Field Notes from the Lone Pine Dev Team — Devlog #2

The Lone Pine Demo Is Here!

Hey everyone! If you’ve been following us, you might already know that our demo was released on Steam last week. If you’re new here: welcome!

After working hard on the game in between full-time work and other commitments, it feels unreal to reach this milestone and finally get a piece of Lone Pine into player's hands.

The demo covers roughly the first act of the game, where players join Izzie as she enters Lone Pine and discovers that not everything is what it seems. Depending on how thoroughly you explore, it runs around 20–40 minutes, offering a taste of the puzzles, characters, and cryptid-filled mystery waiting deeper in the forest.

A huge thank you is owed to everyone who’s supported us so far. Playtesters, followers, wishlisters, streamers, content creators, journalists, and of course players and reviewers. I won’t belabour the point, but we really can’t express how much we appreciate everything you do.

The forest doesn't give up its secrets easily. Each cryptid needs to be lured out before Izzie can photograph it.

Our First Round of Playtesting

We invited around a dozen players from our Discord server to test the demo and give us feedback. It helped us identify a few important improvements before launching the demo publicly.

One of the biggest updates was refining the UI and improving the experience for keyboard and mouse players. Lone Pine was originally designed with controller play in mind, so we made sure both control schemes felt comfortable. We also spent time tightening up the final spooky sequence in the demo to improve the pacing and atmosphere.

There were a few suggestions we loved but haven’t implemented just yet. One example is an accessibility setting that allows players to automatically progress through dialogue sequences. Right now dialogue requires manual input so players can pause the game if they need to step away, but we’re exploring an optional auto-play feature for players who prefer a more cinematic experience.

Before we get to how the demo was received, here are some of our favourite comments from playtesters:

“I love the voice overs, and the dialog lines are so entertaining — particularly the effort of the ‘mouth full’ dialogs 🥇”

“Where do I buy Izzie’s PJs. Need.”

“Love the humor in the game, had a couple of chuckles throughout the play.”

Hearing players connect with the characters, humour, and atmosphere was hugely motivating for the whole team.

Clamp's reaction when she realised what was actually in her viewfinder.

Post-Demo Thoughts

The demo launch was a success, and we were really happy to see the number of new players and wishlisters. You had to squint a little, but we did get into the new and trending section for demos on Steam… if you applied one or two filters. And we’re chuffed about that! We also managed to get over ten positive reviews, so the Lone Pine demo currently has a “Positive” rating. Nice!

A huge thanks to Zach at Well Played, who got a sneaky preview of the demo which you can read here. We also did an interview for Well Played’s Made in Australia series, so keep an eye out for that.

As baby game developers, it was surreal to see streamers playing the demo as well. A special shout out to Clampshell, who also did a great interview with our programmer Dan after her playthrough.

It’s one thing to watch people at PAX play your game, but it’s another to actually hear them articulate their thoughts as they play. From a game design point of view, it gives us a lot of good insight into how players navigate Lone Pine and the kinds of things they think about.

Even on a mountain full of cryptids, there's always time for marshmallows.

A Little Something for the Campfire

To celebrate the demo launch, we also released the Lone Pine demo soundtrack as an ambient video.

It features music from the demo layered with atmospheric sounds like rain, forest ambience, and a crackling fire - perfect if you want to feel like you’re sitting in a cabin somewhere on the mountain while searching for cryptids.

If you enjoy the music of Lone Pine, we hope it’s something you can relax to outside the game.

What Comes Next

Releasing the demo feels like a huge step for the project, but it’s also just the beginning of the next phase.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be paying close attention to player feedback, fixing bugs, and continuing development toward the full game.

If you’ve played the demo and enjoyed it, one of the best ways you can support Lone Pine is by reviewing the game on Steam. It genuinely makes a big difference for indie teams like ours.

And if you haven’t tried the demo yet… Lone Pine National Park is open to visitors!

Until next time!

The early reviews have been incredibly kind. Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to share their thoughts.