Monster Factory

“There's no bad drugs, only the circumstances that it was used is often bad” - Midnight Gospel

Monster Factory is a 2D side scrolling puzzle game which revolves around the laziest guy Layman, who programs his little Frankenstein-like minion to automate chores in the vein of the crazy inventions of Wallace and Gromit. It is a comedic, family-friendly game that teaches basic automation and delivers a positive outlook on how we can benefit from harnessing technological advancements. It is a fun, narrative rich experience that brings joy to nostalgia seeker as well as new gamers a like.

Director's Statement

I wanted to touch on the ever lasting evolution of technology in this small sidescrolling puzzle adventure game. From industrial revolution, to robots and AI, we have always seen two sides of the debate with new technology, Not long ago, there are still complains with self-serving checkout replacing jobs. I have no idea what the future will hold, but in this game, I wanted to present the ideal / optimistic scenario, where the new technology afforded people freedom which empower them to find higher meaning and create even higher value in society. I want to bring player back to the joyful inventions of Wallace and Gromit, and explore the ideas of working hard vs working smart, fast fashion vs tailor-made, concise programming vs efficient programming, etc, through the story of Layman, the laziest boy in the world, who programs his minions to do anything he couldn't bother to do.

Game Design

Instead of point-and-click controls alluded from the side-scrolling art style, the movement of the characters is partly similar to a platformer, and partly heavily influenced by the game Manual Samuel. Each limb has its own controls, and while left and right hands work as interaction buttons most of the time, the manual alteration of legs to walk at the very beginning of the game is a stark reminder of how much automation we unconsciously rely on. The regular movement control with left and right is unlocked right in the first scene with the easy-walk puzzle.

The other puzzles in the game will take inspiration from many games that encourage motor coordination and precision controls. Where a GTA game rewards players for executing long sequences of arbitrary actions in as a cheat code, we celebrate making them as a macro. When Overcooked encourage precision and repeating pattern of simple actions, we celebrate writing automation code for the process, just like robots start making pizza in real life. Not to make the best pizza in the world, but to achieve a satisfactory result with an improved efficiency.