Monaco - We take things from you

[Aganazer]

Its about time this game gets a proper thread. It just recently won the grand prize at this year's Independent Games Festival.

Monaco is a 4-player co-op stealth game.

The Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFnc6Fdhs2k&feature=related

Level Editor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcTiuAZyTnc

Loads more information
http://www.facebook.com/MonacoIsMine#!/MonacoIsMine?v=app_2347471856

All information is subject to change!!!
*I don't yet know what platforms the game will be on. but I suspect PC and and least one console
*I don't yet know when the game will be released, but I suspect that it will be in early 2011

It looks like a long wait, much longer than I initially suspected. So long in fact that I will try my best to forget about it for a while. To help me forget about it, I'll start this thread. Like that will help!  

[Canuck]

It looks like Dwarf Fortress and Thief had a baby.

[Huw the Poo]

The RPS guys can't get enough of this.  I'm really surprised to hear it's so far off.  Anyway, it seems like a really good game but I don't know that I could always gather three other people together any time I wanted to play.  I'll wait on the reviews for this one.

[Chaz]

I'm (again) in the "no SP, I'm out" camp.  I totally understand that for an indie developer, it makes complete sense to make a game MP-only because coding a competent AI is hard, but as a player, it puts me in the position of buying a game I know I'm never going to play, or just not buying it.   

[baelthazar]

It looks like Dwarf Fortress and Thief had a baby.

That sounds so sexy it hurts.

Normally I would be a "no SP and I'm out" kinda guy too. But I look at this like Team Fortress - you really can't play that solo, and it was never built for people to do so. If the price is right, I'll probably jump in.

I suspect the release date is far off now, given that they won the Seamus prize, because they want to apply that money toward really making Monaco into something and not just another "flash in the pan" indie title. I would look for XBLA ports, Steam and something akin to how Darwinia went from nothing to something in a sort time.

Bael

[CeeKay]

arise.... check it out.

[Turtle]

Hey, great.

Now how do I buy this game already?!

[baelthazar]

Hey, great.

Now how do I buy this game already?!

And when does it release?!

[CeeKay]

footage from PAX with the developer walking them through.

[CeeKay]

Hey, great.

Now how do I buy this game already?!

pre-orders start this week.

[CeeKay]

[EngineNo9]

I hear nothing but great things about this game, but that always comes from people playing co-op in the same setting.  Did they ever get around to adding single player to this over the last few years?

[Caine]

Any interest in splitting a 4-pack?

[jztemple2]

I'm (again) in the "no SP, I'm out" camp.  I totally understand that for an indie developer, it makes complete sense to make a game MP-only because coding a competent AI is hard, but as a player, it puts me in the position of buying a game I know I'm never going to play, or just not buying it.   

I'm in the same boat as you, but I've been checking comments on the Steam forums and this thread is interesting as the subject of SP gameplay is discussed. According to several of the folks, you can play it in SP just as well, although your experience is different. To wit:

It's more challenging playing sp, as you only have one ability instead of four when playing four people multiplayer. But it's not at all bad. On the contrary, you have a lot of replayabilty potential, because playing with different characters means having to rely on different strategies.

Also:

They're different. Multiplayer is zany. Single player is much more deliberate. You're not going to get the crazy, mixed up madness you'd get with a lot of people by yourself. Instead, the levels are more like puzzles. You have a small toolbox, and you've gotta figure out how to apply those tools in the right places.

And...

I almost like single player more just because I have the opportunity to sneak around and figure things out more slowly than if I was in a multiplayer game. Also you can try out different characters much more readily than when you are stuck with one for a level like multiplayer. Not to say I don't like multiplayer though, I love both modes and have had a heck of a time playing them!

Additionally there is this review over on IncGamers and the guy really, really likes the game. Here's what he says about SP:

If you’re a solo gamer then you’ll find a pair of tough-but-fair campaigns, and you can either try to sneak around as a ghost, or race to finish the level as fast as possible, or focus on cleaning the loot out of the entire level (which is incredibly difficult, incredibly rewarding, and the means of unlocking the second campaign’s levels).

The only thing I don't like is that reference to having to "unlock" the second campaign

[davidrobots]

Victor reviewed the game for us, he really dug it: http://gamingtrend.com/game_reviews/monaco-review/#more-60376

[Caine]

 

Victor reviewed the game for us, he really dug it: http://gamingtrend.com/game_reviews/monaco-review/#more-60376

you can tell him that I am going to get this based on his review. 

[Bullwinkle]

What's the story on the delay for this?  Or is it one of those weird Friday releases?

[Caine]

'unexpected issue'

some kind of late bug I guess.

[davidrobots]

'unexpected issue'

some kind of late bug I guess.

Yeah, no official word from the Monaco team yet -- just that there was a delay, and it'll be available shortly.

And I goofed around with it a bit as well pre-release. It's pretty amazing. Single player is a decent experience, but multiplayer is a unique brand of controlled chaos. I love it. The music is pretty fantastic too -- expected from the guy who did the Journey soundtrack.

[Hrothgar]

I haven't given away any games in a while.  I just grabbed a four pack.  That means I have three to give away.  PM me if interested.  If you're not on my steam friends list, I'll need an email address to send the game.  First come, first served as long as you've posted here before today.  I'll update when they're gone.

Edit: All gone

[jztemple2]

First of all, a big hug and kiss to Hrothgar for sending me a Steam code. Since I'm mostly a single player kind of guy, I decided I'd give that a go and report back.

Let's see, first of all, Monaco supports a 360 controller on the PC... very cool:


I decided to play as the Pickpocket Locksmith on my first play-through, although it's not always possible to do that since if you die on a level, you have three extra "lives", but they represent the other three members of your team, and so you respawn not as your original character, but one of the other characters on your team. Took me a while to figure that out .

The reviews are right, screenshots simply don't do the game justice. As you play, text written on the floors give you instructions and gameplay hints, just when you need them. Awesome . There is a lot of learn as you go, but it's not hard to pick up.

For the single player, there are two main modes of gameplay. You can focus just on achieving the objective (steal something, release someone from jail, etc). Or, while you are doing that, you can hunt around the map to pick up coins. Coins are collectables and sometimes aren't in the most obvious locations, but then it does make you explore the map to find them. And on some levels getting a certain number of coins gives you extra ammo or smoke grenades or whatever. It can be a little frustrating if you are short just a coin or two and have to search all over the map for that little alcove you overlooked. Still, it's not an onerous task most of the time.

If you are discovered by guards, your attempt at that level isn't ruined. You just do have to go hide till the heat is off. Speaking of that, I'm still not sure what it means when your character is emitting gold sparkles (for want of a better term). I'm thinking it's that you are either sweating or the guard alert level is still high. Or maybe something else. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

I'll post some more screenshots soon.

[jztemple2]

Here's another example of the in-game help... on the floor of this garage is some rather useful information:


And another nice touch... I'm hiding in a closet while a guard in the room is composing an email to his mother:


And one more screenie... that's me, hiding in the bushes (note the faint blue circle).


One question I do have... I saw a mention in one of the reviews of an editor for the game, but I can't seem to find it on the Steam version. Anyone know any more about this?

[jztemple2]

After three plus hours of single player I have to say that while for some folks SP gameplay might be fun, it can also be pretty frustrating. Later missions in the game do get tougher. Playing these in SP mode works at times, but then you run into situations where your current character doesn't have the needed skills to get you to where you need to be or just as importantly, to gather all the coins on each level of each mission. The coins are important because at some point you will be unable to unlock further missions unless you "clean out" (get all the coins) on enough previous maps. And then it becomes more of a grind, attempting missions over and over to get all the coins. At least getting all the coins is independent of achieving the map objective, so you don't risk losing one goal at the cost of getting the other.

This isn't to say that, so far, any mission I've seen is impossible in SP. It might just require starting off with a different character (say, the Mole instead of the Pickpocket) and/or altering the sequence of which character you choose in which order; you get to use a total of four characters in SP play on each mission, but you can't select the next character until the previous character dies.

So I'll keep plugging away in SP and let you know how it goes. I am going to try to line up a couple of friends and try the game MP on one screen. That might be fun as well.

[Turtle]

Definitely a 4 player game. It's incredibly different to pull off anything without a combination of abilities.

[Gratch]

Bummer.  Was really interested in this, but am not a fan of co-op.

[Clanwolfer]

I really need to get together a crew for this.

[Bullwinkle]

This is finally up on XBLA.

As has happened in the past, though, with other games, it was released with no trial version (I think it happened just recently with Battleblock Theater, too).

Usually a trial version gets added after some time, but there's no way to tell how long that'll take.

[tcweidner]

I love the design, style, and gameplay. Looks like a lot of fun, but like many here have stated, trying to get 3 others friends to play at the same time at my age is next to impossible. ...  Oh to be 17 again with tons of friends with free time.

[Harpua3]

Yeah I want this badly, but as noted numerous times in this thread, it's hard to get 3 more peeps to play with all at once...

[Bullwinkle]

Yeah, I was hoping to try the demo to see just how unfriendly it is in SP.

[jztemple2]

Yeah, I was hoping to try the demo to see just how unfriendly it is in SP.

After some serious slogging I can confirm that it's a PITA to play SP. There are just too many instances where two or more player cooperation is really necessary to proceed, unless you want to try over and over and over again and hope to get lucky.

The better news is that at least on Steam sometimes you get lucky and the random people you join in a scratch foursome really understand the concept of working together. However, this is rather hit or miss and is nowhere as good as having friends work together.