Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #77 (E3 2016)

     So E3's going on today... New Zelda demo, Pokemon details, and Virtual Reality gear all over the place. Yep. Can't afford to miss gamings media holiday so development will have to rest for a minute. I'll have my eyes glued to that for 3 days, but I can still get a couple hours of work done at night once a day's coverage is over and I get caught up.

Starting to populate search results with people giving honest opinions on m game!
A good starting point for when the bigger builds are ready. The game will really show growth over time.

   Completed:

• Using Items in Overworld & Battle
• New & Reordered Google Play Screenshots for Unicorn Training
• Adjusted BronyCon Dev Task List (scrapped adding 3 new ponies)
• Level 20 on IndieDB
• Let's Played by DJPdude1 & Paradomix

     Lessons Learned:

• Fix All Game-Breaking Bugs Before Ever Sending Out a Pre-Alpha Build.
• Don't mention that you're a fan or that you've seen a couple videos of a YouTuber you're sending codes to unless you've actually been following that channel's content for a long time. It sounds spammy and these guys need to know you're a human being (not a robot or salesman) that takes feedback both well and seriously.
• Listening to great game OSTs on YouTube while I work is really motivating. This week's tunes were mostly my favorite SNES/N64 games and tons of Square Enix soundtracks.
• Annual Subscriptions and a Faster Review Process are coming to iOS.
• Sometimes a little reminder of what you've done makes your current challenge seem less eternal. There's a unique feeling to watching a random person play your game and enjoy themselves. Especially if it's a little kid having a genuine fun time.
• But along with the fun comes some frustration. I've seen the same negative reactions in multiple Let's Play's and plan to address those issues to make every game I release better. No frustration, no confusion, just a fun time and a fair challenge.

       There's no time to fully implement new ponies before the convention, so I'll just make sprites for all of them and maybe talk about a few of them in Powerpoint form just to prove they're coming and how varied the game will be. It'll also help fill up time with something onscreen that isn't the same 6 ponies fighting each other in different locations.
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   Downloads:

Wow... 55 thousand people...

Exactly 2000 downloads of the Unicorn Demo on Amazon!

    Featured:

I got responses from the YouTubers I sent the game to!

     They loved the concept but somehow hit every single bug I thought I fixed in build 4.6. At least I know for sure that the bugs were squashed after the great code cleanup. The BronyCon build needs to run smoothly or else. I also came across this video of a little girl Let's Playing Unicorn Training that made my day. Makes me determined to make a 5-star game that can make thousands of people smile and cheer non-stop. (And this video further proves Equica does not roll off the tongue.)
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     Time to cool off after some election madness and watch E3 before dust kicks up again. I eagerly await this year's surprises and awkward stage moments. See you on the other side guys.