Below are sample projects, demos, and behind-the-scenes work from our indie journey with Monarch Games, which began in 2011 and picked up after our time at Naughty Dog in 2019. The work continues to evolve, much of it ongoing to this day.
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Task Tracker Pro was a game-changer. Starting in 2021, we initially wanted to use DevTrack, or something like it online, but found most solutions either weren't available, affordable, or fit our needs and as our projects began to explode, it was clear we needed help with priorities and spreadsheets were no longer cutting it. We also wanted to go beyond what most task tracking apps offered, especially for indie game and app development. So, we did the crazy thing of building it from scratch, at the expense of progress on our games, diving into PHP, Javascript, HTML, and CSS to create a solid system that could handle both front and back-end needs. This meant tackling everything—database programming, login mechanisms, and even cybersecurity!
This tool quickly became vital to our workflow, helping push through prototypes, games, and websites. It wasn’t just about code; a lot of thought went into design also. We focused on creating visual appeal and user-friendliness by working on color schemes, palettes, layouts, and overall aesthetics—for the front page. The rest of the site is ... minimalistic but it works.
The impact of Task Tracker Pro is clear when looking at some of our standout projects like Bastille, Rise of the Star Kingdom, and Can You Dig It?. With it, we programmed Unity tools, auto-created design documents, automated asset management, and generated this website, making production smoother and more efficient. While we hated losing a year and a half when we hoped to have it done in six months, delays were worth it. Task Tracker Pro was invaluable, demonstrating how attention to technical and creative details can truly make a difference.
For more info, check out our three-part series on the making of Task Tracker Pro in the links below, or visit the app site to see it in action.
We also created a calendar app for keeping track of hours and budget. For more check out The Making of Monarch PTO>
Can You Dig It? took root while gardening in the backyard, finding miscellaneous objects and imagining what it would be like to turn the patio into a miniature metal-detecting game. This concept recollected a story about Shigeru Miyamoto and his team at Nintendo, who would visit parks for inspiration. One day, they noticed people naturally gravitated toward arches in open spaces, passing through them, which led to their implementation in Star Fox. It was a reminder that if something was fun in real life, in a game, it should be also. The idea started initial development in 2019, coming together in 2022 with the release of a Unity WebGL demo.
The appeal of treasure hunting with metal detectors had always been intriguing, but there was never enough time to pursue it. So, why not create a virtual world offering that experience—a way to unwind and relax during stress? That’s where it began to take shape. Research into common items found by enthusiasts was conducted and incorporated into the demo. Set in central California, Can You Dig It? goes a step further by referencing historical items from that region, each with its own backstory to add a layer of depth and immersion.
A key mechanism to the forest is randomization. More so, trees are colored from dead brown to yellow to bright green. Based on the distance from the game's starting point to the furthest, trees are colored from dead to bright as a reflection of treasure rarity. The further you go, the likely you are to find something valuable. The closer you are to the park's starting point, the likelihood of finding something common or junk. In this way, we create a sense of progression and risk-reward system for players. We've also included randomized tunnel tree barks and boulders to add variety and challenge to the game, hard-to-reach places become a puzzle for players to solve as they attempt to get to their latest finds near tricky areas.
Item placement and materials they're made from were also randomized to keep it engaging. As players continued, rewarding treasures increased, creating a sense of surprise and progression. What started as a simple object hunt evolved into a full-fledged game with over 100 unique types, dynamic foliage, detection systems, and a golf cart!
The following are models used for the items found in-game. Some were taken from Unity's asset store and heavily modified using Blender for the game's purpose. Others were made from scratch. All materials were custom-made and textures were a blend of store assets with alterations using Krita and Photoshop. There are many more items to go but for a demo pass, most of these sufficed to prove the game's concept.
The treasure shop is where players can sell items and buy upgrades. The shovel, shoes, backpack, and detector are all improved with the right purchase. Shovels increase dig speed with updates, shoes can improve run speed, backpacks increase inventory space, and detectors can detect rarer items with ease. As players progress, credits earned help to acquire better grear for more hunting, thus creating the reward loop.
Lastly, we're happy to share progress. While the project is still in early stages, it's interesting to see where it goes. We're also looking for feedback, so feel free to reach out and let us know what you think.
We also went through the trouble of working on a style guide which continues to evolve as we progress. Sigmar One became our title font after votes tallied from community feedback and from there we built our color palette, logo, and other assets. It was a fun exercise in branding and design, and we're excited to see where it goes.
For more details, check out our Style Guide PDF below.
The following are examples of our treasure game in early development. Before embarking on a design doc we wanted to test the fun first and see if the core mechanics worked. It wasn't until much later we realized the game's full potential. After releasing on itch.io, we improvised and iterated as far as we could. Afterward, we made a decision to pause in order to focus on the design doc. Once completed, we planned to pick up where it left off and continue development.
Inspiration was also drawn from World of Warcraft’s mining mechanics, a blend of gathering and harvesting with inventory management as well as player choice in what to do with it, making this a dynamic work in progress. While there’s more to be done, it's shaping up, and you're invited to try it out as well as share feedback. Check it out on itch.io!
Rise Of The Star Kingdom GT addressed a fundamental issue with the original, driven by feedback from the App Store. Players complained the game felt like it was missing something and in a lot of ways we agreed. It wasn't a true 4X game. The answer was simple: it lacked resource management. That's why we decided to overhaul the game's rules and mechanics with a brand new system, including fleet management, an improved save system, and 16 AI opponent variations, marking a significant evolution from "classic."
Aerial space battles, inspired by StarCraft-style ship management, continued becoming a focal point, allowing for in-game upgrades and level-ups. We also continued to polish characters, their personas, and dialogue for battle scenes, those on the Player's team as well as the enemy's. Core objective remained the same—conquering all planets in the galaxy—but with enhanced mechanics that offered a deeper and more strategic options. We invite you to try out our Beta Demo in the link below!
"Rise Of The Star Kingdom" may have officially launched in 2019 for MacOS, but its origins go all the way back to 2006, following our first game development role at Crystal Dynamics in San Francisco. Inspired by Galactic Empire for the Mac in the 90s, the idea was born from a desire to recreate the simplicity of its UI mixed with its complexity of choice. While 4X (expand, extract, exterminate, exploit) games were common, none captured the magic. A major limitation of Galactic Empire was its lack of AI and reliance on a time limit to circumvent it. This was a challenge worth revisiting.
After leaving Treyarch in 2011, the first real attempt to bring the project to life began. However, the steep learning curve in coding and game design, combined with time commitments on other projects like Spacetriss and The Last of Us, left the project sidelined. But in 2019, during a sabbatical from Naughty Dog, the idea resurfaced. Among several experimental prototypes, Rise Of The Star Kingdom stood out. It not only reignited a passion for indie development but also played a role in the decision to leave AAA game development.
Originally we wanted to create something simple to play, yet complex to master. But one could argue this version was too simple. We were afraid of too many rules getting in the way of fun, yet it didn't live up to either, some players were confused by our rules while others didn't see it as a complete game, it didn't offer enough to keep them engaged. That's why we decided to overhaul it a year later, a valuable lesson in game design.
It eventually published in 2020 for MacOS, featuring AI enemies, a procedurally generated star map, and strategic HUD controls. The game offered a blend of color schemes, palettes, and layouts to enhance the visual experience and core gameplay. Following feedback from players, the game evolved into "GT," a year later.
While it's still a work in progress, we're proud of it. It was eventually published, our first, for MacOS in 2020 and continues to sell to this day. Below you'll notice examples of early sketches, initial prototyping on iPad, character art, ships, mechs, event notifications, and more! You can check it out on the App Store and visit our project page below for details.
"50 State Reversi" started toward the end of 2019. After wrapping up Spacetriss, there was an urge to try another idea, this one with roots going back to 2008, when a friend proposed a fighting game based on the Obama vs. Mitt Romney presidential election, something in the vein of Mortal Kombat but with political figures. Partnering with Tim Bowser, a Full Sail professor and indie game dev, who shared an interest in the concept, it quickly became clear making a fighting game was far more complicated than expected—especially because of collision detection and timing. In hindsight, while amusing, it would have taken years to get right, since much of the engine or mechanics would need to be built from scratch.
Instead, Tim suggested pivoting to a strategy game, inspired by Hero Academy, which was then one of the highest-grossing games on iPhone's App Store. However, the prototype was never fully realized due to challenges with AI, user interface, and the learning curve of coding at the time. Nonetheless, we got far enough to have a semi-playable demo.
Fast forward to 2019, following the completion of Proton Rush, the idea resurfaced but with a different approach, this time, drawing inspiration from Othello, Go, and Reversi. Revisiting Tim's proposal, we envisioned using them to simulate an election, where AI difficulty would ramp based on the U.S. electoral college system. For example, states with fewer points, like Maine with 4, would have a low AI difficulty (1%), while larger states, like California at 55, would have a high difficulty (100%). Even if a major state was lost due to the challenge, players could still use election strategy to win over smaller states and gain victory in the overall race to the White House, just like the real thing.
To further enhance gameplay, Gerrymandering was introduced, adjusting difficulty depending on a state’s political leanings. For instance, running as a Democrat in pro blue New York would reduce the AI’s aggressiveness, while running in a Republican Texas would increase it. There was a 1% surprise chance a chosen state would be gerrymandered, making it a surprise element at any time. Once occuring, players would need to balance their skills across multiple games over the course of an election season in order to win. As a bonus, we thought about allowing players to either make their own candidates or choose from spoof versions of historic contenders.
Red Versus Blue, as it came to be known, strangely didn't work out until the last minute. It was one of our fave prototypes, starting as an experiment, evolving into a strategy sim with multiplayer tournament potential. The catch: we still had other ideas and couldn't see ourselves working on this for the long term. Regardless, we loved it, and there was every intention to revisit, revamp, as well as remaster it in the future. It was enjoyable to play and offered an engaging way to learn about the U.S. election system. It was one of those gems awaiting in the cavern of prospects.
Before becoming a strategy game, it was supposed to be a fighting game. These are the initial concepts for the project as it evolved. Fun times!
Proton Rush picked up right where Spacetriss left off. The idea was to mix a strategic moment in StarCraft with the simplicity of a tower defense game. It earned the nickname "Protoss Rush," a nod to the infamous faction from Blizzard's classic, and the concept started to take shape as we went along.
At its core, this game presented players with a tactical challenge: defend against waves of giant mechanical spiders by strategically placing turrets. Credits were earned for every destroy which could be used for upgrades—an idea inspired by Plants vs. Zombies. AI attack patterns followed a wave rhythm, adding just the right amount of complexity. Every decision—where and when to place a turret—was crucial, with each unit upgradeable to three levels. A level one turret was simple and slow, but could shoot in any direction within a limited range. Level two increased speed as well as firing rate, while level three changed its color to red and, though slower, dealt massive damage, taking down nearly any enemy with one hit.
One of the more unique mechanics we implemented was the camera. We wanted it to feel like a live news report, so we borrowed from our days creating graphics for Univision's morning news and designed the layout to mimic a CNN broadcast. Every few seconds, the camera would switch to different angles, borrowing a bit from Spacetriss, and showing player stats as headlines. It was a fun mechanic, and each camera shot felt like something out of an action movie. Players could also switch angles at any time, allowing them to alter perspectives as events unfolded. There was also a timer per round to give players a chance to rest, recoup, and strategize before the next wave.
While the project started out fun, we hit a few roadblocks along the way. One issue was with the mechanical spiders. Despite being rigged and animated at different sizes and speeds, their behavior lacked enough variety to keep things interesting. In hindsight, creating three distinct types with unique behaviors, along with specialized turrets to counter them, could have made the game more engaging.
Another issue was keeping the location stationary. While that worked for Plants vs. Zombies, it didn’t translate well here. A larger map with varied terrain and an Act 1, 2, and 3 approach would have added depth and a sense of progression. Everything else seemed to work fine, but without fully testing these ideas, it's hard to say if they would have hit the mark. It was a reminder of how even a simple idea can turn into a rabbit hole and the importance of carefully thinking through gameplay before deciding to pursue an idea.
Looking back, we realized when these challenges arise, we should consider paper prototyping. It's a simple way to test ideas before investing too much time or resources. While we were still figuring out exactly how we’d apply that method to this project, it was something to think about whenever we were ready to revisit.
Nonetheless, Proton Rush represented a milestone in blending genres and showed us how much fun we could have creating something different. It’s on hold for now, but we definitely plan to rehash this down the road when chance allows. Even though it was tough, it was also a blast.
In 2019, Black Bastille—a role-playing prototype—came together, inspired by our love of the Diablo series and the frustration of waiting for part four. At the time, Blizzard’s announcement of Diablo: Immortal left us, as well as a lot of fans, wanting and we were still hooked on part three. But with the desire to experiment with something new, going as far back as Zelda: A Link to the Past, we set out to create a demo that played with the idea of environmental interactive strategy. Remembering how Link could forge his sword with unique properties was something we always thought Diablo could've done.
Imagine holding a sword up to a torch, letting it absorb flames, and as the blade glows it becomes a light source...and a fire-based weapon. It could be used to strike enemies and inflict fire damage but at the expense of losing visibility as it returns to normal. Now picture that same blade being swiped across an oily floor to create a flaming defensive barrier, where it could both harm enemies or keep them at bay while still offering a radius of light for players to see around them. That’s where Black Bastille came in—a game that mixed the hack-and-slash slot machine rhythm of Diablo, with strategic environmental puzzle elements of Zelda, mixed in with heavy metal opera, and plot-twist investigations of a maximum-security prison for evil wizards gone awry. We dubbed this style “dark Disney.”
Using Hero Quest as a foundation, we built intricate systems from scratch—spell casting, point-and-click mechanics, AI waypoints, and even a leveling game loop. The inventory system was still a work in progress, but the goal was to create a fully playable RPG demo. The game featured button-based item activation like Warcraft, mission objectives like Diablo, and a unique interactive mouse hover mechanic to let players search for traps, hidden doors, and cast spells.
After twelve weeks, we had a playable demo, but continuing would have meant a five-year commitment. This project was ambitious, and while every mechanic we wanted to implement worked, the scope was far beyond our reach for the time frame we gave ourselves at that moment. In the end, we chose to pause and focus on other prototypes, which led to the development of Rise of the Star Kingdom by the end of that year.
Black Bastille remains a favorite yet with regret we didn't take it further. Although it’s shelved for now, we know we’ll revisit it when the time comes. Until then, it stands as a milestone in our journey, a dark and twisted vision waiting to be unleashed. Oddly enough, some of its ideas reincarnated into Calorie Quest.
Below was our original concept for the project.
In 2019, we decided to revisit an old favorite—Marble Maze LX. This was a fresh take on the original 2011 prototype, but with a twist. We wanted to blend the fun and creativity of Marble Madness with the authentic AI mechanics of Jamey Pittman's Pac-Man Dossier as a reference (highly recommended read). The result was a game that felt classic yet with a Tron-inspired aesthetic, and honestly, it worked! The whole concept was to give maze challenges a bit of an upgrade—bringing classic arcade vibes back while adding some new tricks learned over the years.
During 2011, we spent a lot of time working with lighting and rendering in Maya and Photoshop. That's why the majority of development occurred with art first and then scripting last by importing assets into Unity with game objects appended. We handled everything from Javascript-based dynamic light changes to special effects and gameplay events. Fast forward to 2019, besides a new facelift and reintroduction of C# to refactor the old code, adding audio mechanics that synced up with the player’s speed, making the whole experience feel more fresh and alive. We also threw in collision detection and trigger points to kick off the game and mark completion.
Challenging players to collect pellets in a maze while avoiding enemies was the goal. Collect all the pellets to progress to the next level, a simple but effective demo that highlighted how well programming and design can come together in an art first approach. The color schemes, layouts, and overall aesthetic gave it that retro-yet-modern vibe we were going for.
The best version of it came together for iPad and had we kept going with it, there was a good chance it could've done well in the AppStore. It tested well with players, though we were given feedback to add a topdown map, which we never got around to and still debate if it should be added. Perhaps a power-up or special item to enable it would've been better?
These were the original concepts for the game. The plan was to start with everything made out of wood, while players progressed through different levels made from a variety of themes, materials, scenarios, and enemies as they advanced. It wasn’t until 2019 that the idea was revisited and given a fresh new take.
In the future we'd like to revisit this game again and give it a proper release. It was a fun but like most, if not all games, even when it looks or feels like a simple thing, scale changes everything. Nonetheless, when chance allows, we plan to pick up where we left off and see where it takes us.
Spacetriss, our first game ever, was born in 2011 after working on Call of Duty: Black Ops. At this point we were no longer working at Treyarch but going full indie. The idea was simple—merge puzzle mechanics from Tetris with the shooter action of Space Invaders. We wanted to see what would happen when two classics fused in one, and the project quickly became our first real venture into design. We almost called it "Blockstar," but settled for that moniker as an achievement, thus Spacetriss stuck.
The initial concept was supposed to be simple: a ship shooting blocks and enemies while navigating infinite puzzle rounds, but six months in, we hit major snags. First, it quickly became reminiscent of Bejeweled because of the color matching, which threw us off as an unintended byproduct. Second, ship mechanics and power-ups felt off, so we switched things up—blocks would be destroyed when color matched, and shots would change them instead. Then we flipped direction, making blocks come from below the player rather than above, making it easier to focus on clearing core puzzle rows at the top.
Our friend Yosh suggested adding dynamic camera angles to spice things up. While fun, it felt like a gimmick than a real game enhancer. We also tried going for an Atari-style minimalist aesthetic, hoping it would stand out by nostalgia, but it failed to garner interest. Collision detection was another hurdle, but after some effort, it worked out.
By mid-2012, we released the game for the web, with lukewarm response. We tried adding a boss battle where blocks would form into large enemies, introduced various block types, power-ups, star-blocks that cleared rows, and even bombs that exploded to eliminate all cubes of smiliar hue. Despite all that, something still felt off—the game wasn’t fun, and we couldn’t figure why.
We eventually decided to move on and focus on other prototypes, like Marble Maze and The Monkey Game. It was a valuable lesson: sometimes simple ideas are the hard to pull off, especially when it comes to fun.
Fast forward to 2019—we wanted to give it another shot. After pausing Bastille, Spacetriss was revisited, determined to fix previous issues and adapt it for iCade and iOS. One major breakthrough was allowing any number of adjacent blocks to match, not just three. This opened up new possibilities for special perks and power-ups, such as a cube that could clear the entire screen.
We stripped out anything that didn’t serve core gameplay, ditching 2011's gimmicks. It was a reminder that sometimes less is more. A game can feel off not because it’s lacking mechanics, but because of too many, or they’re unbalanced. Finding rhythm between reward and challenge is crucial—when you get it right, the game is golden. It’s like the law of supply and demand in business—but for games.
Bruce Straley, co-creator of The Last of Us, once said, “You can’t plan fun.” While we were hesitant to agree, there might have been some truth to it. We always believed if you understood fundamentals, you'd be able to find engaging mechanics without endless, mindless, hours of trial and error.
Despite our best efforts, we didn't succeed in cracking that formula. Regardless, after a two-week marathon Spacetriss: Remix worked well, tested positively, and even got pitched for Apple Arcade. Though it never made it past the first round, it didn’t matter—we were ready to move on. Our next project, Proton Rush was raring to go.
On average, among all our prototypes, we’ve found about 40% ended up feeling fun, while 60% didn't. Maybe Bruce was right. Game design, like songwriting, can be unpredictable—sometimes everything falls into place, while other times it doesn't ... until years after. We think once a formula for a genre is established, hits become clear. It might be why successful designers specialize in one area, or as our colleague Jeremy Luyties once said, “It takes at least five years to make a hit—same genre, same team, same engine. Change any one of those, and it's going to fail.”
We’re not sure if these lessons fit the whole story, but we’re glad Spacetriss worked out, even if it got shelved for almost a decade. One day, we plan to revisit and launch it as a mobile app. We’re proud of the positive feedback it received and hopefully you’ll get to try it as soon as the demo becomes available in the links below.
Here, we took an old Nintendo ad from the 80's and gave it a fresh take. You can see a photo of our iCade setup mixed with a classic family fun scene from back in the day, which is why their joypads are blacked out. It was neat to make this for marketing and hope in the future we can do more of these. To make it blend, we had to light and photograph our iCade with the same direction, warmth, and angle as the photo. You'll notice our desk lamp lighting from the left appearing to blend the whole together. The rest of it was Photoshop. Good times!
What ever happened to that overtly happy family?
When Apple Arcade was announced, we saw an opportunity to publish as a launch title. Above, is a preview of the original pitch deck we put together for it, with an 80's laser punk theme like game covers from back in the day. For more, check out our links below to view the full presentation.
One of the biggest lessons learned from 2011 to 2019 was to never give up. In our early days, support was hard to come by. Every time we shared progress, criticism, skepticism, and doubt was faced. It felt like no one understood or cared about what we were trying to achieve, and we were still figuring it out. Social media marketing was at its infancy and online groups were hard to come by. At one point, after a long, drawn-out development cycle, we were desperate for guidance, ready to throw in the towel. We reached out to a friend involved in mobile publishing, but in hindsight, it was a big mistake. He tore our game to shreds, and with it, any hope we had left in it. Discouraged, we quit, feeling like maybe we didn’t have what it took to be a game dev.
It wasn’t until years later we gave it another try and realized these setbacks were nothing more than common roadblocks to push through and a normal part of the journey. Most indies go through similar struggles, and it's to be expected. By 2019, we solved many of the issues that plagued us in the past across all games. We also learned to be careful about whom and when to share our progress—indie development isn’t for everyone.
Fortunately, today there are so many groups and communities that support devs, one might say there's no excuse for failure other than inexperience. Providing encouragement, as well as spaces to share ideas, these groups go a long way in helping up-and-coming developers. This is why we make every effort to lift up discouraged indies whenever possible because we know firsthand how vital it is. We lost nearly a decade for not having this and never want anyone else to go through the same. If there’s one key to success, it’s the will to keep going and finish what you start, success is time and chance.
For more info, check out our links below!