My Little Pony: The Game

[Rikifive 23,526]

Yeah. I'll think about this later then.

 

As for sprites - I have home renovation and I can't even access my PC at the moment. I'm unable to do anything on this old little notebook as even browser itself works slowly. Trying to use image-editing software would be a catastrophe.

Hopefully I'll be able to finish some stuff and setup my PC by the end of this week and if everything will go well, I'll take a week off from my job (26th-30th), so along with the weekends I'll have plenty of free time.

I swear, that if I would be jobless, stuff would be done ages ago...

[Alphys Hedge 671]

As for dev-chat - Yeah, I had Discord in mind, but at least at the moment there's kinda no point in making one I guess. We'll see how things will go and eventually it will be setup at some point.

 

Maybe there could be two Discord servers, one for dev chat and one for general discussion? That way if people had questions that weren't really suited for a post (like a single sentence long or just a quick question), they could be answered that way.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Alphys Hedge

[Rikifive 23,526]

@@Alphys Hedge,Yup, yup, but one server will be enough.  

It will be made in future, because it would be nice to have something done first, unless the others really would like to have that possibility now. 

[HereComesTom 2,243]

I have the barnhouse put together:

 

 

 

 

Since this is a proof-of-concept, for the time being, I've skipped a few details---there are no flowers in the windowboxes and the vines and apples that are painted on the barnhouse walls aren't there yet.

 

 

 

 

Now that I have a barnhouse graphic, it's going to make it easier for me to put the rest of the map together, since the barnhouse pretty much dominates the skyline at SAA, and the position of just about everything else is defined by where it is relative to the barn.

[Rikifive 23,526]

@@HereComesTom, It looks great already. 

 

Yeah, that's a good approach.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

I got the sig, cant wait, looks very professional!

[Rikifive 23,526]

Why, thank you! I'm really happy to hear that!

[HereComesTom 2,243]

I've got a few more graphical elements:

 

The Shacks---I've never really been able to deduce their functions, but my best guess is that other talking-animal characters use them as temporary lodging---that's a guess from the fact that [a] we've seen cows and donkeys and sheep on the show, speaking, and each shack has a little chimney coming out of it and a window.  And for simple tool sheds, they probably wouldn't need a window.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Next is the arch---well, actually there are at least three arches around the barnhouse:  one to enter Sweet Apple Acres in the first place, one near the living-area door, and one on the other side of the barn (right side when looking at the barn from the SAA Entrance) that leads to the orchards.

 

I've got a few versions:

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

Next is the well.  It's not received much attention, but it's fairly near the main entrance to the farm:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've done one more thing today, and that's the wheel of hay near the barnhouse's living-area entrance:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a few more doodads that need making before I can assemble a large enough area to test with, though---some barrels, some hay bales, and I still need to make the chicken coop and (depending on how large the area is vertically) the pigsty.  Oh---I also need to make some small crops like knee-high cornstalks, cabbages, and carrots, since all that is to the left of the barnhouse.

Edited December 26, 2016 by HereComesTom

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

I'm still here if you need music tracks. 

[Fluttershyponygal 83]

Patience, young padawon.

Game development is a very slow process, especially when you want it done right.

 

OMG....you have no idea how slow it can be... sometimes its so slow that after 4hrs of work I have to fight the urge to hit my internal lazy button and just make something quick and simple. It's taken me 3yrs to get my game this far and its mostly due to me being so lazy about it.

 

I vowed when I began making my game that I would pull out all the stops and make it something worth remembering and many times I regret making that vow but all it takes is a few people telling me how much they love the demos I release and I'm reminded that all the pain and effort will be worth it in the end.

[KBz 498]

Ice bear's also here for any music you need.

[Rikifive 23,526]

@@HereComesTom, Hmmm... I'm not sure either, but my first guess was also them serving as temporary (or not) lodging for other characters or some kind of animals.

The well is an important decoration! ^^

 

That's a great work and nice progress!

 

I've been wondering ~ I think putting the area with trees and the CMC clubhouse on another map would be a good idea. You see, the arches leading to that tree area and that carrot-building is way behind the barn, so we could put these at the ledge of the map and simply make a transition. That would be better for the game's performance (less objects to read and update at once) and make the map visually bigger. What do you think?

 

Since I got back an access to my PC, I hope to make some progress as well, though I still have requests to be done. 

 

---

 

@@Fluttershyponygal, Yeah, it goes ultimately slow, especially if you have a job. I was doing much, much more progress when I was jobless. Now it's really difficult to organize things and find some free time.

 

To make a nice progress, I need to sit down and work, work and work for many hours straight, because otherwise, it takes some time to setup the software here and there, get the point of what I was working on before and get the motivation to work further. It's really important when you're coding, because you're often referring to the previous code (variable names, values, created functions, etc. etc.), when writing further, so there's that de-buff at the beginning, that slows you down.

 

To be honest I'm afraid, that I won't be able to pull that game far. *sigh* I'm not even sure if there is any point in pulling this further at all when looking at my progress. Perhaps I should consider making a smaller game like a platformer or something... Either way, I'm not going to give up yet, though I'm pretty sure, that disappointment can't be avoided. I'll do my best to avoid that though. Make me jobless... =P

 

And that's true ~ ponies expressing their interest gives motivation. 

 

---

 

@@C. Thunder Dash and @@InklingBear, I think you have noticed that. 

Yes, yes, there will be a need and at the moment, I can even describe what will be needed.

 

It will be Sweet Apple Acres Theme.

I'll share some thoughts to give you some tips, if you don't mind. 

 

The most important thing is to make it accurate to the show in general. When listening to it, Sweet Apple Acres from MLP should come to mind.

Genre of music and instruments are obvious. I could only add, that Fighting is Magic has pretty accurate tracks to characters/places style-wise, if you'd need some extra references. Also feel free to make song references like using 'Winter Wrap Up''s note chains to cover a small part of the track or something like this.

That's handy, that you know the source material, unlike it was with the first composer, I've requested, that was mentioned by C Thunder Dash. He really did a great job working in a totally new environment anyway. I still feel sorry for him for invading him with pony content.  :-P

 

Now imagine a track played in background while walking around SAA and talking with ponies or browsing menus to change equipment and such.

 

I'm not hiding, that I'm not sure how to approach that, because there are two of you. I don't want to favor one of you, especially when not being sure about your preferences and such.

I don't want to put you into rivalry of some sort or lead you to wasted work. What do you think about this?

 

 

And please remember - take your time, there's no need to hurry. You're not obliged to make anything for me at all.

Thank you for your support. 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@@Rikifive,

 

I've got this. I know exactly what to do.  

[KBz 498]

@@Rikifive,

 

I've got this. I know exactly what to do.  

Ooh, lemme know how this turns out soon. :3

[HereComesTom 2,243]

 

 

I've been wondering ~ I think putting the area with trees and the CMC clubhouse on another map would be a good idea. You see, the arches leading to that tree area and that carrot-building is way behind the barn, so we could put these at the ledge of the map and simply make a transition. That would be better for the game's performance (less objects to read and update at once) and make the map visually bigger. What do you think?

 

This seems like a good idea to me; I think I'll just put together the barn, the area in front of the barn with the well and shacks and the chicken coop, the cornfields/cabbage patches/carrot fields to the left of the barn.  For now, I'll plan to leave the carrot-house out of it.

 

 

 

Perhaps I should consider making a smaller game like a platformer or something...

 

If you decide to switch to a platformer, you can have a look at the editor for my game---I'll be adding dialog trees as a feature probably within the next few days.  But adding features is a slow process for my game engine; I spent over a year on the customizable NPCs feature (which includes dialog trees), and I still plan to add more onto the customizable NPCs feature moving forward.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

I've been moving along with the Sweet Apple Acres Theme. I'm thinking of doing a daytime, afternoon and night theme for it. Right now, working on the afternoon theme, which is kinda laid back. Daytime is gonna be upbeat and night is gonna be calming. 

[Rikifive 23,526]

@@HereComesTom, To be honest I haven't tried that editor yet, so I'm curious about its functionality. However, I think it would be better for me to write the game from scratch, so that I'd be able to program what would be needed anytime. I have some experience in writing platformers (a working demo of a retro platformer shooter written in Ruby) and I can already tell, that it's much easier and faster than writing RPG's. 

Anyway, I still really want to make that RPG, so it will have to wait. :3

 

@@C. Thunder Dash, Actually I like that idea. There will be day/night cycle dependable on story/event progress (not affected by playtime), so they will come in handy. Now I'm really curious to hear them. ^^ 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@@Rikifive,

 

Well, got the nighttime theme for Sweet Apple Acres done.

 

Sweet Apple Acres Theme (Afternoon).wav

 

 

[Rikifive 23,526]

@@C. Thunder Dash, Nighttime or Afternoon? Now I'm confused. 

 

I've listened to it few times and I gotta admit, that's a great calming tune. Listening to that theme makes me think of an evening, where the time 'slows down' after hard work on farm, so that's good.

 

There's one little thing that catches my attention ~ while the melody in general is really nice, there are moments, where instruments seem to be not synchronized. It's kinda like getting off the beat or whatever it could be called. One of these moments can be heard at the beginning (0:24), basically that transition ~ generally it's not bad, but kinda confusing, especially that 'ticking' in the background ~ if that was actually done on purpose, then it's okay I think. Don't get me wrong please, it just caught my attention and I started wondering.  :-P

 

Other than that, I really liked the theme as I can see it working well there. Great work!

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@@C. Thunder Dash, Nighttime or Afternoon? Now I'm confused. 

 

I've listened to it few times and I gotta admit, that's a great calming tune. Listening to that theme makes me think of an evening, where the time 'slows down' after hard work on farm, so that's good.

 

There's one little thing that catches my attention ~ while the melody in general is really nice, there are moments, where instruments seem to be not synchronized. It's kinda like getting off the beat or whatever it could be called. One of these moments can be heard at the beginning (0:24), basically that transition ~ generally it's not bad, but kinda confusing, especially that 'ticking' in the background ~ if that was actually done on purpose, then it's okay I think. Don't get me wrong please, it just caught my attention and I started wondering.  :-P

 

Other than that, I really liked the theme as I can see it working well there. Great work!

Val's you liked the theme. The hardest part for me was the percussion, which is probably what you heard. I'll do the day theme tomorrow.

[HereComesTom 2,243]

I'd like to know if I'm on the right track with this layout for the in-front-of-the-barn area---it's far from complete; I haven't figured out what the left side will look like or whether there should be more of a barrier in the top part of this area.

 

I might need to draw a new shack-graphic that is turned about ninety degrees to make this work, but another option that occurred to me while I was putting this together was having the shacks go diagonally and forming a barrier for the right-hand side of the area, so that's why I set up the right side of the map the way I did with this draft.

 

Please let me know what you think of this so far:

 

 

 

 

The lines are every 90 pixels vertically and ever 160 pixel horizontally; hopefully they'll make it easier to place the sprites when I get done with it.

 

 

 

 

 

Don't feel bad at all if you think changes need to happen in terms of placements, the size of the area, or anything like that; I'm asking for feedback early so I can do course-corrections early if they're needed.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@@Rikifive,

 

Alright! I got the Sweet Apple Acres Day Time Theme done! This one was quite tricky. 

 

Sweet Apple Acres Daytime Theme.wav

 

 

 

 

[Rikifive 23,526]

I was trying to reply much sooner, but making the reply required some time and having to go to job always interrupted me... Sorry.

 

 

@@HereComesTom, First of all I really wanted to put your draft in game to see how things will look like out of curiosity.

 

 

(By the way I was working on sprites for a while and I've managed to make side view of Rainbow Dash - so much of my progress, wow  )

I've inserted my silly quickly-made-grass-background to give it a slightly better preview.

 

Anyway, after giving it a legit try in game I got to this conclusion:

 

The structures/blocks/tiles/whatever themselves are really nicely done. As you can see in screenshot, they're looking great and correctly scaled to match pony sprites. They're just awesome!

However, their placement seem to be kinda random. Sorry to say this and please don't get me wrong, but their placement isn't fully correct, especially the right side of the map, because they look like being 'forced' to be there ~ they form a plain border of the map, which doesn't look nice. There's no need to block these like this as there's nothing wrong in touching map borders, if it's done nicely of course.

Also I'll remind just in case - remember, that you don't have to limit yourself to a grid. Everypony will be able to move freely around the map, so only objects' rotation degrees are important in order to make it easier to interact with these, as you can face 8 directions.

 

So summarizing ~ Objects are great, but their placement requires some changes.

I know, that you said that I shouldn't be feeling bad, but I'm still feeling bad for that 'whining'. 

 

I've took a look at few SAA references...

 

 

 

...and decided to give a try to quickly make a sketchy concept art of the map.

It's not great, because I'm not a really good artist and drawing with a mouse isn't good for quick drawings.

 

 

 

 

Despite tons of mistakes like scaling and some details regarding placement, this sketch more or less represents what would nicely work in the game.

As you can see, the right side is nicely blocked ~ in the reference images you can see haystacks to the right side - let's use it to nicely make a map border. Nothing needs to be blocky ~ the more freedom, the more natural it will look like.

The left side however, I kinda derp'd with all of this, but it doesn't look that bad in the end. There's no need to block left border as it's kinda obvious for a player, that there's nothing in here, so touching that wall will not be an issue. ...Or always I can make these farms with plants not passable, so it will do the thing.

 

I have no idea what to do with that carrot-building - was it used in the show? I don't even remember.. If not, then there's no need to cover that part or... at least we should place it on another map, where it wouldn't have much anyway. Perhaps some nice parallax-view in background and some items to steal get. (RPG's logic - don't look at me like this  ) .. or ponies with quests..

 

The area with trees also should be on another map, to make SAA visually bigger. If you'll approach the entrance (where the arrow is drawn), it will take you to there.

 

Now the tragedy - my extremely bad barn sketch. In my opinion it would be better if that would be facing down.. It would give a more accurate look of the whole environment as seeing it faced to the right makes it slightly confusing.

 

Since you made that facing sideways, I was wondering if rotating the whole map to that degree would be a good idea. ~The main entrance being on the right and everything else placed relatively to other objects. To be honest I have absolutely no idea how that would look like, so perhaps I'd try drawing a sketch with that perspective to see how more or less things would be placed.

 

What do you think?

 

@@C. Thunder Dash, Well.. I could say the same thing as before?   

I'm extremely sorry to say this, but I think I need to be honest. 

While I like the theme in general, it has moments, where the instruments aren't synchronized and go off the beat. There is even one right at the beginning.

I literally listened to it multiple times and tried to get used to that, but I can't ~ it's noticeable each time I listen to it.

Generally it's a good theme, but it's difficult to follow the melody as it kinda sounds like there were two different tracks played at once.

Basically - it's not clean, and that's the issue in both tracks.

Maybe muting few instruments during transitions would work? Reorganizing few notes would work as well. I've noticed, that the problem occurs mostly during transitions performed by low notes of the piano (if I'm not mistaking), so perhaps that's where you should take a look to make the song neater.

 

And don't get me wrong please, I really appreciate the help and everything, sorry for whining. 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

I was trying to reply much sooner, but making the reply required some time and having to go to job always interrupted me... Sorry.

 

 

@@HereComesTom, First of all I really wanted to put your draft in game to see how things will look like out of curiosity.

 

 

(By the way I was working on sprites for a while and I've managed to make side view of Rainbow Dash - so much of my progress, wow  )

I've inserted my silly quickly-made-grass-background to give it a slightly better preview.

 

Anyway, after giving it a legit try in game I got to this conclusion:

 

The structures/blocks/tiles/whatever themselves are really nicely done. As you can see in screenshot, they're looking great and correctly scaled to match pony sprites. They're just awesome!

However, their placement seem to be kinda random. Sorry to say this and please don't get me wrong, but their placement isn't fully correct, especially the right side of the map, because they look like being 'forced' to be there ~ they form a plain border of the map, which doesn't look nice. There's no need to block these like this as there's nothing wrong in touching map borders, if it's done nicely of course.

Also I'll remind just in case - remember, that you don't have to limit yourself to a grid. Everypony will be able to move freely around the map, so only objects' rotation degrees are important in order to make it easier to interact with these, as you can face 8 directions.

 

So summarizing ~ Objects are great, but their placement requires some changes.

I know, that you said that I shouldn't be feeling bad, but I'm still feeling bad for that 'whining'. 

 

I've took a look at few SAA references...

 

 

 

...and decided to give a try to quickly make a sketchy concept art of the map.

It's not great, because I'm not a really good artist and drawing with a mouse isn't good for quick drawings.

 

 

 

 

Despite tons of mistakes like scaling and some details regarding placement, this sketch more or less represents what would nicely work in the game.

As you can see, the right side is nicely blocked ~ in the reference images you can see haystacks to the right side - let's use it to nicely make a map border. Nothing needs to be blocky ~ the more freedom, the more natural it will look like.

The left side however, I kinda derp'd with all of this, but it doesn't look that bad in the end. There's no need to block left border as it's kinda obvious for a player, that there's nothing in here, so touching that wall will not be an issue. ...Or always I can make these farms with plants not passable, so it will do the thing.

 

I have no idea what to do with that carrot-building - was it used in the show? I don't even remember.. If not, then there's no need to cover that part or... at least we should place it on another map, where it wouldn't have much anyway. Perhaps some nice parallax-view in background and some items to steal get. (RPG's logic - don't look at me like this  ) .. or ponies with quests..

 

The area with trees also should be on another map, to make SAA visually bigger. If you'll approach the entrance (where the arrow is drawn), it will take you to there.

 

Now the tragedy - my extremely bad barn sketch. In my opinion it would be better if that would be facing down.. It would give a more accurate look of the whole environment as seeing it faced to the right makes it slightly confusing.

 

Since you made that facing sideways, I was wondering if rotating the whole map to that degree would be a good idea. ~The main entrance being on the right and everything else placed relatively to other objects. To be honest I have absolutely no idea how that would look like, so perhaps I'd try drawing a sketch with that perspective to see how more or less things would be placed.

 

What do you think?

 

@@C. Thunder Dash, Well.. I could say the same thing as before?   

I'm extremely sorry to say this, but I think I need to be honest. 

While I like the theme in general, it has moments, where the instruments aren't synchronized and go off the beat. There is even one right at the beginning.

I literally listened to it multiple times and tried to get used to that, but I can't ~ it's noticeable each time I listen to it.

Generally it's a good theme, but it's difficult to follow the melody as it kinda sounds like there were two different tracks played at once.

Basically - it's not clean, and that's the issue in both tracks.

Maybe muting few instruments during transitions would work? Reorganizing few notes would work as well. I've noticed, that the problem occurs mostly during transitions performed by low notes of the piano (if I'm not mistaking), so perhaps that's where you should take a look to make the song neater.

 

And don't get me wrong please, I really appreciate the help and everything, sorry for whining. 

The biggest issue with redoing is consistantcy and timing. I had like so many redos on tracks because I was trying for perfection. If I have to redo one thing, it means I may have to redo everything and it'll take even longer to try to replicate the melodies and harmonies I did on the first. Anyway...what's the next theme I should work on?

[HereComesTom 2,243]

Since you made that facing sideways, I was wondering if rotating the whole map to that degree would be a good idea. ~The main entrance being on the right and everything else placed relatively to other objects. To be honest I have absolutely no idea how that would look like, so perhaps I'd try drawing a sketch with that perspective to see how more or less things would be placed.

 

I think redoing the map so that the entrance to the whole farm is on the right is a good idea.  I think I'll start with redrawing the shacks.

 

Thanks for giving me a second opinion on the perspectives; it hadn't occurred to me that the barnhouse's really big barn-doors were supposed to face the farm's main entrance until you showed me that second screenshot of SAA.  I have the first of the two screenshots; that was from the premiere, but what episode was the second screenshot from?

 

 

 

I have no idea what to do with that carrot-building - was it used in the show? I don't even remember.

 

The only thing I can remember it being used for was Applejack standing at the carrot-building with her camera, trying to get a picture of the Apple Family Reunion.  Other than that, I don't think it's been used.

Edited January 7, 2017 by HereComesTom