Almost November Already, Huh?

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.]

The Big Fat Kickstarter 2nd Anniversary Writeup! 🎊

 

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.

Backer Rewards (Wave 1): Complete! [New Merch Shop on RedBubble]

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!

The Finished, Fully Animated 3D Ponatina Model by DJTHED!!

The Ponatina model by DJTHED is coming along great! With the core setup complete we're free to animate her however we please.  And what could be a better start than a smooth idle, smiling at the camera, and showing off a mighty KICK all-in-one!

So we got crackin' on just that.

What makes a game like Pokémon Scarlet or Violet so dang FUN despite all the cut corners?

Pokémon SV has me thinking about what order to put Game Direction priorities in... 🤔

(List & Thoughts below the break!)

Continued Work on the 3D Ponatina Model by DJTHED

The Ponatina model by DJTHED is coming along great! With the core setup complete we're free to pose and animate her however we like. Just keeping aware that each render is costly and takes time to "print" out so we can't do it forever without an infinite budget.

This 4K Battle Gem Pony was made based on DJ's existing pony template he's already spent years perfecting, so basically the unique mane was the newest/hardest part. But even this streamlined commission experience has foreshadowed just how tough it'd be to get all the BGP characters done up this way. So it's a good thing we're not planning on jumping to 3D til we're a comfortable couple sequels deep into things and could stretch a budget for it.

The BGP Development Journey So Far... (As of 2022)

 

A Retrospective on Battle Gem Ponies Development is up on our YouTube channel now. This marks 2 years since Psyaryu joined the project as lead dev and we've been chipping away at the task list every day since... 

It's been a VERY long stay in development hell, but we're well on our way out. Hopefully this project will be all-wrapped up by 2024 and we'll be starting fresh on what's next!

Battle Gem Ponies Kickstarter 1 Year Later...

Check out this video about the development journey so far and the upcoming changes to how we do things here at YotesMark.

If you're in a rush, the short summary is that the game won't be out for another 12-16 months, the merch store is closing in October so if you want extra shirts better grab 'em now, the physical Kickstarter rewards will start going out in October (excluding all the stuff that won't come 'til release), and we have far reaching plans to make Battle Gem Ponies a full-fledged series when this is all said and done.

We're looking forward to all the updates to come over the next year and are eternally grateful for every backer's help in making it possible.

Thank you all so much, for following the development of Battle Gem Ponies!

- Tony Yotes of the YotesMark Dev Team 

What IS Battle Gem Ponies About?

It's an old-school inspired RPG featuring a cast of awesome and adorable collectible pony characters jam-packed with personality!

A several-years-in-the-making love letter to the Monster Tamer genre.

Take a look at a nice summary (copypasta'd from the LONG draft of the Kickstarter Page) after the page break!

PCT GameDevs Will Meet Thursdays at 3:30!!

     Planning for the first club meeting I've ever organized is set. We'll be going over introductions and asking what people want to learn about first before getting into a regular rhythm in the weeks after. I know I want to cover topics that come up in conversation all the time like making a game quickly in Unity, sprite making, publishing on appstores, 3D rigging & animation, interacting with industry professionals, starting a development blog, and tracking download statistics.

Unicorn Quest: Making An RPG Town Scene - From Gimp To Unity

    With my world map charted out it's time to start putting my plans into practice. I'm using the techniques I used to create the battle scene. I start with colored blocks indicating walls, land, and obstacles. Next I do some sprite work to have things to fill space with. After I have blueprints and pieces I line everything up and put it into Unity so I can add collision boxes where they're needed.

    See a more detailed breakdown of making the game's forest town, Timber Grove, from sketch to in-game (along with some pictures) below the break.

Advertising Yotes Games on Facebook

     This was my very first time paying for an advertisement. It got me familiar with it's workings and I have a better grasp of what's going on now. My GoDaddy account net me a bunch of advertising credit on Google AdWords and Facebook so I decided to use it as a learning experience rather than risk having the coupons expire. This gives me a hint at what I'll be in for when I get an advertising budget.

Have a look at what I saw and what I learned below.

Sacrificing Fun Now for Success Later

     Back in 12th grade I made a promise to myself. A promise to spend my college years working hard on becoming the best game developer I possibly can. One capable of bringing all of my visions to life and living comfortably. One that never has to worry about running out of money in the bank every month or dread going into work every morning.

    Back then it seemed easy enough. I expected to be surrounded by other college game developers doing the same. I had no plans of having a girlfriend either but (thankfully) fate threw me a curveball. Lately the thought of just how hard I'm working compared to my peers has been occupying my mind for a moment I questioned if I was doing the right thing...

Using AdMob

     Releasing apps for free would be very painful if it weren't for ads. Considering how the app store pricing is a race to the bottom, if I want to stand a chance my games should be free. But how do you get ads in your game? There's all kinds of services out there. I needed one that worked on all platforms. Something easy to keep track of. I settled on AdMob, an ad service by Google. I already use AdSense by Google so why not keep things in one place?

Walking Around (Yotes RPG and Interface)

     Even though I'm not seriously starting my action RPG until about a year from now, I keep updating my notes for the idea and occasionally making mock-ups. It helps me with the waiting period where I sit on idea until I know it works. So far I've done character bios, snippets of the script, some character dialogue, arranged almost all the game mechanics, listed game elements, and drafted some GUI styles.

     Today I feel like peeking into the future and sharing what I have in mind for making a character walk around in an RPG.

New Device Resolution Strategy

     I admit to being a complete dunderhead when it comes to making a game fit all resolutions. I found it hard to wrap my head around making a game that fits all the resolution combinations out there. I tried making TriGrid fit everything by upscaling the smallest resolution. With Fish Feaster I did the same but stretched the background to compensate for iPhone 5's longer screen. When I made Candy Shop Catch I had HD and SD resolutions programmed in, which doubled the amount of assets in the game (a colossal waste of space).

     With my newest creation, I'm trying a new method that will hopefully be kind to memory and easy to code. I thought of it when I finished up Candy Shop Catch and face-palmed at how obvious the solution really is...

Other Developers Out There

     I took a lot of time out yesterday to look around Google Play and various indie sites to see what other people like me are up to. I get intense feelings looking at indie games, trailers, blogs, and reviews. I'm looking toward where I want to be about a year from now. An inspirational story, a game enjoyed by thousands, and enough money to comfortably make another title.

Getting iOS Reviews

     I've been tossing TriGrid around lately to get reviews and maintain it's featured status. Much like the post from before, I felt like giving a nice little list of sites to visit if you ever wanted to request reviews for iOS games instead of Android ones. This should save some newbies the trouble of finding them like I had to.

App Icon Improvement

     It's a work in progress but I'm working on making a prettier app icon. I searched for software and found something good that didn't actually work out for me. I already invested $5 into it though, so there's no going back now. Like always, I worked optimistically and managed to make some good out of a bad turn of events.

Next Game Project: DragCore

     Today, I'm excited to announce DragCore! An arcade style game where you trap and destroy space-faring enemies in an electric field by dragging your finger across the screen! You control four voltaic drones in space to coordinate attacks on threats from space. Tap on enemies or drag a box over a group and watch them all explode into space-bits!

     This little guy is the game I initially planned to be my first iOS app. I had to get a new Mac and all my data for it didn't survive the transfer. Luckily I still have the SDL version I made with Code::Blocks and C++ back in 11th grade.

     Obviously that header app icon is a place holder and I'll be posting a video of the SDL version soon. The final product will be very different and with multi-touch the gameplay will be a lot more fluid. This game project is going to teach me about polish and making stable, easy-to-navigate code. Most of all, I hope people find this game fun, addictive, and worth showing to friends. Let's see if I live up to that a couple months from now.