We're on our way to Kickstarter Glory and nothin' (short of unfortunate circumstance) is gonna get in our waaayy...
Battle Gem Ponies is gearing up for making a HUGE commotion all year long starting in March. We have some cleanup behind the scenes to take care of for another month, but afterwards we're off to the races polishing up things way easier to implement than this complex battle system.
Get some new info on our progress, setbacks, Kickstarter plans, and Patreon makeover below.
It'll take a minute to get the exact wording down, but I think we covered the general idea. We've got standard indie dev risks, minus the first game ever or first software team project problems.
The kickstarter page is under construction! A bunch of little tweaks need to be made here and there, but it's all coming together nicely. You'll be seeing this again in April as we finalize the prep for launch in early May.
The text is written out with little indicators for where the pictures will go. Going back and forth between this and other successful kickstarter pages to make sure it hits all the sweet spots in the right order. And to make sure it doesn't get too longwinded (chopped the length in half twice now to meet the 35,000 character limit).
Also kinda amusing how the rewards list for the highest backer tier is so long you can't see the second half of em.
State of the Game
We updated the Patreon page for 2021. Lots of changes in everything from tiers, to goals, to the description of the project itself. We've really come into our own by the end of 2020 and it finally feels like we know exactly what we're doing and we can absolutely finish this game in a timely manner.
Expecting a lot more eyeballs on the project as the year goes on, so tidying up across the board is in order. We'll need our social media accounts firing on all cylinders come next month in order to pull the hype train out of the shadows.
Setbacks
We're currently revamping the entire battle system behind the scenes to better handle our more complex mechanics and make things flexible enough to change at a whim in order for us to balance the combat and find that competitive fun.
Next Steps
You can see the mid-month Patreon Exclusive progress posts here!
Thank you, for following the development of Battle Gem Ponies.
Hold out just a little longer...
State of the Game
We updated the Patreon page for 2021. Lots of changes in everything from tiers, to goals, to the description of the project itself. We've really come into our own by the end of 2020 and it finally feels like we know exactly what we're doing and we can absolutely finish this game in a timely manner.
Expecting a lot more eyeballs on the project as the year goes on, so tidying up across the board is in order. We'll need our social media accounts firing on all cylinders come next month in order to pull the hype train out of the shadows.
Setbacks
We're currently revamping the entire battle system behind the scenes to better handle our more complex mechanics and make things flexible enough to change at a whim in order for us to balance the combat and find that competitive fun.
It's absolutely necessary for this game's secret sauce, but the cost is an extra month of development. The demo we originally planned for February 3rd will now be playable March 3rd instead.
Our Roadmap for the Combat Demo currently looks like this:
- Reprogram General Battle Effects System
- Reprogram General Battle Conditionals System
- Implement Weather Effects
- Implement Equip Effects
- Implement Ability Effects
- Implement Complex Move Effects
- Implement New Battle Animation System
- Implement Move Animations
- Implement Basic Battle States
the animation ones should be complete by early February at this rate.
Paired with the release of that Combat Demo will be a whole slew of YouTube videos about Battle Gem Ponies to start to draw a crowd. We really need to get that marketing ball rolling in order to have a successful Kickstarter in May.
But we also can't come out the gate empty-handed. First impressions need to count. Especially after the long silence since 2017. We really want some Wow factor in this one, so we're taking the time to make it functional and polished.
Next Steps
We're plotting out the crowdfunding campaign now. Got text drafts written, rewards planned out, and a list of about 2,000 people to contact before hitting that Launch button. It's starting to feel real, and the pressure is on. We need to impress the masses in 2021 or the past 10 years of gamedev could amount to nothing.
The bare, frugal, minimum number needed to cover 6 months of bills for 2.5 people over here at Yotes Games, LLC is about $20,000. So our minimum goal will be set at $25K to account for all kinds of fees, taxes, and shipping costs. And hopefully we'll get $40K on top of that from the Black Game Developer's Fund to cover the price of outsourcing the battle animations.
This year is going to be Quarantine Part 2 and there's never been a more opportune time for an indie serving a niche (but also super giant) audience to thrive in the spotlight. The team is fired up to deliver, everything's been meticulously laid out. Now it's just a matter of time...
Everything's on the line here, so we are giving this our all!
******
You can see the mid-month Patreon Exclusive progress posts here!
Thank you, for following the development of Battle Gem Ponies.
Hold out just a little longer...
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