Greetings, one and all! It's time for your every-once-in-a-while scoop of MonCon development information! Progress on the game is still trundling along at a healthy pace. But before we get down into the nitty-gritty of where the game is at, let's briefly reminisce about the fun we all had at CSGC...
CSGC = Completely Super Gaming Convention
Ok, that's not at all what it stands for, but that pretty accurately captures our feelings about the event. Formerly the Heartland Gaming Expo, CSGC is one of our favorite conventions to attend, and not just because it's local and doesn't involve lugging all our crap to another city. It's also the very first convention that Anton and I ever attended to show off The Idiot's Tale way back in 2015. This was our seventh year in attendance, and they haven't kicked us out yet for exhibiting too many times, so CSGC 2024 is already on the calendar as far as we're concerned!
If you're local to the Tulsa area, I highly recommend stopping by next year. We had a blast talking to everyone and watching people get to play the new build of MonCon (and find some bugs for us!)
Now on to the MonCon progress update...
As you can see, Chapter 3 of the game is mostly complete. A huge chunk of time over the last couple of months was spent on completely rewiring the NPC character creation system. While it's always annoying to have to go back and redo work, it was a worthwhile investment. In the past, each NPC had to be meticulously created by hand, but the new system allows us to create NPCs much faster. It's something like one of those character creators you'd see in a triple-A game where you can cycle through a hundred different sets of eye types until you find that absolutely perfect eyeball that expresses you.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, designing NPCs is much faster now. This means that work on the remainder of the game will also be faster.
Since we're in the last stages of Chapter 3 development, this involves creating art assets and adding the last little bits of polish to give MonCon that extra oomph in the quality department. We've been working with our composer, and have new pieces of ambient music for Chapter 3, as well as brand-new battle attack songs that we can't wait for you guys to hear.
As far as what lies ahead, we have two more upcoming conventions - both of them in June, one physical, and one digital. There's the Nescatunga Arts Festival in Alva, Oklahoma, happening from June 2nd to June 4th. We'll have an even more complete build of MonCon for people to play.
Secondly, we'll also be participating in Steam Next Fest this year. There will be at least one livestream where we show off MonCon gameplay and answer questions from YOU, the fans! Be sure to follow us on social media to get the latest and greatest updates about both these events.
Don't forget you can still join the MonCon Discord server to meet up with other MonCon fans online!
That's all for now! Until next time!
~ Elliott
MonCon Newsletter #10
Well, here we are at the end of 2022! It's hard to believe I've been working on MonCon on and off for close to five years now. This past year has definitely seen the most amount of steady progress on the game.
I have some cool new content to share, but before we get too far down into the weeds, I'll let you guys in on this newsletter's big announcement:
MonCon will be coming out by the end of 2023!
I've finished enough this year that I feel safe drawing this line in the sand. 2023 will still be a tight race to the finish line, but I think that this deadline strikes a good balance between getting the game out in a reasonable amount of time so that I can move on to other projects, and not compromising on the game's overall quality.
So by hook or by crook, come hell or high water, the full version of MonCon will be in your hands by this time next year.
Now, let's consult the progress chart and see where things are at:
As you can see, the game's side-quests are mostly done! Right now, I'm working with a secondary writer for the rest of the side-quest content. My goal in doing this is to really cement that eclectic "melting pot" vibe that you get when attending a convention, and bringing in a second writing voice should really help with that. But working with outside help means that a fraction of the game's cutscenes and quests are still cooking in the pipeline.
Meanwhile, MonCon's arcade minigames are also coming along nicely. I've settled on a grand total of eleven minigames for the final game. Seven of those are complete, but the remaining four should have a fairly short development cycle, as they'll mostly be reskins / tweaks / advanced versions of the existing minigames.
Here's a peek at one of the brand-new minigames I just put the finishing touches on:
I've also begun working on brand new monsters you'll have to conversation-battle in the later chapters of the game. There are a lot of new monster designs that I can't wait for you all to see! Here's a few that you'll have to converse with in Chapter 3...
Last but not least, I wanted to give everyone a convention-related update. As per our usual tradition, we will be attending CSGC in Tulsa, Oklahoma in April. This time around, we will have a brand-new build of MonCon that will be feature-complete up to the end of Chapter 3, AKA the first 40% or so of the game. This goes far beyond any public demo of MonCon I've ever shown at previous conventions. If you're in the area, you'll definitely want to drop by to check out all the new game content.
And that's it for now! Wishing everyone safe winter travels, and we'll talk again in the new year!
That's all for now!
Happy New Year!
~ Elliott
MonCon Newsletter #9
It's time for another MonCon progress update!
This newsletter will be on the shorter side, as I'm just dropping by to let everyone know that the game is still making steady progress. But first, I want to get a bit of bad news out of the way...
For most of 2022, I had been dropping subtle hints about "big news" that I'd be able to announce soon. Well, that "big news" unfortunately didn't materialize as hoped, so I'll just go ahead and tell everyone what happened: MonCon had acquired a publisher.
I had begun working with said publisher earlier in the spring, and we'd come to an agreement that they'd help me localize the game and release it onto consoles. Sadly, that publishing deal fell through, so I'm back to just working on finishing the game solo. It was definitely a disappointing setback, but it hasn't deterred me from soldiering on to finish the game.
Anyway! Here's where we're at on the big ol' progress chart:
As you can see, since the last newsletter two months ago, I've finished writing almost all of the game's "major" cutscenes and quests. This would be everything you have to see and do in order to finish the game. I've decided to hold off writing Chapter 6 (aka the climax of the game) for the time being, because, well, the ending is still a little undecided for me. I know all the major beats of what will happen, but the particulars of how I want to land this plane are still eluding me (for now anyway).
The red "Cutscenes & Puzzles" bar has now been split in two, so that I can also show progress on all the sub-quests that don't actually pertain to finishing the game. There will be a plethora of little fun things for you to do around MonCon besides moving towards your ultimate goal of getting an audience with the legendary Mr. Miyashiro. As of today, I've completed most of the work for the sub-quests that will occur during Chapter 3.
Most of the speedy game development I'm getting to enjoy now has been made possible by a brand-new master debug screen that I've added to the game's code to help me work faster:
This debug screen lets me control the game's state (i.e. Which quests have been completed? What chapter am I on?), as well as add or remove team members, add or remove inventory items, and toggle which NPCs have already been defeated in battle. It was a solid day of work to get this screen implemented, but the time savings for being able to teleport around the game at will, with any item, any teammate, to any point in the story? Those time savings have been immense. I definitely wouldn't be able to chuck extra sub-quests into the game as quickly as I am without this debug screen.
To any other game developers out there that may be reading this newsletter: these types of debug screens are a huge boon for quick development, and I highly recommend taking the time to implement one for your own project.
Now, even with all the strides I've made this fall towards finishing the game, it's looking like a 2022 release date is not happening at this point. On the plus side, I'm fairly confident that enough of MonCon will be finished by next spring that I'll have a new, longer demo to take to the convention circuit in 2023. I'll keep you all posted on that.
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Don't forget you can still join the MonCon Discord server to meet up with other MonCon fans online!
