Monster Crown News

Hey guys!

Man I've been trying to get this update out all week, but my day job has been in crunch, tying me up pretty completely.

There was an oversight last patch, leading to invisible wall issues as well as low encounter spawns. Those are now fixed, with more efficient spawns memory/CPU-wise as well!

Have a good one tamers, apologies for the delay and rest assured - DLC1 is still in the works.

Hello Tamers,

as promised, it's the 6th and chapter 1 of our comic is officially here!

See the announcement below, and even if you're not big into comics, I think you'll like something below for your code box at the barn ;)

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MONSTER CROWN: THE COMIC is now available for purchase on http://itch.io and Gumroad! It will be available on Amazon in the near future. Both sites offer DRM-free downloads for pdf + cbz!

Itch: https://monstercrown.itch.io/monster-crown-the-comic-issue-1

Gumroad: https://monstercrownthecomic.gumroad.com/l/issue1

Additionally, in the MONSTER CROWN game on PC, you can unlock an exclusive new Dracoyle, modelled after his appearance in the Comic! Get DRACOYLE (Comic Ver.) by putting in the code "DRAGONKING" at the Farm! This new sprite was made by the talented @StarGazaART !



And finally, the character theme for our protagonist, Alex Duke Sawyer, has been finished by our composer @onion_mu!

You can also find it on his Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/user-995938499!

Hello tamers!

It seems like it's been quite a while indeed since we last spoke - over the past few months I've had a lot of things in life come and smack me in the face but never was Monster Crown far from my mind. On top of that, there are two others working diligently on awesome new Monster Crown projects which will be revealed later in this post.

This initial update lays the groundwork for our DLC content. The entire world loading code has been rebuilt, leading to far higher performance and less lag as exploring the huge world. This update will shortly make its way to consoles as well, where it will make an even bigger impact. Additionally, we'll no longer have those weird savefiles showing up for Steam Deck users or with cloud saves. This update will remain in the beta branch for 48 hours (right-cllick, properties, select branch, "ea-beta" if you'd like to opt in) just because it's been a while since I pushed out a new patch and I want to make sure nothing unexpected pops up.

I will be devoting all my free time (which I honestly wish wasn't quite as scarce as it is) to continued work on Monster Crown, as I've got big plans for the future and Monster Crown remains as important in my heart as it ever has. More monsters, areas and content are still on the way and I apologize for the delay these past few months, I put a number of things in life on the back burner during that last two years of development, and some of that came crashing down on me this year but all is well now and there's no need to worry.

I'm very excited to announce two very cool partnerships that are going to truly expand Monster Crown for all of you. While I remain focused on the game, these two talented dudes are going to be creating a way to experience Monster Crown in a whole new dimension, expanding on the lore, world and scenarios that you already know and love, while also building things in interesting and alternate new directions.

Allow me to introduce, two very exciting new projects...

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[h2]MONSTER CROWN the Comic[/h2]



WE ARE NOT KINGS. WE WILL BE... MESSIAHS!

Humans and monsters coexist on the island nation of Crown Island. The best and bravest of mankind go out to tame these creatures for all sorts of reasons, from biological study, to hunting and even high-value package delivery. Monster Tamers are the most valuable people in society, and their bravery and deeds earn them renown and respect.

Alex Duke Sawyer is just an average boy who works on his parents farm, until one day he wins a monster of his own in a prize draw. With the gargoyle dragon Dracoyle by his side, Alex sets off to see the country he knows so little about, and become a Monster Tamer himself.

What Alex doesn't know, however, is that dark forces move behind the scenes to revive the dreaded Philosopher Kings, three otherworldly demigods who ruled over Crown Island with an iron fist. Their rule was absolute, until it was overthrown by a rebellion lead by Alex's own father many years ago.

Alex journeys out into the world, but the world is a lot harsher and more violent than he could ever anticipate, and he's flung headfirst into a terrible conflict that will plumb the deepest, darkest secrets of Crown Island and its history.

Get MONSTER CROWN: THE COMIC on Itch.io, Amazon and Gumroad on 6.6.2022!


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[h2]MONSTER CROWN the Trading Card Game[/h2]



Play through an RPG inspired experience where you and your opponent build a world, fill it with monsters, and do your best to topple each other with teams caught along the way, and find out who deserves to wear the Monster Crown!

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As you can see, it's shaping up to be a very exciting 2022 for Monster Crown!

Seeing these versions of the game and world I worked on and obsessed over for five years is a dream come true, and one I absolutely could've never anticipated. A huge shoutout to Ahab, the Manga/Comic's creator and Spudmay, the TCG's skilled sculpter/creator. Each so ridiculously creative, so geared to make the highest quality projects they can, I'm in constant awe over the awesome stuff they share with me on discord each week - sorry guys, I guess only I have the VIP access right now XD

Happy taming tamers, hope you're having a great month and year and expect more details about the content-filled DLC soon!

Hello tamers!

Hope you are all enjoying what the new year has in store. As you might've heard this week, we've got confirmation on our release date for the Xbox One and PS4 versions and it's February 22nd! I'm very excited about that. Preparing for those consoles has eaten a bit of my time lately but I wanted to get out a patch to clean up a few things, and here it is, 1.0.44:

1.0.44
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+Wild Tamer level scaling issue fixed
+Potential menu issue with name combining if using monsters with one-letter names as the primary and secondary
+Issue affecting NPCs appearances in certain cutscenes fixed
+Raptor mountain visual update
+A few little flag issues that could affect post-game raptor-flute quest fixed
+Aber scene show girls received updated sprites
+Critical vine animation issue fixed
+Two in-battle lines weren't translated correctly into other languages
+Move learning popup had an off-by-one error preventing you from seeing new moves properly the level they became available

[h2]DLC Development[/h2]

The development of DLC1 is still underway and going well. It will bring a variety of new monsters, a new cliff area that began as a small section to find a new monster, but has grown into basically half of a new province! It comes with brand new monsters, a couple of fun challenges and a new music track as well. Some data-miners have already uncovered the names of some of these monsters (and soon-to-be available domesticated monsters you already know), but thankfully their appearance is still a secret, which is the coolest part :D

There will also be a new shop that offers some hard-to-find items, and the Monster Body Parts will have their role revealed at long last - don't worry if you lost yours, there'll be a way to obtain new ones. Additionally there will be new moves, Chief rematches and a special new machine in Hewston that offers a new spin on monster colors, which of course means you'll have new colors and combinations for all your existing favorites.

So with February being focused on the XB1 and PS4 releases you'll see an announcement for DLC1 for all platforms shortly after, I plan to create a video to showcase some of it and maybe I'll tease a bit of what is planned for DLC2 and 3 later this year as well.

Have a good Wednesday night tamers, and thank you for all your support!

Hello everyone it's 2022! So good to see you all again.

I've been working on this patch since before the holidays but they have a funny way of derailing plans right? :D

I've been combing our bug-tracker, and tweaking random things people @'d me on twitter about, and it's lead to a lot of small fixes and improvements that really make the game more fun to play without less elements taking you out of the experience.

But there's some cool feature/QoL adjustments/additions that add to the game as well!

[h2]Moveset Customization Menu[/h2]



As you likely already know, there is a move learner/forgetter in Frobec. When I began development I had a goal of minimalism and fast battles - get in and out quick, as I read that was something a lot of people desired in the genre, however, the game's complexity has grown significantly since then and it's not always clear to players that a new move is available as they level up their monsters.

For that reason, whenever a new move is available (through using Ultra-Rare Berries, Scouting, or Battling) you'll be offered the ability to jump into the Move learner/forgetter on the spot and pick the moveset you want going forward. This should make the earlier part of the game before you reach Frobec a bit more clear and simply be much more convenient overall for everyone.

[h2]Monster Riding[/h2]



Instead of "sitting" on the heads or backs of monsters, your character will now straddle/grip them. This allowed me to add a significant number of monsters to the rideable list, as they no longer need a large sittable part of their body. This has doubled the amount of monsters you can now ride around and smash up over-world random encounters with. Here's the list of new ones:

-Walerus
-Yetowl
-Darwhol
-Rivardien
-Gorgem
-Glossum
-Shagrun
-Griffin
-Vulter
-Tanukrook
-Frigidile
-Gridag
-Stallune
-Aliferz
-Questabock
-Hymeraden
-Migma
-Syleendra
-Panipillr
-Oukochou
-Deuvul
-Putridevil
-Vult
-Tombus
-Glacial
-Alfric
-Salilisk
-Tarasque
-Gyn
-Cangon
-Tigon

[h2]Visual Improvements[/h2]



Several monsters have received overworld sprite touchups to give them a bit more character or clean up lacking ones:



Additionally Windy Province, Mill Town, Crossroads Town, Scarred Province, Humanism and Empathy Kingdom have received tile updates and visual improvements to their color schemes. I think you'll have a lot more fun wandering around and seeing the adjustments.



[h2]Next Steps[/h2]

The first of three free significant DLCs coming this year is being actively worked on and will soon be complete. It offers a slew of new monsters and fun sidequests, some of which are teased in this twitter 2022 message I posted a few days ago.



I've also been hard at work on the Xbox One and PS4 launches, which will have their release dates announced in the very near future.

There will soon be another monster design contest, for a chance to get a monster you designed in Monster Crown as part of a significant QoL addition in an upcoming DLC, expect more details on that soon!

[h2]Other fixes[/h2]

Here's a non-comprehensive list of other fixes, as the total list of small tweaks I made based on people just quickly asking for an adjustment these past two months are a bit much to list:

1.0.43
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+Lost province cave transition adjustment
+Newly cropped up camera issue due to UI resizing during the synergy tutorial and being kidnapped fixed
+Shop menu UI fix that was cutting off some item descriptions
+Wardrobe centering issue
+Found items on-screen display adjusted to be more readable, longer.
+Random encounter frequency increased
+Final quest log entry gets a "check" properly in the post-game to be a bit less confusing