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Sunday, February 28, 2021

Battle Gem Ponies (February DevLog): Animating Attacks


We're in the final stages of development for the Combat Demo! We're implementing as many attack & effect animations as possible to make a good first impression, and we're balancing the more complex gameplay mechanics we've finally got working.


We're closing out the month haunches deep into the animation phase of combat development. Utilizing all the debugging features we've made for the combat engine is helping this process be a lot speedier than it used to be.

We can now finely control the animation timing, when effects are calculated, adjust those effects on the fly, and double check the game's math in-game with a toggled debug window.

State of the Game 

A lot of moves are coming together, and the more we make the more templates and pieces we can reuse and rework for the remaining moves! There's 170 moves we'd like to get done for this demo, with the total count being 360 of these for the final game. 

Here's a few examples of what's cooking:

Aqua Pulse

Bug Bite

Bug Buzz

Chroma Beam

Dark Stars

Esper Spiral

The bulk of BGP's moves are being done with Unity's Particle Effect system. We've discovered that they're a lot easier to work with and edit than manipulating sprite objects individually with our own custom controls (like the way old BGP was built).


Setbacks 

Problems implementing combat mechanics and job issues have slowed the programmers down quite a bit this month despite us initially seeing this entire month as a focused full speed ahead sorta deal.

We're looking at mid-to-late March as the completion estimate, but by now you outta know how nebulous (or downright imaginary) indie game release dates are.

A moment of silence for that time when we thought
BGP would be finished by Christmas 2020.


Next Steps 



A list of over 2,000 youtubers is fully up-to-date and complete so we know exactly who to send out demos to and what version of the game would make the best impression. 

To be super general about it, brony channels will be brought onboard the hype train first because the concept of a pony RPG is a 'nuff said situation. PokeTubers and those willing to try new types of Monster Tamer games will get the next demo featuring our overworld mechanics in order to win them over with some familiarity and a more clear picture of what we have in mind for the game (what makes us different, but what also scratches that nostalgic itch).

Then last of all comes the big channels with 1 Million + subs and hundreds of general gaming channels that would be most interested in just the most highly polished final version of the game. And I'll reach out to all the foreign gamers once the game has been localized post-launch.

For some channels I'll need to really sell the novelty and quality of Battle Gem Ponies.
"... Just imagine the thumbnail for this one."

Getting this game out there is going to be soooo very satisfying and inspiring. We're putting as much love as we can into this thing and getting all the hardest development challenges out of the way before bothering to get tens of thousands of people excited about it. 

Countless years of development, and all our hopes and dreams... It'll all pay off once we deliver what we're promising.


This has been Tony Yotes, on behalf of the Yotes Games team.

Thank you, for following the development of Battle Gem Ponies.

Getting real tired of pushing back release dates... This is pure insanity.

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