Monolithic: Steam Edition

We at Fowl Machinations have been hard at work preparing Monolithic for it’s Steam release which is happening very soon! With our steam release comes a host of improvements, reworks, new mechanics, and a new monolith. This blog will go over the major changes and additions we have made to the game!

Before we get started, the team at Fowl Machinations had to make the difficult decision of dropping the single player portion of the game. We decided that a focus on polishing the multiplayer experience, adding new characters, and designing new mechanics would bring more value to the project. Players looking to learn the game outside of a multiplayer match can still do so in our new tutorial!

Now, on to the new features!

New Features

City Defenses

We’ve given cities a new resource to aid their survivability and to make spawning followers more mechanically interesting. As your city grows it will construct walls and generate defenders. Defenders and walls act to mitigate the damage of abilities. As a city becomes damaged it will lose defenders. When it runs out, the walls crumble and any further damage is done straight to the city’s unprotected population with no damage mitigation.

Spawning followers also utilizes this new system. A nearby Monolith can command a city’s defenders to sally out and become followers. This leads us to our next feature.

Commanding Followers

Followers can now be commanded using the Monolith. Upon summoning, followers attach themselves to the monolith that summoned them and will follow them until they have been given a command. Monoliths can now gather followers in large numbers over time, and then give their army to attack a settlement all at once. This can be used to bring down the enemy’s walls, paving the way for a devastating strike from the monolith.

Monolith Changes

Each deity in Monolithic represents certain ideas and traits that define their character. The abilities of that Monolith also supports the themes of the character and define the Monolith’s playstyle. We have made some refinements to many of the Monoliths to improve gameplay and to allow the abilities to better support the identity of each Monolith.

Arat

The Lion that Swallows the Sun

Arat harnesses the power and radiance of the sun. The destruction she wreaks is horrifying and awe inspiring in equal measure. Arat stands proudly on the front lines, leveraging the terrifying power of the sun against the foe while providing a bright beacon for followers to rally behind. In terms of gameplay, Arat is very easy to understand and utilize to devastating effect.

New Passive Ability: Blessed Light Arat’s power brings destruction upon her enemies while inspiring awe in her followers. Half of the damage dealt by Arat’s abilities is returned as devotion. When attacking Monoliths, 75% of damage dealt returns as devotion.

Vactul

The Winged Bull of Heaven

Vactul; god of the skies, and of vengeance. Wind, weather, and storms bend to her will and are used as weapons against her foes. Vactul specializes in control, slowing down and weakening enemy advances as well as restricting the movement of Monoliths.

New Passive Ability: Judgement Vactul’s rage is like an approaching storm. When moving toward enemy Monoliths, Vactul’s movement speed increases as that rage carries her forward. This increased movement speed grants Vactul greater map control and allows her to become a greater offensive force.

Yurisar

The Gatekeeper of the Desert

Yurisar is the god of the desert and lies.