''Monument Valley'' is an
indie
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
*Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
*Indie game, any game (board ...
puzzle game
A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzl ...
developed and published by
Ustwo Games. The player leads the princess Ida through mazes of
optical illusions and
impossible object
An impossible object (also known as an impossible figure or an undecidable figure) is a type of optical illusion that consists of a two- dimensional figure which is instantly and naturally understood as representing a projection of a three-d ...
s while manipulating the world around her to reach various platforms. ''Monument Valley'' was developed over ten months beginning in early 2013 based on concept drawings by company artist Ken Wong. Its visual style was inspired by
Japanese prints
Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (160 ...
,
minimalist sculpture, and
indie games
An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...
''
Windosill'', ''
Fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
'', and ''
Sword & Sworcery
''Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP'' is an adventure and indie game created by Superbrothers and Capybara Games, with music by Jim Guthrie. It was initially released for iOS devices, with a version for Microsoft Windows via Steam coming later ...
'', and was compared by critics to
M. C. Escher drawings and ''
Echochrome''. The art was designed such that each frame would be worthy of public display. After a closed
beta test, it was released for
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
on April 3, 2014, and was later
ported
In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...
to
Android and
Windows Phone
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design l ...
. The game received generally favorable reviews. Critics praised its art and sound design, but noted its lack of difficulty and short length. It won a 2014
Apple Design Award
The Apple Design Awards (ADAs) is an event hosted by Apple Inc. at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The purpose of the event is to recognize the best and most innovative Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a fa ...
, was named Apple's best iPad game of 2014, and sold over two million copies by January 2015; by May 2016, sales of the game exceeded 26 million.
Two expansions titled ''Forgotten Shores'' and ''Ida's RED Dream'' were released in 2014 and 2015. A sequel ''
Monument Valley 2'', was released for both iOS and Android in 2017. ''Monument Valley+'' a Apple Arcade exclusive was released April 2, 2021. The PC-Version ''Monument Valley: Panoramic Edition'' was released on
Steam in July 2022. A third game is reportedly in development.
Gameplay
In ''Monument Valley'',
player character Princess
Ida journeys through mazes of
optical illusions
Within visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide variety; the ...
and
impossible objects,
which are referred to as "
sacred geometry
Sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and certain geometric proportions. It is associated with the belief that a god or goddess is the creator of the universal geometer. The geometry used in the des ...
" in-game, as she journeys to be forgiven for something.
The game is presented in
isometric view,
and the player interacts with the environment to find hidden passages as Ida progresses to the map's exit.
Each of the ten
levels has a different central mechanic.
Interactions include moving platforms and pillars and creating bridges.
The player is indirectly cued through the game by design elements like color, and directly cued by crow people, who block Ida's path. Critics compared the game's visual style to a vibrant
M. C. Escher drawing
and ''
Echochrome''.
The game includes a camera mode where the player can roam the level to compose screenshots. It includes filters similar to those of
Instagram.
Development
''Monument Valley'' was developed by Ustwo, a digital design firm founded in 2004 that has produced iPhone apps since 2007. Their ''Whale Trail'' game received millions of downloads, and their other apps include design app Granimator and photo sharing app Rando.
''Monument Valley'' was conceived as a touch game for
tablets. Its development began in the beginning of 2013,
and lasted 10 months. It was developed under the working title, Tower of Illusion. It began with a piece of concept art drawn in the style of
M. C. Escher, and the final design did not deviate far from this original.
Ustwo management did not give the development team a timeline or budget, and instead told them to focus on "making a high-quality product". Games development is not a large portion of Ustwo's revenue, so the company focuses its games development on producing "great products" that reflect well on the company, rather than highly profitable apps.
![Ken_wong_-_game_developers_conference_cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Ken_wong_-_game_developers_conference_cropped.jpg)
Of the art style, game designer and artist Ken Wong said he aspired to make each frame of the gameplay worthy of public display.
The project began as Wong's concept drawings before it became a game project.
The visual style was inspired by
Japanese prints
Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (160 ...
,
minimalist sculpture,
and
indie games
An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...
''
Windosill'', ''
Fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
'', and ''
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP''.
Wong added that the gameplay was designed to let the player find the object of the game through exploration, without direct guidance. The game uses colors to signify where the player can interact, similar to ''
Mirror's Edge
''Mirror's Edge'' is an action-adventure platform game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2008, and for Microsoft Windows in 2009. Set in a near-future city, the game follows th ...
''.
Wong compared the gameplay experience to a cross between the wonder of a toy shop and the world of ''
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956). Among all the ...
'',
and its story to a symbolic "song" rather than a narrative book.
The game was designed to be completed by most players, a style uncommon for games designed for popular audiences.
It was intended to be a "premium experience" rather than a difficult challenge.
The game's soundtrack features music by Stafford Bawler,
Obfusc, and Grigori. A limited edition
vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
two-volume recording was released by Ustwo and
iam8bit
iam8bit, Inc. is a media production company, creative think tank, policy institute, and art exhibition based in Los Angeles, California.
Development
iam8bit was originally developed by video game and tech journalist Jon M. Gibson, in the su ...
in 2016, which includes the music from the main game and its two expansions.
The game was in
beta as of December 2013,
where it had over 1,000 testers and the average finish time was 90 minutes.
It was planned as an iPad exclusive.
The game was initially released for
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
on April 3, 2014,
and the company recouped their cost of development within the first two weeks of release. An
Android port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
went through two beta tests
and was later released on May 14, 2014.
More levels were in development, as of April 2014. Ustwo said they were adding the levels for "artistic reasons", such as ideas they wanted to try but could not fit into the original release.
Wong stated that, with consumer interest, the company would consider
porting
In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...
the game to other platforms.
The game's technical director said that the game was "not very difficult to port" since it was written in the
Unity game engine
Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a var ...
.
But as the game was built with a portrait (vertical)
screen orientation in mind, the developer had difficulty converting the game for devices with landscape-oriented (horizontal) screens, such as the
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
trailer video format
and the
PlayStation Vita.
Jennifer Estaris said in 2022 that they have figured out how to adapt the game for landscape orientation, with plans to release the title for personal computers later that year. The two games (with their DLC) subtitled ''Panoramic Edition'' and ''The Panoramic Collection'', containing both games and their DLC, was released on Windows on 12 July 2022.
An add-on expansion, entitled ''Forgotten Shores'', was released for iOS devices on November 12, 2014, on the
Appstore on November 20, 2014 and on
Google Play Store
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating syst ...
on November 24, 2014. This adds eight additional levels to the ten in the original game. An expansion pack titled ''Ida's (RED) Dream'' was available from June 25, 2015 for purchase for a limited time as part of Apple's Apps for
(PRODUCT) RED initiative. This expansion pack could be played with or without the additional purchase of ''Forgotten Shores'', featuring Ida in a red outfit and several new puzzles. Both DLC are automatically included in the rereleases.
Reception
The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review score aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
It immediately went to the top of the App Store paid apps chart, where it stayed for at least a month based on strong reviews and
word of mouth
Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...
. It was chosen as an App Store Editor's Choice
and later both received a 2014
Apple Design Award
The Apple Design Awards (ADAs) is an event hosted by Apple Inc. at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The purpose of the event is to recognize the best and most innovative Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a fa ...
and was named Apple's best iPad game of 2014.
''
Pocket Gamer'' gave the game their gold award, and their Harry Slater wrote that there was "nothing else like ''Monument Valley'' on the App Store".
Multiple reviewers cited the art
and sound design as exceptional.
''
Edge
Edge or EDGE may refer to:
Technology Computing
* Edge computing, a network load-balancing system
* Edge device, an entry point to a computer network
* Adobe Edge, a graphical development application
* Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...
'' added that the sound design's addition of "deep rumbles" and environmental "clicks" gave the game the feeling of ''
Tomb Raider
''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...
'' moving "ancient mechanisms".
''TouchArcade'' Shaun Musgrave called the visuals "almost impossibly gorgeous",
and ''
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...
'' wrote that the game "might be the most beautiful iPad game of 2014".
''
Creative Review
''Creative Review'' is a bimonthly print magazine and website. The magazine focuses on commercial creativity, covering design, advertising, photography, branding, digital products, film, and gaming. The magazine is published bimonthly in print and ...
'' called the game's puzzles "clever" and appreciated the developers' attention to detail.
While ''
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...
'' Danielle Riendeau praised the puzzle design,
other critics noted its lack of difficulty
and short length.
Riendeau wrote that the puzzles solutions always felt intuitive and never felt frustrating. She found "everything" about the game to be "soothing, almost hypnotic".
''Edge'' thought that the game did not present a "genuine" challenge, and that the puzzles did not "find fresh ways to confound and delight" until the final levels.
The magazine compared the game to "assembling flat-pack furniture": straightforward in its process, but rewarding in its transformation.
Harry Slater of ''Pocket Gamer'' wrote that the game was "almost breathtakingly unique".
Riendeau said she finished the game in under three hours,
and ''TouchArcade'' Shaun Musgrave, who could not "even begin to imagine anyone getting stuck on ... the puzzles", put the game's length at "an hour and change".
Jeff Marchiafava of ''
Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...
'' wanted more content. He was also unsatisfied with the game's narrative, which he found "obtuse" and "vague" to a fault.
Musgrave of ''TouchArcade'' thought that while games that focus on experiences can be shorter, ''Monument Valley'' did not last long enough "for the mechanics to reach their full potential", though the time was "just about right" for the story.
''Monument Valley'' sold 500,000 copies in a month, and one million copies in three months.
In November 2014, the game had sold 1.4 million copies
and by January 2015, the game had sold 2.4 million copies.
In January 2015, Ustwo noted that the game had seen a large amount of software piracy, with 95% of the installs on Android and 60% on iOS devices coming from unpaid copies; the company asserted some of these may include users installing on multiple devices but believe the majority was through users that had not purchased the title. While these numbers were discouraging, the company asserted it will continue to develop premium titles for mobile devices. Despite the piracy, Ustwo stated they have exceeded $6 million in revenue from sales of the game as of mid-January 2015, exceeding the $1.4 million in development costs. By January 2016, USTwo reported that more than 24 million users have downloaded the game, the ten-fold increase from 2015 partially due to legitimate giveaways of the game through Apple's App Store, Google Play, and Amazon Underground. Of about seven million of the free downloads through Apple, about 35% of them purchased the "Forgotten Shores" expansion. Ustwo reported total sales over $14 million from 26 million copies by May 2016.
The game was named as a finalist for Innovation Award, Best Visual Art, and Best Handhold/Mobile Game for the 2015
Game Developers Choice Awards, and was an honorable mention for Best Design. The game won Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, as well as nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Mobile Game of the Year, and the D.I.C.E. Spirit Award at the 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards by the
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. It won the 2015
International Mobile Gaming Awards' Grand Prix. The title won the
BAFTA Video Game Awards for best "British Game" and "Mobile/Handheld Game", while nominated for "Best Game", "Artistic Achievement", and "Original Property" awards. At the 2014 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards ''Monument Valley'' won the category ''Game, Special Class'' and was nominated for ''Game Design, New IP'' and ''Art Direction, Fantasy''.
''Time'' magazine placed the game on their best of list while being ''Game Informer''s "Editor's Choice" for "Best Mobile Exclusive".
Legacy
The game was a "minor plot point" in
the third season of ''
House of Cards
A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structu ...
'', in which
Frank Underwood plays the game; he is inspired by video gamer reviewer Thomas Yates's elegant description of ''Monument Valley'' to bring the reviewer on as his biographer.
According to the studio Ustwo, they were approached by
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
about including the game in the story, and the studio readily agreed without any financial compensation. They made a specialized version of the game for the show to aid in filming and to meet a description of the game provided within the script for the first episode in which it appeared. Ustwo saw the opportunity to introduce the title to a different audience set, and saw an increase in sales as a result of this appearance. The game re-entered the top of the most download app charts on the major
app stores a few days after the February 2015 release of the season on Netflix. ''Monument Valley'' characters were added to the cast of ''
Crossy Road
''Crossy Road'' is an arcade video game released on 20 November 2014. It was developed and published by Australian video game developer Hipster Whale, with the name and concept of the game playing on the age-old joke "Why did the chicken cross t ...
'' in late 2015.
Jaz Rignall (''
USgamer
Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and oth ...
'') noted that the 2015 ''
Lara Croft Go
''Lara Croft Go'' is a turn-based puzzle video game in the ''Tomb Raider'' series. The player moves Lara Croft as a puzzle piece through a board game while avoiding obstacles and manipulating the environment. The developers distilled major seri ...
'' appeared to have been influenced by ''Monument Valley''.
Ken Wong left Ustwo Games soon after completing ''Monument Valley'' to create his own studio, Mountains, which created ''
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
''.
''Monument Valley'' was reported to have a significant influence on
China's indie game development community, as its ability to tell an emotional story through a video game medium influenced numerous developers to build out their own games with similar narratives.
The music video for
Ariana Grande's 2018 song "
No Tears Left to Cry" was partly inspired by ''Monument Valley''.
Film adaptation
In August 2018,
Paramount Animation
Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the box office success of Paramount's ow ...
and
Weed Road, in partnership with Ustwo, announced plans to develop a live action/CGI hybrid film based on ''Monument Valley'', with
Patrick Osborne slated to direct. It is anticipated that the film will feature live actors exploring the computer generated settings based on the game. Osborne stated "I’m privileged to be handed the reins to Ida’s mysterious kingdom, to play in her world of impossible architecture where seeing things differently is everything".
References
External links
*
{{Good article
2014 video games
Android (operating system) games
Apple Design Awards recipients
IOS games
indie video games
Puzzle video games
Perspective video games
Single-player video games
Video games inspired by M. C. Escher
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games featuring female protagonists
Video games with downloadable content
Windows Phone games
British Academy Games Award for British Game winners