DeNA has recently launched its monster collecting and battling RPG
Monster Builder for mobile devices. The game features unique graphic style, DNA crafting gameplay as well as fast-paced real-time battles. Earlier this week, we got a chance to sit down with the game’s dev team, talking about the inspiration of the game, monster design, DNA system, future plans and more.
How did you decide to make Monster Builder? What were the inspirations?
The goal was to create a game that everyone can enjoy. From women and men of all ages and various levels of gaming skill, we aimed to make it accessible for everyone and to have a degree of freedom and depth that hardcore gamers will enjoy. With this in mind, the monster theme was an easy choice. Monsters encompass so many things, from fearsome dragons to cuddly overgrown cats! Funnily enough, the first prototype of Monster Builder was closer to a time management game like Diner Dash, where customers at a restaurant are served their order. We thought it had interesting game mechanics, though it was more themed for the female audience specifically. In the original prototype, players had to quickly mix the right DNA to fight incoming monsters (instead of customers).
(See below for the first prototype)
With the first prototype, we found that mixing DNA real-time was pretty tiresome for users, so we took it out of the battle and put it into the meta-game. The idea evolved over time little by little, and we’ve come a long way since the first prototype. We’re happy with the results as being able to create our own monsters from DNA) and take it to battle is really cool!
What were the challenges behind making the game? Any interesting or funny stories to share about its development?
Creating a new system is always a challenge, though making it intuitive was an even bigger challenge. I think, even to this date, we still have a tough time easing players into understanding Monster Builder’s gameplay. People who get it really love it while those who don’t may not be aware of the game’s inherent depth. We’ll continue improving the experience, but meanwhile, we tend to post tips and tricks on our facebook and forum to help new players out.
Interesting stories? Tons! I think the most interesting story would be about the monster creation process. One of our employees in another team asked the producer to add monsters that will appeal to female gamers. She made sketches, sent sample pictures, and before long, the Producer created Toong Toong - The Dragon that looks like a Penguin. This is when the Producer decided to have an internal contest for monster creation! As such, all the monsters players see in the game are original ideas from the employees of DeNA and Nurijoy. That’s why we have some really bizarre crazy range of monsters!
Speaking of monsters, the art style of Monster Builder is pretty interesting. Could players tell us the inspiration behind these designs and where it came from?
We looked at a lot of vinyl pop art collectable figures - cool toys that hardcore collectors love to seek out – and aimed for our mosnters to look slightly more “grown-up” and “modern” compared to other Monster Battlers out there. We wanted it to follow the recent spirit of revamped super hero movies - like the progression from Tim Burton’s Batman to Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight as well as the new Superman’s suit that looks more like tactical armor compared to the red-blue spandex leotard of the 80’s. Here are some examples of how the creative process was carried out. The producer created the basic rules of the DNAs and from that, the Normal monsters acted as the pillars of the art style. (See below for the original pencil variations of Doowa, the basic 1 Star Giant Monster)
All Giants were designed to have slower movement speed and higher defensive stats. Players will notice that the rock crust theme carries to other units with D type DNA in the genetic code. From there, we selected random DNA sequences for the hero units and told employees to pick a few combinations. For example, one teammate selected BCD from the board.
- Starting with B would make this monster look like a Dragon type.
- C would make it have critical attributes
- D would make it a bit tanky.
The person assigned to the BCD strand let his imagination go wild, came up with a short description of what it would look like and what it could do. In this case, he designed an ancient dragon with the ability to stop time because he was sick of getting so old.
The artists would draw 2-3 variations of the Monster based on the description. The art director and the original creator have discussions and decided which direction they wanted to go. Sometimes it was a single cycle, sometimes we had to do this process several times. But the end result was usually pretty crazy - just the way we like it! (Below, pencil and painted art for Old Timer, Hero Monster with BCD gene sequence)
The Producer asked for the B type and wanted the Dragon’s cane to have a clock shaped ornament made out of bones that was inspired from Old Timer’s ability to stop time.
Then it was hand painted, turned into vector a file, cut up for animation, particle effects were added, and the programmers had a hell of a time making him actually freeze time around him.
Here’s another example of how our Customer Service manager created Loxana. She actually got artistic and gave the artist a sketch to start with.
(Below, the creation process of Loxana)
The DNA feature is quite unique among current mobile games. Players use DNA sequences to unlock new monsters. Could you detail this system for gamers?
The basic 4 DNAs represent a monster type and an attribute.
• A=Agile humanoids
• B=Brawny Dragons
• C=Critical damage Beasts
• D=Defensive Giants.
How players mix these will affect the Monster’s stats. While the player can mix random DNAs and get a normal unit with different internal stats, after a couple of tries, she will want to find sequences result in a Hero Monster. Hero monsters have not only unique appearances, but also unique skills. The DNA sequence for the Hero Monsters will be known once players encounter the unit, either in battle, borrowing their friend’s Hero, or joining their friend’s research.
The player will find out the existence of Special DNAs as well. The G DNA creates a bunny. He’s not so useful in battle, but sells for a lot of gold in the black market. The O DNA will create a nutritious egg that can be used as material to level up other monsters. The next step is to align the elements of the DNAs to boost the elemental bonus. The last step is that players can use Skill DNAs to create normal monsters that have special abilities. If they align the Skill DNAs, for example, players can stack up to 3 “Blood Sucker” DNAs to create a normal monster that can suck up tons of HP while in battle.
It can seem like there’s a lot to learn, but if players play around with it (or continue reading the tips on our forum and Facebook), they should be able to get the hang of it!
Do you have any plans for more modes such as a raid mode?
We’re considering several options, including introducing an entirely new strand of DNA, a raid mode, introduction of a 5 Star DNA - there’s so much potential in the game system and we’re trying to figure out which feature will resonate with our fans and how long it will take for us to build it. It’s not easy to decide what to do first, but there’s a lot of things we want to do. Stay tuned for more!
Is there any new features we can expect in any upcoming updates?
We’d like to add new Hero units and a new game mode, thought we want to tweak the Arena system, balance our current Hero Monsters and add new stages first. We were shocked to find out that some of the players finished all 120 stages in less than a week. We looked at these users, and it seemed they only slept a few hours during the week as they only rested in between energy charges!
We feel we have something unique and interesting here. We only hope we can create something the fans deserve.