and now the new demo is up! Wow!
https://josh-bossie.itch.io/village-monsters#download
(Available on Windows, Mac and Linux)
It's free and available to everyone, so why not try it out, eh?
I've had really tremendous response to this demo compared to the last one I put out in January. Gives me a great deal of hope that maybe this whole thing will work out after all
New trailer is up!
It's been nearly 2 years since the last one, so it was long overdue. I know I've made a lot of progress because I can't even look at my old trailer without getting violently ill all over my keyboard and monitor. Hopefully this one ages better
I've been meaning to resurrect this topic for a while!
Hey, my name is Josh and I've been an ally for a long while. In early 2017 I quit my job (after a long time scrimping and saving) to make a major change: becoming a indie game developer. I've been working on Village Monsters ever since!
I used to have a dev log here but fell off of it to focus more on development. Since then I've done tons of work and am nearing a really major milestone: releasing my first game!
Phew, ok, let's look at the boilerplate...
Quick Info
Village Monsters is an open-ended village life set in the world of a long-forgotten video game. You play as a human living in a community of (mostly) friendly monsters
Live a different kind of life in a different kind of world!
Befriend dozens of whimsical monster villagers, each with their own quirky personalities, interests, and problems to solve.
Engage in a variety of daily tasks and activities like earning money with a part time job, joining in village events and holidays, going on adventures - or just hanging out with your monster pals and watching some TV.
Buy a fixer-upper and sink your entire life savings into it to make it your very own comfy-cozy homestead.
Pursue many interesting hobbies that let you hunt for treasure, collect and train creatures, cultivate mushroom gardens, and catch legendary fish.
Unravel unique personal stories as you build friendships and learn the history (and secrets) of the village and its inhabitants.
Explore vast and strange areas outside the village ranging from vibrant forests, arctic deserts, fog-choked valleys, and the ruins of a best-forgotten empire.
Immerse yourself in a truly simulated world that boasts shifting weather patterns, sweeping seasonal changes, and interesting system interactions.
Harness the glitches of a run-down game and use them to empower your skills and fix this neglected world.
Night in the Woods. A fantastic and strange game, but one I can't really recommend due to all its problems
I don't think I've played a game where the writing is so hot and cold. Its characters are fun and it tackles themes that nobody else does with a grace and level of understanding that is so dang admirable. But then it has characters who act like they learned how to speak from watching Juno hundreds of times, and the tone is never quite sure if it wants to be Twin Peaks or Scooby Doo, and there's all this setup without any sort of payoff, and then the game just ends almost out of nowhere
It's a very deliberately paced game which is not an inherently bad thing, but you need to commit to either "slice of life" stuff or a tension buildup to an exciting climax, and the game doesn't do either. Left a bad taste in my mouth
I disagree strongly with this change.
From a purely emotional perspective the stars are part of the EZA brand for me. To lose them means giving up a major part of its identity, and that's a bummer.
But it also doesn't even make sense within the context of their explanation.
This is not a site that reviews bad games. We will never, ever see a game rated 5 or less. So what's the point of making the scale bigger?
Further, numerical scales always invite comparison in a way that stars do not. reviews will always fall apart when you start comparing them, especially across different reviewers.
This must be due to some outdated notion that Metacritic in any way provides visibility. It doesn't. Think of other sites on the same strata as EZA - how many use 20 point scoring scale? How many score games at all? Not Kinda Funny Games. Not Giant Bomb.
You're removing something that makes EZA unique and replacing it with something that has no benefits. It's impossible to be happy with that.
Thanks for the kind words, everyone!!
It was a long, strange journey, but I could not be any more grateful for all the support I've had for my dumb little game.
I ended up taking the weekend off for the first time in forever, but I'm back at it this week. Lots to do, assess and analyze...but I'm ready for it. It's going to be a hell of a year.
Love & Respect!
What seemed like a depressing longshot has turned into a possible victory in the 11th hour - uh, literally.
An insanely generous user at another forum has breathed new life into this campaign, and it looks like it could actually make it
Please consider backing my game on Kickstarter if this seems interesting to you!
Last week I released a new demo for Village Monsters, and today the Kickstarter campaign crosses the 50% funded mark!
Time is starting to run out if you want to grab an exclusive Kickstarter reward, including:
Many of these rewards are limited and won't be around forever, so what are you waiting for?
Click Here to Back Village Monsters!
Click Here to Support our Thunderclap!
Definitely wouldn't mind if he brought this exact format to EZA. Kyle monologues are great.
It's almost like Nintendo just lucked into Club Nintendo, because My Nintendo is absolutely terrible