Monster Sanctuary - Lauren_Team17
Hello Monster Keepers,

as promised in our Early Access Roadmap, we have released our first content update for Monster Sanctuary today. This content update primarily brings a couple new features to the game, some of which have been highly requested.

Female Character choice

Probably the #1 feature that has consistently been requested the most for a long time, we've added a female character choice to the game. When you start a new game, you now choose between the male and the female character sprites. If you load an older save file, you will also be allowed to choose if you want to swap to the female character sprites (as well as change the name of your character, if you wish). Please note that this is a one-time choice.

Along with female character sprites, we've also updated the male character sprites. Enjoy!

Mouse support

We're also addressing one of the major criticisms that we've received since the EA launch: The game now also supports mouse controls (for people who want to play the game using keyboard & mouse). For example, you are now able to navigate the menus using the mouse. It's a first implementation and we're looking for feedback on it.
Combat Rating changes

We've given the Combat Rating system a small overhaul. The "Overkill" category has been replaced by two new categories: "Buffs / Debuffs" and "Execution".
"Buff / Debuffs" add points based on how many Buffs / Debuffs the player applied throughout combat and how many DOT (damage over time) effects enemies received. This was already present before, but it was added to the "Overkill" category, so it wasn't clearly communicated to the player before.
"Execution" does multiple things: first, it grants points for the first two acting Monsters based on their combo counter - so for every hit / heal / Buff that your first two Monsters land, your "Execution" rating goes higher. Secondly, "Execution" rewards the last acting Monster based on how much damage it deals relative to the enemies' health. Lastly, "Execution" grants additional points whenever any of your Monsters exploit an enemy's weakness.
The other categories of the Combat Rating system are now slightly less important for getting good ratings.

We hope it should be clearer now how to get better ratings, and these changes should also give the player more freedom when it comes to assembling your Monster teams.

Mountable Monsters

You can now mount Aurumtail and Qilin to get faster across the Monster Sanctuary. You just need to collect either one of them, select them as your following Monster and then press the "exploration skill" button.
There's also a new treasure in Sun Palace that can only be reached by using one of these two Monsters. In the future, there will be more mountable Monsters and also new areas that can only be accessed with these Monsters.

Two new Monsters

We have added two new Monsters to the game: Kanko and Tanuki.
Kanko is a hidden optional Champion in Sun Palace.
Tanuki is a rare Monster that can appear all across the Monster Sanctuary (starting after you have completed Old Buran's training and become a proper Monster Keeper). Tanuki looks like any other Monster in the game - it only reveals its real form after you've initiated combat with it. With each encounter in the game, there's a 3% chance that one of the Monsters is actually a Tanuki. Tanukis prefer the Sun Palace though, so the chances of a Tanuki encounter are increased to 15% while you are there.

Chinese Localisation has been added

The game is also available in simplified Chinese now.

Steam Cloud Saves
Support for Steam cloud saves has been added.

Patch Notes
There are also many smaller changes of course, which we divide into "Minor feature updates", "Balancing changes" and "Bugfixes".

Minor feature updates
  • Added a fourth Keeper Duel challenge to the Keeper Duel trainer; the reward is another shift stone
  • There are two new puzzles in the Sun Palace, one requires a mountable monster and another requires Koi
  • There are two new accessories: "Coat" and "Ornate Pipe"
  • There are new items available in the shops once you reach the Keeper Ranger rank (+3 Katar, +4 Ribbon, +4 Cape, Mango, Almond)
  • You can now buy Crystal shards in the shop once you reach Keeper Lancer rank
  • Paging functionality when the player has too many monsters

Balancing changes
  • Heroic Defense damage reduction increased to 4% (from 3%) per buff
  • Protector damage reduction increased to 7,5% (form 5%)
  • Age-stacks now increase damage and damage reduction by 5% (instead of 3%)
  • Precision crit chance bonus reduced to 20% (from 25%)
  • Reduced the gold the player gains from wild monsters & Champions (especially on higher levels)
  • Disease control damage reduction calculation changed (for multiple Debuffs the damage reduction values will multiply with each other and result in slightly less damage reduction)
  • Toxic Reaction trigger chance reduced to 40% (from 50%)
  • Infinity Arena buff stacks no longer reduce poison damage, instead poison damage is now reduced by 60% by default in Infinity Arena
    (going for multiple multi-poison monsters was currently far stronger in infinity arena then other setups. The goal is to have multiple viable team setups that can reach similar high levels. We need to observe if this nerf is enough, too much or too weak. Of course things will shake up more in the future with new monsters and Tier5+ skills)
  • All skill that have effects that count buffs/debuff (like Heroism) now count additional Buff/Debuff stacks of the same type beyond the first only as half.
  • Goblin warlock now has only one "Disease control" skill node
  • Regeneration effects on wild monsters are now only half as strong
  • additional buffs & Debuffs applied by Buff Mastery & Debuff Mastery now take up their own slots. Other monsters may still apply one normal stack of those buffs/debuffs afterwards.
  • Sidekick (Buff) and Shock (Debuff) damage reduced to 40% (from 50%). Both are very effective in the new combat rating by providing points to both the 'Buff / Debuff' rating and the 'Execution' rating.
  • Breakable ice platforms stay now a little longer before they break.
  • Damage multiplier in keeper battles reduced to 30% for both sides (from 50%)
  • First keeper battle (against Will) is now slightly easier
  • Medallion's Mana Regeneration slightly increased

Bugfixes
  • Mystify & Exploit now trigger abilities that should be triggered when applying a buff (like Buffing Shield)
  • Double Impact now also works for both weaknesses for monsters that have two weaknesses
  • 'Holy Presence' no longer applies the extra buff to enemies for attacks that deal damage and apply a buff to the caster.
  • Fixed multiple stacks of Shock not triggering additional damage
  • Multiple stacks of Agility, Spellshield or Channel now work properly (additional stacks had no effect prior)
  • Fixed issue where the game was not able to create savegames for some players
  • Fixed several localisation errors

That's all for now
Hope you'll enjoy the new features we've added to the game. The next content update will add a new area to the game with several new Monsters and a new story arc.
We are eager to hear your feedback on the new features and balance changes, here on the Steam forums or on our Discord channel: Come say hi!
Monster Sanctuary - Lauren_Team17
Hello Monster Keepers,

Today, we're pleased to be able to share an early access roadmap with you!



While this is not an exhaustive list of what is to come, we wanted to give you an idea of the things we're looking to work on to make your Monster Sanctuary experience even better!

We're also incredibly excited to tell you that the first update will be coming later this month!

This update will be available on September 25th and will include:
  • Chinese localisation
  • An updated playable character
  • Mount exploration ability (you'll be able to choose some monsters to be your trusty mount!)
  • Mouse support
  • Two new monsters
  • Some balancing changes

After that, we will focus working on the next content update which will add a new area with even more new Monsters. We will release it later this year, so look out for future announcements!

Monster Sanctuary - Sersch
Hey Monster Keepers,

We just released a small Patch to address a couple of Issues:

- Linux version should no longer crash on start
- People with Chinese Operating System should see text now (no localization yet, this will come soon)
- Starting popup message is now localized into all available languages
- Fixed the issue that some sound effects were not affected by the SFX volume setting

We are going to post a road map for the upcoming bigger updates soon. Hope you're enjoying Monster Sanctuary so far!
Monster Sanctuary - Jonno


Hey Monster Keepers,

Welcome to Monster Sanctuary, a pixel art monster collecting and battling game set in a Metroidvania world!

Everyone at Moi Rai and Team17 are excited to be launching into Early Access today and would like to welcome you to the Monster Sanctuary community with open arms.

You can check out the launch trailer below to see what your journey as a Monster Keeper will be like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlNbLNhlOQM&feature=youtu.be


The Early Access Adventure Begins!

As you pick your Spectral Familiar and take your first steps out into the Sanctuary, you’ll find a world teeming with monsters, friendly faces and lands to explore. Throughout Early Access we’ll be further expanding on the game with new features including, but not exclusive to:
  • Story continuation
  • New themed areas to explore
  • More monsters
  • More skills & abilities
  • Keeper customisation
One big boon of Early Access is that Monster Sanctuary can grow with community feedback at the heart of it. We look forward to hearing from you on things such as gameplay, balance and monsters!

Oh and if you find any bugs, do let us know so we can squish them.


Key features

Explore a Metroidvania world as you seek to solve a mystery that threatens the peace between humans and monsters!

Battle in 3vs3 turn-based combat as you use your team of monsters to fight rival Keepers, wild Monsters and boss creatures!

Hatch and grow your monster companions from monster eggs that can drop after battle. Each monster has an individual skill tree with active and passive abilities. How they specialise is down to you: damage dealer, tank, healer, support, debuff, glass canon, status or any hybrid combination – the choice is yours!

Collect and discover treasure, items and equipment for your monsters! These can be secured from successful battles or by exploring the world and solving puzzles. Using your monster’s unique abilities in the open world will lead to new areas opening up for you to explore…


Launch Stream – See Monster Sanctuary in action!

We’ve got five Monster Keeper Streamers playing Monster Sanctuary right now for the next seven hours!

To watch, ask questions and say hi, just click your way to our Steam Store page here.




Join the Keeper Community!

We’ve got a friendly Discord group where you can meet your fellow Monster Keepers, talk all things Monster Sanctuary and get hints and tips on building the perfect team for your playstyle!

Everyone is welcome, so come by and introduce yourself on the official Monster Sanctuary Discord.

For even more monstery goodness you can follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

That wraps up our introductory post! Now go forth and become the ultimate Monster Keeper!


Launch Week Discount!

For the first week of Early Access launch you can get Monster Sanctuary at a 10% discount!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/814370/Monster_Sanctuary/
Monster Sanctuary - Jonno
Hey Monster Keepers,

Today we’re incredibly excited to announce that Monster Sanctuary is launching on Steam Early Access August 28th!

To celebrate this news, we’ve released a new trailer that you can check out below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlhSrNaQM6o&feature=youtu.be

To the whole community that has already formed around Monster Sanctuary, we want to say thank you.

Your support has got us to this point and we can’t wait for the world of Monster Sanctuary to open up to everyone later this month.


Prepare to become the ultimate Monster Keeper

Pick a Spectral Familiar and build your first team of monsters now with our free demo, available on our Store page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/814370/Monster_Sanctuary/

Whilst you’re there, feel free to Wishlist us to keep up to speed with all things Monster Sanctuary!


Meet your fellow Monster Keepers

If you’d like to talk all things Monster Sanctuary, from combat tactics, to exploration and your favourite monsters, you’re more than welcome to join our official Discord channel.

Come say hi!

You can also follow us on Twitter to get a sneak peek on upcoming content and more straight from the Developer!

That just leaves one question, which Spectral Familiar will you be picking on Early Access launch?
  • Team Wolf
  • Team Eagle
  • Team Toad
  • Team Lion
Let us know in the comments!
Monster Sanctuary - Ntonisthier
Dear Project Backers,
as we're getting closer to our Early Access launch (and of course the test version for our backers with tester's access), we have a lot of news to talk about.
Translations
Thanks to our publisher, Team17 (you can read more about that in our announcement from March), the game will be available in different languages - starting already with the Early Access version. That's right! In Early Access, you will be able to play Monster Sanctuary in French, Spanish, Italian, German and Russian.
Third Community Monster Contest
Surprise news for our Monster Designer backers: We will start the third Community Monster Contest tomorrow (1st of August). The submission period will be open until the end of August. Voting will be done in the first week of September (until the 8th of September). As usual, the contest is happening on our Discord channel and all backers who supported us with 50€ or more are allowed to enter (you may join our Discord server here: Join Monster Sanctuary on Discord).
We are excited to see which Monsters our community will vote into our game this time!
July Progress Update
So here's what we've added to the game in July:
  • New tier 4 attacks for new and old Monsters alike. Most of these new attacks have different extra effects that make them different from lower-tier skills - skills like Spectral Cannon ignore a large percentage of the enemy's Armor value, while skills like Thunder Strike and Poison Eater have special effects when they're used on shocked/poisoned enemies.

  • New area: Sun Palace. This area is meant to be explored after the other areas we've added to the game so far. It can also be entered earlier if the player knows how to get there and what you need to get inside - but the Monster encounters have a rather high minimum level in this area. The Sun Palace is a large underground area that is illuminated by an artificial miniature sun. There are two distinct parts to the Sun Palace: the sunny "overworld" areas with large open rooms and the dark, watery aqueducts below.

  • Sun Palace will also be the first area to feature more intricate area-wide mechanics. There is a tower in the center of the Sun Palace which needs to be raised to access the higher rooms of the area. The aqueducts of the Sun Palace are overflowing with water, making it impossible to access the lower rooms at first. Throughout the area, the player will find levers to raise the tower and to lower the water levels of the aqueducts.

  • New Monsters: Blade Widow and Sycophantom

  • Sycophantom is one of the winners from our second Community Contest. As the creator (MissingNovice) intended, Sycophantom is very focussed on support skills (heals and buffs), with many skills granting it "Charge" stacks (+damage for next attack) when it uses those skills. Apart from that, it can also apply Chill-Debuff and a new type of stack called "Blind" on enemies.
  • Blade Widow is a new deadly bug-type Monster. It's a heavy damage dealer with Neutral, Wind and Earth attacks that is also able to apply multiple instances of Might-Buff for physical damage-oriented parties. As the battle rages on, Blade Widow becomes ever stronger and ever deadlier, thanks to Buffs and "Charge" stacks that it gains while attacking enemies.
  • Finished all Sun Palace rooms and story-content. Now we just need to add more Monsters, implement new mechanics and playtest the new content.

That's all for this month's update! If all goes well, expect the test version for Early Access by the end of August or early September.
Monster Sanctuary - Lauren_Team17



On your quest to defeat Capital B, you’ll discover secrets and solve puzzles in the overworld to unlock alternate level states!

Spark some change by hooking up electricity, flood chapters with running water or literally flip them upside down for radically altered challenges!

Check out the brand new trailer below…

https://youtu.be/Yfk72Js6rTE

Team17 x PlayTonic Games Livestream
Join us at 3pm BST / 7am PDT on Thursday 25th July for a Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair livestream! We’ll be showing off some of the alternate level states and have some of the dev team with us to answer your questions!

Tune in on Mixer, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook or here on the Steam store page!



You better bee ready for Capital B's most dastardly challenge yet! Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is coming to Steam later this year!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/846870/YookaLaylee_and_the_Impossible_Lair/

Wishlist the game on Steam or check out the links below to stay in the know!

Keep up to date with the latest Yooka-Laylee news:
Sign-up to the Team17 newsletter
Team17 on Twitter
Team17 on Facebook
Playtonic Games on Twitter
Playtonic Games on Facebook
Team17 Discord
Monster Sanctuary - Ntonisthier
Dear Steam Monster Keepers,

it's been one of the hottest months for Europe ever, but of course we've continued working on the next areas and features of Monster Sanctuary. Here's the monthly progress update for June.

Last Chance for Late Backers
First off, we have another announcement to make. We are closing the Late Backer Shop on June 30th. If you want to become a late backer for the game (to get backer rewards like beta access, the Monster Journal, being able to contribute to the Community Monster Contests), this is your very last chance. You can make your last-minute pledge here on our Paypal Shop: http://monster-sanctuary.com/PaypalBacking.html
If you're reading this after June 30th, don't worry. The game will soon enough go public: We plan to release the game on Steam Early Access in late August or September.

June Progress Update
So this is what we can show for June:
  • New Monsters: Mogwai, Crystal Snail, Megataur

  • Mogwai is an all-rounder Monster which you may build in a variety of ways. He has access to Snowball Toss (physical damage) and Ice bolt (magical damage), which are both new single-hit water-element skills. He can be a powerful hybrid combo-finisher, or he can be a great support Monster.

  • Crystal Snail is an extremely tanky Monster with a unique set of Resistances and Weaknesses. Only magical water- and wind-element attacks are super effective against it. He can protect his allies and take hits for them, gravely punishing enemies whose attacks land on it.
  • Megataur is the evolved form of the Blue Caves Champion, Minitaur. It loses a bit in Attack and Mana, but makes up for it with much greater tankiness. Also, Megataur focuses more on ice-attacks, can dish out some magical damage and gains Life Wave as a heal.

  • Finished Snowy Peaks rooms and story-content. So we've also been busy play-testing Snowy Peaks and fixing any bugs we've found so far. To finish the story-content of Snowy Peaks, you will have to defeat a new Champion Monster which we will reveal at a later time.
  • Again, we've been especially busy with adding new Tier 4 skills to both the new and the older Monsters. That's why we'd like to give you a sneak peak into some of the new skills your Monsters will be able to learn. Keep in mind that any skill may still change during testing if it's found to be too weak or too strong.

A new active Tier 4 heal. Monsters with this skill: Caraglow, Mogwai (maybe more)


A new passive that allows for "Critical Heals" which trigger Critical-passives like Critical Mass. Monsters with this skill: Caraglow, Monk (maybe more)


Charge stacks increase damage of the next attack by 3%. Monsters with this skill: Spectral Toad, Magmapillar, Magmamoth, Rocky (and more)


A new passive to slay tanky enemies with a high Health rating. Monsters with this skill: Vaero, Nightwing, Goblin Hood (and maybe more)


Gives your Monster's attacks quite a bonus against enemies with high Defense. Monsters with this skill: Specter, Nightwing (and maybe more)


A new type of stack which can stack indefinitely and doesn't vanish. Monsters with this skill: Grummy, G'rulu, Goblin Warlock, Rocky (and more)


Each Age stack grants the Monster these bonuses.


There will be different version of this skill for Defense, Mana, etc. Monsters with Health Focus: Blob (2 instances of it), Druid Oak, Spectral Wolf, Megataur (and more)


That's all for this month's update. Of course, there are even more new skills we've already implemented and that we're planning to implement still - this is just a small selection of them.

We hope we'll be able to show you our next area for Monster Sanctuary soon!
Monster Sanctuary - Ntonisthier
Dear Project Backers,
as summer slowly settles in, it's time to show you what we've been working on in May with another monthly progress update.

2nd Round of Community Contest Winners
During the first weeks of May, the Monster Designer Backers were once again able to vote for the community Monsters that shall be featured in our game. Here are the winners of the 2nd round of our Community Monster Contest:
1st place: Kanko, the pipe fox Monster, by Zuty!
2nd place: Sycophantom, the phantasmal elephant Monster, by Missing Novice!
And our Developers' Pick: Thanatos, the clown-masked reaper Monster, by The0neFreeMan! A close candidate that almost won the first two contests by vote and that already caught our eyes from the first contest. We like Thanatos' design, it reminds us of some of the enemies/villains of Snes RPGs, and it seems like a fitting enemy for the later areas that we've got planned for the game. 

Again, we'd like to remind everyone that there are still three more contests left! A lot of Monsters this time just barely missed second place by votes, but there were also a lot of Monsters overall that we could have imagined to have in our game. Both times so far, it was a very difficult choice for us to make our Developers' Pick among so many creative Monster designs. Monster Designers can try again in our next contest that we will start some time around the Early Access release of the game (~late summer).
Together with the winners from the first Community Contest, that makes 7 community Monsters so far that will be featured in our game. If you would like to see the winners of the second round, you can view them in our Discord channel, which is open for all: Join our Discord

May Progress Update
With our Backer Beta testing phase officially concluded, we were able to fully focus on new content again:
● New area: Snowy Peaks. This area is linked to the beginning area, Mountain Path. The player will be able to enter Snowy Peaks as soon as they have gotten the Double Jump boots from Blue Caves and a Monster with the flying exploration skill (Vaero, Frosty, etc.) - meaning it's not required to explore Ancient Woods or Stronghold Dungeon first. This area will feature two large mountains that the player will be able to scale, as well as many crystalline caverns within the mountains, and an icy lake that is surrounded by myths and rumors. There will be many vertical rooms with lots of challenging jumps.

● Almost all of the rooms of Snowy Peaks have already been finished. The next test version of the game (Early Access test version) will feature two new areas: Snowy Peaks and another area that we will reveal in the future.

● New Monsters: Ice Blob, Caraglow, Aurumtail

● You may recognize Caraglow and Aurumtail from our first Community Monster contest: Caraglow was one of the winners by popularity vote, while Aurumtail was our Developers' pick. They are the first Community Monsters to be implemented into the game as new collectable Monsters. They will both be found in Snowy Peaks. Caraglow is a unique support Monster that can heal like no other Monster in the game, whereas Aurumtail will require you to build around its Mana-heavy skill kit to fully utilize him. Caraglow will be another Monster able to light up dark areas in the game, and Aurumtail will be the first Monster in the game that the player can mount to travel faster from one place to another.

Ice Blob will be one of the common frost-themed Monsters of Snowy Peaks. It is somewhat similar to its green cousin from Mountain Path, but it has adapted to the icy climates of Snowy Peaks: It has wind- and water-element attacks, with several Chill (Debuff) synergies, and it is a very tanky Shielder as well.

● The minimap has been reworked. It now features icons for several important NPCs and places in the game (a highly requested feature), and it can now be scrolled - because the world just became too big to fit on the screen without scrolling.
● Adding new skills. Since we will be adding Tier 4 skills (Level 20+ required), we will need a lot of new Monster skills. Skill trees will also be bigger at Tier 4, meaning there will be more skills to choose from at Level 20.

That's it for May's progress update! What do you think of the residents of Snowy Peaks (that have been revealed so far)? Are you excited to explore the upcoming areas of Monster Sanctuary? Let us know in the comments!
Monster Sanctuary - Ash_Team17


With E3 approaching and Hell Let Loose releasing on the 6th of June, it’s fair to say that Team17 has a very busy week ahead! In fact, next week we’ll be unveiling not just one but TWO BRAND NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENTS!

You’re not going to want to miss these announcements, and we really can’t wait to share the trailers with you. To ensure that you’re the first to hear about these new games right here on Steam, make sure to follow the Team17 Publisher Page.

In the meantime, you can find a couple of cryptic clues in the image above, and if you hop over to the Team17 Twitter account, make your predictions, follow and re-tweet then you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win a copy of these two games, and Hell Let Loose, upon release!

Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next week!
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