My Little Pony: The Game

[SamJones25]

is there gonna be player on this game, did you play as ponies or is it play as the one human?

 

[Rikifive]

Mostly this game will be based on the events from TV show.

That means, you'll be playing as ponies and experiencing similar events as in the show. Same villains and such.

The story will be slightly modified to make it more fit the RPG-Game theme.

For example in the two first episodes of the 1st season - Twilight came to Ponyville, Nightmare Moon has been 'awakened' - The same thing will be in game.

So that excludes any random humans in 'Equestria'. However, like in 'Equestria Girls' - You'll go to human world at some point - to retrieve the Twilight's crown, later deal with sirens and of course, the third movie was released so it will also appear in game. (Haven't watched yet.)

At least, that are plans.

I hope this explains some things. (=

 

[Rikifive]

It's been so long since the last time I updated this thread.As you probably know, the project had a 'restart' and I was slowly doing some things over and over ~ Currently I'm designing the Battle HUD and I've came up with something like this:

Spoiler

Spoiler

It's still a WIP, since it's just a raw version, it's not an in-game screenshot.To answer the questions, that may came into your mind:- definitely the Twilights at the bottom will be replaced by proper ponies. ^^- there will be values (current/max HP/MP/EP) slightly above the bars- Statuses will be scrolling, so that square for one icon will be enough That's all for now. ^^It's not much, but this game is not dead! (at least yet) ^^

 

[Rikifive]

I've been working hard lately on this project and I'm happy to announce, that the BATTLE HUD is nearly complete! ^^

There are still things to do/change though, but it's a pretty nice progress! ^^

 

[Rikifive]

Another update! =3


The Battle HUD is almost complete! There are only some small things left to do/change.


After that, I'll see what can be done with battlers. What I'm trying to achieve is to use different (bigger) sprites for ponies when in battle, to make them more detailed and better animated. That's the part I'm afraid of most - I have the sprites, but there may be a problem with scripting that.


Anyway, here's the Skill Window (also finished the Help Window):

( i ) NOTE: Skill Icons are just quickly made placeholders.


~Aaaaand the Item Window:

Even Rainbow Dash is happy to see the new HUD! =3


Now I'll get kinda stuck with these battlers (hopefully it'll be not that bad), but after that, the Battle System will be finished.


Next, I'll start working on menus and if I'll be keeping the current speed, then the most important things should be done hopefully even before March (unless I'll encounter an issue).


Then... Maps, story ~ skills and icons along with the progress ~ and the progress should go much faster from there.


At least that are plans, because I'm starting a new job soon, so my time will be really limited and I hope it will not heavily slow me down.


(To be honest the fact, that I'm starting a new job scares me and makes me use my free time wisely and work hard on my project, because there'll be not that much time for this project since then, so there's not time for procrastination and stuff =P)


Anyway, that's all for now!  

(If that font is annoying, the feel free to notify me about it. I just want to make the update-post be more visible among the others, but if that makes it less readable, then it's not worth that I guess. ^^)

 

[BlissAuthority]

This could be interesting...  Let me know when there's a demo available.


If you want to add additional bosses and characters, you should probably mine Gen 1 (alias "My Little Pony and Friends") for monsters and villains.


I think that having 'Unicorn,' 'Pegasus' and 'Earthpony' as classes is a mistake.  'Elf,' 'Dwarf' and 'Human' aren't classes and don't help describe or define what they're capable of; better to describe them with their jobs and roles.  


My choices for class names would be Farmer, Weatherpony, Enchantress, Animal Handler, Jester, and Wizard, but that's just me.

 

[Rikifive]

If you want to add additional bosses and characters, you should probably mine Gen 1 (alias "My Little Pony and Friends") for monsters and villains.

Hmm, that's actually a good idea. I'll take a look on that.

I think that having 'Unicorn,' 'Pegasus' and 'Earthpony' as classes is a mistake.  'Elf,' 'Dwarf' and 'Human' aren't classes and don't help describe or define what they're capable of; better to describe them with their jobs and roles.  


My choices for class names would be Farmer, Weatherpony, Enchantress, Animal Handler, Jester, and Wizard, but that's just me.

I see your point and I agree.


I'm not paying attention to the 'class' system that much, since many things are self-explanatory. However, I'll put the detailed information in the status window, because I'll remove the 'class' info from the main screen to keep only the most important ones. (I'll be completely remastering & customizing it, so the menu will look way much different and less 'default') ~ instead of that both will be displayed on the status screen - type of pony and their specialty along with many other details/parameters.


The current screenshots are totally messy, because I'm redoing nearly everything. Once I'll get the menus done then I'll heavily update the post and remove the old screenshots, because they're confusing.


But thank you for your opinion and your honesty. I'll be remembering your advice when designing menus and such. (=

 

[BlissAuthority]

Hmm, that's actually a good idea. I'll take a look on that.


I see your point and I agree.


I'm not paying attention to the 'class' system that much, since many things are self-explanatory. However, I'll put the detailed information in the status window, because I'll remove the 'class' info from the main screen to keep only the most important ones. (I'll be completely remastering & customizing it, so the menu will look way much different and less 'default') ~ instead of that both will be displayed on the status screen - type of pony and their specialty along with many other details/parameters.


signing menus and such. (=

Works for me.  That information should be there to make a player's life easier, but that doesn't mean it has to literally be a default engine 'class,' just a 'Applejack can take a lot of hits and draw attacks onto herself' (for an abitrary example you may or may not use)

 

[Rikifive]

Slowly making progress!
Currently I'm working on the menus and it's not an easy task!
Designing, making graphic/icons and scripting that take some time, but that's what I like working on! =3
 
At the moment I nearly finished the Status Screen ~ there is still one or two icons to add and polish stuff, but generally it's finished!

 
The Status Screen contains various useful information, that will let the player compare things more accurately.
I've tried to make it all clear and divide things into categories; for example, raising the Power parameter will also raise the Physical Damage; Speed will raise Accuracy, Evade Chance and the general Speed and so on.
'Speed' represents how much time the pony needs to fill up the ATB bar to take the turn - the more Speed pony will have, the lower the value will be making them faster.
 
The parameters also display the bonuses - For example let's pick Rainbow Dash's Power parameter from the second Screenshot:
Power: 45 (39+10%+6%)
 
When a % bonus will be applied to the character, the detailed information will pop out.
The value before brackets simply represents the total value.
Now in the brackets we have:
39 - represents the base value ~ character's base value + additional bonuses from equipment are included in here
10% - represents the rate bonus from equipment
6% - represents the rate bonus from states
 
Knowing the rate bonuses will come in handy when comparing the equipment as sometimes it will be better to have more base bonus points than the rates ~ a good balance will result in having higher parameter, so prepare your minds for some maths. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
 
In the Status Screen we will also find some additional information like resistances, active states and biography thingie that will tell more about the ponies. Information there will be changing along with the story.

(There will be another window showing other features ~ for example when the character will have lowered MP cost or increased EXP gain, then it will pop out there showing what parameter and how much is changed.)


(WIND icon will be changed! ~ It's a WIP - I'll make a cloud icon there =3)
 

(As I said - There's an icon to add ~ I forgot about that and prepared screenshots without some details, so I'll leave it be like this for now. =P)
 

 
The Status Screen is animated a little, so I've made a gif to show it, though its quality is terrible due to color limit - It's mainly because of that rainbowy window ~ it's not possible to render a gif perfectly when there's a rainbow, that 'steals' all the colors in the image.
But at least it will show how it looks like in general ~

WARNING! Pretty heavy gif - Opening this spoiler may cause a lag

Spoiler

 
The 'Chibi' icons of the characters are 'automatic' ~ some maths and they're nicely centered dependable on amount of ponies in the party.
Of course changing the party order will change the order of ponies here as well. =3

 
The Main Menu Screen is complete, but I need to toy with pixel art to draw ponies, because I don't want to show duplicated Twilights again. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Another update is going to be pretty soon.
 
Now that's some progress! ~ It's not that much to be honest, but still tons of resources and coding have been made. =3





-------------


Also I've cleaned the Screenshots Section from the outdated images. They're still available outside this thread, the link can be found in the screenshots section.


@BlissAuthority Hmmm... I see ~ I think I'll put an information like this in the character's details~ (=

 

[Rikifive]

'---------[ # 10 ]---------'


I had many concepts, I've made many tries and I've ended up with many failures, but finally I've came up with a menu concept, that is good enough for me, because it's nicely functional and colorful.
Overall trying to come up with a nice design took me ages, because I have spent so much time thinking and thinking ~ I'm so happy that I finally got through this.
Okay, enough of that silliness! =3
 
I'm happy to announce, that the Main Menu Screen is completed!

[In-Game, Not Edited Screenshot]
 
Now let me explain what is all of that mess. ^^
Firstly, in this menu players will be using Hoof Cursors to navigate and click on objects. It is absolutely compatible with Local Multiplayer Mode - As you can see on the screenshot above, there are two cursors - one on Fluttershy's status and the second one on Learn Skills Command. The cursors can be freely moved around the screen.
Hoof Cursors also change dependable on the 1st and the 2nd active party member. For example having Rarity as a leader, will change the cursor of the first player to white-gray.
 
On the bottom we have Commands - clicking on them simply takes us to the other menus.
 
To the left we have Party Window - 'EP' is displayed only when the pony has a feature, that allows her to keep EP after battles.
 
To the right we have Information Scroll - There players will be able to find some useful information.
 
The background will be changing dependable on the current location - Currently it's Ponyville, but when you'll get to the Canterlot, for example then the background will be changed as well, to bring more life to the menu.
 
Since the menu features cursors, then I wanted to make a good use of that, so I've implemented a simple method of changing formation of the party:

[In-Game, Not Edited Screenshot]
To change the formation, simply click a pony and then click another pony to swap their positions! Easy & Quick!
 
Also, this menu allows players to slightly customize it by hiding windows.

[In-Game, Edited Screenshot-Added arrows to point the clickable objects]
Simply click on the arrow on the upper-left corner to hide/show the party window;
Click the scroll to (un)furl it.
 
That's all! Thank you for visiting! =3
 
Next Objective: Working on the Inventory Menu

 

[Authumbla]

This is extremely well-done! Like other people, I really like the custom UI, and in general I'm shocked by how professional this looks.


One quibble I have is that there seems to be a mix of pixel art and digital art - this wouldn't necessarily be a problem but some of the pixel art bits (I'm thinking the scroll showing your bits and playtime) have kind of jagged edges (due to the limitations of pixel art), and it clashes a little bit with the digital backgrounds. I'd suggest either making everything digital (probably way easier) or everything pixelated.


Hoof It also sounds incredibly Christmassy, haha. It's very cute.

 

[Rikifive]

Why, thank you! ^^


I agree - that's a good point there and what's more ~ I'm aware of that. Sadly, due to limited resolution of 640x480 I just can't use digital art everywhere (for example some icons or ponies) because they would look blurry. That's why I'm trying to keep it pixelized whenever possible, though you're right, that as for the UI I could make it less sharp, since it's pretty big - I'll try few things and see how it goes, thanks for suggestion. (=


( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ )


Thank you for visiting! (=

 

[Rikifive]

​

'---------[ # 11 ]---------'

​

​

Inventory Screen Completed!
I've finished the inventory screen, where players will be able to view and use items, that ponies will have.
 

 Please note, that things may change along with the development - Mainly items, because the current ones are just quick examples, that most likely will not appear in the final version of the game.
 

In the inventory screen we have:
At the top with big icons - Category Tab
Clicking on these icons will change the displayed category in the item window.

 
Below Category Tab - Item Window
There are items displayed dependable on selected category. Clicking on that window activates it and hides the player's Hoof Cursor™, which enables to select the item from the list. Getting back from that window brings back the Hoof Cursor™. On co-op mode, player, who will click the window takes the control of it, so both players can do what they would like to do while not allowing the second one to trolling etc..

 
Below Item Window - Herb Window
That's a bag, that will be obtained after meeting a certain character (spoilers, I know) ~ There are various herbs and plants, that will be required to brew potions in the cauldron or... some of them can be just used.
That window works in the same way as the above one - Only one window can be active at once.

 
Party Window and Help Window are obvious. ^^
 
The background is quite simple with even simpler animated particles. ^^ It is randomly picked each time player(s) re-enters that screen.
There may appear even more things along with game progression~
 
A low quality gif, that will show how more or less it looks like:

Spoiler

 
 
The menus are slowly getting to be fully functional, though there is still so much work before me. ^^
 
Thank you for visiting! =3

 

[deathsia]

Your game is going to be so much better than mine... and its because you can draw... :/

 

[Baerthe]

I'm going to be that guy: How is combat and violence, even cartoon violence, in line with my little ponies' ideals of friendship, happiness, and peace?


Even if the game is free, I'd be worried of a law-suit.

 

[Rikifive]

@deathsia Sorry for making you think like this. =/


To be honest I don't think my drawing skills can do that. ~ I started drawing when I began developing this game, so I don't have that much experience ~ I'm just trying and trying.


@Baerthe Ask Hasbro, because they've used some of cartoon-violence in the show already when dealing with villains.


Yes, this show looks like 'Tea Party Simulator', but there's actually some plot in it unlike the previous generations, hence the unexpected 'fan-base' I think...

Spoiler

In the very first episodes there is some kicking:

But that's nothing comparing to later episodes:

But I'll be not using blood and anything like this in game ~ instead of that I'll use things like star particles popping out upon hit etc..


Aaaaanyway, there were some games with real violence (and even worse if you know what I mean) made, so I'm perfectly fine in this subject.


What I'm afraid though, is receiving a C&D letter, but that's another story.

 

[Baerthe]

@Rikifive I see! Well with the C&D you just need to really NOT (and I mean not!) make any money on the project while keeping it in line with the show's concepts. But you never know, you could get any offer of purchase though, but that is rare...

 

[Rikifive]

@Baerthe You're right and I'm aware of that. But still just 'hype' may be the reason of getting that letter, but I don't think my game is or will be that great, so I think I should be fine. =P


I'd 'die' if Hasbro would get interested in this project. That would be more than I could ever ask for, but let's get back to reality. =P

 

[Baerthe]

@Rikifive They (companies) most of the times do not hammer for hype but when hype turns into "plz donates!" and the like. But you are actually doing a very good job!

 

[Rikifive]

@Baerthe That's true. That's what Hasbro doesn't tolerate and is sensitive to.


But a 100% free project can also get taken down. It also depends on the company, but Hasbro is tolerant enough I think as there are some nice fan-works, that haven't been taken down. They're also paying attention to the scale of project. For example a fan-made show-length (~22min) animation has a pretty high chances of surviving than a film-length (hour+) animation, that is very likely do be taken down. There actually was a project, where people wanted to make a full-length animated movie based on MLP. They had a team of animators, voice actors etc., but they got taken down. I'm not sure what exactly was the reason there, but I think it was because of the project being too serious, that could in some way bring little problems to the company (trade mark and stuff like this). But people are making mistakes with these projects - they're showing them at fan conventions gathering hype and other things, which for sure brings Hasbro's attention.


I'm keeping my project pretty silent and 100% free ~ I don't need hype or people liking my work ~ I just want to make this game real and that's my main objective. =3


Why, thank you! (=