Yotes

Download the Battle Gem Ponies Christmas Demo on Itch.io using your Patreon login to get a download key for Windows, Mac, and Android! The download page will only appear if you use the link above to get your key. Now before you dive in, let's reel back expectations once more. This is a super buggy work in progress that we're still polishing up for February. Many features are still unfinished so you're likely to run into rough looking animation, strange audio issues, moves that don't work as expected, buttons that were supposed to be hidden, and crazy-looking placeholder text. We aim to release an update to this Patreon build on a bi-weekly basis next year, and begin releasing a public demo updated with new content every month starting February 2021. The Patreon exclusive demos will include prototype mechanics (sometimes with debug controls) and half-implemented ideas being worked on for upcoming public releases way down the line. So consider this an early-access pass to the same game build the devs are using for testing. Main additions this time around are the Pony Customization & Battle Setup Menus! The complete version of this game is coming (eventually) to the App Store, Google Play, Amazon Apps, Itch.io, and other PC platforms. In May we'll be launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money to ensure we finish development in a timely manner (by hiring a lot more help). We truly have our hearts set on finally being finished by the end of the coming year. We thank you for understanding that this is a sneak peek at the tangled web we're currently attempting to turn into a quilted masterpiece. Now, as a Christmas gift straight from our hearts to yours, enjoy the newest playable build of Battle Gem Ponies! - Tony Yotes, on behalf of the Yotes Games Team

You're looking at an all-new Yotes Games as of this month. A full-time indie team speeding ahead towards one milestone after the other! Progress is super speedy compared to how it was before and every day we cross off multiple things on our big To-Do Lists. Get a peek at what we've been cooking up for our new menus, pony sprites, and crazy crowdfunding plans for 2021 on the official Yotes Games Blog!

We're entering November with an all-new team setup, changed plans (for the better), a miles long checklist of finished tasks, a new potential source of funding, and cute little pony sprites you have to come see! Time to show off what a couple weeks of hardcore indie development will getcha in this spooky good October devlog!

Wild leaps in progress and productivity as we're settling into the flow of being a team. All just in time for the biggest game dev session yet. Next month is going to feel like half a year's worth of work done in just a couple weeks compared to rate we've been going so far. There's been all kinds of improvements in terms of art, menus, and code architecture. It's really shaping up beautifully and we're excited about what we'll be able to deliver in just a couple months. Get the details on this month's gamedev adventures on the Yotes Blog!

Battle Gem Ponies (August DevLog): Gettin' Stuff DONE!! Been quite the busy month over here at Yotes Games. A whole feast of features to show to you about this fine August of progress. Talkin' about overworld animations, palette swaps, engine setup fixes, team collaboration improvements, new menus, and new mechanics. So let's get right to it, over on the main blog!

Nice to have a crunchy month to work on this day after day. Things are really starting to shape up around here. Visions of running a full-fledged indie studio get clearer all the time now that I'm enjoying a taste. This month's major milestones include training a new programmer, adding a menu to the playable build, putting over a hundred working moves into the game, and creating a huge cast of human characters to meet in the overworld. If you're curious about this past month's comradery and happenings in #GameDev, take a peek on the Yotes Games Blog!

It's been a colorful month of new discoveries and a bunch of mouse-hand cramps. Gearing up the BGP cast for more efficient animating and coloring as well as crossing off some long-procrastinated tasks like "DESIGN THE LEGENDARY PONIES ON THE TITLE SCREEN". Which was fun! Along with a million other tiny things (gamedev or otherwise) that made this month... Interesting? Yeah, interesting. Get the full deets on the main blog if you're curious.

With the first release of a playable build (still Patreon Exclusive until a June update) comes the bold new start of BGP. Playable updates as we make them, growing this game up from sprout to giant tree. Documenting everything along the way. Take a gander below the break to see the development shenanigans we've gotten up to over the past month here at Yotes Games.

Available to the patrons out there keeping development going for so long. We're opening the curtains a bit and letting some of you inside to get a better look at what we're working on. this here is the very beginning of a very fun project. Download the Battle Gem Ponies Combat Demo on Itch.io using your Patreon login to get a download key for Windows and/or Android. The old demo will still be available on the same page as before until the public Combat Demo release. More details on this Patreon Exclusive preview release and future public releases here.

Anypony else looking forward to virtual conventions this year? (It's kinda all we've got these days)

We're mid-apocalypse as showtime approaches! I'm sure April 2020 has been rough for pretty much everyone. And the team here at Yotes Games is no exception. Spritework, cut budgets, major losses, and hard lessons finally learned. It's been pretty busy. Get a full update on the new decade's most destructive month yet as it relates to Battle Gem Ponies and see how we plan to rise from the ashes, developers reborn!

Some crazy new decade we're having, huh? Should come as no surprise now that delays and scrapped plans are happening left and right, even here at little ol' Yotes Games, thanks to ya homeboy COVID-19. Get some details on how we're handling the situation on the main blog.

Unfortunately, the Babscon Arcade Showcase won't be happening this year. But we're going to make the most of this and take some extra time to get an even more polished Battle Gem Ponies combat demo out to everyone over the convention season! Hope you can look forward to it with us! - Yotes Games Dev Team

Aaaand one month full of crunch later, we've got battles! Actual working in-game battles! You can swap forms, use moves, alter stats, drain meters, and everything! Some visual effects are still a bit rough but all that's coming in the polish stage. The most important bit right now is getting the logic behind everything working as intended. Now, some of the special side-effect calculations have yet to be implemented, but we've thought through all the dirty details and are confident about knocking them out over the next month. That way we'll be stepping into April with everything the demo will need plus an extra week of polish to spare! In terms of gameplay we've got fully functional turn-based combat. The math behind it all, the interface to make choices and display information, and the animations to go with it all. Just need to animate all 168 moves in the demo and add in a couple extra touches and we'll be set! Come see all the love and and long post-workday hours are going to. This past month was a straight up plentiful one in terms of results! For the full post, head on over to yotesgames.com!

Rapid progress continues. We've got menus up and running better than ever, some really polished placeholders, fleshed out design notes, charts and graphs for pony stats, hundreds of character animation files, and most of the math behind the revamped battle system! You'll need to get more info on the Yotes Games website this time, cuz this one's gonna be a doozy!

Battle Gem Ponies is shaping up nicely. The fun little details are being added in now and we're seeing how far we can run with the little things being implemented in this prototype. We've got villain concept art, working data, cutscene scripts, character animations, working menus like the Ponipedia, and calculations for the battle system all done over the holiday break! Come see the nitty-gritty details to kick of this new year of gamedev over on the 1st Ever 2020 DevLog Post!

Despite numerous distractions like travel, coma-inducing Thanksgiving meals, and an intense workout regiment to counteract it all, progress is still being made towards BGP's public prototype launch. There's a lot of little changes being made behind the scenes to turn this into a super smooth operation that can sidestep mistakes of the past and there's still a couple week's worth of problems to solve before we can touch the combat system itself. See the full Patreon Exclusive posts here! Or for now, come checkout a summary of the past month's progress on the Development Blog.

The initial hurdles of learning to work together and getting a foundation in place for the project are all behind us now. The Yotes Games team is hard at work every day and we're knocking out features one-by-one. Come get a big ol' month's worth summary of the game's progress on the Yotes Games Patreon Blog!

This past month has been the most productive by a mile. A nice new tradition I'm starting up is putting up 2 Patreon updates a month now. One at the beginning of the month and one at the end. These posts are getting super meaty and full of news now, so the separation gives some breathing room to the avalanche of content to talk about. This month's posts are about finally finding a programmer to help me exponentially speed up development. We got a lot done in just the past 30 days and now the prototype phase is at least 50% complete. See the full Patreon Exclusive posts here! Otherwise come back in a month for some big news. Because now that we have momentum going, a new demo you can play will be here before you know it. Or for now, come checkout a quick summary of October's progress on the Yotes Blog.

Long story short, the 600+ variables required to make Battle Gem Ponies work have been put into a new usable form that'll make what's coming next possible. With all the ingredients finally here it's time to whip up a fresh and playable version of the game! See the full Patreon Exclusive post here! Otherwise come get a glimpse of the game's upcoming development tasks on the Yotes Blog.

Still chipping away at this project one day at a time. Real life hurdles still slowing me down and demotivating me, but even just looking at the roster of pony sprites on my phone throughout the day inspires me to keep pushing forward to make this thing real. Another devlog went up and I want the world to know about it. See the full Patreon Exclusive post here! Otherwise come get a brief summary of the game's progress on the Yotes Games Blog.

Starting development on things I can actually show off with visuals! Tilemaps recovered from oblivion, and steps towards an explorable overworld, this time made with a lot more common sense and cleanliness. Catch details on all that and more in this month's DevLog for the prototype of Battle Gem Ponies! (Get on the Patreon Hype Train for Exclusive Posts about the making, and remaking, of the game!)

The first Patreon exclusive Yotes Games post just went up for those curious about the game's progress this past month. It's got screenshot breakdowns, what roadblocks have been stumping me, and a look at what's to come over the next 30 days. Chipping away at this project one day at a time. Looking forward to generating some YouTube hype as soon as the prototype build is done. Check out the full post here!