Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #19 (Finals Week & BronyCon Confirmation)

     This is the last week of my junior year at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. It's also the last week to hang out with my girlfriend before shifting over to full-time gamedev all summer. Progress is inching along this week but is set to go into overdrive starting next Monday.

     By far the biggest news this week is the email I got on Sunday that told me that I'll be presenting Battle Gem Ponies at BronyCon this year! Find more details on that amazingness and more below!

Subtle particles in battle when an elemental attack hits.

   Completed:

• Elemental Particle Effects (In-Game)
• Button Press Hints
• BronyCon Panel Confirmation
• Negotiated Strict GameDev Time With Parents
• Plans For BronyCon Panel
• Minor Additions to Design Document
• Musical Drafts of 7 Songs
• Reorganized Task List (Based on 12 Hour Work Days)
• Updated Class Chart (Steel vs Dark)
• GP Depletion For Each Move

     Lessons Learned:

• Having the panel looming ahead of me is exactly the kind of fire I need under my butt to stay on task all summer.
• The pressure is on, but my family is behind me. They see it almost as clearly as I do. I have a very good shot at making it big if I just keep pushing toward it.

Steel class felt unfair while Dark felt vulnerable, so Steel no longer beats Dark.

       Once I finish up finals week I'll head home and adjust to my new work environment. A schedule without school basically. I'll try to avoid working myself to death by taking exercise breaks and taking an hour off to entertain myself with the internet or a video game before bed. I need to be at 100% when making this thing or I'll start taking shortcuts for the sake of getting done. That can't happen this time because I'm aiming for greatness now. I want Battle Gem Ponies to be on most people's lists for the Top 5 RPGs on Mobile.
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   Downloads:

   It'll be pretty cool to see $25 a month jump up to at least $50 a month once Unicorn Training hits iOS. I wonder if it'll really do better than it did on Android with all the post-launch fixes in place. If it comes out over the summer I'll also be out of the way for lots of tough holiday season competition.

    Featured:

     I'm in! Demoing my dream game to a live crowd before launch at my first convention ever, the chance of a lifetime, and I got it! This is my big chance to introduce tons of people to the game and hopefully build a long-term audience and community for it.

     So long as I have an awesome demo by August, my dream of having people play the game at pony conventions will be coming true. Now I just have to see what time constraints I need to work around and find out if it's possible to have my game playable in the Baltimare Arcade.
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     Having a working game loop just feels so great. I want to always have a working version of the game built with each new set of updates. Adding to the game piece by piece... That's how I want to do this. I want to watch my baby grow into something special.