The unintentional, inimitable success of Monument Valley

This April marks the tenth anniversary of Ustwo Video games’ breakout hit, Monument Valley.

The qualities that make Monument Valley a fantastic sport are multifaceted, each facet of it doubtlessly value dissecting, from its artwork path to its narrative design to its minimalism. However there’s one thing notably particular to be mentioned about its major mechanic, and the pure pleasure of experiencing its optical phantasm puzzles for the primary time, seeing actuality shift earlier than your eyes.

“I spent ten years looking for one thing that’s like Monument Valley once more, and it is not by lack of making an attempt,” laughs Ustwo’s chief artistic officer Danny Grey, speaking in regards to the sport’s major mechanic.

“[It’s] not only a story about Monument Valley, it is a story about [Ustwo] – as a result of your complete firm obtained constructed round what labored”

Grey joined the developer in 2013 and was half of Monument Valley’s authentic group. We meet on the sport’s actual anniversary on April 3, on the developer’s newly refurbished London workplace.

Ustwo operates with a hybrid mannequin, and quite a bit of its workers do not come to the workplace day by day. However on that day the house is buzzing, and we catch builders wishing one another a ‘comfortable anniversary’ with a smile forward of additional celebrations that afternoon.

“[It’s] not only a story about Monument Valley, it is a story in regards to the firm – as a result of your complete firm obtained constructed round what labored,” Grey says.

What labored on this case was a mechanically attention-grabbing sport with a really distinctive hook.

“It is at all times been troublesome and it will without end be troublesome [to create mechanically unique games],” Grey notes. “I had this dialog about Viewfinder not too long ago. Whenever you’re ideating, that’s like hitting a vein of gold that simply retains on giving. Generally you get to a mechanic the place you are like: your complete sport is that this. That is good. Not each sport goes to try this. And that does not imply that these video games are worse. Generally video games are a mix of all their mechanics.

“You may play one thing like Civilization or Cities: Skylines and it is extra in regards to the mixture of all its components somewhat than a key mechanic. However I feel if you’re a designer, that is the holy grail, attending to one thing if you’re like, ‘Wow, that is what your complete sport goes to be primarily based on.'”

Funnily sufficient, what ended up being one of essentially the most recognisable features of Monument Valley — its geometry puzzles — began as an anomaly.

“We constructed one thing that was an isometric puzzle sport and the concept of impossibility got here as a bug initially,” Grey remembers. “Issues weren’t imagined to be layered in that means and you were not imagined to navigate between these layers. That is really the most effective factor about this sport, that we simply constructed accidentally. After which we primarily based the entire sport on that, obtained it finished inside a yr. I nonetheless, to this present day, do not perceive how we made that sport in a yr. And each sport since then takes… nonetheless many extra individuals and extra time.”

He rapidly provides: “It is in all probability on account of the truth that most of us have been in our late 20s and we crunched to do it, which is one thing we do not do anymore. So it is in all probability extra like two years in trendy time!”

Monument Valley launched on iOS for the primary time in 2014 and since then has been put in over 160+ million occasions throughout platforms. It received a DICE Award and two BAFTAs, and shall be releasing on Netflix alongside its sequel later this yr.

“I spent ten years looking for one thing that’s like Monument Valley once more”

Its success can also be multifaceted and is right down to extra than simply its sturdy mechanical hook or artwork path. Grey says it has been a few years making an attempt to reverse engineer what went so proper and work out what made it such a success.

“And I feel the most effective place to finish up is: oftentimes you may’t simply manufacture a success. It is obtained to be good, nevertheless it’s additionally obtained to be in the best place on the proper time. I feel it is actually unhealthy to suppose that the success of one thing is only right down to how good you have been. It is simply by no means true. There’s lots of individuals who make nice issues. But when it is not the best place, proper time…”

Pondering again in regards to the cellular ecosystem ten years in the past, Grey notes that whereas the App Retailer wasn’t model new, it was in a section the place “innovation may actually rise to the highest” and it wasn’t crowded but. He additionally notes that individuals found video games differently then.

“They used to test the App Retailer and go: what’s there? That does not occur anymore. Folks get a brand new telephone and so they’ll go, ‘Cool, I am gonna [download] TikTok, Instagram, Sweet Crush and one or two different video games’. Then perhaps they’re going to get marketed stuff out of that [and] they’re going to go and obtain instantly.

“Again then it was in all probability the best time {that a} sport like that would undergo mainstream media and attain a certain quantity of individuals, however I feel individuals have been simply in search of stunning issues to play on their telephone actually, and that was a kind of escapism. It is kinda why I am excited for Monument Valley 3. As a result of it feels [like] it was the proper sanctuary in your pocket, to flee the world from. As a substitute of worrying you about cash, promoting, in-app purchases, all these items, it simply allowed you to expertise one thing that was stunning. And I feel we’d like that now greater than we did ten years in the past.”

With Monument Valley 3 on the horizon, it is truthful to wonder if a sport like this – a premium, indie, mobile-first title – can achieve at this time’s ecosystem. However equally, issues that have been criticised about Monument Valley at its launch, akin to its quick size and its relative easiness, are sturdy promoting factors today, and there’s more room for video games prefer it.

“We’re gonna discover out, proper?” Grey laughs. “I feel there’s nonetheless a need for this sort of factor, greater than ever. I keep in mind having a name with a enterprise accomplice simply earlier than Monument Valley got here out. They usually could not get their head round it. They’re like, ‘Proper, so it lasts two hours, it does not have in-app purchases, it does not have leaderboards, it does not have adverts… Effectively, why are you making this once more?’ Nobody may get their head round it.

“I feel that is what’s made me a little bit bit immune to knowledge, a little bit bit an excessive amount of. As a result of when you solely ever comply with what the info suggests goes to achieve success, you are solely ever going to make the identical factor that is already on the market. And if we might finished that ten years in the past, Monument Valley would not have existed. So the concept of having one thing that’s only a stunning escape, I feel is required now greater than ever as a result of issues are much more crap now than they have been in 2014.”

Subscription companies akin to Netflix’s sport providing or Apple Arcade ought to assist with promoting a sport like Monument Valley 3, Grey provides.

“As a result of there’s not a direct worth trade with a participant,” he factors out. “So again then, clearly, there have been 100 million individuals who actually liked the concept of going, ‘I will offer you a pair of {dollars} and you are going to give me two hours’. However these days, if we’ll do stuff with subscription platforms, which means we’re not asking you for cash to play this sport. You will have an entire bunch of completely different video games to play on the service. You may determine which one you need. When you go and spend the night with Monument Valley 3, then sensible. So you are not gonna have that criticism of ‘I gave you £3, and also you solely gave me a number of hours’. I feel it is the proper time.”

“I nonetheless want that we may go to cellular gamers and say, ‘Give us £3 or £4, play this sport’… I hope that we discover a approach to maintain quick video games going”

Ustwo has had profitable experiences with subscription companies, with Assemble with Care and Alba: A Wildlife Journey releasing on Apple Arcade, and Desta: The Reminiscences Between on Netflix. However Grey does say he wished each enterprise fashions have been nonetheless viable, with premium cellular now past difficult.

“I nonetheless want that we may go to cellular gamers and say, ‘Give us £3 or £4, play this sport’. A [subscription] technique continues to be about retaining customers on a month-to-month foundation. So that you do have to alter the way you make video games a little bit bit. However I additionally suppose, the place the App Retailer was going, it was the best factor to attempt; making an attempt to create a platform the place video games like Monument Valley may live on. With out them, they [would not]. When you simply left it utterly as much as app retailer market forces, premium video games have been already on the way in which out, and they’d have gone utterly. So we have got these platforms that permit us to proceed to make video games like that.

“And as I mentioned, I feel it is actually nice that you’ve got separated worth from the participant. So they are not judging a brief sport. When you watch Netflix, you do not play an episode of a TV present or a film and go, ‘Oh god, that was so quick!’ You simply watch one thing else, proper? So it is a actually benefit of this.”

Grey provides that individuals judging a title’s worth primarily based on its size is one of his largest frustrations with the video games trade, stating that motion pictures do not get higher in the event that they’re longer.

“Half of what we consciously did with Monument Valley 1 is we mentioned, ‘Okay, we have got a small group, what would occur if we took all of the polish and energy [that could go] in a sport that was 100 hours, and put it in one thing that was two hours?’ And we ended up with Monument Valley [and] with this complete bunch of new stuff on a level-by-level foundation, and all the things feels tremendous treasured. So I hope that we discover a approach to maintain quick video games going. Whenever you see that stuff on Steam, it really works. I simply really feel like there’s [something] on cellular particularly, the place a whole sort of sport is variety of being misplaced.”

It is clearly not simply the market that has modified previously ten years. With Monument Valley 3, Ustwo is passing the torch to a brand new wave of builders inside the studio, with Grey noting he isn’t concerned with the sport’s growth and {that a} “complete new bunch of individuals” are main that group.”[It’s] additionally not only a group of guys, which is what Monument Valley 1 was,” he provides. “It is good that it is not the identical group of six, eight [guys]. That is what will make it tremendous recent as an alternative of being extra of the identical.”

Whereas there’s quite a bit that is nonetheless unknown about Monument Valley 3, he says that the purpose is to take the most effective of its two predecessors, “add on to it once more, after which change the artwork fashion so it is very recent for 2024.”

Ustwo’s method to growing the sport will align with its ordinary technique, which suggests “guaranteeing that creatives can inject some private tales and emotions into the issues that [they] make, to make them real,” Grey continues. Monument Valley 2 tackles the theme of parenthood as a result of group members had not too long ago turn out to be mother and father, for example, however every Ustwo sport is intrinsically linked to its group’s experiences.

“Alba would not exist with out David [Fernández Huerta] and Kirsty [Keach], and bringing in that actually real Spanish aptitude to what occurred. And identical factor with me engaged on Desta – it is essentially the most northern English sport that exists,” he laughs. “I feel that is been our particular serum from that time. It is [about] leaning into the creatives, trusting them, to inject some of their very own persona.”

“When you solely comply with what the info suggests goes to achieve success, you are solely ever going to make the identical factor that is already on the market. And if we might finished that ten years in the past, Monument Valley would not have existed”

Ustwo is thought for its sustainable method to each making enterprise and making video games. In an period prioritising shareholders and layoffs, the London studio most positively has a special perspective.

“I simply went to this roundtable at GDC [about] finest practices for balancing individuals, planet, and revenue; not simply the concept of the way you stability them however how they will empower one another. Our workers turnover [is] actually low. Meaning we’re not taking time away from the video games to search for new individuals, not spending cash on headhunting individuals and doing different bits, however concentrating on the video games. So treating individuals effectively and investing in that, and giving them good advantages.”

For example, he factors out that he is nearly to go on paternity depart once more for a number of months, and in addition mentions the studio’s revenue sharing system. The firm has been vocal previously about its ecological values, and its need to assist the subsequent era of devs. The firm’s method and its virtuous circle affect and revenue each facet of its enterprise.

“Gen Z is the primary era to care extra in regards to the values of an employer than its salaries. That does not imply that you must underpay everybody”

“Being a great enterprise might be good for enterprise,” Grey smiles. “Gen Z is the primary era to care extra in regards to the values of an employer than its salaries. That does not imply that you must underpay everybody. It means it is altering priorities of what individuals care about.”

He mentions that it is not solely good for workers, but in addition for platform holders and different companions who work with you, as a result of they profit from the splash impact and it makes them look good, too. So operating a balanced, sustainable enterprise that really takes care of its workers is a win-win-win scenario.

“We have by no means finished any rounds of redundancies, we have grown steadily, which I feel is right down to how unbiased we’ve been. I feel that if we have been owned by anyone else, we’d have been pressured to scale faster and extra,” Grey says, touching upon its dad or mum firm, design agency Ustwo. “We have grown from eight individuals to 40 individuals in ten years. Which isn’t quite a bit. We make three video games directly now as an alternative of one.

“We have made indie-style video games however with correct company-style help and methodologies for issues. A extremely well-run however small firm that appears after individuals, tries to make merchandise with values, and makes companions look good; that is at all times been the emphasis. Plus it will be silly to not point out the truth that we have had one actually massive hit sport and a sequel that do quite a bit of the heavy lifting in relation to the funds.”

The two different initiatives the studio is at present engaged on in addition to Monument Valley 3 are doing “very, very various things,” Grey provides, noting Ustwo’s ambition to department out a little bit bit, do issues on extra platforms, and deal with completely different genres. That is not even mentioning the six completely different prototypes Grey is at present engaged on.

“This subsequent wave, after Monument Valley 3, shall be us branching outdoors of our consolation zone much more in phrases of genres and platforms,” he says, including with amusing that Desta was already “essentially the most gamey sport” Ustwo had ever finished.

“That was us pushing our boundaries. We frequently speak about democratising genres. So, taking one thing like turn-based techniques that may typically put sure gamers off as a result of they’re often about house marines or fantasy stuff. [But] what if it was about regular individuals? So humanising sure genres that may really feel fairly abrasive to sure teams of individuals. That may in all probability proceed going forwards.”

Trying forward, Grey shares his need to provide assets that will go into extra particulars about how Ustwo grew from a small group of individuals with no construction or HR processes to a “well-run 40 individuals firm.”

“I actually need to [pass] that data down,” he says. “And simply acknowledge the privilege we’re to be on this scenario ten years later, when, as I mentioned, half of it’s making a great sport, half of it’s luck.”

However gradual, regular, and wholesome progress can also be on his record of hopes and desires for Ustwo, as is “using out the present trade storm” and making an attempt their finest to be a “good function mannequin.”

“Having made that sport is a superb achievement… However the greater achievement is persistently making good video games”

“We’re speaking about ten years of Monument Valley right here, and having made that first sport is a superb achievement… However to me, the larger achievement is persistently making good video games,” he concludes. “We have by no means had a bomb in these ten years. Monument Valley 1, we did Land’s Finish for VR, Monument Valley 2, Assemble with Care, Alba, Desta. And we have got three initiatives now. So eight video games in ten years just about. They usually’ve all been actually strong.

“And to me that is the most important achievement as a result of oftentimes you may’t plan all that extraneous stuff I have been speaking about; being on the proper place on the proper time, hitting some speaking factors socially that catch hearth. You have to be within the race. You have to make a great sport that when the standard of the product you make reaches the best market situations, it might go massive time. Like Monument Valley. I do not suppose you may plan to do a Monument Valley. However the hope is that we will proceed to make actually nice video games and one of the issues that’ll come out will go massive time like that.”

Join the GI Every day right here to get the most important information straight to your inbox