I have never worked on a game for this long before (Unicorn Training only made it to 64 Status Reports) and I'm really feeling the effects of being overambitious. The hardest hump has yet to be crossed as the game's pre-alpha is still under construction. I'm coming out of Thanksgiving weekend on a tight schedule to make the January Steam Greenlight deadline!
Read the rest here: http://www.yotesgames.com/2016/11/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-100.html
This game already has 2 musicians handling the soundtrack, but I'm always happy to bookmark musicians for potential future projects.
So the plan was to blitz a bunch of press sites and forums the Monday after Magfest and get as many people to check out the latest build of BGP as possible. By the looks of things though, that build may be Demo 8.0 (the Pinto Island demo) and not the beginning segment of the game with tons of polish like I had wanted.
With that, I may still be Greenlit with the help of the brony community, and could even catch the eye of gaming sites looking for Pokemon fan game related scoops just as Sun/Moon hype is on the decline and Pokemon GO winter updates are either released or proven to be rumors.
Should things go swimmingly, I'd still like to have that big story update come out piece-by-piece. I'd like to release 3 different segments (one month at a time) showing off how great the final game will be. From the beginning to the end of the first forest, then a batpony hunt in a cave further along in the story, then a level where you confront the game's villains in a way that leaves you wanting to see what the rest of the game could be like.
I am promising to make a game that is worth the average Pokemon fan's time as well as anyone else patient enough to give this unknown game from an unknown developer a quick look.
Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #102 (Pony Surfing in the USA)
I can't get over how cool this is.
The pony surfing mechanic is so fun and feels so good that I feel like doing even more with it. All I had in mind before was quickly traveling across water, diving into a secret dungeon, and navigating whirlpool puzzles. Now I feel like adding some simple minigames and speed challenges to make the Sapphire Sea segment of the game even more fun.
It'd be so great to have it be the opposite of the Hoenn ocean segment and be one of this game's highlight moments instead of a boring grind like ocean exploration parts feel like in Wind Waker and Pokemon Emerald. Plus, this gives players a way to bond with their pony. Can't help but love your little buddy a bit after speeding around like this.
Get a few GameDev Updates below!
http://www.yotesgames.com/2016/12/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-102-pony.html
Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #105 (Thoughts on Greenlight Launch)
This... has been one hectic week, and it's only Tuesday.
Let's talk about what I've learned from releasing the BGP Pre-Alpha on Steam Greenlight.
Full Blog Post Here: http://www.yotesgames.com/2017/01/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-105-thoughts.html
Lots of spritework was done this week and it's not even close to over yet. It may end up delaying the next build by a week, but it should be worth it with all the improvements being made.
Read More: http://www.yotesgames.com/2017/01/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-107-new.html
Nice! Those robo-ponies look very powerful! Looking forward to having them on my party!
Read the Full DevLog Here: http://www.yotesgames.com/2017/02/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-108-more.html
One with the graphics changes I need to make this game distinct from Pokemon fan games and the ponies distinct from the MLP canon and fanon characters. Also, with much needed bug fixes and a few new fully animated moves.
This will allow me to keep my advertised monthly playable demo schedule and not stress so much about getting a build out that I skip a thorough playtesting session before release. Demo 7 will be a code complete version of the game released in March. All battle mechanics and overworld functions will be in working order, even if the graphics will be placeholders. The playable release will simply be one last Pinto Island demo but with complex battle moves, complete animations, proper leveling mechanics, and in-game cutscenes.
The April demo, will then be the first story release. A playable version of what I have planned for the beginning segment of the game, featuring the first 3 towns and the routes between them. The builds that follow will be separate pieces of the final game's adventure mode that show demonstrate my vision for the game while getting people hyped to see more.
Game development is a messy process that always, always, ALWAYS, takes more work than you were expecting, even for the simplest of things. Here's to hoping that by giving myself even more breathing room, I can get something solid out there people can enjoy.
Hoping to get some more tiles redone and fix all the bugs from the previous version by Friday so I can try to get a new update out before the 25th. I still have a bunch of moves that need to be animated and lord knows fixing the controller input bug is going to take a while.
Read On: http://www.yotesgames.com/2017/02/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-109-valentines.html
Despite the cold I've had all week, I managed to make progress on the February BGP update! Finally finished importing all the new sprites and tiles for the overworld! All that's left now is some bug fixes and a way to toggle the touch interface.
I'm also still not sure about which color scheme to settle on for Poni-Bot and I still want to try to animate all the current Move Tutor attacks. For now though, things are coming together nicely and definitely call all the graphical changes improvements.
We're on track for releasing the February Greenlight update by Friday, so hang tight! I wanna thoroughly playtest this time and make sure all the bugs really are fixed.
Check out this week's progress on the dev blog: http://www.yotesgames.com/2017/02/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-110-redesigns.html
Time for round two! Battle Gem Ponies is back and better than ever thanks to feedback from the Steam Greenlight community! The turn-based pony RPG now features much more original looking characters, various new environment sprites, and some renamed moves and characters.
If you want to check out the newest build for yourself, just click the link below. If you'd like to see this game on Steam someday, be sure to give a thumbs up on the Greenlight page! You can download the demo itself right here on Itch.io!
(And check back for more monthly updates!)
Hopefully some explanation combined with the game's recent graphical update on Steam Greenlight will put those Cease & Desist concerns to rest.
Get the full blog post here: http://www.yotesgames.com/2017/03/so-about-bgps-new-look-and-copyright.html
It doesn't spell DOOM for the project or anything, it's just a demonstration that people need something more polished than what I launched with to make it at this point in Steam Greenlight's troubled lifespan. I'll try again via Steam Direct once the game is actually complete and see if I can get a different reaction on that platform. Just hoping that it doesn't end up costing an arm and a leg.
Read More: http://www.yotesgames.com/2017/03/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-115-miss-one.html
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| Watch the BGP Trailer! |
Looks like Steam Greenlight will be shutting down permanently any day now, so this may be the last chance for the game to get through. So, if you'd like to see this game on Steam someday, be sure to give a thumbs up on the Greenlight page!
Find the Battle Gem Ponies
Download Link on Steam Greenlight!
(And check back here for more monthly updates!)
Take a look at the rest of this week's progress in the Yotes Games DevLog!
Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #123 (Step-By-Step)
Development is crawling along. Coding each attack move by using special keywords seems so simple in theory, but in practice, so many tiny things go wrong and break the battle system in a variety of brain-melting ways.
Get a peek at what was done this week! --> Battle Gem Ponies Development Blog
Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #124 (Stuck on Specials)
Still working on making moves work properly, mostly struggling with making the changes display correctly. I have all the variables reacting how I want, but when animating them during the attack turn, things go haywire. The game is officially behind schedule, and I'm feeling the heat.
On top of all that, I'm feeling sick as all heck with a wicked cough.
Wrote a few drafts of how the panel description should go.
I find the Pokemon song reference (Alt 2) extremely cheesy,
but I think it will connect more with people than name-dropping
things from the Battle Gem Ponies story that nobody's ever heard of.
I'll also have my friend Robyn helping me out at the panel.
Maybe you've seen her around, cosplaying Doctor Whooves before.
Completed:
Lessons Learned:
Got sick this weekend and am currently spending a few day bed-ridden and coughing up rocks. I really wanna leap out of this mess and get closer to the map building part of BGP's development.
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Downloads:
Featured:
Got some bad news in the mail... Looks like Battle Gem Ponies won't be at BronyCon in panel form. I'll still be there, but unless someone drops out, the game won't be onstage again. It's a blow to my marketing campaign, but not one I can't recover from. I'll still find some way to get the game in front of a million bronies by Christmas!
But, in "things going well news", a senior editor at Engadget spotted me on Twitter and offered me a seat at an E3 indie discussion. But once again, my limited funding kills an opportunity because I have no way of attending E3. Flying over there, reserving a place to stay, and buying tickets to the show are all just way too expensive for someone dealing with double digit monthly income.
It's nice to be noticed though. Kinda validates time spent writing these blogs every week, ya know?
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I've still got so much work to do, but I'm almost at the fun part. Just gotta sweat through this last bit of hard coding...
I WAS planning on celebrating Independence Day with the sweet, freeing release of BGP Pre-Alpha 7.0, but then I checked my emails and something came up... Turns out I'll be hosting the Battle Gem Ponies panel at BronyCon 2017 after all! Now pressure's on because I have exactly one month to build an impressive Alpha to showcase in front of the biggest crowd yet.
Come get a big, juicy gamedev update on the official Battle Gem Ponies blog.
