Monster Crown Sequel Monster Crown: Sin Eater is headed to Kickstarter [Interview]
Jason W, creator of Monster Crown, is back in action after the successful launch of his first game. A sequel for the series is now in the works, with a kickstarter slated for launch on March 25th. Monster Crown: Sin Eater promises to be a bigger and better (and significantly more polished) sequel. Here at The Geekly Grind, Jason was kind enough to give us some keys for the demo that will launch with the Kickstarter and answer a few of my burning questions about the series.
There's a lot of good info and interesting tidbits here to dive into. The first half covers the creation of Monster Crown, while the second half talks about the vision of Monster Crown: Sin Eater. Both Jason, the creator of Monster Crown, and Ahab, game director of the sequel were kind enough to provide their insight. If you're just here for an early scoop on the demo, my brief thoughts will be at the end of the article.
1. (J)Tell me a little about yourself and how you came to be a game dev
I’m from Newfoundland, Canada, which is a fairly rural place. As a kid, we had to drive for over an hour to reach the city to purchase games as a kid. That didn’t stop me from diving hardcore into the classics on my Super Nintendo and Gameboy though!
While I always dabbled a bit in the free game making engine, GameMaker, creating basic projects through my teens and early twenties, Monster Crown really started as pixel monster cross-breeding simulator. It was never meant to be a full game, however, after sharing more and more online we quickly found that a lot of people out there were hoping for the same type of experience!
Shortly after, upon fan request, we ran a Kickstarter. It reached 10x its goal, I couldn’t believe my eyes, and the rest is history!
Monster Crown grew from a humble project into a full indie game that I was giving my absolute all to. Perhaps too much, as I came down with some horrible health issues and a llife-long disability. I was not prepared at all for the fever with which our fanbase grew, the interest of an international publisher, and the eventual release of our game as a physical release for Nintendo Switch, but in the end Monster Crown is teeming with content and while I wish the project had been executed with a more mature vision, that’s what Monster Crown: Sin Eater is all about - rebuilding it from the ground up, doing it right. Thanks to the success of the first game, we now have a dedicated team!
To visit the same gaming stores that I found gameboy classics as a kid, and pick up my own game sitting there on the shelf was unreal. Things really took me by surprise in a big way with how everything came together to reach that dream!
2. (J)Tell me a little about Monster Crown--where did the idea come from
The idea came from being a kid that had enjoyed Pokemon Blue and was obsessed with it, and finding my way onto the internet at a relative’s house. Searching online I eventually came across Serebii.net and read all about these upcoming games, Pokemon Gold and Silver!
Reading that the game involved breeding and producing of eggs, I quickly found myself dreaming of how i’d make a Pikatortle or a Charichu. I really didn’t know any better at the time and most of the material online was translated from japanese by other 10-12 year olds like myself.
While I loved the games when I finally got my hands on them, I was always a little disappointed to see that breeding didn’t actually work that way. In 2016 I decided to make a tech demo to show how that might work. Things really took off from there and I’m incredibly proud of the breeding system in Monster Crown, which I firmly believe is the best breeding system the genre has to offer.
3. (J)What was it like to work on Monster Crown as a solo game dev
It was incredibly difficult. Well, at first it was very tremendously exciting. Four or five months into development, to see 500 people on twitter interested blew my mind. To see the success that came afterwards in our Kickstarter, Early Access release and eventual release just continued to blow me away. So the excitement was there, I won’t tell you it didn’t feel like a dream that I was about to wake up from any moment.
That being said as a first time developer creating a game in Unity3D (there wasn’t great support for 2D at the time), I wasn’t aware of some key technical decisions I should’ve been making to support a full length game. This remained a struggle throughout development. Constantly trying to upgrade/revamp things to meet the demand and popularity level wasn’t easy. Additionally I was not an artist, so to learn to make sprites and designs of monsters that people found appealing was never easy, I did get fairly good at it though throughout the years of development. The finished Monster Crown looks nothing like what it did at the start!
As I mentioned I also experienced significant health issues. Those multiplied the difficulty of this first-time effort. I didn’t help matters that I wouldn’t compromise on scope - keeping a secret whole second continent of post-game that I wanted as a special surprise for devoted players who kept playing after the end-credits rolled. So it was difficult, but I also was accomplishing things weekly that I never dreamed I was capable of a year or two before, so it was a truly important part of my life.
4. (J)I loved Monster Crown but it was a little rough around the edges for sure. What was one thing you wanted to change in the sequel?
I was lucky enough that with all the people Monster Crown attracted, many were themselves incredibly skilled. I started to collaborate with a few of them toward the end of development. Thanks to Monster Crown 1, I could hire a team to create Monster Crown: Sin Eater, each taking over individual aspects that I handled on my own previously. Not only does the extra horsepower make a huge difference, each of these people are amazingly skilled (far more than I am) at their individual areas. This means every level of Monster Crown receives a huge upgrade in Monster Crown 2, additionally, we started over from scratch with the game’s engine, there’s no shared code between Monster Crown and Monster Crown: Sin Eater, and when you get hands on with the free demo on the 25th, you won’t have to take my word for it, you’ll see, feel and hear it yourself!
< Questions after this point seem much more specific to Monster Crown: Sin Eater, so I brought in the sequel’s director, Ahab, to answer the next few questions for the most direct answer from the one that helped craft our new approach >
5. (A)What is Monster Crown: Sin Eater?
Monster Crown: Sin Eater is probably everything the first Monster Crown should have been. When you have an all-star team like this firing on all cylinders? It's something special.
6. (A)Do you need to have played the first one to play this one?
You don't need to have played the first one to jump right into Sin Eater, it's a narrative that stands entirely on its own two feet and offers a totally self-contained experience.
Players who thoroughly explored the first game are going to be rewarded, though, since plotlines are subtly continued or answered in the sequel. Naturally, not everything is going to be completely answered, and some mysteries are going to continue to be built up in future stories.
We were actually originally going to do a completely different story as "Monster Crown 2", but the scale of that narrative was beyond our capability then. This game is designed to help bring new players in, and also help existing players unpick the broader meta-narrative that's being made.
7. (A)What is the same in the sequel?
The first thing we really did at the start of development was make a lot of big decisions about what worked and what didn't work, and if it didn't work we just got rid of it. What we ended up with was a lean but extremely precise game design philosophy. The playable result is something that feels very similar to the first game but with enormous amounts of polish and refinement by comparison. People who have played through the first one will feel right at home here.
8. (A)What are you inspirations for Monster Crown: Sin Eater
Sin Eater's inspiration list is pretty lengthy. A lot of its narrative is based around Dharmic myth (The protagonist's name, "Asur", should make that much clear) as well as more obscure Abrahamic religious esotericism/symbolism. A lot of the characterization is inspired by Jung's analytical theory; "Man and his Symbols" and "The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious" were fundamental to the character writing.
The world design leverages classic 8-bit looking graphics (a decision made to suit the gameplay feature of Monster breeding and not the other way around) but it has been imbued with texture and cultural history, a sort of 1920's Eurasian melting pot (Something that is relevant to the culture and history of the game's setting, The Crown Nation) which helps bring these locales to life. Moebius and Jodorowsky were also foundational artistic inspirations for the colourful cast of characters you'll meet in Sin Eater. Monster-wise, we've always been inspired by a healthy mixture of 90's Monster Taming games (Digimon, Generation 1/2 Pokemon, Telefang, etc.) but I love to revisit ideas pioneered by classic tokusatsu series like the Ultra series or Kamen Rider.
The whole concept of the Beastmen, one of the primary antagonist factions, is actually inspired by Kamen Rider's SHOCKER kaijin - humans granted supernatural abilities by splicing them with animals. I'm also a big fan of the characters seen in Goichi Suda's games like Travis Touchdown or Sumio Mondo - personalities with a lot of personal touches and eccentricities that make them feel more real than a lot of standard archetypes.
9. What are you most excited for players to experience in the sequel
A)I really can't say. It's too big to give away, but it happens right at the end. I teared up a bit when I finished writing it.
J) I’m extremely hyped to see people enjoy the core of Monster Crown in a way that’s easy, smooth and enjoyable to design. I’m also eager to see how fans enjoy the meld of Ahab’s inspirations and my own. It’s the next level of Monster Crown for sure!
10. (Both)What's your favorite monster (okay this one I wanted to ask because I've always been curious)
A) Chesgard. One of the first Monsters I saw from the first one (as I recall, it was part of the interactive "make a hybrid" things on our old website from years ago) and I'm a big fan of monsters and robots with mono-eyes, like the Zaku from Mobile Suit Gundam.
B) I’ve had many favorites over the years. As a kid I had this nightmare of a monstrous enemy attacking me in a monster taming game, and when I collaborated with Shad Schwark on the first game he brought it to life as Tanukrook. There’s a giant bead pixel of it in my basement hanging on the wall! I also love Jungro, Raptyl and Apo’s baby form.
And that's a wrap!
Getting hands on with the upcoming demo was an additional bonus of getting to talk with Jason. It was a treat. Right off the bat all the care and polish that has gone into the sequel is visible. It's crisp, sleek, and plays super well.
The demo is a pretty good length. There's a surprising number of monsters and things for players to do. I've spent about a hour and half with the demo, and while I'm nowhere near finished (I'd roughly estimate about 2-3 hours to see and do everything) I've enjoyed every minute, and cannot wait to see what the finished product will look like.
Don't just take my word for it though! The demo will be available on Tuesday this week (March 25th), launching right beside the Kickstarter. You can follow the Kickstarter here to be notified the exact moment it goes live, and even keep track of the game on Steam here.
