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

     The Battle Gem Ponies Steam Greenlight Campaign is still ongoing, but the service is rumored to be shutting down some time next month. I can still update the game and hope for a miracle before Greenlight closes it's doors for good, but at this point I'm not expecting to make it. BGP will be pushed as a mobile game,  but will still have PC/Mac/Linux versions available through Itch.io.

     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.

   Completed:

• Battle Customizer In-Editor (customize each opponent's ponies & movesets)
• Edited Pony Move Lists
• Wild Ponies Only Know 3 Moves
• If Out of Light & Heavy Attacks, Tackle Becomes Available
• Wild Ponies Are Randomized
• Wild Ponies Can Move/Spawn/Vanish
• Fleshed Out Some Details in Design Document
• Some Ideas Pushed Back to Sequel

     Lessons Learned:

• Taking a burnout break this week was kind of necessary. Getting back to the game now, I feel way more excited about how close I am to becoming code complete. It'll take another month, but I'm actually eager to do it now instead of dragging myself through the pile of programming bugs.
• Toby Fox's process for coming up with game ideas is pretty familiar. Just looking at my own notes and doodles for Unicorn Quest is getting me excited.

       I gotta confess to spending a lot less time working on my game than usual this past week. I still made sure to get at least one thing done each night, but I was really feeling burnt out. Like you can only hit so many bug walls before it feels like the dang thing will never come together.

     For my sanity I took a step back, said it's not that serious, the game can still come out in a timely manner. And I spent time socializing, catching up on development blogs of indies I follow, watching game design videos, and reminding myself of what I love most about game development. Coming up with cool ideas I could pull off.

     So I spent lots of time dreaming up ideas for a sequel to BGP and the Unicorn Training sequel/remake I've had in mind since that game's release.
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   Downloads:

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     So the main features I'm aiming to put out for the update on the 30th (which I'll post about here on Friday) are the 6 new ponies, a ridable Furum, enemies with custom movesets, and randomized wild ponies. I have 3 of those 4 things working and one of them is currently giving me some trouble with bugs. As I write this, I have 3 days to get two tasks done.

      Back to the Unity Engine I go. BGP needs me, and I need to get that update out to you all by this month's end.