Monaco developers wanted to add competitive Cops and Robbers, Thief vs. Thief modes

The developers of Monaco: What's Yours is Mine wanted to include two competitive multiplayer modes in the game but cut them because of issues with balance and quality, said creator Andy Schatz in a Reddit AMA today.

Asked about features that developer Pocketwatch Games was forced to cut, Schatz mentioned modes called Cops and Robbers and Thief vs. Thief. According to Schatz, both modes were playable, but the developers found that they weren't well-balanced in the existing levels.

"We were going to have to build entirely new content tailored to them in order to make them feel at the same level of quality," he said. From Schatz's description, it sounds like Cops and Robbers was closer to release-worthy as a game type than Thief vs. Thief, although he noted, "There are some [interesting] challenges with both that we never fully figured out."

Pocketwatch tried a few different designs for Thief vs. Thief to keep it evenly balanced, but eventually decided that "there really wasn't enough interaction between players for it to feel fun," said Schatz. For Cops and Robbers, Pocketwatch discovered that adding a cop to the existing levels didn't work — it was too easy for the thieves to win in the early stages, and "almost impossible" in the later ones.

"When it worked, though, it was incredibly fun," said Schatz, who added that he hopes to release Cops and Robbers as downloadable content for Monaco at some point.

Schatz also said Monaco has already earned more than $1.2 million in its two and a half weeks on Steam. Approximately $200,000 of that came from direct pre-orders through the game's website, which was enough for Schatz to pay back the $100,000 investment that the Indie Fund put into the game. As it stands, Pocketwatch currently has between $600,000 and $700,000 left after Indie Fund's 10 percent cut of sales, and most of the people who worked on the game will also get a cut of the revenue.

"In the end, I'm far from rich, but certainly will be paid back for development and will have enough to make another game," said Schatz.

Monaco launched on Xbox Live Arcade today.