Final Community Contest Winners & "Counter Attack" Update
Hello, Monster Keepers!
We have the winning Monsters of the final community Monster contest to share with you today. We were very impressed with both the quantity and the quality of the Monster submissions of this contest! The final number of submissions was 177, and it was a real challenge to select the best Monsters from among them. All of us at Moi Rai games (now with a staff of 8 members!) participated in this task, with each of us taking the time to appraise every single submission individually.
The Winners
These are the winners from the contest, which you will be able to encounter and collect in the free Forgotten World DLC! As we were very happy with the Monsters designed by the community, we decided to include the first three Monsters as well as two dev picks! This means that all five of them will be added to the game. The winners are:
Krakaturtle by FossilFace, the adorable volcano turtle, got the most votes with 234 votes. It's not just a very creative design, but it should also fit perfectly into the new area!
The second place went to Tar Blob by Gullintanni, with its cool concept on an ancient Blob, with 193 votes. That's right - we're finally adding the highly demanded sixth Blob to the game!
Terradrile by Y2A_Alkis, the gigantic ancient earthworm, won the third place with 136 votes. A unique combination of lightning and earth!
Our first developer pick is Amberlgna by its king as a very well-done Monster design based on an unassuming insect. It should make for a good new Insect-type support Monster!
Our second developer pick is Rampeed by White Dragon for fitting into the existing set of new Monsters very well and being a cool, mountable dinosaur. We already have some exciting new gameplay ideas for this Monster!
We are already in the process of turning those designs into Monsters in the game. We hope you will enjoy playing with the new Monsters and skills that we will be adding to the game!
As the Forgotten World DLC will be the final content update for Monster Sanctuary, this was the final community contest for the game. But who knows - we might have similar community contests for our future games!
Update 1.3 - "Counter Attack" Update
We also have some news on the next planned update for the game. It has received an official name: Counter Attack Update. This update will focus mostly on bug fixes and balancing changes, but it will also introduce two new passive skills and a Quality-of-Life change. This will be a smaller update overall, while we are focusing our efforts on the Forgotten World DLC (Update 2.0), which will be the next update for the game! We are planning to bring it to all platforms in Q2 2022.
Monster Sanctuary hotfix 1.2.2 (fixing PvP "out of sync" issues)
Monster Keepers!
We released another Hotfix for Monster Sanctuary (1.2.2) on Steam,
This update tackles the "out of sync" issues our PvP players were getting recently regarded to certain passive skills.
Related skills which were able to cause "out of sync" issues were:
Usually chances for an out of sync were also increased when playing on higher game speed or having a slow PC.
This update comes just in time for our community organized PvP Tournament - interested can check out the announcement on the Monster Sanctuary tournament discord - today is the last chance to sign up!
Announcement: Monster Sanctuary Free DLC & a new Community Monster Contest!
Hello, Monster Keepers!
Today, we have several exciting announcements to share with everyone.
Monster Sanctuary Free DLC coming 2022
We are very happy to announce that a free DLC for Monster Sanctuary is in the works! It will add a new area to the game, as well as new Monsters and more. Be the first Monster Keeper in history to uncover the Forgotten World and its secrets! Catch a variety of ancient Monsters that were long thought to be extinct.
The free Forgotten World DLC is coming to all platforms in 2022, between Q2 and Q3.
Public Community Monster Contest
We are starting a new Community Monster Contest today! We were so happy with how the previous Monsters Contests went, that we decided it only made sense to launch a sixth contest for our free DLC (for a list of all previous Community Contest winners, check out this older post on our Kickstarter page: Community Contest Winners).
This contest will be open to all of our fans! So anyone can submit their Monster designs as well as vote on them. The contest will be held on our Discord server, just as the previous contests - so you will have to join our server if you'd like to participate.
Once you've joined, please check out the #contest-rules channel! Everything you need to know about the rules of the contest is written there, like how your Monster submission should look like. The submission period is open from today until Monday, October 4th at 9:00am PDT. You are also able to register as a voter during this time, so please don't forget to do that as well.
As with the previous contests, there will be three winners. Two of them will be the two Monsters with the most votes. The third winner will be directly selected by us, the developers of the game.
The winning Monsters will be part of the free Forgotten World DLC. Depending on the individual designs, they will be either added to the new area, or they will be added to older, existing areas of the game. This means that we encourage you to make your design fitting to the "Forgotten World" area (looking ancient, prehistoric or otherwise fitting for this area) - but it is not a requirement of the contest! We will expect there to be a good mix of both regular designs as well as designs that follow the theme of the new area.
This is your chance to create something and make it a part of Monster Sanctuary! We can't wait to see all the amazing Monster designs!
Monster Sanctuary Update 1.3
We'd also like to announce that the next update for Monster Sanctuary (update 1.3) is in the works as well. This will be a smaller update, focussing mainly on bug fixes and balancing changes, while we are working on the Forgotten World DLC. It will also start a new PvP season. Expect this update to come out on all platforms later this year.
PvP Tournament
We'd also like to let you know that the next community-organized PvP tournament is in the sign-up phase right now as well (until September 12th). You can find out more about it and register for it on their Discord server:
Sersch, the creator of moi rai, will be participating in this tournament as well! Join for a chance to face off against the person who created Monster Sanctuary.
Monster Sanctuary Hotfix!
Hey Monster Keepers!
We have just gone live with a new hotfix (1.2.1) addressing some of the bugs that you guys have reported! Here are the notes on what we tackled!
Patch Notes:
The game freezes when skipping through the last end credits screen quickly
The game freezes when a player has the Buff Info menu open in PvP while their opponent disconnects
Combining Poison Eater skill with Power Healing passive for the spectral toad, makes the skill not selectable in combat
When switching the active monsters in Combat with L/R while having the confirm popup open if you want to retreat from Combat using a Smoke Bomb would leave the popup open while also setting the Combat Menu active for the switched monster.
'Energize' and 'Shock Charging' auras now no longer work if the Monster having the Aura is dead.
It was possible to stack multiple 'Shock Charging' auras despite it being marked as 'Unique Aura'
If you encounter any more issues and bugs please be sure to report them to us here!
Sadly, given the longer update turnover times on consoles, we're not quite able to release this hotfix patch as easily there. We will bundle the bugfixes with the next bigger update (1.3) on those platforms.
To stay up to date on Monster Sanctuary follow us on our social pages below!
Today we're launching the second major post-launch update for Monster Sanctuary! It's releasing today on all platforms - PC and consoles. We're calling this one the "Legendary Keeper Update", but it also includes player costumes, a couple of different speedrun features, and more! Check out the trailer here:
[previewyoutube="F8M58RtsBfE;full"]
Legendary Keeper Challenge
We added a new end-game / post-game challenge to the game! Deep within the Magma Chamber, you will find the hall of Legendary Keepers. Each statue is dedicated to one of our most generous Kickstarter backers, who helped make the production of Monster Sanctuary possible.
We asked each of those backers if they could contribute to our Legendary Keeper challenge with a team of Monsters of their own choosing. This resulted in a series of fourteen unique Keeper fights, which are some of the most challenging fights in the game! Each fight will reward you with some high-tier goodies once you've beaten it. Those who manage to beat every single fight will be awarded with a new unique accessory for their Monsters to equip!
Player Costumes
The big, flashy new feature of this update: player customization! You may now find different costumes on your travels through the Sanctuary. Six new costumes have been added to the game with this update, and we will add more with future updates. Also, there are now different color palettes for all of the player costumes, including the default player costume.
Some of the costumes can be found in new treasure chests that have been added to different areas of the game, while others are awarded for epic accomplishments in the game - like the "Keeper Master" outfit that is only granted to those who defeat all of the Champion Monsters in the game.
Once you've unlocked a costume, it carries over to NewGame+. You can change your costume in a new room inside the Keepers' Stronghold. There's also the option to change your character's gender and name there.
Speedrun Features
We also added a combination of different features to the game that should add quite some quality of life for those who'd like to speedrun Monster Sanctuary. Many thanks to those in our speedrunning community who helped us with their feedback, like Dixnine, PurpleThiccmin, vstevenv22, Odyssey18, ShneekeyTheLost, and KungFuSandshrew among others!
We added a timer that can be turned on as you start a new game. The timer keeps running while you're in game menus. The timer pauses during loading screens. The timer stops once you reduce the final boss's health points to 0 (but the timer will still run after the credits, in case you wish to continue your speedrun afterwards).
We added cutscene skipping to all larger cutscenes and NPC interactions in the game.
We added a new 3x combat speed option for even faster combat animations.
The current record (pre-update) for any% is held by DixNine at around 2 hours and 6 minutes. We are excited to see everyone's attempts to break the game in record time!
Direct PvP Challenges
With update 1.2, you will also be able to directly challenge your friends to a PvP match. It's very simple to use: One player has to "host" the game, which will give them a four-digit code. The other player joins their match by using this four-digit code. Private matches also allow you to adjust two PvP settings: who goes first and whether duplicate Monsters are allowed or not.
Please take note that PvP still only works if both players are playing on the same platform. Also, we unfortunately had to disable the PvP direct challenge feature on Xbox because of technical limitations.
Other changes
The Legendary Keeper Update (also called Update 1.2) also includes several highly requested changes that should increase the game's quality of life:
You can now automatically sort Monsters and your inventory based on different criteria.
The buff overview screen in combat is greatly improved, allowing you to see all the different active buff and debuff stacks at once.
Whether you’re new to the game or just need some additional guidance on your journey, when talking to your Spectral Familiar, they can now help you with some useful, general gameplay tips to get accustomed to the game’s mechanics.
For those up for more challenging encounters while backtracking old areas, there is now an NPC at the Monster Farm that lets you increase the minimum level for all wild Monsters depending on your Keeper Rank. This setting can be turned on and off.
The Health Bar now previews shield amounts for shielding actions. Also, we were able to finally fix the bug with the red bar not disappearing properly.
We start a new season for the PvP Leaderboards (Season 3).
Even on Casual mode, some of the Keeper battles were still too tough for some of our players. With this update, we specifically decreased the difficulty of Keeper battles on Casual mode by lowering all of the enemy Keeper Monsters' attributes.
Hardcover Monster Journals
As a small sidenote, we wanted to inform you that we printed a new batch of hardcover Monster Journals - which are available on our page: https://monster-sanctuary.com
These new Monster Journals are the "second edition" print - meaning that the skill trees inside are based on the current skill trees from the new Legendary Keeper update.
Goblin Miner: Gains 'Charged Banner', 'Charge Amplifier', 'Load Up' and an additional 'Mana Plus' node, loses 'Buff Charging'
Salahammer: Gains 'Charged Banner'
Koi: Gains 'Critical Healing' and 'Charged Reflexes'
Vaero: Gains 'Charged Reflexes'
Sycophantom: Gains 'Charged Chant', 'Load Up' and 'Healing Shield', loses 'Magic Powered Shield' and one 'Magic Plus' node
Blade Widow: Gains +1 Base Defense, both shifts gain +1 Base Attack
Beetloid: Light shift got -1 Base Defense
Targoat: Gains 'Load Up'
Dracozul: Gains 'Shared Barrier', loses one 'Health Plus' node
Darnation: Gains 'Antitoxins'
Aurumtail: 'Glimmer' was moved up in the skill tree
Kame: Gains +2 Base Attack, 'Multi Might', 'Charged Reflexes', 'Load Up', loses -1 Base Health, 'Meditate', one 'Attack Plus' and one 'Static'
Skill changes:
Meditation now grants 6 Charge stacks (instead of 5)
Charging Sphere now grants 3 Charge stacks on highest upgrade level (instead of 2)
'Backstab' damage bonus increased to 25% (from 20%)
All mass shielding actions got their shield amounts increased
'Force of Nature', 'Carnage' and 'Polar Winds' heal amount increased
'Power Focus' now grants a damage multiplier based on how many monsters acted the turn, meaning to get the most out of it you'll need the monster now to use it last in turn.
'Solar Blaze' mana cost increased to 250 (from 240)
'Solar Burst' level 3 mana cost increased to 230 (from 220)
'Gale' level 3 mana cost increased to 230 (from 220)
'Critical Socery' crit chance reduced to 5% (from 6%)
'Enlighten' trigger chance got reduced to 55% (from 60%)
'Martial Prowess' chance got reduced to 70% (from 75%)
'Channeling Balance' damage multipier + damage reduction value reduced to 6% (from 7.5%)
'Extra Channel' chance reduced to 12% (from 15%)
'Shield Burst' now expends 90% of the whole shield but the damage is lower (200% for Shield Burst level 2)
'Healing Wave' level 3 base heal amount reduced to 200 (from 225)
'Life Wave' heal amount increased for all levels
'Avalanche' crit damage bonus increased for level 2 + 3
'Dragon Mastery', 'Steam Punk', 'Tranquility' and 'Phoenix Heritage' applied debuffs now trigger proliferate, Flash Freeze and similar passives
'Holy Presence' now also triggers on healing and shielding actions
'Intelligent Swarm' now has 100% chance to apply a charge stack again (instead of 75%)
'Thorn Tendril' increases critical damage now (instead of critical chance) and the bleed damage is based on critical damage now (500% at highest upgrade level)
'Center of Mass' damage increased to 30% (from 25%)
'Electric Field', 'Icy Skin', 'Poison Glands' + 'Spiky Defense' now have 50% chance to trigger (instead of 40%)
'Spark' now has 50% chance to trigger on highest upgrade level (instead of 40%)
Additional Quality of Life changes
A new setting in the options menu: you can switch to the older Snowy Peaks and Keepers' Stronghold themes
Performance improvements (which should especially help the performance on the consoles) - the issue of a memory leak due to the player jumping was fixed
When the player is buying items, the quantity of already owned items of that type are displayed now
The player now gets warned when they are about to donate a Champion Monster
Ancestral Medal can now be found in Level 5 Reward Boxes, replacing Omni Ring; Omni Ring has been moved to Level 4 Reward Boxes, where it replaces +5 Belt
Here are the winners of our fanart contest
We want to sincerely thank everyone who participated in our contest! After long discussions and voting sessions, here are the winners. Congratulations!
GhoKoji's entry on Twitter about the story of the first Catzerker
Schiraki and her Manticorb Tiger - submitted on Instagram
Straussdraws atmospheric image of the Spectral Wolf - submitted on Twitter
Believe us, it was extremely hard to decide for only three winners since all of them deserved to win! This is why, we decided for a surprise 4th winner ;) The namelessmonsterkeeper cross-stitched the goodest boy Spectral Wolf and will receive a nice Monster Sanctuary sticker set sponsored by our plushie-genius Chrissi!
This concludes our fanart contest! We hope you had as much fun as we did and even if you didn't win you can contact Chrissi for handmade customized plushies here on Twitter, Reddit or Instagram.
Participate in our fanart contest to win a special plushie!
In case you have missed it: we currently run a special fanart contest on Twitter, Instagram and our Discord.
The three winners will each get a plushie of one of the fan-chosen Top 3 Monsters: Catzerker, Manticorb and Spectral Wolf. The plushies are made exclusively by wonderful Chrissi.
Participate until 16th July 2021. Rules in the images.
Thank you from all of us at Moi Rai Games
Monster Sanctuary has reached 3000 reviews on Steam and we'd like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Enjoy the Steam Summer Sale - Monster Sanctuary is on sale as well!
Monster Sanctuary Preview of Update 1.2
Hello, Monster Keepers!
It's been a while, so we want to give you an update on what's been going on around Monster Sanctuary. Today, we have a variety of news for you:
Results from the survey!
New previews of the post-launch update 1.2 that you might have missed!
Moi Rai is on Instagram now! Get behind-the-scenes info on our team there.
Monster Journals are sold out - find out how you can let us know to be informed once we do another print.
Top 20 Monsters
Our community survey is closed, and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking your time to provide us with your thoughts on the future at Moi Rai Games! Every feedback was appreciated and will be read and considered. Today, we'd like to share with you the top 20 most-favorite Monsters of Monster Sanctuary:
Again, we would like to thank you all for participating! There have been over 3.3 thousand people who filled out our survey. Just a couple interesting tidbits:
The most popular game genre among our fans is the growing "Creature Collector" genre - they made up around 35% of all favorite games in the survey!
The most popular series of games among our fans were Pokémon, Monster Hunter, and Final Fantasy.
Over 63% of our fans are aware of "Nuzlocke" runs of Pokémon games, having either watched or even played them. It was quite surprising to us how commonplace Nuzlocke has become.
Post-Launch Update 1.2
The next free update for Monster Sanctuary is going to be released SOON and is coming with many new features! We don't want to reveal everything right away, but here is a sneak-peak into some update content.
Are you ready to challenge the 14 Legendary Keeper statues to a duel?
Soon you will finally be able to change the appearance of your Keeper! Check out the first three costumes.
Got tired of being a well-known keeper around the stronghold and need some privacy? With the next update you'll be able to change your clothes, appearance, gender and name in the new room in the Keepers' Stronghold!
Follow us on Instagram
You can now follow Monster Sanctuary and Moi Rai Games on Instagram. Get to know the people behind the game, as every Monday we introduce one of our team members to you, our fellow community.
Last but not least, a quick update regarding the physical Monster Journals: We are quite surprised to see that the initial run has been sold out! If you like, you can leave your Email address at our official website so that you'll be notified once we do another print of them.
Help us make our next game better! + Monster Journals for sale
Hello Monster Keepers,
While we at Moi Rai Games are still working on future content for Monster Sanctuary, we're already deep into brainstorming the specifics of our next game. It will once again be a Creature Collector game, but without being a successor to Monster Sanctuary.
You can help us make the best of our next game. For that purpose, we prepared a super-short survey that won't take up more than 3 minutes of your time. Among other things, the survey lets you share with us what your favorite and least favorite parts of Monster Sanctuary are.
The survey also lets you vote on your favorite Monster in the game. We will collect the results and create a ranking of the most popular Monsters! We will share this ranking with you soon after the survey is over.
We will keep the survey open until June 6. Please be honest with us! Fill out the survey here:
We're also happy to announce that you can now order the physical hardcover Monster Journals of our game. The contents are identical to the digital Monster Journal that we also have for sale on Steam.
Contents:
A two-page entry for all 101 Monster in the game, including artwork, attributes, lore texts, skill trees, location
Additional lore texts giving you extra insights into the history of the world
An introductory mini-strategy-game covering the basics of our game
A glossary of relevant combat terms used in the game
