that warm, inviting feeling. The lead 3D Artist, Katy Wood, shared that the art direction was designed to represent “Tyke’s journey reliving his childhood memories and creating his own narrative.“

We really wanted to bring back those feelings of nostalgia, so we looked to the brightly coloured children’s playsets and toys we all grew up with. That’s where the idea for the distinct chunky aesthetic you see throughout the world came from – we wanted everything to feel playful and a little bit retro!

She also shared that the team wanted players to “remember and fondly think about their own childhoods,” and to feel connected to Tykes’ story as they designed the game’s artwork.

It is filled with themes of memory and hope

As we kept talking, Mr. Rob explained that his main goal for the game was to “give people who’ve had similar experiences a reason to feel hopeful about the future.” He also feels that players can find a positive message in Tyke’s story.

He also reminisced, sharing that after his father’s death, his mother told him, “he lives on through me.” As a result, the main character continues with “the memory of his own dad through the experiences he remembers throughout the game.”

The studio’s plans beyond the game’s launch

As we wrapped up our conversation, I inquired about their future plans with the game now released. Niamh Loughran shared that there’s still potential within the world of Pine Hearts, stating, “either as Tyke or as a new main character.“

She expressed her desire to create stories focusing on Maddie and her kind dog Bonnie, who are first seen in the game as park rangers at the Caravan Park. As she explained, “I’ve always been curious about their backstory and how they became the park rangers.“

She also shared that the team developed several key tools that have significantly impacted the studio’s work. She further emphasized the game’s accessibility options, such as colorblind filters and customizable controls, explaining that these features will continue to be improved and used to benefit future projects and players.

Advice from the team for other indie devs in the field

I was so excited to hear some advice from Mr Rob for those of us making indie games! He said, “Write about what you know,” which really resonated with me. He thinks that especially in the cosy game scene, “players are looking for genuine experiences told by real people.” His big tip was to ask yourself, “What am I trying to say?” and then build a game around answering that question.” It’s such a great way to think about development!

Final Verdict from the Editor

Additionally, the game features a captivating story, relaxed exploration, engaging puzzles, unique side quests, character abilities and gear, a beautiful world inspired by the Scottish Highlands’ Cairngorms, moments of reflection, and much more. It’s a title definitely worth checking out for anyone who’s been wanting to experience this highly praised game.

I’m so excited to share that you can now download this game through the Google Play Store or the App Store! Just a reminder that you can check it out with a free demo – you get to play the first two areas for 20 minutes. If you love it as much as I do, you can buy the full game for just $4.99 and get the complete experience!

2025-10-05 21:13