Indie wiiware™ game ‘Monsteca Corral’ encounters Pikmin comparisons

Liverpool, November 25, 2009 – The much anticipated Wiiware™ title, Monsteca Corral will soon make its gaming debut this coming January 2010 after almost 18 months of development. The British indie game developer Onteca, only recently announced the launch of their first game this month which sparked off debates as to whether or not an indie company could bet all the odds and become another ‘World of Goo’ story.

The casual game that could only best be categorised as being in the same genre as Pikmin and Flower, has fought the immediate comparisons made when such prominent titles were mentioned. The developers at Onteca have taken everything with a pinch of salt, and are confident that once players delve into the surreal ambient levels of Monsteca Corral that previous misconceptions will be amiss.

Monsteca Corral is an independently developed title focusing on fast paced fun-puzzle gameplay, targeted at anyone and everyone who enjoys pick up and play games with no hidden agenda to subliminally take over their life. You play on your terms and you the player control a herd of peculiar named orange creators, formally known as Sdompes’. The cute and not so bright Monsters, who once activated, need help to avoid being dismembered by invading robots. So instead of watching the poor creators run dim-witted riot, it is your job to accumulate and guide them successfully through each level.

You take the role of a Monster Herder, flying above them and saving them from the dangers of their changing environment and the ever growing ominous robot population. As your Sdompes’ run through each level, you guide them towards ‘Energy orb’ bonuses that are scattered throughout the habitat; these will increase the communal power of the herd.
As Herder, you can:

• Use Wiimote to create deviation paths that block off dangerous routes for Sdompes’.

• Use Wiimote to allow Sdompes’ to follow a route.

• Use Wiimote to allow Sdompes’ to split and form a sub group.

• Use Wiimote to help Sdompes’ damage the robot environment.

• Use Wiimote to make your Sdompes’ jump and shake and sing.

As additional levels arise, the game emerges as a cross-country running game with Sdompe migrating through the different and ever changing environments of the Monsteca World: Stomping through Desert, Open Plains, Wooded Highlands, Forest, Wetlands and City in their bid to make it home safely.

Monsteca Corral is set to be released through the Wii Shop Channel in 2010, venturing into a new family of games for the Wii™ console. Monsteca Corral will invite people to experience a totally new and innovative method of gameplay with a fresh perspective on a classic genre.

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First things first, Monsteca is more than just a game.
Now this isn’t some marketing speak where I tell you that it’s not just a game, it’s a way of life or some crap (would I do that to you?) no no no,
What I mean is, monsteca is a universe of different ………. things.

There is in the pipeline

Web games
Wii game (monsteca corral)

Cartoons
A board game
A massive wiki

And more, all taking place in the monsteca universe.

Here’s some backstory.

The Monsteca Backstory

In the beginning there were monsters:

and the monsters lived side by side in general disharmony. Completely
unable to work as a team, the monsters roamed free within their
habitats and occasionally risked being painfully dismembered by other
monster species if they strayed too far from home -
and this was the way of the monsters and so life went on, until a small
and mysterious do-gooding alien life form arrived
who went by the name of:
The Maker
and The Maker (being called The Maker) made. More specifically he made
Robots. He created the first robot ‘chip’ and implanted it into the
first robot Central Processing Unit. The Maker created the robots with
a belief that they would improve the lives of the monsters and provide
some form of order and structure for the world. As with all great
beliefs it went horribly wrong once the Maker showed the robots how
they could make each others units and was hence discarded by them as
they felt he served no purpose.

The Biguana:
Thus the ‘chip’ has been passed from C.P.U to C.P.U and it has become
outdated and damaged causing the robots to behave more erratically.
So The Maker has become increasing weary and fearful of his own
creations. The Maker now lives a solitary existence.
He did however once save a small Biguana monster from the jaws of a
Blind Polar Dog and made him a robot tail to replace his half eaten one
knowing that for Biguanas ‘balance’ is very important to their survival.
The Maker is aware that the robots are not behaving in a responsible way
but fears he can no longer control them.

have now created their own environment in the form of cities and
mines. Robot consumption of world resources and materials is now of
epic proportions.
Collectively the robots view the monsters as a nuisance and have recently
been enslaving them for their own purposes Certain types of robot may be
persuaded to think differently if it is seen to be logical to do so but
.
the present C.P.U (Central Processing Unit) is not exactly logical.

has succeeded in line through the passing of the ‘chip.’ He controlsa
all of the robots but he is gradually experiencing more breakdowns/
crashes, glitches etc. mainly in his logic and understanding
functions.
The present C.P.U is not a nice C.P.U. He proved incompatible with his
compatible unit partner and she left him with a 2nd unit daughter who
he struggles to relate to due to her caring unrobotlike nature.
The Present C.P.U is responsible for the current anti monster regime
which he believes will advance robitilisation. He’s begun to ‘clean
up’ monster populated ‘trouble spots.’

Wii Story
In the world of Monsteca, the Sdompé are undertaking their annual monster
migration from the Southern Desert areas. Normally this is quite straight
forward, with Sdompés running in herds towards the nearest resting Astro
Maggot, symbiotically stirring it into action, then jumping aboard and
taking off to better climes through desert, highlands and open plains
eventually arriving at the Northern Wetlands.
But this year the wicked robots have interfered with their migration by
building cities that are polluting and destroying the monsters’ natural
habitats.
It is up to the Herder, flying overhead on the back of a Manderray, to
help the Sdompé migrate successfully across the robots increasingly
unfriendly and urbanised world.

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Being the noob amongst the leet at Onteca has its pros(everyone assumes you know nothing about their stuff)and its cons (normally because you erm don’t).Working with Onteca this year, attending Crossover Kids and working on an MMO created by young people, has been great. Challenging what I know as a writer and pushing me to think about what I need to. This blog is about ‘Crossover.’

So, ‘Crossover’ is:

‘…an extraordinary series of ‘innovation labs’ for creative professionals from a diverse range of backgrounds: game developers, tv and film producers, web designers, animators, theatre practitioners and others. Each Crossover lab is an immersive, five day incubator fostering new collaborations and original ideas for cross platform media content and services.’

Jon and Max put me forward for: Crossover Kids (Dec 1 – 5).‘Crossover Kids’ said it would:

explore the future of children’s media and develop original ideas for cross-platform projects. Based on the knowledge that:

‘Children have always loved TV, but the days when passive viewing was their only option are well and truly over. They’re media literate and demanding more sophisticated, interactive content which is fragmenting the market. So what does this mean for content creators? A decline in traditional TV commissioning and falling budgets? Or a framework for innovation and collaboration?’

I wasn’t sure on the idea of being incubated with a load of content creators. But, on the promise of a paid trip down south,(Thank you North West Vision and Media) a hotel spa and a country walk, I bought myself a nice new networking cardigan, packed my bestest walking boots and swimming cossie and set off to deepest, smartest Sussex to find:

non-stop work and no time for a sauna, or even a stroll around the grounds. But it was jolly good work, planning, pitching and thinking a lot about how multi platforms can be used with a young audience. I spent time thinking about how creative ideas can be best delivered to an audience of children who probably don’t even think about the word ‘virtual’ because to them it just is.

‘Crossover Kids’ comes highly recommended. Over the five days I worked on ideas involving Bluetooth mapping, MMO worlds and erm robot alien ponies. Obviously it was the alien ponies idea that I chose to develop. (See Recon Ponies Blog to follow.) It was constantly relentless, equally rewarding and hugely funny. Mentors were excellent and networking opportunities allowed for me to make some good contacts with lovely folk, specifically:

Childs Eye
Mustard Corporation
Unexpected Media
Red Bedlam
Tuna Technologies
Grierson Awards
Wak Studio
Poddington Peas
Milky Tea
and Capsule films

Friendship and creative seeds were planted in December and as we turn into spring I’m pleased to say they are growing.

Following the Crossover week, I also attended the first Crossover Kids pitching event, which was held at the Princess Anne Theatre, BAFTA, London on Thursday 11 December. We saw a couple of new CBeebies ideas including a great news programme aimed at 4 year olds ‘What’s your news?’ I pitched along -side virtual world creator Kerry Fraser Robinson(Red Bedlam), producer Emma Hindley (Grierson Awards) and animator Sara Quick (Tuna Technology) our multi platform animated cartoon/ website/robot: ‘Recon Ponies’. We’re still looking at developing this idea. Interest and funding most welcome. We thinks it’s got legs (and a nosebag.)

Crossover enabled me to extend the thinking that I had already been doing on my work with Onteca, specifically working story narrative in MMO and developing cross platform ideas. I am still very much a noob but with leet aspirations.

Tags: Art, content creators, cross platform, crossover, Design, film producers, future, Game, game developers, hotel spa, leet, media content, MMO, noob, north west vision and media, Onteca, robot, theatre practitioners, trip down south, walking boots, web designers, Young People

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