Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #9 (Spreadsheet Code & Music)

     As predicted, this was a very productive week leading to a week with tons of visible progress. After messing with code stuff for a few days I now have an efficient way to put hundreds of moves, animations, and ponies in my game.

     The screenshot above is what the current Move Info interface looks like. If you click a question mark with a move selected in battle yo'll see this stuff pop up. Move type, power, accuracy, classes, description, elemental match-up, and so on. I think it'll be really useful to players so it should be accessible when and where you need it most.

     I considered just showing the Good, Fail, or Bad symbol above text next to the target but decided that it would be more beneficial to the player if they got the chance to memorize all the classes a move is strong against and get more familiar with all the classes.

If you want to see what else I've been messing with this week, hop on over the page break.
It's DevLog time!

Battle Gem Ponies Music

     A soundtrack really makes a game memorable. You may not always notice it, but the music of a game is the emotional bridge to the player. You can often just listen to a song from a nostalgic game and instantly recall the feeling of playing it. When you face off against an epic legendary boss the music hypes it up even further. You'll even go out of your way to download that song so you can hear it again whenever you want.

     I want Battle Gem Ponies to be one of those games with music you never forget. Unfortunately I can't make music myself and learning how to do it well could take over a year. My solution is to get some help with this. I requested the help of electronic musician Justin Heng and orchestral composer Eric Eom to make the Battle Gem Ponies OST something worth searching for.

     Below the break I'll list all the music I plan to put in the game. There's nearly 50 songs and jingles total so expect it to feel fully featured.

Battle Gem Ponies DevLog #8 (Maladies & Battle Interface)

     This week is going to be a productive one. I'm determined to get to a point where the ponies can use moves and hit each other. No fancy animations just yet, only functionality. Messing around with ideas for this has gotten me to dress up the menus again, giving a nice polished feel to everything.

Check out this week in gamedev below the break!

BGP Malady & Weather Conditions

     Maladies are afflictions (primarily caused by other ponies) that weaken a pony in some way. Things like poison, paralysis, burns, and freezing are maladies. Curses, shrinking, and being dazed are sub-maladies. Maladies should not be confused with lowering stats, which involves decreasing the numbers of a pony's stats like speed, attack, defense, etc.

     Weather is an important factor in combat because it affects different classes. Some weather boosts the power of some classes while weakening others. However, no matter what the weather is, Chaos class ponies always get a slight boost because of the way they thrive in havoc.

You can find details on how both of these mechanics work in Battle Gem Ponies below.