A Montréal RPG about arguments, kindness and seeing the true heart of the person in front of you.
Walk from NDG to the top of Mount Royal three times. Every argument on the way has someone underneath it who cares about something: a friend, a doorway, a photograph, a quiet evening. Find it, answer it well, and make room for each other.
Runs in your browser · Keyboard or touch · English now, français à venir · Super Special Demo Day · What’s in this build
The route · NDG → Mount Royal3 ascents · 12 conversations · - places · - soundtrack recordings packaged
NDGMOUNT ROYAL
The story
The wrong landing. The start of everything.
An asteroid bound for the Plateau and Mount Royal lands in NDG instead. That misplaced arrival sets a comic, truth-telling journey in motion across Montréal.
A cosmic detourThe journey starts off course, in NDG, a long walk from the mountain.
Three walksThe same route to Mount Royal, three times: 8-bit, 16-bit and full colour.
Hearts at the centreArguments become battles and hearts become power. Making up is part of the story too.
What you do
Arguments are battles. Kindness is the strategy.
Each opponent leans on one of four pressures: Pushing, Judging, Dodging the question or a Guilt trip. You answer with one of four replies, Hold firm, Use facts, Ask clearly or Let go, and each reply meets one pressure best.
1 · Read the argumentTheir line arrives on paper. Each person leans on one pressure: Pushing, Judging, Dodging the question or a Guilt trip.
2 · Serve your replyPick one of four replies. Its note is served to you, and you strike it on the beat, like a volleyball spike.
3 · Imbue itThe note flies back carrying its element, Earth, Fire, Wind or Water, and lands just in front of them. Nobody touches anyone.
Current battle screen, 24-bit era. Each side’s hearts sit at the top, the other person’s line arrives on paper, and your chosen reply flies back as a note. Captured 27 October 2026 from the Super Special Demo Day build.
Pushing
They push you to do what they want. Hold firm is the strongest answer.
REPLY 1 · EARTHHold firm
REPLY 2 · FIREUse facts
REPLY 3 · WINDAsk clearly
REPLY 4 · WATERLet go
Four elementsEarth, Fire, Wind and Water give each reply its look: Hold firm is Earth (resolve), Use facts is Fire (facts), Ask clearly is Wind (clarity) and Let go is Water (release). The element is visual language, not a hidden damage chart.
What the bars meanCalm, Focus and Guard are your composure, clarity and boundary. Heat is how far the argument has escalated. “Fight left” is how much push the other side has. Running it down means they stopped pushing, not that they agreed or that you were right.
From talking to writingIf the Heat climbs high enough, the argument moves to paper. You build a written record until it holds, the pressure overwhelms you, or you step away.
Written, not judgedEvery line is written ahead of time. The other side picks its next move from authored patterns that remember how the argument has gone. Nothing in the game decides who is telling the truth.
Dynamic battle camera: the current game chooses wide, close-up and reaction shots from the encounter state. Impact movement affects the scene while the controls stay anchored. Further staging and paper physics are still in development.
Showcase
Three walks, three looks.
Each of the three walks has its own art era: 8-bit, 16-bit, then 24-bit. The argument system underneath stays the same. These are real battle screens from the work-in-progress build.
Walk 1 · 8-bit. Pixel métro halls and a crisp paper line.Walk 2 · 16-bit. A wider, moodier painted look.Walk 3 · 24-bit, on a phone. A phone-sized landscape window (captured in an emulated viewport, not on a physical phone). Phone and landscape layouts are still being refined.
What you’re looking atYour hearts on the left, theirs on the right. The other person’s line arrives on paper, you choose a reply, and the reply flies back as a note.
Where the art comes fromCharacters and places are drawn for each era as art is approved. Browse what exists in Neighbours and Places.
Captured 27 October 2026 from the Super Special Demo Day build.
Three ascents
Same route. Three eras. A different you.
Each climb redraws Montréal at a new fidelity, and the sound widens with it. What was noise on the first loop becomes a pattern on the second and a city of people on the third.
“It’s just me.”
LOOP 01 · 8-BIT ERA · MONO
Hard clusters, tight palettes and composite drift. One voice in the headphones — the city is still mostly noise.
Loops one and two are drawn fresh at native resolution — not filtered copies of loop three.
The city has opinions
A little argument never hurt a friendship.
Well, maybe a little. Montréal is full of people who care enough to argue: which bagel has the better chew, who stands directly in the métro doorway, and whether the snowbank outside your place is now a permanent tenant. The stakes feel epic. The people are still people.
Petty, on purposeThe arguments are small and the feelings are not. Nobody is a villain; everyone is certain.
Four answersEach opponent leans on one pressure. Read it, then answer with the reply that meets it best.
From métro to mountainNDG, the Orange Line, Plateau streets and the long climb to the lookout.
“Please let people off first” is a courtesy. In Montréal, it can also be an opening move.
Meet the neighbours
Every neighbour, in every era we have.
Pick a neighbour, an era and an animation. Each print loads when you ask for it. Gallery portraits are static illustrations; older battle kits and gallery motion studies are labelled separately. Work in progress.
The viewer needs the generated manifest (node scripts/build-landing-manifest.mjs). It has not been generated in this build.
Current gallery image
Character
Era
What’s missing or still in progress
The places
Every background, sorted by neighbourhood.
From NDG to the lookout, browse every available background by neighbourhood and era, including earlier versions. Images load as you scroll to them.
The environment viewer needs the generated manifest. It has not been generated in this build.
Christendo 24 · Soundtrack
Listen before you play.
Three loops, three approaches to the soundtrack. The wider production catalog contains more music than this web preview: 15 revised first-loop tracks and one third-loop cue are currently available here. The second-loop mix and remaining third-loop tracks are awaiting web delivery. Nothing loads until you press play.
The soundtrack browser needs the generated manifest. It has not been generated in this build.
CHRISTENDO 24 · SOUND PROCESSORNO AUTOPLAY
Choose a track
Pick a mix, then a title.
0:00–:––
How the score follows the play
This player runs the album in order. In the game, the scene picks the cue.
Title screenPlateau Hearts Theme.
The openingInto the Distance plays once, from the first press, and never loops.
The walk and its argumentsShadows in the Mist carries the route and everyday arguments on the first and second ascents.
The third ascentSerpent’s Trail III — The Final Loop takes over the walk.
The last argumentObjection Overture, for the final confrontation at Kondiaronk on the last ascent.
Controls, difficulty and access
Play with the spoons you have today.
Difficulty changes how much you have to hold at once — never how much story you get.
The intended pace. Story, travel and argument in balance.
Standard recovery · standard tells · standard street pressure
Keyboard playOn One Spoon, Space alone carries you from title to credits.
Touch controlsFull-size targets on touch screens. Phone and landscape layouts are still being refined.
Reduced motionTravel becomes cuts and fades, with labels that stay put.
Sound captionsMusic cues are captioned on screen.
Made by Chris
Created by Chris Hicks with AI-assisted tools.
I created Plateau Hearts. Everything you see and hear reflects my taste, my choices and my work, from the original photos and rough ideas to whistled melodies and some questionable beatboxing. I use all kinds of tools, including AI for artwork, music, coding and testing, to bring it together as a one-person game studio. This is my creative vision, built with AI-assisted tools.
The demo is open to play now. The full game is in the works, and I’ll share details as we get closer to launch.
PRINT 01 · PAPER
Sketched on paper, developed digitally
My creative process includes paper sketches that I scan and develop digitally, alongside AI-assisted image creation and refinement. I direct and curate the resulting portraits and scenes.
PRINT 02 · VOICE
Sung, whistled, then written down
My music process includes singing or whistling ideas into MIDI and developing them into sheet music, with AI tools helping me create and refine the music.
PRINT 03 · SOUND
Christendo 24
Christendo 24 is the game’s own sound approach. It brings together sound capabilities inspired by the NES, SNES and Genesis. It is an homage and a design tool, not a hardware emulation.
You're playing a work-in-progress build. Many assets are placeholders, and the dialogue is still being refined. I'm working out in the open, so you can watch the game take shape: I'll update this demo periodically as it progresses, so keep an eye out.
Where the game stands today
Built in the open, still in progress.
Plateau Hearts is my Montréal game, made with AI-assisted tools and my own creative direction. I’m building it in public and updating the demo as it grows, so here is what you can play today, what I’m still working on, and what is planned.
PLAYABLE TODAY
Open it in your browser
Runs in your browser with keyboard or touch. Phone and landscape layouts are still being refined.
The demo is open to play now.
The demo route: three walks from NDG to the Kondiaronk lookout, a closing scene, and a replay button at the end. Start with the Play button at the top of the page.
Three difficulty settings (One, Two or Three Spoons), reduced-motion travel and on-screen sound captions.
Browse - neighbours and - places. The soundtrack has - recordings across - distinct titles.
STILL IN PROGRESS
Being refined
Many assets are placeholders, and the dialogue is still being refined.
The demo is deliberately short: 12 battles over three walks. Each walk visits its own stops, and a few people are saved for the full game.
Every battle in the demo is animated on both sides. Fighters whose art is still provisional wait for the full game rather than appear as a still image.
The soundtrack on the web is a partial selection. More titles are awaiting web delivery.
Phone and landscape layouts are still being refined.
PLANNED
Still ahead
A French version (français à venir).
The full game is in the works. I’ll share details as we get closer to launch.
A demo that keeps growing. I update it as the work progresses, swapping in new art and sound as each piece is ready, so check back to see what’s changed.
The making-of
How it was made.
Created by Chris Hicks with AI-assisted tools. The playable build is a work in progress.
