This here is a passion project I've been chipping away at for a couple years. Things are getting serious now as I aim for a full release and I'll be sharing updates on the game here on Itch.io!

Battle Gem Ponies

Command super-powered, shape-shifting ponies in strategic turn-based RPG combat. Embark on a journey to become the best pony trainer in the world and protect the world from those who want to use the powerful ponies for evil. Battle other players in a variety of multiplayer modes both online and offline using either a team developed in the single player mode or by selecting and customizing a team from a list of available ponies.

The latest build and homepage can be found here: http://www.yotesgames.com/2016/08/download-battle-...

Expect updates every month as the project slowly comes together. The biggest milestone on the horizon is the Steam Greenlight campaign coming in January. BGP is made by the extremely small team of myself (Tony Yotes), and two musicians (Eric Eom & Justin Heng). If this seems like a fun project to follow, we'd love for you to come along on the journey!

Get the rest on the official Yotes Games Blog

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #87 (Contacts & Beginning 6.0)

Another milestone down. New fans acquired. New bugs found. Long ways to go. The journey to make Battle Gem Ponies a thing continues. It's time to start drawing out each map and writing elements of the story. Been studying game design and writing all week to see what makes a good RPG feel great.

Get more details and the weekly Yotes Games download numbers on the main blog!

BGP Inspiration (Concept Art Gallery)

I'm still not done drawing maps just yet so I thought I'd share some concept pictures pulled from Google Images that I'm using as inspiration for the upcoming zones. These are the same images the BGP musicians will have as mental placeholders as actual in-game screenshots are under construction.

Check out the gallery over here:

http://www.yotesgames.com/2016/09/bgp-inspiration-concept-art-gallery.html

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #88 (Drawn Plans)

Drawing out each map in detail was taking too long and I want a demo out before the end of October, so I took a temporary shortcut and drew rough outlines of what I wanted in each level (outdoors only) just to have a basic idea of what I want for later. I'll do the maps in detail after I release build 7. I'll only need up to the Peridot Woods for build 8 anyway since that's what I'll be using for the Greenlight demo launch.

Get more development news on the Battle Gem Ponies Website!

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #89 (Drawing Ponies)

Been working on pony sprites all week. I gave myself until the 15th before having to start on coding features and fixing bugs again. Then it'll be a 40 day march towards the next release. As you can see above, drawing pony sprites involves looking at a bunch of references that match the image in my head and eyeballing parts of each one to get the pixel shapes/colors I'm looking for.

In the case of this Ghost class pony, Petrifus, I imagined a mummy/skeleton pony with purple fire over it's horn (now moved to just over the head because it looks better) inspired by the Delta form Charmander from the fan game Pokemon Insurgence.

Get more gamedev news and BGP stuff on the Dev Blog!

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #90 (Pony Sprites & Polish)

This week centered around making the game look better. Both in my head and in tangible form. I fleshed out a lot of details around the story, drew some characters to put faces to descriptions, and added some little touches here and there to make the game build feel more solid/professional.

Take a look for yourself!

http://www.yotesgames.com/2016/09/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-90-pony.html

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #91 (Pushing Past Setbacks)

This week was spent making menus. Multiple times in fact since Unity kept crashing after an update and I had to start over on these things at least 5 times.

What you're seeing in the picture above is the in-engine concept I have for the move learning screen. The white one at the top will always be the move currently assigned to the specified slot and the grey ones below it are a list you can scroll through to look for a new move to use.

If you want to see more, just look on down below!

http://www.yotesgames.com/2016/09/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-91-pushing.html

Another week passed without much being crossed off the list. Making every menu screen work properly is turning out to be a week-long affair rather than the couple days I had in mind. It's like making a little game in itself with its own little systems. I'll remember that when planning for the future. That multiplayer setup menu is going to be a pain.

Check out this week in gamedev on the Yotes Games Blog.

Challenges Ahead for Demo 6

Sorry I haven't been posting on Fridays for so long. Some of you may remember me saying I'd lay of these weekend posts when there's nothing to talk about, but the rest of you probably feel left in the dark. Thing is, BGP is currently at that boring stage of development where most of the weekly accomplishments are getting basic features to work, fixing bugs, improving organization, rewriting ideas, and trying to figure out how to toss numbers around to program new features at all.

I thought I'd take a minute tis week to talk about some of the upcoming obstacles I need to navigate in order to get BGP V6.0 out in time for Halloween weekend. Check out the full breakdown on the Battle Gem Ponies Blog.

Delaying Demo 6 (THIS KEEPS HAPPENING)

Some quick news on how BGP is going. In short, it's not. This week has been full of setbacks and a string of bad luck going on outside of gamedev that's really been demotivating and distracting me. After some mental recoup, I'm ready to get back at it and get this game to Greenlight.

One thing has to be scrapped though, and that's the hope of finishing Build 6 in time for Halloween. I'll be lucky to have it out the following weekend in November at this rate. I gotta step up my productivity soon though, because the one date I can't afford to miss is the January Greenlight launch. Preferably Monday, January 2nd. The perfect time to send my game out to press sites. Even more likely to get picked up now that quality Pokemon fan games are all the rage.

In other scrapping news, Vinerva's Ultra form animations are not at all complete like I thought they were. I was mistaken and probably remembering my days working on this version of BGPwhere all the animations existed in my head. Drawing all the necessary sprites for that would delay the next demo even further, so they're being pushed off into Build 7.

In order to keep things on time, I'll have to limit finished & functional Ultra forms to only Vinerva until after the Greenlight Demo. Then I can take as much time as needed animating the rest of them.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #94 (One Week. Can I Even?)

It's been a lackluster week as far as progress goes, but Yotes Games marches on... Hoping to make a lot more progress this week. Gonna get some extra sleep and crack down on gamedev starting tomorrow!

http://www.yotesgames.com/2016/10/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-94-one-week.html

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #95 (Birthday Week)

A new fire is lit under my butt as I realize the value of getting another demo out before Pokemon Sun & Moon launch. Let's Players will be eager for new Pokemon gameplay but have nothing to do in the couple weeks leading up to the 18th. Gotta put BGP in the hands of some bronies before then and maybe try to reach a few of the small-fry Pokemon channels to sort of get my foot in the door.

Check out this week's progress below.

http://www.yotesgames.com/2016/10/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-95-birthday.html

Yotes Games, Hopes, and Dreams (Birthday 2016)

This is actually the last time for another 7 years that my birthday falls on a Friday so I should try to make the most of it with what I've got. Unfortunately, one of the things I don't have ready is a new BGP demo... Distractions got the best of me.

By this time next year I'll be at Beach City Con with some of my very best friends relaxing on the beach at the peak of BGP's launch popularity. (Well actually, it'd be one week after that and I'll be mid post-con depression.)

If the launch is as successful as I wish it can be, I'll be house hunting and getting ready to establish a new base of operations for Yotes Games! Thoughts of my next birthday are really keeping me alive. Finishing BGP and getting it in front of every brony on Earth is my final challenge. The one last insanely difficult thing to do before I can take a well deserved break and plan out where I'd like my indie career to go.

Should I fail, things may take a serious turn. Either selling my soul and busting my back just as hard to make someone else rich, or risking it all on a Kickstarter push for BGP2 to fix whatever kept it from selling well. All I have to do is sell 25,000 copies to justify this career choice. But I know this game has more potential than that. Pokemon Uranium just proved that there's an audience for this stuff. Indie passion projects from real Pokemon fans that gets the little things right.

Today I turn 23, and I promised myself that I'd become the Tony Yotes I envisioned by age 24. The same age Toby Fox and John Boyega hit their prime accomplishments. In one year's time I'll have a notable game to my name. Hopefully one that brings excitement and smiles to tens of thousands of people across the globe.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #96 (Don't Let It Keep You Down)

New birthday fan art by FadedSketch I'm currently in love with.

BGP's first pixelated fan work!

With spooky season behind us, it's time to move onto the Great Greenlight Crunch. I put myself about a month behind schedule doing all this Orlando networking stuff and I need BGP's Greenlight to be a success if I truly what life to get any better. So it's time to buckle down, and whittle away at that to-do list of mine.

Get the rest here: www.yotesgames.com/2016/11/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-96-dont-let-it.html

Plans for Markets & Pony Health Centers

Unlike Pokemon though, I feel like there's a benefit to keeping shops separate. Makes you want to move around the city more, gives you a different song to listen to, and allows for a mini mart to have a distinct feel. Like it's a real place in this town everyone goes to for groceries and trainer supplies. To make them a tad more special I want to have each town sell a different set of specialties. Like maybe one town sells a certain set of move tutors and another sells battle items that match the town's theme. Maybe one town's store has a little bakery built into it.

All these things service the gameplay and world building needs of Battle Gem Ponies. I just felt like sharing what's on my mind for them with you this week.

Oh, GOD I'm still working on this thing? And it's not even past pre-alpha yet?

Feels like I've been working on this game my entire adult life. And I kinda have, considering this started as a Pokemon fan game when I was in 10th -11th grade.

Get this week in gamedev: Yotes Games Blog

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #98 (Mid-November)

I know for a fact that I won't have Demo 6 out in time for Sun & Moon. And I'll likely spend a week playing Sun and feverishly taking notes and looking into what improvements fans are latching onto to make my own game better.

In light of that, a midway build was released on Itch.io to at least give players a build with some bug fixes and a tiny bit on polish. Get the rundown on recent events below. (You can even take a peek at my new OC pony if you're curious.)

Blog: www.yotesgames.com

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #99 (Getting Somewhere)

Catch up on this week's progress on the BGP Blog!

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #100

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

Demo 8 for Steam Greenlight?

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.

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

Read the Full DevLog Here: http://www.yotesgames.com/2017/02/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-108-more.html

Plans for Demo 6.5 & Beyond

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.

DevLog #109 (Valentines Day)

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

Battle Gem Ponies: New Look Implemented!

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.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #110 (The Redesigns)

Check out this week's progress on the dev blog: http://www.yotesgames.com/2017/02/battle-gem-ponies-devlog-110-redesigns.html

Watch the New Trailer!

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!

Vote for Battle Gem Ponies on Steam Greenlight!

(And check back for more monthly updates!)

So, About BGP's New Look and Copyright...

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

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #115 (Miss one Mark, Make Another)

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

Battle Gem Ponies Demo Update! (Ver. 6.8)

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!)

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #119 (Functional, but Not Fully)

Take a look at the rest of this week's progress in the Yotes Games DevLog!