My Singing Monsters is a video game franchise created by Canadiancomputer game developerBig Blue Bubble. The first game of the series was released in September 2012 for AppleiOS. Ports of the game for other touchscreen smartphone operating systems were later released, including versions for Android, Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, Barnes & Noble Nook. The game was also released in the portable console PlayStation Vita in 2015. The success of the title prompted Big Blue Bubble to create various spin-off apps including My Mammott and Furcorn's Jelly Dreams featuring popular characters from the My Singing Monsters franchise. In September 2015, the company released the second official game of the series, My Singing Monsters: Dawn of Fire on iOS and Android.
''Gameplay''
In My Singing Monsters, players collect and breed many different types of monsters, each of which has a unique musical line that is either sung, or played on an instrument. Each island possesses a unique set of available monsters that together play a certain musical theme. Monsters that are present on an island will generate various types of in-game currency which can in turn be used to acquire many decorations, remove obstacles, build structures, and buy food for the monsters to level up and generate more currency. There are also achievements and goals to direct gameplay, with in-game currency as rewards. Some islands feature other methods of gameplay, such as Tribal island, in which friends level up their monsters to reach the highest level to receive in-game rewards, or composer island, in which the player can compose their own songs using the singing monsters. The distinction of My Singing Monsters from other simulation games is the "building" process of making music that is primarily driven by the use of the eponymous musical monsters. Players make their own decisions on what determines the "perfect" island by selectively picking monsters that they determine would improve their game overall by a combination of design and in-game currency generation. Some special monsters or decorations are more difficult to unlock, often requiring exclusive currencies, special occasions, or special methods in order to obtain or activate them. Monsters can also be bred together in a machine called the "Breeding Structure" to breed most types of monsters; monsters of lower rarity are easier to breed and thus easier to become created from the structure.
''My Singing Monsters: Dawn of Fire''
My Singing Monsters: Dawn of Fire is a prequel of the original My Singing Monsters, set in a time when the element of Fire was born. Unlike the original game, the main song is on "Continent", a supercontinent land that was formed similarly to Pangaea. Monsters in toddler form are initially raised on Continent, each of which play a unique tune that contributes to the musical theme. Each monster requests a unique set of "crafting items" that can be used to increase their level; filling these requests will reward in-game currency plus additional benefits that can unlock additional features of the game. At a certain monster level, toddler monsters are able to permanently teleport to additional islands known as "Outer Islands" as adult monsters, gaining new musical lines on an island with a unique group of musical monsters that produce an entirely different song theme.
Notable collaborations
In July 2013, Big Blue Bubble announced that they had collaborated with Grammy Award-winning artist Kristian Bush from American country music duo Sugarland to create a new monster, the Shugabush. Bush had been inspired to collaborate with My Singing Monsters when his 11-year-old son was playing the game. He praises the attractive music surrounding the game My Singing Monsters, and collaborated with Big Blue Bubble to create the Shugabush. After his collaborations being featured in a news release, he had said "First of all, the music in My Singing Monsters is irresistible — that's what drew me to the game. And since I love to dream big via social media, I'm so glad that Dave Kerr and his team at My Singing Monsters dreamed back. I've always wanted to let my inner monster out... and I think I'm finally about to impress my son." In October 2013 Big Blue Bubble signed a deal with publishing house Egmont UK as its new strategic licensing partner. In July 2017 Big Blue Bubble announced Wind Sun Sky Entertainment will adapt its mobile gameMy Singing Monsters into a multi-media franchise, beginning with an animated TV series and consumer products program. Skybound Entertainment will be the distributor in all territories worldwide, excluding Canada.
Reception
Kotaku describes the original My Singing Monsters as a "clever combination of music and monster breeding", praising how the complexity of a song can become developed by the utility of breeding monsters, each monster revealing a new line to the song. However, Kotaku is "a bit disappointed" with the level of complexity added in Dawn of Fire, reporting that the new feeding system hinders progress towards the whole concept of unveiling the "musical nirvana". The game won the People's Voice Award for "Best Music/Sound Design" at the 2020 Webby Awards.
