Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine

Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
Developer(s)	Pocketwatch Games
Publisher(s)	Majesco Entertainment (XBLA)
Producer(s)	Russell Mock
Designer(s)	Andy Schatz Andy Nguyen
Artist(s)	Adam deGrandis
Composer(s)	Austin Wintory
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X (Steam), Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), Linux
Release date(s)	Windows April 24, 2013 Mac OS X July 3, 2013 Xbox 360 May 10, 2013[1] Linux October 21, 2013[2]
Genre(s)	Action, Stealth
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine is a stealth action video game developed by Pocketwatch Games and published by Majesco Entertainment. The game provides a top-down view as players cooperate to perform a heist using a variety of specialized thief characters. Monaco won two awards at the 2010 GDC Independent Games Festival Awards: the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and the Excellence In Design award.^[3] The game was exhibited at Penny Arcade Expo 2010 by its designer, Andy Schatz.^[4] In June 2013, Schatz announced that development had begun on a Linux port of Monaco.^[5]

During the month of September 2014, Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine was listed as a free arcade game download for Xbox Live Gold members on the Xbox 360.^[6]

Gameplay

The game provides a top down view of the area where players can only see things in their "line of sight". The level maps are presented in a blueprint style. Players have the ability to unlock doors and "sneak" making no sound, but slowing them down. There are many pick-up items, which help the player get through the levels; including smoke bombs, C4, EMP, assorted weapons, and other utilities. Players have to avoid guards who will try to stop the player. The game also allows for 2–4 online and local co-op play.

Story

The game features four different campaigns. Two campaigns tell the same story in different ways. One relates the back stories of the various crew members. The final campaign shows what happens after the end of the first two campaigns.

Characters

In your team you have eight characters all with different abilities.

The Locksmith

The Locksmith is playable from the start and his color is blue. He has the ability to pick lock doors and safes faster than any other character. His secondary ability is that he can open cash registers and ATM's faster than any other character.

The Pickpocket

The Pickpocket is playable from the start and his color is yellow. He has the ability to send his pet monkey Hector to grab coins. Hector won't alert guards. The Pickpocket's secondary ability is to hide in bushes faster than any other character.

The Cleaner

The Cleaner is playable from the start and his color is pink. He has the ability to knock out unsuspecting enemies. The Cleaner's second ability is to use medi-kits faster than any other character.

The Lookout

The Lookout is playable from the start and her color is red. She has the ability to see every NPC in the level as long as she isn't running. The Lookout's secondary ability is to enter vents, and open windows and stairs faster than any other character. She also runs slightly faster than any other character.

The Mole

The Mole is an unlockable character and his color is violet. He has the ability to dig through walls. The Mole's secondary ability is that he can enter secret passages faster than any other character. The Mole can also break jewel cases faster than any other character.

The Gentleman

The gentleman is an unlockable character and his color is teal. He has the ability to disguise himself when hidden. The Gentleman's secondary ability is to enter getaway vehicles faster than any other character.

The Hacker

The Hacker is an unlockable character and his color is green. He has the ability to make viruses from wall outlets. He has a secondary ability which allows him to hack computers and disable cameras faster than any other character.

The Redhead

The Redhead is an unlockable character and her color is orange. She has the ability to charm a single enemy and calm them. Charmed enemies can open locked doors instantly for her. The Redhead's secondary ability allows her to revive fallen teammates faster than any other character.

History

The idea for Monaco originated in 2003^[7] while Schatz was still working for another employer, TKO Software. He got permission from his boss to let them begin work on prototyping some of his own game concepts while the company, which was later shutdown, waited to get hired for actual paying work.^[8] In 2004 Schatz started his own company, Pocketwatch Games, which initially started off with the games Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa and its sequel, Venture Arctic. A third in the venture series was in the works, Venture Dinosauria, but this final game was abandoned in favor of something new. The Monaco idea wasn't revisited until October 2009 when the prototype was actually created.^[9] After a few weeks of development, a suitable entry for the IGF Awards had been created. The prototype was a hit, and it went on to win the Excellence in Design award, as well as the Grand Prize.^[10] Schatz originally planned for Monaco to be a quick six-week project. However, as the project began to grow and gain recognition, as well as having given a number of failed pitches to companies such as Microsoft, it required much more work than he had originally intended.^[11] As he became more involved in working on the game, he began to enlist the help of others.

In 2011 producer/designer, Andy Nguyen began working with Schatz on the game. Schatz met Nguyen while looking for people to playtest the game. Nguyen heard about this and contacted Schatz asking for an internship. Nguyen had no previous programming or game design experience but got Schatz’s attention by submitting a cover letter and a detailed analysis of the Facebook game “Zumba Blitz.” Schatz agreed to use his help and hired him to find bugs in the game. On December 21, 2011 Schatz announced he hired Austin Wintory, composer known for writing the scores for video games such as Journey and The Banner Saga,^[12] to write original music for Monaco. Originally Schatz planned on using royalty free music that he described as “old-timey ragtime”, but decided against this because he was concerned the music would be easily recognized from other places.^[13]

On April 3, 2014 the final downloadable piece of content for the game, entitled Monaco: Fin was released in the form of an updated. Schatz described this campaign as “brutally difficult.”

Music

The music in Monaco was composed by Austin Wintory, who had previously worked as the composer for games such as flOw and Journey.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 86% (PC)[14] 80% (X360)[15] Metacritic 83/100 (PC)[16] 81/100 (X360)[17] Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 9.5/10[18] EGM 8.5/10[19] GameSpot 7/10[20] GamesRadar [21] Giant Bomb [22] IGN 9/10[23] Polygon 7/10[24]

In 2012 Richard Lemarchand, the former lead designer of Naughty Dog, Inc., was allowed to play Monaco while still in Beta. He stated “every bit as awesome as you’d hope.”^[25] Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine received generally positive reviews upon release. At Metacritic, a video game review aggregator, the PC version received an average score of 83 out of 100, based on 47 reviews, while the Xbox 360 version received an average score of 81/100, based on 16 reviews.^[16][17] The PC version received a score of 86%, based on 27 reviews, while the Xbox 360 version received a score of 80%, based on 16 reviews, from review aggregator GameRankings.^[14][15] Despite such positive reactions, Schatz expressed disappointment in the sales of the Xbox version of the game.^[26] He attributes this to the delayed release date of this version of the game, caused by a bug that only occurred in the versions sold in retail boxes.^[27]

As of September 9, 2014 the game has sold over 1,000,000 copies.^[28]

References

External links

• Official website