Mona is a Dark, Spooky, One Man Gamedev Project

Mona is an indie project developed by a single person. Set on a creepy, hand-crafted island, players will explore and discover its secrets throughout the game. Eventually, they will learn which ancient evil caused the island’s inhabitants to disappear.

Mona is a third-person puzzle game with an emphasis on exploration and narrative. The story is told exclusively through environmental and visual storytelling. Mona touts “detailed environments without any UI, to fully engage with an astonishing ecosystem.” Made in Unity, Mona aims to be a fully-immersive experience. Despite the lack of combat, Mona features elements of exploration found in other series such as The Legend of Zelda or Tomb Raider. Some of the 2.5D areas bring to mind LIMBO or platforming from Castlevania titles, as well.

Puzzles in Mona will utilize tricks such as perspective and physics to find solutions. The island also has its own form of magic, with its own unique rules and applications. The game also features a photography mode to capture any particularly impressive vistas the player encounters. Many of the mechanics are visible on the developer’s Twitter. Featuring frequent updates, it also acts as a miniature blog and record of the stages of learning game development.

Mona has no official release date. It will feature full controller support on its release. It is Aalbertsberg’s first project after a year of learning game development. Aside from a composer and some prior Blender experience, he had no other experience in coding, programming, level design, or real time rendering. A few pieces of his portfolio are available on ArtStation. You can also track Mona’s development on its Twitter account.

Unity is an engine that provides real-time development. It can create 2D, 3D, and even VR titles. There are also hundreds of hours of tutorials available for aspiring developers and features a variety of free resources.