Why does it take so long to make new levels?
/You want more Monument Valley levels. We heard you! Why aren't they done yet?!
We always wanted Monument Valley to feel complete and be able to stand on its own. To quote from Gattaca, we never saved anything for the swim back. Every ounce of effort we spent up until April 3, 2014 was to make the game as great as possible, as if we'd never have a chance to return.
Fortunately, Monument Valley was quite well received, and we're thrilled that so many of you want to spend more time in there.
New monuments under construction by David!
Why don't you just make ten or fifty or a hundred new levels right now?
One of the things we really cared about when we made the game is to make every level (or chapter, as we prefer) unique. Each one has a distinct and separate theme, gameplay mechanic or story beat to get across. We think this is great for the player's experience because you never know what's going to come next, and we as creators get to focus on making only the very best content. As we say: "all killer, no filler". We like to hand-craft, not mass-produce.
The downside is that it takes quite a long time to make each chapter. We need to come up with entirely new puzzles, mechanics, story beats and architectural styles. We need to create them in the game engine, test them, make them beautiful. It takes time to achieve an elegant balance of interaction, beauty and storytelling. It's a bit like writing new songs, or new chapters for a book that everybody loves and is excited to read more of.
In case you missed it, here's the first teaser screenshot we released of these new chapters:
So, please be patient! We're working as hard and fast as we can. I can honestly say these new levels are the best work we've ever done, and may end up being almost as long as the original game. It will be worth waiting for.
