Wise Monkey Business.
We recently had the chance to head to London ExCeL for MCM Comic Con x EGX, where we witnessed many cosplays, attended panels, purchased autographs and played various games. Having shortlisted several upcoming titles worth keeping an eye out for, we’ve since been catching up with the development teams behind said games and it is our pleasure to share these interviews with you.
In today’s interview, we are speaking with Gareth Owens of Wise Monkey Entertainment, discussing all things No Stone Unturned:
Gareth Owens | Leaving No Stone Untuned with Wise Monkey Entertainment:
Miketendo64: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role with Wise Monkey Entertainment?
Gareth Owens: I’m Gareth, I created Wise Monkey Entertainment about 6 years ago. I’m also Game Director amongst every other role an indie requires (Producer, social media, sound, art etc.)
Miketendo64: In what capacity are you involved with No Stone Unturned?
Gareth Owens: No Stone Unturned is my passion project, something I wrote and designed 2.5 years ago and began leading the development for around a year ago.
Miketendo64: How did Wise Monkey Entertainment first come about?
Gareth Owens: The name is a stem-off from a fictional band I created in university called Vintage Louie, a reference in itself to Louis from Jungle Book. With a lot more further meaning from the 3 wise monkeys famous from Japanese folklore as well as the translation of homosapien from latin. I dropped out of university to start making games and founded the 1-man company Wise Monkey Entertainment, my first couple of games were so bad they have mostly been wiped from existence.
Miketendo64: Being as though your dev team works remotely, with members in six different countries, how has this impacted the development of No Stone Unturned?
Gareth Owens: If anything I would say it makes us more versatile. So far everyone has been working freelance, if we can successfully fund the game I can bring some of these people on full time. But we have a great way of working, luckily my vision for the game is very clear, so decisions can be made instantly without need for research, team meetings of approvals. I talk to everyone individually and give them briefs for their portion of the work, because it is always coming from me and I understand this team and each member as an individual, I ensure everything ties together with a lot less waste than a lot of teams I have seen.
Miketendo64: When did the development of No Stone Unturned first begin and what inspired its creation?
Gareth Owens: 2.5 years ago now, I was driving to my job at the time as an escape room designer and saw a dead fox at the side of the road. I passed by the same fox everyday for a week. And kept thinking the same thought “What would the other foxes think? Would they assume it was murder?”
At the same time I had given up on my last game project and needed a new idea. I wanted to blend Detective Fiction and Comedy like Hot Fuzz and Knives Out had done for cinema, so my first thought became “What if a famous joke setup became the hook to a murder mystery, and what would be the joke of all jokes to start with “Why did the chicken cross the road?” – from there I developed a storyline and started envisioning the world’s deeper meanings.
Miketendo64: Can you provide us with a brief overview of No Stone Unturned? What kind of game
is it and what is it about?
Gareth Owens: No Stone Unturned is a classical Whodunnit that asks “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Set in a beautiful top down pixel art village inspired by the U.K. countryside (where I was raised) With cosy exploration and plenty of secrets to find, split up with fast paced cinematic mini-games and cutscenes that push its silly personality as far as possible.
Miketendo64: Who is Detective Cox, and what motivates him?
Gareth Owens: Detective Cox is in his own words ‘the Greatest Detective in the World’ and only his words, as he stumbles through cases needing a lot of help to solve even the most basic of puzzles. But he has endless drive, inspired by his own self-confidence “Of course the mystery will be solved! I’m the Greatest Detective in the World after all.”
Miketendo64: Why is Detective Cox obsessed with almond milk?
Gareth Owens: Detective Cox is a Red Squirrel, native to the U.K. – because of this his diet is almost entirely nuts, fruits and light alcoholic beverages like cider. Inspired partly by the Fantastic Mr Fox, he has a similar craving for delicious nuts. That’s right Cox and Nuts go together like birds of a feather.
Miketendo64: Were any other animals considered for Detective Cox, or was he always a squirrel?
Gareth Owens: Cox has always been a Red Squirrel, as one of the animals that Great Britain associates most closely with its wildlife, with a game set in the Kent countryside, it was my first choice immediately. When creating the village of Orchard Under Hill in No Stone Unturned, I started with which animals would be associated with certain characteristics, trying to take inspiration from Wind in the Willows, that wholesome and rich world.
Miketendo64: With a crowbar being one of Detective Cox’s “Detective Essentials,” is there much use for the crowbar in No Stone Unturned?
Gareth Owens: The crowbar is a very valuable tool for Cox.
Miketendo64: Featuring six cases to solve, Detective Cox has his hands full. What led the development team to land on six cases as opposed to doing more or less? How did you find your magic number?
Gareth Owens: I effectively wrote a 5 chapter play with each case acting as a chapter, similar to how Agatha Christie wrote The Mousetrap. I then added the overarching case of ‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’ aka “A Murder Most Fowl” on top and ensured each smaller case gave one clear clue and lots of hidden clues placed in subtext and environmental storytelling that can be unravelled later. Hence the 6 main story cases, although there might be more announced in the future.
Miketendo64: Besides searching for clues, No Stone Unturned also includes a reparation system where players can repair bridges, construct item bundles and more. What difficulties did you have when trying to integrate this system into your standard mystery-solving gameplay?
Gareth Owens: This was actually a relatively easy feature to implement, items being required for a bundle trigger a repair animation and then boom, you can walk over the bridge, you can enter the abandoned cave, etc. As the game is built in a top down open world RPG setting, as opposed to point-n-click or more restrictive formats.
Miketendo64: Previously, you said on Kickstarter that No Stone Unturned took inspiration from Stardew Valley. What other games served as inspiration for No Stone Unturned?
Gareth Owens: I wouldn’t be able to list every game I’ve seen and gone “I’m stealing that” from, but its almost every game I’ve seen. I take and steal inspiration from anywhere I can get it. The biggest inspirations that come to mind would be The Case of the Golden Idol, LA Noire, Rusty Lake, Undertale, and every arcade game ever.
Miketendo64: Given how strong a character and personality Detective Cox has, could you see yourselves working on a potential No Stone Unturned sequel down the line?
Gareth Owens: I have a lot planned for Cox and wrote a lot over the course of a year with the character, I have sequels, spinoffs, more comics, plenty of stories ready to get started – if people like them enough!
Miketendo64: Can you tell us more about the arcade-style minigames that feature in No Stone Unturned?
Gareth Owens: There are a big variety of arcade style mini-games, if you can think of the arcade game, we probably at least have a visual reference to it somewhere. From performing Staring Contests with the villagers acting as a nod to DDR and classic arcade rhythm games, to cleaning up after yourself suddenly entering a turn-based Pokemon-style combat.
I’ve taken every mini-game I loved from other games and threaded them into the story of these cases, in order to make the moment of reveal a special funny moment in itself for the players that understand the references. In many ways the mini-games are gags and jokes, but they will also test reflexes, reaction speed and patience.
Miketendo64: Was there any troubled animal citizen who didn’t make it into No Stone Unturned?
Gareth Owens: There are plenty of citizens of a nearby town to the Village that won’t be mentioned for a long time, I’ll be laying set-ups in No Stone Unturned in order to pay them off with character reveals later. But they will be hidden for now. There’s a lot of lore to the world that I won’t be covering in this game, simply because those things aren’t important to this case’s storyline.
Miketendo64: Given the fact you have already done one comic book in the form of No Stone Unturned: The Peculiar Case of the Missing Acorn, would you ever do another No Stone Unturned comic book?
Gareth Owens: I have already written another comic in the series called “The Terrible Truth About Magicians” that will likely come out around next halloween. But for now I’m fully focussing on the game production.
Miketendo64: How was fan feedback to those who played the No Stone Unturned demo at MCM Comic Con x EGX?
Gareth Owens: It was amazing, our booth was constantly packed, we boasted an hour long queue throughout a large part of the peak Saturday. We then got an IGN feature right after the event, in large part due to the great feedback and support we received on Kickstarter.
Miketendo64: If you had to compare No Stone Unturned to any other game in terms of gameplay, overall theme or story, what would be its closest match?
Gareth Owens: I would say its really difficult, I would say its closer to Hot Fuzz in tone and cinematic nature than any game. Its much closer to Stardew Valley / Owlboy / Scott Pilgrim in terms of art-style. And its much closer to LA Noire and Warioware in the feel. But when I say all of those parts separately it sounds weird
Miketendo64: Lastly, would you be so kind as to list all platforms you hope to release No Stone
Unturned on?
Gareth Owens: Steam PC/Mac/Linux/Steamdeck & Switch (Switch/Steamdeck version will release two months later than PC.)
For more MCM Comic Con x EGX (October 2024) content, click here.
About No Stone Unturned:
Why did the chicken cross the road? Only one squirrel can solve a murder most… fowl. Join Detective Cox as he encounters quirky characters, challenging puzzles, and a town in disrepair in this hilarious murder mystery adventure, where choices matter but morals don’t.
It was a dark and stormy morning when the soon-to-be Greatest Detective in the World, Detective Cox, stumbled upon the body of a chicken. (The body was dead, it was a dead body, the chicken was dead and this was his body, found by the Detective who is neither dead or a chicken.) This grisly discovery leaves him with just one question…
What was he running from? Who, or what, stopped him? And did the chicken really come before the egg? Okay, maybe there’s more than one question. But Cox needs answers like a walrus needs a vacation (a lot) – He needs your help (even though he’s incredibly smart, a truly world-class detective and could probably manage without your help, okay?!)
Solve A Murder Most… Fowl and 5 more Side Cases! — Learn why The Hare and the Tortoise are at each other throats, what’s got the Cat’s tongue, and hoo tried to silence the watchful giant owl…? (Ya know… Hoo. Like an owl)
Stepping into the well-worn shoes of Detective Cox, you must get to the bottom of this murder the only way you know how — through a series of seemingly pointless yet surprisingly fun mini-games!
Armed with your trusty Detective Essentials (a magnifying glass, tape recorder and crowbar – just in case), you must solve puzzles, analyse crime scenes, interrogate townsfolk and unturn stones to solve six gruesome crimes. Come to think of it, that’s a worrying number of crimes for one small village… Cox, are you sure you’re up to the task?
Broaden your horizons by repairing bridges, buildings and other repairs for this dilapidating town (no offence, its just… seen better days is all), completing item bundles to unlock new areas and uncover essential clues. I’m sure the answer to all of your problems lies just behind that fallen log… Right?
Crack the Case Wide Open Like an Egg! A CHICKEN EGG?! — Play as Detective Cox, a squirrel set on becoming The Greatest Detective in the World! Help him search for clues, solve puzzles, and learn about this rich world of troubled animals as they all try to survive a civilisation on the brink of crisis. Speaking of troubled animals…
Something big is happening to this little village… Can you save the world before its too late? The Giant Wise Monkey in your dreams certainly seems to think so!
[…] #1: Gareth Owens | Leaving No Stone Untuned with Wise Monkey Entertainment (November 5th, […]