- MONSTERS 'TIL MIDNIGHT IS OUT NOW! - 31 May 2023
Hi 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. We really hope you enjoy the game! The Retro Dreamer team
- Progress Update: May - October 2022 - 17 November 2022
Hi 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 summ…
- Progress Update: February - April 2022 - 9 May 2022
Hi 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! 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. 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. James Gearsford hard at work maintaini…
- Progress Update - January 2022 - 5 February 2022
Hi 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 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. 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…
- Progress Update: September - October 2021 - 2 November 2021
Hi 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 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 especiall…
- Progress Update: July - August 2021 - 15 September 2021
Hi 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 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! Relics For the new relics, I continued to lean into the same mythological themes and fig…
- Progress Update: April - June 2021 - 5 July 2021
Hi 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 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 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 re…
- Progress Update - March 2021 - 13 April 2021
Hi 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 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. 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. 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. WIP s…
- Winter Update 2020/2021 - Personal Challenges - 1 March 2021
Hi 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 a…
- Progress Update: August - September 2020 - 6 October 2020
Hi 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 Mostly polish, and a proper representation of the central eye platform that will eventually unlock the final boss level once you co…
- Progress Update - July 2020 - 3 August 2020
Hi 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 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) 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 Challen…
- Progress Update - March - June 2020 - 4 June 2020
Hi 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. 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 give…
- Progress Update - February 2020 - 28 February 2020
Hi 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, b…
- Progress Update - January 2020 - 21 January 2020
Hi 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. 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 bos…
- Progress Update - December 2019 - 20 December 2019
Hi 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 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…
- Progress Update - November 2019 - 19 November 2019
Hi 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. 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” telepor…
- Making Progress - 16 October 2019
Hi 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! - 12 April 2019
Firstly, 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! - 9 August 2018
Hi everyone! Lots of cool new stuff this update, so let’s dive right in! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F11891660%2Fc878a06ed3e1648b25f2c6b2c7fb9c3af56f677e.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-…
- Content Update 12: Time to Get Active! - 11 May 2018
Hi 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://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F11891660%2F235d3639f01f6cd8d3ffb778c5b6cadef8ebfd65.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 cool…
