We've got big plans for marketing efforts and look forward to announcing a definitive release date soon.
Check out Itch for Backer Beta Update #3!
Approaching the final few issues between this demo and launch day...
Play the Early Access Beta!
#BattleGemPonies Sunday Beta Update, as promised! 🎮 (And some new goodies too! 🛍️)
The Battle Gem Ponies Beta is here!! 🤩🎆
And you can play it on Itch.io right now! (Password for access is on the locked Patreon post if you're a $10+ donor and wanna claim your key.)
Or just take a gander at the update highlights below.
In short, we're 1 more meetup away from having a Beta build ready. But that meetup won't be until June 15th because the entire team has personal life stuff to deal with.
And even after a Beta is out there in backer's hands, the bugs and gameplay flaws found in it need to be addressed. So at least another 10 days of work there, plus a marketing campaign for the countdown to launch day so people actually know it's finally coming out.
We're basically a month behind schedule. (A sentence I'm extremely sick of saying...)
Details about what's going on with development are on the BGP Patreon!
The Battle Gem Ponies Alpha Demo is finally here! Kickstarter & Patreon backers can grab an access key from the latest blog post and download it from Itch.io right now!
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Your BGP Adventure kicks off with meeting the young Professor Bucky of Equestrian Labs.
Which then leads into a hunt for the 6 Alpha Ponies roaming the regional outpost. Find them all, and trigger a showdown against the villainous Paragon Cartel who are out on a hunt of their own...
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And in related big news, the release plan for the final game has changed!
BGP will now be releasing in 4 parts throughout the year (seasonal style) starting with the prologue "Arrival Story" coming by the end of this month [May 2024].
At launch you'll be able to play this smaller chapter and get in at a discount ($5 on mobile) before Act I of the "Mane Adventure" comes along by the end of Summer, raising the price to a full $10.
Act II and Act III will be released months later as free content updates. And there are plans, but not promises, to also release a PC version on Steam this year.
You can find all our social links and download portals on the YotesMark Linktree
We're happy to finally hand over hours and hours of fun new gameplay to the community and can't thank everyone enough, especially the backers, for the patience our team is graced with. The hurdles, setbacks, and long nights over the years will all be worthwhile when this love letter to the brony fandom hits the gaming world.
Hope you enjoy all the awesome stuff we jam-packed into this little ponymon game!
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Hey all!
We're cutting it pretty close with the monthly update deadline here, but that's because we wanted to come 'atcha with GREAT news.
And we did it: ALPHA is HERE!! 🎊
Hey guys! Feels like it's been a long while and a short one at the same time. (Maybe sitting at a desk for 12+ hours a day is finally warping my mind 😵💫, but we'll deal with that after launch.)
This month's devlog is coming in so late because I intended on announcing a playable Alpha alongside it. But unfortunately, there's still at least 2 weeks worth of stuff to be done, so we're gonna miss the mark a little. Catch more details on that below.
Never appreciated the true tedious chaos of labeling and connecting doors together until this week. 🫨
As of the 15th of January, it's officially the end of Map Month!
It's officially the end of Map Month! That means ALL the maps are IN the game! 🌟
Foundations are set for all 600+ maps you'll be exploring once the game comes out. 🗺️
Final total map count being 209 areas split into 616 loadable rooms...
Check out a few exclusive preview examples and take a peek at what's going into each of them on the latest Patreon Devlog Update
Have ALL Ponies Fully Animated. That was the goal for November.
Progress has been made in the animation & spritework department, but only half of what we wanted was finished. Lessons learned, and feedback noted.
We've got priorities written down and it basically boils down to
fulfilling promises and implementing what people expect in an RPG like
this...
Overall goal being get this game done in a timely manner, and cut off the fluff we just don't have time for.
Read more and check out tons of pony animations on our Patreon Post
If you remember seeing me at TrotCon or Everfree Northwest, you'll remember me excitedly stating BGP Lite would be released on App Stores by Halloween! Well... That's not happening. [More details on exactly why below.]
We've been getting messages from Battle Gem Ponies backers with worries that the Unity Per-Install Fee could delay or even cancel the project. Here to say now, that won't happen. ❌
Not only are we expecting to not come close to the 1M downloads & dollars a year mark to trigger it, but this project's been through way worse hardships than an engine change over the years. We'll do what we've gotta do to make BGP a reality and not allow a greedy company to bankrupt us with poorly thought out monetization schemes. 💸
Especially in order for us to keep the promises made to every person who supported this Pony RPG dream with their own hard-earned money! 🦄
Happy Anniversary (Again), guys!
This marks the end of Year TWO of development since it was funded by the 414 generous folks who backed the potential they saw behind Battle Gem Ponies. (Thanks for that, for real guys.)
The #1 thought on the YotesMark team's mind is making a game that lives up to the hype we've promised. To not be another Kickstarter disappearance story. So we've kept regular updates going every step of the way. A clear and detailed task list so we always know what feature is needed next, and what features need to be cut for time to ensure it's out by Early 2024.
Our first TrotCon was magical! 🤩✨
Can't wait to come back with a finished game and do it all again, but bigger! 🌟
Tons of new people are now interested in the game, our Discord numbers have shot up 15%, over a hundred people downloaded the demo, and we gathered lots of feedback to further improve the game and booth setups! 🎮📱
Plus, we caught the eye of some pretty large streamers, finally met some BGP community members face-to-face, and we met several cool folks to collab with someday. 🤝📈
It took about a month and a half, but ALL the pony sprite pieces have finally been drawn and as of right now I can begin the frame-by-frame animation process!
Should be done and in-game by April's end (but given how that estimate's measured in gamedev time, we'll see how that goes 👀).
Everyone who ordered Add-Ons from the BGP Kickstarter should've gotten some special stuff in the mail recently, or can at least expect it to show up before March 1st.
(If not, double check your address listed on Kickstarter and let ol' Tony Yotes know if there's been a mixup.)
It's been so nice to see the posts of people opening up their packages and we can't wait for the next wave with all the international ones and the PILE of T-Shirts to come!
More details on that and new stuff that's available now beyond the page break below!
New #BattleGemPonies demo is up!
Jam-Packed with improvements based on feedback from #Magfest2023!
Play It Here!
