My name is Kristina, and I work at the indie studio Hyper Games, based in Norway. Being situated where we are, we know snow well—which proved fitting for our upcoming cozy adventure game, Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth, coming to PlayStation 5 on September 18.

This is our second Moomin game. Our first was the cozy spring and musical adventure Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley.

In Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth, the main character wakes from hibernation to find winter still lingering and his family still asleep. Our reluctant hero sets out to bring back spring, hoping to wake everyone and reunite with his best friend, Snufkin.

The Moomins and Tove Jansson

The Moomins were created by Tove Jansson, with the first story published in 1945. Having lived through World War II, Tove created a world away from war and fascism. Her stories reflect life itself—a mixture of darkness and humor. Tove was a private but courageous person who also lived through a period when same-gender partnerships were illegal. She used concealed language and creative storytelling to express love in her work. For example, the character Too-Ticky in our game was created by Tove based on her life partner, Tuulikki Pietilä.

The Interactive Storybook

Creating games from Tove Jansson's stories has been a joy, and we've worked to bring to life a world reflecting both the softness and emotional complexity of the Moomins.

For Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth, we wanted to create a storybook atmosphere with an aquarelle look, inspired by Tove's own visual works. We combined 3D shapes with 2D painted elements using various shading and texturing techniques to achieve a coherent blend. The watercolors appear to have tinted the paper, but imperfectly—as they typically would.

We accomplish most of this in Unity, our game development engine, through shader and texture work, which creates a cohesive visual style.

You can find references to Tove's art, characters, and stories throughout the game. The carpet in our living room scenes includes both the Ancestor and the Hattifatteners. We also feature a beautiful red chair and an X-ray of Moomintroll in his bedroom that fans may recognize.

The Snow of Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth

To achieve the storybook look, we used mostly flat structures, landscapes, and items. However, we wanted the snow to feel weighted and responsive to Moomintroll's movement.

The terrain is created from simple shapes with a deformable layer of snow added on top. This layer responds to interaction from characters and other elements, creating the feel of actually walking through snow.

The bushes are flat, resembling stage props from theater. Clever use of perspective and camera angles creates what might be called magic. The result shows soft snow being pushed up and thrown down as weighted, textured substances—perfect for making snow figurines.

Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth launches September 18 on PlayStation 5.