Monsters and Monocles 
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MONSTERS 'TIL MIDNIGHT IS OUT NOW!May 31, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! Launch day for our Monsters & Monocles horde survival spin-off game is here! Monsters 'til Midnight is now available to buy! It's $4.99 |€4,99 |£4.29 with a 20% discount Running for the launch week! We're really proud of the game we made, and getting something smaller in scope over the finish line is exactly what we both needed to move forward. A sincere thank you to everyone for your continual patience and support. It means a lot to us. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/f9e23d67dbc9c642ce47059cc12c708c6e186efa.gif We really hope you enjoy the game! The Retro Dreamer team Progress Update: May - October 2022Nov 16, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone, It’s been a while since the last update, so let’s jump right in. Taking a Break and Quick Prototypes During the summer, it became increasingly clear that we were both feeling pretty burned out creatively from working on the game full time for around 8 years now. We kept pushing on with it the best we could, but soon realized that we needed to step away for a little while to recharge. Around this time, a few developer friends suggested that the outlandish world of Monsters & Monocles would be a perfect fit for a timed horde survival game. We really liked the idea, and decided to spend a couple of weeks making a quick prototype using many of the same assets. Pretty early on we could see that it had promise, so we decided to spend a little more time during the summer expanding the concept to see if we could turn it into an actual game. Monsters ‘til Midnight By the end of summer, the game had really started to come together, and also began to take on an identity of its own as a legitimate Monsters & Monocles spinoff. Since it shares so much of its DNA, but with its own thematic twist of trying to survive against the march of time itself as the clock strikes midnight, (literal indestructible marching clocks of death in this case), Monsters ‘til Midnight felt like a perfect fit. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/6c78014f93dbc0f0fdaa5cdb1f6f82161a755c54.png The Monsters 'til Midnight coming soon page can be found here. Where does Monsters & Monocles Fit Into This? Although the coming soon page for Monsters ‘til Midnight is now live on Steam, we still have some work left to do in order to wrap it up, so we have a Q1 2023 release date penciled in. We still have every intention to return to Monsters & Monocles, and we’re hoping that some time away will help offer fresh perspective and a sense of renewed energy needed to get it across the finish line. As always, I truly appreciate all of the kind words of encouragement, and the many large buckets of ongoing patience that you've all given us. Thank you for reading, and please stay safe and take care. Craig Progress Update: February - April 2022May 9, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone, Although the first quarter of each new year always feels like a blur of both personal and business tax return preparation work, we’ve still managed to push on and complete another major pillar of the game-NPCs! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/460af0adebf98aa757b3fa07b110dc92a6162214.png A host of colorful characters waiting for you to lend an ear Although there've been a few of them in the game in some capacity for quite some time, they were never really presented properly or polished up to an appropriate standard. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/209461ca559a1cd306598b148c1e75850cd6b115.gif Professor Crowley busy deciphering ancient manuscripts in his study With this in mind, we’ve spent the past couple of months working on adding animations, creating and implementing a proper dialogue/conversation system, fleshing out and improving character dialog, fixing and improving interaction mechanics, and generally just trying to make them feel more like they’re part of the game and it’s world. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/5173cac6c223807306c3fb91e386f6541d07ca7e.gif James Gearsford hard at work maintaining the mighty airship HUB Trying to also figure out a dialogue system that also works well in local MP was quite a challenge, but overall we’re really happy with how everything turned out. We feel like they add a nice layer of texture to the game that really helps to capture its inherent silliness, while also fleshing out the game’s underlying story and narrative a little more. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/6d6cd2d0b12434a6d4fafcbbc35c4eea801aa365.png The new NPC dialog system in action With the NPCS finished, the next major pillar we’ve started working on are the remaining boss fights. I’ll have more on this in future updates. Thank you all for reading, please stay safe and take care. Craig Progress Update - January 2022Feb 4, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone, It’s been quite a while since the last update as both of us try to navigate the challenges that come with having young kids currently learning from home via independent study, but things are still ticking along with good progress being made across various parts of the game. Dropping Off and Picking Up {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/b7ee92c8ec36577bbbe468a2851a2e84b2e4ab1b.gif We spent some time fleshing out the full sequence from finishing a zone > returning to the airship > unlocking one of the five zone fragments > choosing the next zone. All of these sequences have a lot of moving parts to manage and took some time to get to a point where we were happy with them, but we think they really help tie things together from a game-flow perspective, and add a bit of character also. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/8969db8dc56ce3bfc506f9df6e20643ca51ab2a8.gif Alongside all of the above, I finally started work on “dun, dun duuun” the final boss and the final zone that contains its hideous form. I don’t want to spill too many beans on that front right now, so more on that in the future ;P Finally tying all of the various game sequencing together and starting work on the final zone has felt like a big milestone for us. We still have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but the final outline has really started to take shape, and that’s such a powerful motivator to keep us pushing towards the finish line. As always, I truly appreciate all of the kind words of support and encouragement that you all provide. Thank you for reading, stay safe and take care. Craig Progress Update: September - October 2021Nov 2, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone, Since the last update, we’ve been focused on finishing up all of those new items, relics, and weapons that were previously shown. Since quite a few of them use brand-new mechanics and systems that didn’t exist in the game, it was quite a task working through everything. We’re now getting very close to drawing a line through the “loot” aspect of the game, which feels like a great milestone to reach :) Here’s a sneak peak at some of the new content we’ve been working on. Certain things still need final art, VFX, and general tuning in some cases, but it’s still nice to have even more permanent abilities and upgrades to work with as you find a play-style that best suits you. Weapons Hunter's Dream {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/1e21f067b407e01f891a19417b7f4b4ee7293c81.gif The Hunter’s Dream is a new holy-class weapon that fires a barrage of deadly stakes. It's fairly slow fire rate and large spread make it tough to use at range, but it can be especially devastating when combined with the Dragon’s Breath relic that adds a burning status effect. Diamond Cutter {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/a8cd8a64fb4c9df7951462a9983622b4b35e73b4.gif The Diamond Cutter is a rapid-firing beam-class weapon that fires richotteing shards of superheated crystal. It’s not particularly accurate, and overheats quickly, but is great in tight spaces. Items/Relics Enchanted Candelabra Item {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/1546484a22296b29db355f84cbbe65e16d05a391.gif The Enchanted Candelabra item grants the player a flaming trail of fire whenever they dash. It’s very useful for boxing in weaker enemies to finish them off, and can also be used defensively to create breathing room if your weapons need time to cooldown. Meteorite Fragment Relic {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/7931f7e0b994215a1998187bb7d0b56424f9c719.gif This mysterious, extraterrestrial relic offers players the ability to drop a row of exploding space rocks upon dashing. It’s very handy for wearing down tougher enemies even as you seek to find a better position. Alongside the new content, I also managed to completely finish the airship HUB area outside of some minor polish and it’s supporting NPCs that still need to be finalized. Along with everything shown here, the game is also progressing well in various other ways, both large and small. As always, we really do appreciate all of your continued support and patience throughout the game’s development. Thank you for reading, and please stay safe and take care. Craig Progress Update: July - August 2021Sep 14, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! As I discussed in the previous update, the massive, and much needed UI/UX overhaul we've been working on is just about wrapped up outside of the odd bit of final polish. This puts us in a really nice position to start adding more of the really fun stuff like new weapons, items, and relics! I don't want to give away too many specifics right now, but here's a quick look at some of the new loot I've been working on: Items I tried to have fun with the Victorian theme and time-period for these. The "Dubious Handkerchief" and "Shrapnel-filled Corset" are two of my favs :P {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/f3413c29d0a749b1625741fb5795222b4e2aa9a9.png Weapons My main goal with the new weapons was to pad out some of the underserved classes such as beam and fire. My personal fav goes to "The Fragpipes", which is the most shrill-sounding homing missile launcher ever devised! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/d95826215b991990ac102a697f9cac56e3181556.png Relics For the new relics, I continued to lean into the same mythological themes and figures as the existing relics. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/32ff6b7911e92e7f2dd76aa8c47c81bdbddb482c.png We still need to get all of the new additions integrated and working as intended, but we're so happy to finally flesh this stuff out a bit, and provide a wider range of fun toys to play with :D Thank you for reading, and please stay safe and take care of yourselves. Craig Progress Update: April - June 2021Jul 5, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone, As mentioned in the previous couple of updates, these past few months have been all about working through and finishing every aspect of the game's UI. We're happy to report that we managed to hit our goal this past month, and have now started working on wrapping up all of the game's supporting UX work and general connective tissue. This should really help round out the overall game-flow and make the game feel like a more complete experience. Here's a rundown of some of the new UI work: Game Title Screen {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/81ae370f2c1f8a0151fcaad659addd9fd6d5129e.gif It being the first screen a player sees, I wanted to add a bit more detail and general polish to the game's title, as well as adding a few subtle animations to breath a bit of life into it. Codex Screen {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/6077acc5b42c2d9774b31acd466f934cffd39137.png Since the airship's codex computer is so detached from the rest of the game UI, I wanted to try something more unique and thematic, so I decided to make it a more detailed representation of the actual in-game console sprite. Relic Screens Trying to come up with a clear and easy to use screen for equipping/upgrading relics, that also works in single player, local MP, and online MP has always been a bit challenging. After testing a few ideas and different approaches, we decided it would be best to split equipping and upgrading into two distinct screens {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/b72224dfb878c733da5c19ea014d42af1a7376d1.png The equip relics console is all about selecting the relics you want from the ones available, with the new central grid view showing you which relics still need to be discovered {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/09f16987a5ec4a7ddbc1a3a5e0471db49deec17f.png Having relic upgrades be a unique screen helps remove some of the UI complexity and visual clutter, and makes it a distinct action. Game Over Screens For the game over screen, it became clear that the key information a player would want after a solo run, would be fairly different from that of a MP group. With that in mind, we decided to take a unique approach for each. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/5e8f9ee8cbe70328aedb1309ff1efe1a2651c1f5.png In single player, all items, relics, and weapons collected on that run are now tracked and shown. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/79e2ce2576423619eddbb506488c9c461bd50d5f.png In multiplayer, a crown is awarded to the each player for least deaths, most kills, and most gold collected. (It looks like our heroes have seen better days T_T) Although it's been quite the task working through an entire game's worth of UI, we're really happy with how everything is coming together, and are in a good place to finish up all of the remaining UX work needed to bring us closer to having a fully fleshed out game. Once that core foundation is done, we'll then be able to push ahead with the remaining content, and all of the fun stuff that entails :) Thank you for reading, and please stay safe and take care of yourse...Progress Update - March 2021Apr 12, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone, As mentioned in the previous update, we’ve been working on improving and finishing all aspects of the game’s UI and UX. Player HUD {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/b6cacca44772b42352f028b6493531176c1ccdd4.png Working at a higher resolution for all of the game’s UI elements allows us to strike a much better balance between readability and aesthetics, and creates a much better separation between game elements, and UI elements. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/1f68363bd7c1ce70d13e466810eb14fac5d2fef9.png We’ve also added much needed visual indicators to the HUD such as HUD frame shake and flash overlay when taking damage, damage value preview indicators to the HP bar, and a weapon overheat animation. The new "Deceased" reaper overlay also adds a not so subtle (and pretty metal 🤘😎) indicator to teammates who have died. Equipped weapons also now have an icon to show their class. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/0906b52394036a26f3d823dfe114033a008429c3.png Core game UI For the game’s core UI, we’ve gone with a fairly clean, simple approach that still incorporates aspects of the game’s Victorian theme. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/bd3207e5d97d104e94c14b414e6cc16a169834c3.png WIP settings screen {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/a24eadd9280164f454c67c760ef2ccc5ff36ec8f.png A pack(pride?) of Ruperts illustrating the new color selection feature {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/090f1882ba4a27354606b80eb224ec66a566f566.png New default, win, and defeated character portraits We still have plenty to do on the UI front, but once it’s wrapped up, we’ll be in a much better position to start adding more new content and really start pushing towards finishing the game. Thank you for reading, and please stay safe and take care of yourselves. Craig Winter Update 2020/2021 - Personal ChallengesMar 1, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone, I realize that we've been quiet on here for the past few months, so I wanted to take some time to let you all know what's been going on. Towards the end of last year (and beginning of this year), we were faced with some deeply personal challenges and family tragedy. Without going into specific details, the past few months have been incredible difficult for us on all fronts. We thank you all again for your patience and understanding as we do our very best to move forward, we really do appreciate it. In terms of Monsters & Monocles, this past month we started working on a complete overhaul of the game's UI and supporting UX. This will help the game feel much further along (and more polished), while also allowing us to better add new content. We'll have further updates on this front as me make progress and have more to share. Thank you all for your continual patience with us and with the game. We're doing our best everyday to move the game further along towards being finished to the level of quality we strive for, and that you all deserve. Please take care and stay safe everyone. Craig Progress Update: August - September 2020Oct 5, 2020 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone. With the kids starting full distance learning over the summer, this past couple of months have been quite challenging (and a bit of a blur to be honest!) but we’re trying our best to make progress as we settle into a new routine. Here's a rundown of what we’ve been working on: The Airship Since the airship HUB is essentially the core connective tissue of the entire game, it’s something I’ve been wanting to improve and finish for a LONG time. My main goals over the past month or so have been to nail down exactly what it needs to contain in terms of game functionality, and also to flesh out how each room will look and feel. I’m still in the process of cleaning up and implementing the new rooms, but so far we have: The control/zone select map room {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/f978e7bad1726a442b16f726dc0855049f45b270.png Mostly polish, and a proper representation of the central eye platform that will eventually unlock the final boss level once you complete all of the corresponding zones. Central Lobby/Start Room {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/b7fadcc0a72d73413e9833bb4747cb3d41e22703.png Since this room acts as the spawn point at the start of each session and upon returning to the airship, I wanted to make it a bit more interesting and unique visually. I've also seen a few requests to have the option for different starting weapons in the forum, and I agree that it's a good idea, so the weapon platforms are the first step towards factoring them into the airship layout/design. The Engine Room {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/e173cf8ec196885c8d10a96fc127e0b80cbbaab8.png I don’t want to say too much about what I have in mind for this intriguing little room right now, but it will have a couple of uses down the line. Stay tuned for more info... Progress Update - July 2020Aug 3, 2020 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone. For the past few weeks I’ve been chipping away at quite a few different elements across the entire game. Here's a rundown of what I've been working on: Progress on complete UI Overhaul {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/174c9d776d1243a699821c23f7a0257f8b6bb5f7.png One of the largest improvements that we’re working on, is a complete overhaul of the UI and UX across the entire game. Our main goal is to make everything look better aesthetically, to be more functional and generally just more cohesive and polished overall. We’re also trying to inject some of the game’s charm and character wherever possible. I started reworking and improving the existing character select portraits, and I’m also working on win/loss variations to REALLY let you know how your run went :P (Very rough WIP art shown below) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/900dbbff55f87a127310db0da5f64acfcfbceff9.png Lots of other UI improvements are more behind-the-scenes type changes right now, but I’ll be sharing more progress in the coming weeks. Here Comes a New Challenger! I’ve always wanted to develop a more varied and fleshed out roster of playable characters, and this month I was finally able to make a start on the first new addition to the gang! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/14011c4b08c611db5da6bb86ce0463bea19b8ad2.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/17e83630f86ea686054594f750203e97fa341b3d.gif Meet Larcen Gable, an infamous cat burglar with a hefty price on his head, hoping to make amends by fighting off the hordes of evil. He’s one of many new characters that I’ll be bringing to life for the finished game. Traps, Traps, and More Traps! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/9755512f4b57bc03595eb3b0abea0ac3abdd2c99.png This month, we’ve also been systematically working our way through each of the zones, designing and integrating new traps to make each one feel a bit more interesting and distinct than they are right now (I’m looking at you spike traps Progress Update - March - June 2020Jun 4, 2020 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone. Apologies for falling behind a bit with these updates the past few months, but rest-assured that I've still been making progress on the various elements of the factory zone during that time. Here's what I've been working on: Factory Boss - Initial Ideas and Sprite Design I spent some time brainstorming ideas for a fun and interesting boss to round out the factory zone. I settled on the “Scrap Golem,” a decommissioned mining bot that finds itself cobbled back together and reanimated by a mischievous gremlin pilot. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/c99ccdba2228f31e0cf2057c9c062ce856b5b97b.png It has a nasty retractable chain-claw and a scorching flamethrower up it's sleeve...literally!! I’m looking forward to fleshing out potential attacks and behaviors as it comes to life. Factory Zone - Final Touches and Animated Tiles As the factory started coming together, I felt fairly happy with the core tileset, but felt that it was just all a bit too static given the fact it’s supposed to be built around the idea of this free-flowing molten metal-filled victorian factory. With that in mind, I began experimenting with adding a lot more animated tile variants to help bring it all to life a little more {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/fff055de8a1d7d71473aa8637ed4b68cbc44ab6e.gif I still need to clean things up a bit, and also work on the wall tiles, but pretty happy with how it’s progressing, and it’s definitely something I’d like to incorporate into the other existing zones at some point down the line. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/56836beff1cc8f1a8f2f997d066a2748af1ebcc4.gif Alongside the things above, I've also been working on the various props and enemies that round out a complete zone. That’s everything for now. Thank you for reading, stay safe, and we’ll See you all next time! :) Craig Progress Update - February 2020Feb 28, 2020 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! After weeks of hard work, we're finally getting close to wrapping up the Mansion's Lord Skullington boss! We're super happy with how it's all shaping up, so I wanted to share a quick sneak peek at some WIP gameplay: *Capturing in-editor video on my Mac isn't as great as I would like, but rest assured that it all runs at the usual buttery smooth 60fps We still need to polish up a few things and keep tuning the different attacks and phases, but it feels great to finally inject him with some of the extra character and personality that's been floating around in my head for so long :) Aside from the mansion boss, I've also been chipping away at reworking the airship HUB. My main goal right now is to get a feel for it's layout, size, and range of NPCS we need to really flesh it out and best serve the game structure-wise. We don't have anything too interesting to share just yet, but stay tuned for more updates in the future. That’s everything for this month. Thank you for reading, and we’ll See you all next time! :D Craig Progress Update - January 2020Jan 21, 2020 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! As we all kick-off a brand new year, it’s time for our very first progress update of 2020. Let’s jump right in! The lion’s share of our time this past month has been spent further developing the mansion’s boss. The main elements we’re working on are new art/animations to better illustrate his various attack tells and wind-ups. Experimenting with and Implementing the actual attacks themselves, and also exploring ways to better utilize the arena in interesting ways. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/935e805368bf63c69f5c0ac1f7d38149b52b8f4b.gif The above example shows the newly added “hat toot” animation for when the boss fires off a volley of seeker orbs to chase the player. Since the bosses are the largest sprites in the game by far, they’re quite time consuming and challenging to work on, but I’ve been making good progress towards my goal of a complete art pass. We’ve also been working on the addition of fun and unique little intro scenes for each boss battle. These quick little animations really help add a lot of charm and personality to each encounter as you prepare to take them on. Here’s a quick peek at Lord Skullington’s intro - Not all door knockers should be knocked… o.O {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/176b79279c62df099c56ba5970e4aa2a16c20ba5.png Once all of the art and various attack behaviors are in place, the next step is a full tuning pass across all of the phases, with lots and lots of playtesting across both single player and MP modes. That’s everything for this month. Thank you for reading, and we’ll See you all next time! :D Craig Progress Update - December 2019Dec 20, 2019 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! As the year draws to a close, here’s a rundown of what we’ve been up to this past month. Factory Zone Enemies To complement the industrial nature of the factory itself, I wanted to really lean into the steampunk element of the game. Furnace Face (far-right) is a heavy hitter with potential for nasty fire-based attacks. The Gear heads (center) could be a fast moving, projectile spraying spinning top of death. Lastly, the Gremlin (far left) are literal gremlins in the machine that may throw the odd spanner in the works...or at unsuspecting players :P {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/183e189e9b66d2bc8719da21d10762ded6924c5e.png We still have a ton of zone work left to do before we implement this gallery of rogues, but I look forward to seeing each of them offer new challenges in the factory zone. Zone Traps The game’s existing traps are an aspect of the game that we’ve been wanting to improve and flesh out for a long time. The spike traps in particular are too frequent, and not readable enough during more intense moments. Along with improvements to the spike traps, we also started developing a few zone-specific traps to help offer greater variety and challenge. The flame vent trap below is one example, but we’ve also been developing a more variants for the other zones to help them feel more distinct. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/011cf72eb8094bcf63b7cd5eb7c0ac83f54032c4.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/7529b051609fb4232304f741f9477620c28783bb.gif Traps are very challenging to implement due to how much potential network latency/syncing factors into their timings for online multiplayer, so we still have plenty to work on before we're ready to push them live. Mansion Boss/General Boss Foundation Work We recently started taking a proper look at how we would like the game's bosses to be implemented. This encompasses everything from generating their floors as lockable arenas, playing boss-specific intro animations, and also how and where loot is generated. With all this in mind, we decided to use Lord Skullington's battle as a test bed, which can then be applied to the game's other bosses. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/b0611a2c3557762c3d945be6b59a841c2ed21d74.gif Gavin has been making some great process on this front, while I've been roughing out and developing his attack animations and supporting art. Here's a VERY rough WIP of his full beam spin attack. That's everything for this month. We hope you have a great holidays, and we'll see you all in 2020! Craig & Gavin Progress Update - November 2019Nov 19, 2019 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone. In an effort to keep you all up to speed with what we’re currently working on, I’m aiming to put together an update post each month. Let’s jump right in! Combat Arenas We felt that the transition into/out of the locked combat rooms was one of the weakest interactions in the game. Snapping players into rooms was jarring, lacked any kind of clear transition, and was something we wanted to address. The first step was to add animations to the barriers themselves as they appear/disappear. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/a97e6cdf4f8990118823b13ed99ad99baa556ee0.gif With the game’s local and online multiplayer modes allowing players to split up and potentially be in different rooms when an arena is triggered, the barrier teleportation pads allow other players to join the battle when ready (or not if you have those type of friends :P). The game currently lacks a visual representation of this, so we integrated a “player turns into floating ectoplasm” teleport animation, along with a small period of invincibility as they enter the arena. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/43a07b352388a4180945f23fecd5bf662335ca1a.gif As with any major changes or additions that touch single player, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer, there are a ton of potential issues and edge-cases to test and fix. The online mode is especially challenging as various player state and position changes are involved, so we’re still a little way off pushing these changes live as we continue to tweak and play test. New Factory Zone As Gavin works on integrating the arena assets, I’ve also been fleshing out the fifth and final main zone, the abandoned Victorian steelworks. It’s an industrial-type area featuring molten lava pits and heavy machinery, topped with a layer of steampunkiness. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/11891660/d703f095c4adaf63d27766b0e155f9c7f4710bb7.png The above screengrab is a current WIP as I continue to refine and polish up certain aspects. Once the tiles for both floors are nailed down, I need to work on props (large and small), and also some enemies unique, zone-specific enemies to bring it all together. That’s about everything for this month. See you next time, and thank you for reading! Craig Making ProgressOct 16, 2019 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone, It's been a while since our last update, so I wanted to offer a quick rundown of what we've been up to since then. We're still in the process of working through a pretty massive team member transition, as Gavin, the game's new programmer gets up to speed with 5+ years worth of someone else's codebase. With this in mind, we felt that it was wise to initially focus on a broad range of general QOL improvements, polish and fixes across the entire game as he finds his feet, rather than dive into more complex aspects right off the bat. Rest assured that we're actively working towards another fully-fledged update, which will be set live as soon as it's ready. We thank you once again for all of your continual patience, it really means a lot :) Craig We’re Still Alive!Apr 12, 2019 - Community AnnouncementsFirstly, I wanted to offer a massive thank you to everyone for your continued patience and understanding over the past few months. We didn’t intend to have such an extended period of radio silence, but rest assured that the game is still very much in development, and will only leave early access once we feel like it’s a game that you’re happy with, and that we’re proud of. Towards the end of last year, we had to part ways with Ryan, the game’s programmer to date. This role will be passed on to Gavin, my business partner, and Retro Dreamer co-founder. There will obviously be a period of adjustment, but Ryan will still be on hand when needed to help ease the transition. We will be sure to keep you all up-to-date when we have things mapped out in more detail going forward. Thanks again, The Monsters & Monocles Team Content Update 13: In the Zone!Aug 9, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! Lots of cool new stuff this update, so let’s dive right in! https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11891660/c878a06ed3e1648b25f2c6b2c7fb9c3af56f677e.jpg This update is all about moving forward with our goal of adapting all of the existing zones to use the new room-based generation system. It’s taken a lot of work to get there, but we’re super happy to finally have both the city and forest zones be a step closer to where we want them to be. The forest zone still maintains its more organic shape and scattered tree cover, and be on the lookout for hidden pathways and shortcuts that cut through the treeline. For the city zone, we’ve built upon its mix of narrow side streets, branching paths, and open town squares. When things get dicey, look out for the various alleyways that can provide a quick escape route when you’re in a pickle! https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11891660/1e085a34a05bd11f43bcf328569e145d21687e63.jpg As with the tomb rework from the last update, the current state of these zones is very much an initial rough pass. Our priority was to get them up and running and playable with the new system, and to give them a much needed visual overhaul. We’ll be working on adding more room variety, enemy behaviors/types, and overall polish in future updates. Alongside the city and forest zone reworks, we also added a range of new chest/treasure room variants. There are now three separate weapon chests, with each corresponding to their appropriate level of weapon rarity. The skull-adorned monster caches are fairly rare, and offer two guaranteed weapon drops. These are great for when you want to overhaul your loadout. The ornate relic chests are very rare, and offer either a relic, or a single soul gem (the persistent currency used to purchase and upgrade relics). The final treasure room variant is a large decorative teapot, that spawns a host of tea/health pickups when opened. In terms of actual room types, you may also come across a few new variants as you explore each zone. Portal rooms are currently a very rough pass towards reintegrating them back into the game. Things like positioning, terms of when/where they spawn, art/polish, and enemy types spawned are all things that will be tuned and developed as we go. The mansion now has a dedicated exit room that leads to the zone boss. This idea will eventually be incorporated into all of the other zones. Although not currently functional just yet, we also added support for dedicated miniboss rooms. These will be explored further in a future update. Finally, the mysterious, glowing statue rooms are an exciting first step towards developing stronger narrative threads and context that will run through all of the zones. That’s all I want to say about those for now...I’ve already said too much! _> Thank you for reading, and for the continued support and encouragement. Please leave any feedback or suggestions you may have in the foru...Content Update 12: Time to Get Active!May 10, 2018 - Community AnnouncementsHi everyone! This update ended up being one of our largest to date, as we added new things, polished some old things, and generally made some big core changes. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11891660/235d3639f01f6cd8d3ffb778c5b6cadef8ebfd65.gif The primary focus on this update was to improve all of the elements relating to items & relics, as well as finally adding active items! Players now have a single active item slot that can be triggered during key moments using ‘F’ on the keyboard, or the ‘X’ button on XBox controllers. We felt that providing players with powerful one-off, or limited use abilities was a good way to compliment their weapon and passive item selections. Right now, there currently 2 active items for testing - The holy hand grenade (applies set damage to all enemies on screen with 3 minute cooldown), and the coolant flush (resets cooldown on carried weapons with 3 uses). As this is just the initial pass, they both lack clear HUD indicators, final effects, and general balancing, but those are all things we’ll be addressing in future updates as we roll more active items into the mix. The holy hand grenade does have a red overlay as it recharges, to at least show when it’s usable/unusable in the short term. Alongside the active items, we also added animations, and general visual polish to all of the existing items, relics, and treasure chests. Our goal was to make collectible items both more satisfying to collect, and to improve their readability during gameplay. The last big addition on this front, are the new soul gems, which act as second, relic-specific currency. These gems are used to purchase and upgrade relics, and are persistent across runs, meaning that you can gradually work towards upgrading specific relics, without the fear of losing a large amount of regular coins upon death before reaching the airship. Right now they’re only a guaranteed drop from bosses, and upgrade amounts aren’t tuned, but we’ll be working into things in subsequent updates. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/11891660/27729fee2e21afb27b1ccc403a287f3cf9b32404.jpg Aside from items, we also felt like it was a good time to make a couple of more fundamental changes to the core gameplay. The two largest being the removal of both lives and objectives. As we tuned enemy behaviors, damage, and overall challenge, we began to feel like the concept of lives was diminishing the sense of tension/reward, as all lives prior to the final one felt somewhat inconsequential. Having just one life in single player now means that health is much more precious and rewarding when found, and items like the ankh (which offers a single-use revive upon death), and relics relating to HP feel much more important. We also carried this concept over to multiplayer, with players able to revive one another indefinitely, as long as at least one player is alive. Although the shared pool of lives was interesting, we felt i...
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