Battle Gem Pony Classes (Part 2)

     In an older post I explained the concept of elemental match-ups. This time, I'll be focusing on each class of pony and the chaos I went through to get the icons to look so nice. In addition to the expected elements seen in Pokemon, I've added a few of my own and changed some rules around to fit the balanced style of play I'm looking for.

Get a breakdown of each pony class and a look at the fancy new chart below the break.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #5 (Unity Project & Menu Planning)

It took a while to get the overworld shape just right.
I'm sure I'll tweak it another million times.

     I've been making lists, reorganizing them twice, and drafting up sprites that look pretty nice. Battle Gem Ponies may be coming to BronyCon! I finally signed up to present my game at a convention full of 10,000 strangers who fit right into my target demographic.

     I'm 5 weeks into this project now and it's time t take a break from planning and just build something. A small playable piece of the game to sort of taste-test and prove the concept. I'll start with the simplest of battle scenes and go back to planning from there.

Want some sales data, completed tasks, and future plans? Get all of those below!

Polishing Battle Gem Ponies

  

     This week I'm talking about the icing on the cake. The stuff that doesn't need to be there, but its precise makes a good game great. I'm sure new bits to add to my list of flourishes will pop up during development, but these are the things I can think of now that make my game pop when I play in my head.

     Most of these details are small and not very exciting on paper, but one is an interesting concept that really stands out to me. In the actual game it would be a nameless effect, but in the design document I'm calling it a Hype Moment.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #4 (Over 350 Moves!!)

     It's been a full week of school activities. Busy as ever but with something worth fighting for. Getting a bit of BGP work done each day helps me sleep at night and motivates me to get all the pointless school stuff done and over with. The move list is "complete" meaning it's ready for tons of tweaking, balancing, and extra additions. With over 350 moves, 100 ponies, and tons of items on top of that, my game should have endless metagame potential.

This week I'll be listing abilities and items. Catch some interesting milestones from last week and a link to the BGP move list below.

BGP: Mavens, Champions, and Replayability

Art by dashinghero.

     Last week I mentioned that there were 4 gyms, 5 champions and a villain organization, but was careful not to give specifics. I did that because this explanation is worthy of its own post. Battle Gem Ponies does things a bit differently than Pokemon so I wanted to briefly explain what these 3 very important game elements are about.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #3 (Writing Moves & Starting School)

     I made it safe & sound to school and my first Mobile Game Design class was yesterday! I'm crazy excited to show my classmates and teachers what I've been dreaming up all winter. I'm even more excited to finally be allowed to open Unity and experiment. I'm still not ready to code stuff just yet (I still have ponies to design) but having that freedom feels nice.

Get the usual sales data and week of progress below.

BGP: Story Outline & Multiplayer

     This will be my first game with a deep story. Actual events happen and it's my job to make players care about the characters involved. I abandoned the open world approach I started with in order to take the player on a journey where excitement and mystery is around every turn. The player will be so into what's happening that they won't notice the hours go by as they try to just get to the next city.

    Something even deeper than the story is the player-to-player interaction. I need to establish a thriving online community that keeps players entertained for years to come. I need to make multiplayer so fun and complex that new things can be discovered by an individual every single day. It'll be players talking excitedly about those hype moments during competitive play that really spreads word-of-mouth and keeps the game interesting in the long-term.

     Get a breakdown of the multiplayer modes and general game progression below.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #2 (All Planned Out)

     I managed to catch the flu on Monday and spent 3 days recovering in bed. I got better just in time for the first day of 2015, inner flame reignited and ready to rocket Battle Gem Ponies to it's  complete state. I never took a break between this, Dragon Souls, and Unicorn Training, so it was nice to take a breather and just think about how I want this one to turn out. Excited thoughts of getting to a playable state certainly helped in my recovery.

Battle Gem Pony Classes (Elemental Match-Ups)

     If you are familiar with Pokemon's types then you'll know where this idea of elemental match-ups comes from. Based on a mix of real world application and game balancing I've come up with a starting point for making my game's core rock-paper-scissors mechanic. The complex way in which the pony classes interact will lead to interesting strategies on the player's part as one tries to always have the advantage on the opponent.

     There are things like stab damage and immunity to consider too. A Fire Draco class will be different from a Draco Fire class because the class in the first position does 1.5 times damage on a move with that type while the secondary class does 1.2 times more damage. Similar rules apply to defense. On top of all that I can expand move depth by throwing in rare dual type moves. The Steel Wing move is suddenly a threat to Plant, Bug, Earth, and Draco class ponies.

A cool thing about the 18 classes (and 19th neutral class) is how the starter pony will be able to change into any of them so the player can have a version of their favorite.