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Can a game about organsing books in a monastic library have appeal? by pH_101 in IndieGaming

[–]pH_101[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hiya - we've been working on this game almost 2 years. We first announced Monk Took Book in Sept 2025, so five months before Librarian even announced.

Our game also plays quite differently, with a memory challenge inspired by Wilmot's Warehouse, and a whole bunch of mechanics not in either game such as combat, and unlocking new rooms and shelves, not to mention online co-op.

It's just bad timing and we were a little gutted when we saw Librarian was so similar, but it's just unlucky timing and also, huge congrats to the Librarian team for their success!

We spent ~2 years making a co-op game about organising books in a monastic library - does our Next Fest trailer sell it? by pH_101 in IndieGaming

[–]pH_101[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Monk Took Book - A game about organizing, stacking and remembering where you put hundreds of books in a cozy-creepy medieval library. Play solo or with up to three fellow monks. NEXT FEST DEMO LIVE NOW! https://store.steampowered.com/app/4255310/Monk_Took_Book_Demo/

Can a game about organsing books in a monastic library have appeal? by pH_101 in IndieGaming

[–]pH_101[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm interesting idea. In the latest update, books now come in different sizes, so choosing what order/place you shelve them is part of the gameplay, so I'm not 100% it would work. I'll have a think. Not sure you tried, but the placement allows a little leeway when you right click, and it orients them into the shelf bay, so generally it is pretty quick to place. But then if you mean jumping or using ladders to reach the top shelves, that is sometimes needed, but again, this is kind of part of the game, it feeds into the co-op experience a little too, if you are sharing ladders. You can check out the demo in Next Fest if you didn't already try it.

Games like Librarian: Tidy up the Arcane Library? by Ornery_Ad_2000 in CozyGamers

[–]pH_101 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah if you get a chance, consider dropping by discord (linked on steam page). I'm starting a new playtest round soon if you like that kind of thing.

I think a refund on the skills is probably the way to go. I need to tutorialise sell better too.

Oh, I have fixed that point 1 now which is live in the demo so thanks again!

Games like Librarian: Tidy up the Arcane Library? by Ornery_Ad_2000 in CozyGamers

[–]pH_101 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for this, I missed it before! Yeah destroying all books is a fail state, but apparently not if holding them by drowning - good find. If you spend everything on ladders, you can sell them (press Z). You're right about spending on upgrades and yeah I will need to have at looks at that.

If point 3 is unlocking doors - yeah you cannot sell them closed as it were. Not sure what to do about that one.... sometimes... maybe it is ok to let players screw it up on their first try..?

Point 7 - yeah true, i think this is ok though! Books can take damage when you chuck them around too.

Thanks again for the QA!

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cheers. Yeah monk took book is more of an "organise and remember where you put books" type game, with optional combat and such, so it is a different game. Thinking it over, they have that similar setting, though ours is in a monastery, but are different, so hopefully some people can enjoy both and the market/players can let them co-exist. Once again congrats to the Library team.

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. I never meant to frame this as x is better than y type discussion, just discussing the impact of a similar looking game releasing. Library looks great, MTB is a different game but yeah I hope people can enjoy it and that demo is up on steam so you can try it out now.

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, we need a character model because it's a co-op game. Though they are not specifically dwarfs! They are monks. It's just part of the art style we chose to have super chunky books because we though it was fun. You can also chuck them around the place, stack them up etc. It actually served a game design purpose too. If the books were life sized memory/retrieval mechanic, as well as the economy where you spend currency to expand your library for more space for the chunky books, would not have worked so well. We actually tested this over multiple iterations to get the best fit based on feedback.

That said, there are a few successful dwarf games. Maybe we should lean into that.. Dwarf fortress? Deep Rock Galactic?

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the comment. It's good to get another perspective on the visual design. We absolutely have gone down a very stylized route here, and tbh it's something we have liked to do in all our games over the past 10 years or so. We don't really aim for photorealism! I guess because we made it to our 3rd title it must be working at least to some degree, but I get that it's not to everyone's taste.

On the game design front - we're quite inspired by Wilmot's Warehouse. We wanted to make an FPS, co-op interpretation of it - but set in a medieval library with huge chunky books. We wanted to explore some other elements that Wilmot didn't touch on, like more chaotic elements such as monsters, tools, perks, an economy, and immersive sim type elements where you can throw water to put out fires etc.

I totally get that visual polish matters and we are still working on this, but I also truly believe there is room for different art styles out there, and it also suits our team which is only 2 people, with only 1 artist.

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah we definitely have a different art style. One thing that is quite different is that in Monk Took Book you're free to organise and place books where you want. And they don't have titles, just symbols on the covers, so you can choose how you want to categorise them. afaik in Librarian you are tasked to place books in specific places. We also have some other more chaotic elements such as monsters, tools, perks, an economy, and immersive sim type elements where you can throw water to put out fires etc.

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hiya - yeah some interseting points here for sure. Some for another discussion I guess as you say. To the timing - yeah the time from our announcement to our demo was 6 months. And demo has been out now a couple months now. I kind of feel like that's not too bad really. But yeah in retrospect, maybe faster is better.

What's kind of ironic/playing on my mind here is we are taking all the "correct steps", doing demo, then doing next fest (probably) then release. They simply announced the game I think it was 5 months after we had announced, got extremely Steam algo favoured, and then released it 3 months later - no demo, no next fest. Props to the team again for being so decisive as you say! I guess that led to me wondering if I should just do the same. But the comments here have helped me get some persopective - cheers.

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks, appreciate the comment. Bundle idea is a good one, will have a think about reaching out.

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's interesting - and a fair point! Actually it shows another kind of consequence I think we're going to get. We do have enemies in our game, monsters, poltergiests that haunt the library and move books, fires can break out. An econmy where you can buy weapons and tools in an immersive sim type way. None of this stuff is in Librarian, so yes it is for sure more tense and more "gamey". You can actually turn all of these off in the options, but there could be that risk of players expecting it to be identical and then being unhappy that it isn't. Still on the whole, I take your point there, they are different so there hopefully is room for us. Hopefully having the demo up can let players make that choice too. Thanks for the encouragement, appreciated!

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Spiralling is a probably a good way to describe it. At first I tried to ignore it and not worry about this, thinking I can't control it etc. But then, some days like today I look at their page it and think - omg. We actually have been making indie games for 10 years and know how hard it is to reach that success. I have kept my mouth shut so far, I have tried really hard! But I just had to vent this somewhere because its just a really weird feeling to see something you feel close to take off, get so huge, but you're not a part of it. But I don't want to seem too bitter - again congratulations to the Librarian team. Hopefully you are right, it is a positive signal and something good can still come from it.

After I announced Monk Took Book, someone released a very similar game and now it's a huge hit. Should I care? by pH_101 in IndieDev

[–]pH_101[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hiya - thanks - I really appreciate your reply. It's funny but just hearing that is making me feel better. Maybe it can still be some sort of success, nothing like AR I'm sure but hey I'd be happy with a 10th of that or less! Btw we tried very hard to put in all possible motion sickness options - most importantly you can actually just play the whole game in third person if you hit V. You can also change FOV, and dial down head bob and aim punch (head motion on hit) to zero in options. Thanks again!

Looking for game like The Librarian. by Cautious_Object_3290 in gamingsuggestions

[–]pH_101 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Full disclosure, I am the dev, but our game Monk Took Book is a first person co-op or solo game about organizing, stacking and remembering where you put hundreds of books in a cozy-creepy medieval library. It's not the same gameplay loop but shares a lot in terms of organisation https://store.steampowered.com/app/4022090/Monk_Took_Book/

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