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[Released] Monster Sanctuary - Demo is out!

59
Posts
6
Years

  • rrP1Mc9.png




    Demo Download: https://store.steampowered.com/app/814370/Monster_Sanctuary


    Hey all!

    i thought the poke community might be interested in my project, so i decided to create a thread here.
    It is not based on actual pokemons but my own ideas & creations.
    Also it is based on the idea of having a monster collecting game with metroidvania like exploration + visuals!

    OeREq9e.png


    Story

    Monster Sanctuary is a land that is populated by monsters. Only a minority of humans is populating
    that land, gathered together in the Keeper Stronghold. Although the hostile nature of the monsters, the
    inhabitants of the Stronghold learned to grow and train them. For that they have a special class: The Monster Keeper.

    JPJ6BOt.png


    As the youngest heir of an ancient bloodline of proud Monster Keepers, you step out into the world to
    follow in your ancestors' footsteps. You will gather a party of monsters to grow and train. You are aided
    by a Spectral Wolf, the familiar of your bloodline. Meanwhile, a series of unsettling events worries the
    experienced Keepers of the Monster Sanctuary. This is the beginning of a journey to unravel the cause
    of this mystery that threatens the peace between humans and monsters.


    Gameplay

    You are exploring in 2D sideview and by collecting items or monsters you are able to unlock new areas.

    bsi0we2.gif


    The base combat setup is 3 vs 3. The monster actions consume mana but you regenerate a certain
    amount of mana every turn. Mana management is an important gameplay feature.

    MfdebXJ.gif


    I tried to make the combats very strategical. There is a combo count in place that increases the damage of consecutive attacks in the same turn.
    - every hit of an attacks increases it
    - every heal applied increases it
    - every buff applied increases it
    It makes sense to have supportive monster act first and do high hit count attacks or support actions to
    maximize the damage of the monsters acting last. So the order you do your actions matters!

    As a player you are motivated to play efficient by a combat result that ranges from 1 to 5 stars, based
    on your efficiency. By getting a high rating, you increase the chances to receive rare items. Among rare
    items there are Monster Eggs. This is the main way in the game how you increase your monster party.
    You hatch those eggs!

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    I also put a quite some effort in adding the possibility to individualize the monsters. Every monster has
    an unique skill tree where you as a player decide which direction you want your monster to evolve.

    VC0BQtC.gif


    There are a lot of active and passive skills with many synergies. Skills can have a lot of different themes
    - Damage, healing, buffs, debuffs, critical hits, shielding and more.

    8If5Bjs.gif


    Also you can further individualize your monsters by equipping them like in RPGs and improving certain stats.

    loDNJVl.gif


    Development

    I'm developing the game mostly alone, doing the programming, pixel art, music, sfx, game design, level
    design all by myself. My brother is helping me with ideas, story and dialogues.
    Tools i'm using:
    Engine - Unity Engine
    IDE - Visual Studio
    Pixel Art - Photoshop
    Music/SFX - FL Studio
    Gifs - Fraps+VirtualDUB

    I'm eager to hear your Feedback!
    If you want to follow the project:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    https://monster-sanctuary.com
     
    Last edited:
    1,906
    Posts
    15
    Years
    • Age 30
    • Seen Oct 21, 2019
    I just want to say I took a look at this thread and was absolutely blown away for how pretty everything looks. It's clear that you're incredibly passionate and this is definitely one of the games I'm keeping on my radar!

    Pretty happy to see something not related to Pokémon!
     

    Lunos

    Random Uruguayan User
    3,114
    Posts
    15
    Years
  • This reminds me a lot of Terraria, Pokémon and a little bit of Digimon after reading "you as a player decide which direction you want your monster to evolve".
    Honestly, this looks really freaking amazing dude. I'm going to bookmark it and I'll be looking forward to a playable release. Nice job :)
     
    Last edited:

    IRON NIDOW

    I'm a talking dog
    70
    Posts
    15
    Years
  • Great concept, and very beautiful graphics, it's good we have more opitions of monster catching games, I wish all sucess!!! ^^
     
    28
    Posts
    7
    Years
  • Yay, more monster-catching game not related to Pokemon~ Really digging the side-view graphics so far~

    Let's end Pokemon's monopoly of monster-catching game, pfft.
     
    59
    Posts
    6
    Years
  • Thanks for the heartwarming Feedback! Honestly i was a bit nervous how the community might receive a non Pokemon game.

    And yeah, i'm also curious why there aren't more indie monster collecting games out there, considering how crowded most other genres are.

    I'll keep posting updates here now and then! :)
     
    32
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    9
    Years
  • I will give it a 11 on 10 as far as first impression goes. I am really looking forward to playing it, keep up the good work.
     
    37,467
    Posts
    16
    Years
    • Age 34
    • they/them
    • Seen Apr 19, 2024
    This looks so cool! I love pixly stuff ^^ Glad you're putting in some form of proper story as well and not just making it a fantasy-pokémon clone ;)
     

    Logan

    [img]http://pldh.net/media/pokecons_action/403.gif
    10,417
    Posts
    15
    Years
  • Truly truly amazing, can't believe you're developing this alone. Have you thought about publishing this as a real game (aka selling it)?
     
    59
    Posts
    6
    Years
  • Thanks! Yes i want to try a kickstarter in September. If it succeeds, i could work on it full time :)
    (Else it will take forever to finish :p)
    But first i want to release a free demo version (probably end of April), gather feedback and iterate/improve on it to have a really good demo version for the kickstarter.
     
    59
    Posts
    6
    Years
  • I've re-formatted the main post a bit, it doesn't look as ugly now!
    Also here are some updates what i worked on in the last 1-2 Months:


    Keeper's Stronghold

    A5mQuYo.gif


    I've worked on this new area, the "Keeper's Stronghold". Intertwined with the rest of the game world, It
    will be the main hub of the game. Here you will meet many npcs, merchants and so on. I've also
    worked on implementing the shop functionality. In Monster Sanctuary you can buy equipment to equip
    your monsters. Every monster has a Weapon slot and 3 accessory slots. Weapons can either boost
    attack, magic or both. Depending on the available skills, you can decide if you want to focus a
    monster on physical attacks, magical attacks or going hybrid.

    loCXcp4.gif


    It is the place where most of the Monster Keepers as well as all the other humans live together with monsters they raised.

    BasJG9g.gif


    There will me more features in there:
    - A smith npc who can upgrade monster equipment
    - Boss challenge mode.
    - You can donate your excess eggs to the Stronghold so they can build up a 'Monster Army' - you getrewards for every egg you donate and some special rewards if the Monster Army reaches certain strength threshhold.
    - "Infinity Arena" - you fight random monsters and with every won battle, enemy level rises and you fight new ones.
    The higher level your reach, the better reward you get. The challenge is to reach as high
    level as possible. This will be one of the endgame features.
    - Some other endgame activities

    Furthermore i composed the theme for this area. Here is a video with music:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oxUVThwAcw

    Also i worked on a new Monster, the first flying monster: Vaero.

    q2cufzU.gif
     
    Last edited:
    37,467
    Posts
    16
    Years
    • Age 34
    • they/them
    • Seen Apr 19, 2024
    Absolutely adore the animation style! The hub sounds like a good idea.
     

    Hawkeye17

    The Dragon Tamer
    56
    Posts
    6
    Years
  • I usually don't play or like games with fakemon and their variety. But i loved this game i will be waiting for uts releases.
     
    2,982
    Posts
    15
    Years
  • Definitely going to follow this. It's amazing enough you're developing this alone including all of the assets; have you considered assembling a small team?
     
    59
    Posts
    6
    Years
  • yeah i already got quite some offers (mostly people wanting to do the music). But since i'm working as a programmer on some bigger projects as my current job, i explicitly want to do all the creative parts of the game myself :)

    Also looking at solodev idols like Eric Barone (stardew valley) or
    Thomas Happ (Axiom Verge) - my dream is to achieve something similar.
     
    Last edited:

    shinymissingno

    ??? Pokemon
    50
    Posts
    8
    Years
  • I don't normally pay attention to non-pokemon games on this site, but this actually looks really interesting - I'm looking forward to being able to play it~!
     
    1,906
    Posts
    15
    Years
    • Age 30
    • Seen Oct 21, 2019
    So every monster you collect will have it's on skill-tree?

    aaaaaaaah this seems so cool
     
    59
    Posts
    6
    Years
  • Yes! I want the player to be able to have a lot of possibilities how he evolves his monsters.

    Some more updates:

    iterated on grummy monster and i think he looks a lot better now (although he looks a bit like baby Cthulu)
    3asIUyM.gif


    I worked on the 'Blue Cave' area again that i didn't touch for quite long. I added some more variation there with some green moss and mushrooms

    Tstnal1.gif


    Also i added there a first puzzle/riddle

    4gEcP2C.gif


    And encountered some funny bug

    Y0cp10T.gif



    Starting Monsters

    Created the three other spectral familiars besides the spectral Wolf:

    Bkyw4hL.gif


    Every single one is an ageless defender of of a Keeper's Stronghold bloodline.

    Later on you will be able to choose which one aids the protagonists bloodline and is his starting monster. But i wont quite have that in the upcoming demo yet.​
     
    Last edited:
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