My Singing Monsters

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My Singing Monsters
Logo for the first My Singing Monsters game
Created by	Big Blue Bubble
Original work	Video game series
Years	2012~present
Print publications
Book(s)	Activity books Design Your Own Singing Monster (My Singing Monsters) My Singing Monsters Search and Find My Singing Monsters Downloaded Guide books My Singing Monsters Official Handbook
Games
Traditional	My Singing Monsters: The Board Game
Video game(s)	My Singing Monsters (2012) My Singing Monsters: Dawn of Fire (2015) My Singing Monsters: Composer (2018) My Singing Monsters: Playground (2021)
Audio
Soundtrack(s)	My Singing Monsters Soundtrack Vol. 1 (2016), My Singing Monsters Soundtrack Vol. 2 (2021)
Miscellaneous
Official Website	mysingingmonsters.com

My Singing Monsters is a 2012 video game franchise developed by Big Blue Bubble and published by Canada Media Fund.^[1]The first game of the series was released on September 4, 2012 for Apple iOS.^[2] Ports of the game for other touchscreen smartphone operating systems were later released, including versions for Android, Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Steam.^[3] The game was also released in the portable console PlayStation Vita.^[4] Since its release, My Singing Monsters has grown into a multimedia franchise, with a prequel, several spin-off games, books, live events and series, and a board game.^[5] On May 12, 2021, Big Blue Bubble announced that the series would be releasing its first console title, My Singing Monsters: Playground, on November 9, 2021.^[6]

Gameplay[]

A gameplay of My Singing Monsters, featuring a variety of monsters with different musical roles (Pre-2016 graphics).

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. Breeding two elements of Monsters will create a new Monster species, which depends on what levels the breeding Monsters are. 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 decorations, remove obstacles, build structures, undo the removal of obstacles, 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.^[7] It is also possible to buy currency like Coins, Diamonds, or Treats. Certain currencies may be obtained using additional features.

Additional islands can become unlocked by leveling up or purchasing them through in-game currency. Some islands feature other methods of gameplay, such as "Tribal Island", in which friends level up their Monsters to receive in-game rewards. In the "Composer Island" mode, the player can compose their own songs with the Monsters, and in the "Colossingum", the player must fight computer opponents using their monsters. In the Colossingum, the player may also participate in a tournament against other players around the world in a player-versus-bot format called "Versus", with the goal of reaching the highest ranks.

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 events (such as holidays and in-game events), "Wishing Torches", or other special methods in order to obtain or activate them.

Some Monsters sing in nonsensical gibberish (such as the Mammott, Cantorell, and Toe Jammer), some sing fractured or short lines in English (such as the PomPom and Hoola), and others play real-world or fictional instruments (such as the Shellbeat and Bowgart). There are also special Monsters known as "Werdos" that sing lyrics (such as the Parslona, Tawkerr, Stoowarb, and Maggpi). The characters are often designed as exaggerations of real-world animals or objects (such as the common Fwog and T-Rox), cartoon caricatures of monsters from folklore and mythology (such as the Epic Blabbit and Dragong), fusions of living creatures and instruments (such as Floogull and Sox), resemblances to real-world people (such as the Shugabush and G'joob), or representations of the monster's in-game elemental makeup (such as Clackula and Potbelly). Some monsters work differently, for example, the Wubbox is hatched in a box form, and must have all Natural Monsters on the island "boxed" into it to power it up (Rare and Epic Wubbox take Rares and Epics instead, as well as make different noises) Most Monsters have "Rare" and "Epic" variants, which are only available to obtain during special events.

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. There are five sections of the continent, unlocked at different player levels and based on the Natural Islands from the original game. Monsters in their toddler form are initially raised on Continent, each of which plays 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 up to level 20; filling these requests will reward in-game currency plus additional benefits that can unlock additional features of the game. At a certain monster level, unique to each monster, 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. These include Party Island, Space Island, Cloud Island, and Cave Island. There is also one other island called Starhenge, which is the old version of Celestial Island from the original game. Dawn of Fire also introduced Prismatics, which are only available during certain events. Prismatics serve as the prequel's equivalent of Rare and Epic monsters from the original game.^[8]

Other games[]

My Singing Monsters: Composer serves as an app to compose custom songs using some, but not all, monsters from the franchise. Furcorn's Jelly Dreams was a puzzle game featuring characters from the franchise, and was discontinued in 2017. This eventually was remade into Jammer Splash!, which was later discontinued as well.^[9] Several other games from the franchise have also been discontinued, including My Mammott, My PomPom, Fling a Thing!, Thumpies, My Singing Monsters: Coloring Book, and My Singing Monsters: Official Guide.^[10] Fling a Thing! and Thumpies were released prior to My Singing Monsters, and references to these games can be found throughout the My Singing Monsters series. In 2018, Big Blue Bubble released an educational guide aimed towards elementary school children; Teaching Guide Grade 1-3: My Singing Monsters, which was intended to teach lessons about music using characters and concepts from the franchise.^[11]

Monster Choir is a Chinese and Korean version of My Singing Monsters, which is still active. It features additional gameplay modes and functions.^[10]

My Singing Monsters: Playground is a party video game. In My Singing Monsters: Playground, players can compete in games that are set in the Monster World and can play as characters from the My Singing Monsters franchise. My Singing Monsters: Playground will also set to have a physical version that is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, and is set to release in November 9, 2021.^[6]

My Singing Monsters: The Board Game is a board game based on the My Singing Monsters franchise. The board game was supported by Kickstarter from June 1st to June 21 and is designed by Sen-Foong Lim and Jay Cormier. There are two versions of the game; the Standard Edition, which includes all of the core components, and the Deluxe Edition, which includes nine painted Monster mini-figures, upgraded components, and exclusive expansion which features the Werdo monsters. The board game is a worker placement game, in which the player breeds Monsters to produce more coins than other players.^[12]

Notable collaborations[]

In June 17, 2013, Big Blue Bubble collaborated with Disney Mobile to make My Muppets Show, a game featuring similar gameplay to My Singing Monsters, albeit with Muppets instead. The game featured five stages, each with its own song, and Muppets were obtained by "digitizing" them with a machine called HARV-E. The game was permanently discontinued on January 9th, 2015.^[13]

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.^[14][15] Bush had been inspired to collaborate with My Singing Monsters upon seeing his 11-year-old son playing the game. He praised the attractive music surrounding the game, and collaborated with Big Blue Bubble to create the Shugabush. After his collaboration were 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."^[15]

In October 2013 Big Blue Bubble signed a deal with publishing house Egmont UK as its new strategic licensing partner.^[16]

In July 2017 Big Blue Bubble announced that Wind Sun Sky Entertainment will adapt its mobile game My 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.^[17]

Reception[]

Kotaku described 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 was "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".^[18]

Gamezebo and 148Apps enjoy the music in My Singing Monsters, but were not pleased with the connection issues.^[19][20]

The game won the People's Voice Award for "Best Music/Sound Design" at the 2020 Webby Awards.^[21][22]

References[]

External links[]

• My Singing Monsters official website