By Alec Meer on January 19th, 2012 at 7:45 pm.
Hello! I’m supposed to be away today (don’t envy me – I was doing my tax return, weeping, screaming, not having any fun), but I just wanted to stop in and share this level walkthrough of Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine with you. Even now, some sixteen years on from its original announcement, Andy Schatz and Pocketwatch Games’ long in the making, IGF winning co-op heist is one of the games I’m most looking forward to right now. Here’s a little taste of why I think that, as well as a bit of hot monkey action and some top mad piano noodling.
You’ll probably need to watch in full-screen and at high res to make much sense of that, but I’ve embedded it anyway because I like embedding things. It makes me feel clever.
I am totally being the Pickpocket.
Jim and I were supposed to have a game of an earlier build of this late last year, but his stupid router didn’t work and ruined our fun. I HATE HIM SO MUCH.
Oh, and here’s a more conventional trailer, focused on music and multiplayer, which I don’t think we ran when it first snuck onto the internet.
19/01/2012 at 19:50 Berzee says:
The second trailer has been burgled. =(
20/01/2012 at 10:59 The Sombrero Kid says:
Maybe it’s hiding in a house plant?
19/01/2012 at 19:58 Moni says:
I have no idea what’s going on, but at some point someone takes a very long pee and it made me smile.
19/01/2012 at 20:00 whexican says:
Monkey’s are so 1987.
19/01/2012 at 21:03 Syra says:
I hate monkeys :< Don't attribute them to my birth year!
19/01/2012 at 22:19 phuzz says:
1980 was the year of the monkey, also 1992 and others.
It’s nice having wikipedia back isn’t it? :)
19/01/2012 at 20:00 clownst0pper says:
Honestly, this game has more finesse and class than most I’ve seen in years. Even the animations are fantastic.
I particularly like the line of sight – almost torch like – as they zip too and fro.
Brilliant.
20/01/2012 at 01:07 Superbest says:
Yes, there’s something quite charming about the visual style, isn’t there?
20/01/2012 at 11:01 The Sombrero Kid says:
It’s also really confusing, I think replays would be more interesting with the line of sight disabled, even though it’s a really cool effect.
19/01/2012 at 20:01 whexican says:
Monkeys are so 1987.
19/01/2012 at 20:02 pakoito says:
Release it, Andy. My body is ready.
20/01/2012 at 06:29 AndySchatz says:
Consider this a VERY SLOW STRIPTEASE
19/01/2012 at 20:04 WMain00 says:
16 years?
Please tell me your joking.
19/01/2012 at 20:10 yhancik says:
Joking? What do you think? It’s a serious website here, Sir!
19/01/2012 at 21:09 Llewyn says:
Indeed. In the 139 years that RPS has been covering Difference Engine gaming there has been nary a jest on the excessive gestation of games. If the distinguished gentleman writes 16 years, 16 years it is!
19/01/2012 at 22:23 alm says:
What about his joking? ¬_¬
20/01/2012 at 00:22 Nick says:
Ah the old ones are the best ones, alm.
19/01/2012 at 20:09 yhancik says:
Is it Monaco or Québec? :p
19/01/2012 at 20:11 Vagrant says:
The visuals are way too busy. Still hyped.
19/01/2012 at 20:13 clownst0pper says:
Probably too busy when you’ve never played it. Much like Super Smash Brothers; confusing as shit to watch- completely natural to play.
19/01/2012 at 20:16 yhancik says:
To be honest I’m still confused when I play Smash Bro :p
19/01/2012 at 20:18 clownst0pper says:
Haha, my brother always is too. It all still remains a blur to him.
19/01/2012 at 20:22 Vagrant says:
But I have played it! 2-3 levels worth! And it’s still too busy.
20/01/2012 at 04:08 Berzee says:
I was wondering about that. Sometimes you get a game like Dredmor, where the graphics are like “augh cover mine eyes! SO MANY IDLE ANIMATIONS” except that when you’re playing it you don’t even notice because you’re watching your health and the floor for loot ;)
But I played a game called Rune Hunt that used this same pie-slices-of-darkness kind of visuals, and that was just dizzying enough to be awesome. Monaco looks about 10 times faster with 20 times the action on the screen, so I remain apprehensive until I try it.
And yet it looks so sweet in motion that actually being good at it would be like one of the proudest claims I could make…proudest game-related claims I mean…proudest overall would be like, something else. Marriage, or perfect french bread, or whatever. Definitely french bread and marriage are in the running.
20/01/2012 at 10:45 cafe says:
i agree on the visuals! in my opinion they should simply get rid of the huge pillars… i mean what are these walls a 100 ft high? it creates a weird look in my eyes, everything else looks fine just those juge crooked walls are making it feel too buisy
19/01/2012 at 20:15 Jesse L says:
Gosh I remember going to the Youtube theater, oh, years ago, and paying a dollar to watch the earlier trailers for Monaco with Pops. Back then I was no more’n knee-high to a grasshopper. This was before the Internet, and in my memory, everything was sweeter then, fresher, newer…the world full so of possibility… I remember my grandpappy telling me about the first time he saw a trailer for Monaco. During the Cuban Missile Crisis that was. He told me later he was half sure the world was going to end in six months or less, and what made him saddest of all was the knowledge that he would probably never play Monaco. Well I reckon this game has been a sort of intangible dream for all the men in my family – or sometimes, more a nightmare than a dream. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, covered in sweat, my wife slapping me repeatedly in the face, demanding to know who this Monaco woman is whose name I whisper in my sleep. I don’t even respond, I just smile. Grandpappy, rest easy! Someday my unborn son (Andy Schatz Williams III) WILL play Monaco! And when he does, we will be right there with him, playing co-op in spirit, if not in the flesh. Dibs on the pickpocket.
20/01/2012 at 06:22 AndySchatz says:
Good sir! Allow me to send you a Monaco pin via the post to celebrate your wit and verve. Send an email to andy@pocketwatchgames.com with your name and shipping info!
20/01/2012 at 09:15 stahlwerk says:
well deserved!
20/01/2012 at 12:42 yhancik says:
*applause*
19/01/2012 at 20:19 staberas says:
so its like subversion with crappier graphics?
19/01/2012 at 20:35 PodX140 says:
Subversion: Gameplay Edition
19/01/2012 at 21:44 staberas says:
ok i’ll buy it … since i wont see any time soon subversion releasing :(
20/01/2012 at 06:27 AndySchatz says:
C’mon now, maybe we were GOING for the crappy graphics look
21/01/2012 at 04:13 Leandro says:
“Crappier graphics”? This looks better to me than Subversion. Have we learned nothing from this website? More color = good.
19/01/2012 at 20:35 ahluka says:
I’m sure I’ll get used to the fields of vision, so I won’t bother ragging on it. Anyway it looks fooking sweet. It’s gonna be a bloody good year to be a gamer all told.
19/01/2012 at 20:39 Mitthrawn says:
I’ll get excited when it has a release date. Seriously, at some point you need to stop hyping your game and get around to finishing it.
19/01/2012 at 20:52 ahluka says:
Until just now I didn’t realise how long it’s been in development. I am now dubious.
19/01/2012 at 21:51 alice says:
Last year at PAX I was sort of a dick to Andy about a release date and after apologizing he mentioned that when he won the IGF the game had only been in development for something like six weeks at that point. It has now been just over two years, which is a fairly standard development timeline for a game (especially given he is still primarily working by himself).
20/01/2012 at 11:09 The Sombrero Kid says:
The temptation with indie development is to shout about it from the rooftops as soon as you’ve written your first line of code, it’s a shame we have to wait but it’s not some cynical marketing drive, he was most likely just so damn excited about it he couldn’t stop himself sharing, trust me it’s really hard not to talk about what you’re working on, especially when you always feel so damn close to the end.
19/01/2012 at 20:53 Zeno says:
It’ll be great when I can play this, and Fez, and
Duke Nukem Forever19/01/2012 at 22:08 yhancik says:
…and NIDHOGG!
(hasn’t Fez dumped us for an exclusive relationship with console players?)
19/01/2012 at 23:37 Icarus says:
Yeah, I’ve just given up on Nidhogg, apparently Messhoff isn’t actually releasing it, just taking it to events because OMGSOCIALGAME or something.
20/01/2012 at 09:32 RaveTurned says:
In a similar vein, whatever happened to SpyParty?
20/01/2012 at 12:41 yhancik says:
SpyParty? Tim Hecker is updating the twitter quite regularly https://twitter.com/#!/SpyParty
(while Messhoff even removed the Nidhogg video from his Youtube, I just don’t fucking get it)
19/01/2012 at 21:12 blind_boy_grunt says:
so these are the developers playing? The ones that know the game insideout? Looks to me more like they are playing pacman than a “making clever heists”-game. Or it just too busy as others said and you only get the depths when you are playing yourself.
19/01/2012 at 21:18 jonfitt says:
It always looks hard to comprehend when I see gameplay videos. The constantly shifting fog of war looks very unnerving. I have a feeling though that when you’re the one playing it seems normal.
19/01/2012 at 21:18 jonfitt says:
Oh, also, the monkey should have the crossbow.
19/01/2012 at 22:13 Bhazor says:
Never give the monkey a weapon!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmtX6Tj74oU
19/01/2012 at 21:55 Pani says:
I had to watch the trailer twice, once from each of their perspectives just so I could work out what the heck was going on.
19/01/2012 at 23:50 man-eater chimp says:
At least let me finish Dustforce, Bastion and Orcs Must Die before this comes out, as I don’t think I will play another game for a long time once I get my hands on this.
20/01/2012 at 07:41 c-Row says:
I wouldn’t worry too much – at the current rate, we will get another two dozen previews on RPS before Monaco comes out. Also, Half-Life 3.
20/01/2012 at 03:28 Dances to Podcasts says:
I have yet to play a game that has monkeys and was not good.
20/01/2012 at 04:10 Berzee says:
Here is a game I have *not* played, which I can already *tell* is good because the title is
INFINITE MONKEYS BENDING REALITY
http://www.kongregate.com/games/mofunzone/infinite-monkeys-bending-reality?acomplete=monkey
Edit: further investigation reveals it is actually kind of sweet
20/01/2012 at 05:00 Muzman says:
Is this the only vaporware to fund its own creation with award money?
20/01/2012 at 06:28 AndySchatz says:
Yes, we are unique amongst the vapors!
20/01/2012 at 15:57 Muzman says:
Oh, you fellas are a gas.
20/01/2012 at 05:23 MellowKrogoth says:
A little bewildering to watch (focusing on one character helps) and the guards seem rather idiotic, forgetting about you quite easily. On the other hand if they all went medieval on your ass the moment you were spotted, the game wouldn’t be as fun as it looks now.
It looks like this is designed to be played in local/couch coop, which sounds great. We don’t have nearly enough of this type of games on the PC.
20/01/2012 at 05:36 sharkh20 says:
Stop touching the monkeys
20/01/2012 at 07:10 Squirrelfanatic says:
Me and my monkey!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu7VgLlA8EI&feature=related
20/01/2012 at 08:52 Gwynor says:
First 15 secs I said “What?”
Everything was moving, changing, lighting, speaking, DOING something. Then I got accustomed, nearly hypnotized by what was going on. Gorgeous and intriguing.
Definitely looking for it (but not as much as Legend of Grimrock, sorry…)
20/01/2012 at 09:17 Elmokki says:
Shut up and take my money!
God this looks brilliant :D
20/01/2012 at 09:34 RaveTurned says:
“Shut up and take my monkey!”
Fixed.
20/01/2012 at 10:48 AshEnke says:
I want Ultimate Assassin to look more like this, and this to be more like Ultimate Assassin
20/01/2012 at 10:55 terry says:
This looks completely bonkers and I can’t wait to play it – there’s something very silent movie about the presentation that has me grinning with insane glee.