Hello Tamers!

You may have seen our recent post here, in which a very large polishing update, was set live on the beta branch for testing:
https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/news/app/830370/view/4545912721048424996

Turns out this update is quite solid, and so we're now ready to set it live for all players to enjoy. Many longstanding issues have been addressed, which you can read about below, and there's a small special surprise for players as well.

The Philosopher Kings, the grand finale bosses of the post-game have received brand new art that shows much more character and distinction than what they had previously!

These awesome designs are thanks to Bennybotabota on our discord, who also has a tumblr you can visit to see more of their work here: https://www.tumblr.com/goliathgastropod

Benny did a great job of understanding the spirit of each of these characters, I think we'll be working with Benny again on future Monster Crown titles, so we can continue to bring variety and awesome designs for players to encounter.

This patch brings with it a rewriting or significant restructuring of the battle system, battle math, monster level up stat-gain, collision system, menus, stat orbs and game resolution along with tweaks to monster balancing, movesets, etc.

• Monster stat generation math and Battle math has been completely rewritten.
  
• Collision system has been completely rewritten. Monsters will no longer spawn out of bounds and many long-standing collision issues have been fixed.
  
• Minor graphical changes have been applied in various instances including overworld sprites for the Duchess and Rodney
  
• Menu behavior is now more clear and responsive
  
• Stat Orbs now raise your base stats by 0.1 instead of your derived stats which means you can now get a lot more granular with building a team
  
• Complete rebalancing for many monsters who were previously undertuned or overtuned, including movesets
  
• Various graphical tweaks/adjustments
  
• Improved state management

The battle math and stat gain systems are actually back-ported versions of the code developed for Monster Crown 2: Sin Eater, big thanks to Kyle and Ahab who are programming and design respectively on the new in-development game. If you'd like to see more about that title be sure to check out our twitter for screenshots/gifs:
https://twitter.com/crowns_dev

One thing I wanted to clarify as there seems to have been a bit of confusion around "Code Monsters". Code Monsters that were offered during Early Access that are no longer available are not truly new monsters. One example is holiday Echelk, which was made available via code before players could reach the Frost Province, this was our way of sharing some monsters early before those areas were opened up for players to explore. All of those monsters can be easily obtained since the game reached full release in 2021. Another example is "SENTINEL" who was merely a Taupsy bred with a Malicious monster to obtain that crossbreed, so you're not missing out on anything.

Next mission is to bring these updates to consoles
Discord: https://discord.gg/WwRvm9B

Hello everyone,

I've been hard at work on a new patch for Monster Crown to address some longstanding issues, and improve some systems that could use some quality improvements.

A 90% complete version of v1.2.4 is available on Monster Crown's ea-beta branch.

Full details are below on the patch and how to access it if you'd like to opt-in. Because the patch touches so many systems in the game we thought it was important to allow people to give it a whirl before we finalize it and make it the new default stream.

The battle math AND stat calculation system has been totally rewritten. The team working on Monster Crown 2: Sin Eater developed a much better implementation and it's now been back-ported to Monster Crown because it's simply better in every way. The implementation here isn't 100% exact, because the new game factors in a lot of additional new factors/systems but it's very close. It's a lot more fun to play and much more consistent, reducing the feel of a "grindy" experience as well. You can feel your monsters strength grow in a much more tangible way.

Monster spawns have had their code completely rewritten as well, it's no longer possible to have a monster spawn out of bounds, no more brilliants that remain out of reach!

Menus have had their underlying code for switching revamped, in particular the main menu and the options within it. The changes also improve various other systems like the move learning menu, the shop menu, etc. Because there are so many damn menus and features, let us know if you encounter anything odd that we missed, but the game has had 3-4 full playthroughs by the MC2 team and a lot of play from me, so I don't think there'll be much if any.

Feel free to join us on discord if you'd prefer to share your experiences or anything you'd like to report there:
https://discord.gg/WwRvm9B

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To access the branch, right click on the game in your Steam library, go to Properties then Betas. On the top dropdown menu for Beta Participation, select ea-beta - ea-beta and the game will reinstall itself as such.

A list of general changes:

• Monster stat generation math and Battle math has been completely rewritten. Your monster stats will regenerate on save load. This cannot be reversed. Do not load save files that you don't want stats to be regenerated on in the ea-beta branch.
  
• Collision system has been completely rewritten. Monsters will no longer spawn out of bounds and many long-standing collision issues have been fixed.
  
• Minor graphical changes have been applied in various instances including overworld sprites for the Duchess and Rodney
  
• Menus are (we really hope this time) now completely anchored and will never do the weird misalignment thing. PLEASE TELL US IF THIS PROBLEM PERSISTS: TELL US THE RESOLUTION YOU PLAY ON!
  
• Menu behavior is now more clear and responsive
  
• Stat Orbs now raise your base stats by 0.1 instead of your derived stats which means you can now get a lot more granular with building a team
  
• Complete rebalancing for many monsters who were previously undertuned or overtuned.
  
• Just a million trillion smaller annoyances have been quashed

Things that aren't in this version but will come in the full patch release:
Facade stat rebalance
A special surprise with the Philosopher Kings

Please let us know what you think and please tell us about any bugs you might encounter.
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Thanks Tamers!

Hello tamers,

A small update with some fixes today:

• Raptyl's flight path has been corrected
  
• Baby level up fix
  
• Overworld monster layering fix
  
• Missing hybrid for Shadrache, Machindra, added
  
• Kyro not registering in the notebook from breeding fixed
  
• Wiki link fixed
  
• Box monster navigation alignment fix
  
• Menu layering bug fixed
  
• Backer monster "Bombril" added to the duchess's garden
  
• Baby Apo OW sprite fix
  
• Non water monsters navigating on water fixed
  
• Undergrowth pass player layering bug fixed
  
• Slightly faster loading
  
• Creekeon palette fix

I still have not gotten my hands on a steam deck, however, I can confirm that if you're updated, it works on proton, and I confirmed this build on Ubuntu LTS this morning, which hopefully is helpful to steam deck owners as well.

I also added an indicator to the New Game button that makes it clearer how to start Mark's Quest, just press right on New Game (you'll now see Mark's face there too) to scroll through New Game, New Game+ and Mark's Quest.

Mark's Quest actually started as a New Game+ option where you started from Frobec, however, while working on it I thought it was a lot more fun to make a brand new Crown Island 4 years later - hope you agree :)

Thank you to user alivewater on discord for the tile error reports!

Have a good week everyone!

-Jason

Deep in Flowering Province a new land has been discovered - Dino Land!

This discovery has lead to the findings of new, primordial beasts. Navigate the cliffs high above Undergrowth Pass to tame new beasts, including two mysterious fossils of monsters from even farther into the distant past of Crown Island. Find a legendary Bone Bow to add to your array of powers.

Baby Monsters now roam the wilds of Crown Island, be on the lookout for these rare appearances, and even breed your own! Use the Growth Stunter to keep your cute new pals around forever!

Head to dark back alleys of Nio Kio to find a dubious card supplier who can help you to obtain the dark beast Bant, the enigmatic ocean monster and more important monsters from Crown Island's history.

Other secrets await a daring player with a bow... be careful when monsters multiply - and double your caution when they combine!


Return to a brand new Crown Island four years later as the up-and-coming tamer Mark, from Frobec!

Inspired by the hero he once adventured with, Mark will set out with his baby Stamlanche to blaze his own destiny. Explore how the provinces and towns of Crown Island have changed since the hero's victory, catch up with old friends, and repair the nation's new Island-wide Train network to usher in a new era of peace and cooperation, and help the wounds of war finally begin to heal.

Make use of new powers, enjoy a vibrant new world and meet new provincial forms of old favorites!

With this final content update, Monster Crown becomes "MONSTER CROWN: RED KING" - a subtitle that reflects its place as separate but equal in a wider mythos yet to be explored, and also cements the official name of the game's protagonist in the Monster Crown universe.

From everyone at Studio Aurum; thank you for coming on this journey with us. We hope you'll stay with us as we dive even deeper into the world of Monster Crown in future!
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https://shop.monster-crown.com

Hi everyone,

Development of the long-awaited DLC is finally complete. There will be an announcement for the release date shortly, as well as images and teasers for the many new monsters and cool things included. I say DLC these days so casually I take for granted that it may not be clear, so just to be 100% clear, it's just a game update with a lot of new content, and is entirely free.

I wanted to share an announcement from our twitter today, which reiterates the above and gives a little update on the sequel project the rest of the Studio Aurum team is focused on:

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Development of Monster Crown's DLC has completed and is in final testing. A release date will be announced soon to bring the final chapter of Monster Crown to players worldwide. This update will be brought to all platforms including some additional fixes and fun.

Another exciting development, the Monster Crown Official TCG will be sent to the printers on November 25th, bringing another project I'm honored to be involved in to life, featuring the world and monsters and characters you've all gotten to know over the past 2 years.

As our journey on Crown Island nears its close, many of you have been asking about the mysterious, in-development sequel, Monster Crown 2.

Monster Crown 2 (Project NEXT) has been in full scale development for 6 months now, featuring a dedicated team, each excelling in their craft and area of expertise - the builds I've been playing with are nothing short of breathtaking and clearly show Monster Crown in a whole new dimension of quality.

While the first screenshots will not be shared until the new year, please consider this our announcement of the project, and enjoy the teaser image created by the game's director, and my collaborative visionary on the project.

I'll be taking a step back from hands-on development and art, serving as this project?s producer, but Project NEXT is a studio-wide effort and I can promise you that this team will take Monster Crown to newer heights and satisfy your monster taming thirst in ways you've never seen before.

Thank you for two years of Monster Crown!!

- Jason

https://twitter.com/crowns_dev/status/1724868526857412694

===

I want to thank all of you for ensuring we had the resources and interest to have these totally separate threads (the sequel and the TCG) running in parallel to my focus on fixes and the DLC. the Monster Crown Series is about to get a whole lot bigger, and I'm absolutely delighted to bring this final "content pack" update to the game, some of you may remember the Content Packs back during Early Access, this experience gave me similar feelings, and was honestly nostalgic for me in that way.

My health has had plenty of ups and downs since then, and I wouldn't personally feel right serving as director on the next project with how intermittent I can be, that being said, I still keep a close eye on our projects and contribute plenty of ideas, lending a hand here and there to get things across the line.

I also wanted to thank the person on the last post who turned me onto Heavy Metal Poisoning, a very thoughtful and caring suggestion and while that's not what i have, just to rule it out, I followed the protocol and am so sick of broccoli now I would gladly sign up for a spicy glutovi steak :D

Stay tuned for the DLC feature post and release date coming up in the next couple of weeks!

See you soon tamers.

Hello tamers!

Today we're launching v1.0.54, which brings a number of fixes and adjustments to the table. This is the last sizeable update before our upcoming DLC! I'm very happy to share some fixes, code tune ups,and a few goodies before I dive into finishing up the DLC.

For Xbox One and PS4 players, if you're reading this, please don't worry, the fixes for your trophies and a few other items are prepared and tested, we're moving these through the review, submission and approval process as quickly as we can and hope to have them available very soon.

Changelog:

• Monster Boxes have been hugely increased, you can now have 96 monsters per box and on-screen at once for better monster management! The old limit was 16. I've also added the ability to name your monster boxes for ease of use. This was a much requested feature and I'm very happy it's here!
  
  
• To unify the selection of Monster Powers and Overworld Ability, there's a new option. As soon as you open the menu you can easily select which ability is mapped to the ability button.
  
  
• Remember the shopkeeper's monster? that orange and blue coconut-crab looking monster? Expert tamers might recognize it from its deep sea ancestor as well. Well, if you spend a large chunk of change at The Barge you migth just find yourself with one to call your own.
  
  
• Malloom forms added
  
  
• Plumo palette adjustment
  
  
• The battle system has had a back-end code revamp to make things smoother, more reliable, and clear during the flow of battle.
  
  
• NPC sprite depth has had a revamp, for a smoother visual experience as you navigate the game's towns.
  
  
• The jump animation and timing have been adjusted to look a lot more appropriate and feel more natural.

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I hope you enjoy the changes and goodies, a lot more is on the way. New monsters, new areas, new abilities, new music and a lot of fun are on the way in our upcoming DLC, including some fossil monsters! Get a glimpse into the prehistoric land of Monster Crown. As promised, this expansion will be completely free.

Thank you!

Hello Tamers!

Today's patch:

1. Fixes a Card dungeon bug as a result of last update's optimizations
2. Fixes an attack bug
3. Fixes a bug with rendering the sea East of Hewston

And overall snappier, more responsive battles!

Hello tamers! It’s me, devotedtoneurosis!

Today we launch version 1.0.5 of Monster Crown across Switch, PC, Linux and Mac. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you, and been too long since we had an update! Here’s what you can expect in today’s update:

• Increased performance
  
• Fixed crashing issues
  
• Fixed loading issues on overworld
  
• Updated sprites
  
• Added 2 new monsters!!
  
• Storklift feather (warp back to a safe location)

Best of luck finding these two new monsters! One can be found in Scarred Province, and another is out at sea waiting to find you.

We’ve had plenty of questions about our DLC plans, you’ll learn a little below about why the wait has been so long, but our plans to release DLC for Monster Crown in the near future remains the same. The DLC is sitting at about one third complete. Instead of releasing as three separate small packs, it will launch as one final “Content Pack” update, which might remind you of our schedule during Early Access. To be 100% clear, this is totally free DLC and will come in the form of an update for everyone.



By now word may have reached you that Monster Crown 2 (code name Project NEXT) is in early production. I have identified a group of very skilled individuals, most of whom began as fans of Monster Crown or contributed to the first game. There will be a new director for that project, and of course, most importantly, a skilled programmer to re-establish much of what I built, along with a much more clear vision from day one and a cohesive artstyle. We’re not ready to share anything else at this point, but more will be shared in the future on this project. It’s very exciting and already looks awesome.

Secondly, there will soon be a Monster Crown TCG! It looks amazing, and you can learn more about it here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/808562247/monster-crown-trading-card-game
The game is already fully funded and a success on Kickstarter - thank you so much to all of you that contributed to this exciting new project.

While referenced above, I want to make it clear that the MC2 and MCTCG projects are not a focus for me at this time. While I oversee the design, choices, and help from a production/planning perspective, all of these future projects are being built and actioned by others, trusted partners who understand Monster Crown to its core and I couldn’t be prouder of what they’ve already built. The only Monster Crown work I do at this point is work on this game.

Work on this patch, especially bringing it to consoles, has been significant due to a few technical complications, as well as my health.



As most of you know, I was struck with an illness in 2019. While the cause and continuation of this chronic illness is unknown to me and my doctors, I have managed to create my own medical regime to mitigate its effects as much as possible. I love Super Mario World, I have played it since I was 4 years old when my parents bought me a Super Nintendo, I even speedran it years ago and while I didn’t break any world records, I would come within 40 seconds of the world records for glitchless any%. This may seem like an unrelated tangent but when I became sick I could no longer jump over the first pit in the first level. My eyes would not focus, my thumbs could not coordinate with my brain. I was very, deeply sick, would regularly collapse, had to leave my job and would sleep for 16 hours, waking up even more tired than when I went to sleep. I even had significant bouts of amnesia that would leave me confused when even talking about the past day with my family. As you can imagine, my life was in complete shambles, but Monster Crown continued.

With bouts of illness, I still am very proud to say that I was able to complete Monster Crown through random periods where a new medication would give me a month or so of near-normalcy, before sliding back to complete dysfunction.

But did Monster Crown reach completion in a way I’m proud of?

Somewhere in the fog of it I lost the ability to properly assess the game, I would play and not experience bugs or glitches that others would report, release day was not a proud day for me, instead, it was wrought with confusion. Regardless, I got to work and pushed out patches to fix major issues, and then the medium ones. To this day minor bugs exist throughout the game that result from areas of the code that, if changed, would require rigorous testing of every area, and every feature. One example is wild encounters/monsters that overlap sections of graphics visually that they should not, this is due to a flaw in the world/collision system that is not easily altered.

Over the past year I’ve had major health struggles, but more importantly, I’ve done deep study of neuroscience, energy systems in the body, pharmacology, and developed a medical routine that lets me think and exist in a way that I have not in years. This was not a light undertaking, but each new medication or routine I found would open up a little more energy and mental power to find the next key in the chain. I’ll never be healthy (although the well funded research into things like long-covid may bring surprises in the future), but I’ve managed to reach a fairly normal state of mental function and my life feels truly changed because of it. I’m immediately appreciative (and emotional) that I can say this.

Recently I’ve been making my way back into the discord and fan conversations, it’s very good to be communicating with you all again and it’s something I’ll continue to enjoy.



Thanks to the incredible folks that have joined me, the future of Monster Crown is amazingly bright and the future of the series is being built as we speak. But as for me specifically, I plan to stay on Crown Island, this is the world I built and I’m not done with it.

Today we bring two new Monsters to Crown Island, and a much needed boost of performance and functionality to the Nintendo Switch. Next I’ll be bringing this patch to the Xbox One and PS4 players. As soon as that’s wrapped up I’ll be circling back to complete the DLC and bring it to all players.

Beyond that point, I’m going to see what I can do to the existing systems of Monster Crown to bring improvements. How that manifests will be a conversation all of you are part of. Some limitations we have of course are mentioned above, the layering system only affects some visual aspects but to totally revamp it could bring considerable need for testing or re-rigging of large parts of the game. I’ll be staying tuned to your notes, and identifying aspects for improvements that are possible and don’t require expensive translations to add to make your experience brighter, and easier to enjoy.

And of course all of these aspects have been a big topic of conversation between me and the development team of Monster Crown 2, who will ensure we have a very strong base there that doesn’t have these issues.

Thank you so much for playing Monster Crown, being part of our communities, and all of your messages expressing what you love about Monster Crown, from monsters, to lore, to the freedom the game offers. I know there is so much love, such devoted fans, and what everyone really wants is to be able to enjoy the parts they love easier and more fully, and that’s our north star.

Thank you

Monster Crown TCG is a reimagining of Studio Aurum?s indie monster-taming RPG Monster Crown as a tabletop trading card game.

In Monster Crown TCG, two or more players will undergo their own perilous journeys across Crown Island, pitting their respective Monster teams against each other as rival tamers. Each begins the game by selecting their favorite Starter Monster and placing it facedown on the field.

Check it out now on Kickstarter!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/808562247/monster-crown-trading-card-game