My Little Pony: The Game

[Rikifive 23,472]

 

Originally I planned to get this done much earlier, but I wanted to give it a more serious approach, to have a better preview, hence the delays. Sorry about that.

 

So, getting to the point~
At first, the game was going to be in pixelated style, but I started thinking about going into HD resolution.

Why?
I'm not quite sure, but I think it would match the source material better and perhaps would look better? There were times when I was bumping into a wall of limits thanks to small resolution. Sometimes it was hard to catch all the details I needed in HUD and interface, thus I had to give up on few little features. However, pixelated-simpler style also has its pros, so at the moment I'm just not sure.

 

Honestly, I like both styles-- and let's talk about them a little.

PIXEL ART
I love pixel art, because let's be honest- our little pixels always make us think of games. It gives the retro feel and all that nostalgic stuff.

This is the style the game was developed so far and it would look more or less like this:

Note: That pink pony will be removed. I've used the sprites I had already implemented in game for testing purposes.

The target resolution of the game would be 768x432, as seen in screenshot.
Actually that resolution wouldn't be comfortable to work with (issues with scaling), so it probably would be higher than that (either 960x540 or 720p).

 

HD
In the show we have vectors, so it would be more accurate if there would be some fancy smooth graphics in the game. Much bigger resolution would allow me to make smoother and more detailed HUD and interface. However, it probably would require much more time to draw objects and animate them if needed.

I've gave it a try and it would more or less look like this:

Note: The bottom HUD (pony status) is a rough sketch at the moment. That's what I meant by saying, that it will take some more time. The reason is, that in pixel art I can move pixels one by one without any quality loss, where in typical digital art moving parts around may harm the lines and colors, which sometimes simply means having to redraw things. Not mentioning, that it's best to use paths for smooth curves and things like this. That's why it's better to make some sketches first, before approaching that.

The target resolution of the game would be 1920x1080, as seen in screenshot.

 

---

Honestly though, both styles have their pros and cons and that's why I can't decide. So... which one do you think would work and look better? Personally I'd lean more towards the HD, due to way more possibilities and the smoother look, but pixel art is great too...

 

Oooh what to do...

I know one thing- it will take years to get it all done.  

 

 

---

@Magic_Spark Hmm.. it all looks promising, but it's not even about the engine itself, but the scripting language it uses. It's not that easy to jump between scripting languages.  

 

On 1.09.2017 at 9:29 PM, Magic_Spark said:

Also I know how to develop for this engine as I have had a license since 2001. Just have not been able to get people to develop games with. :/ Last couple of game groups I was with were too much into wanting to do state of the art. I tried to get them to start off slow and do things gradually but no one bothered to listen. 

But I'd have problems, most likely.  Yeah, I kinda know that feel. Personally I prefer to work alone, for the most part. It's not that I don't like teamwork, but that way I don't have that feel, that I may disappoint anybody and/or waste their work. I'm not a professional game developer, so there's always that possibility, that I'll simply fail -- or need more time to come up with solutions/ideas. ---but if somebody understands that and is willing to help anyway, then I'm always open for teamwork, for obvious reasons. It's also more fun and motivating that way.

Sorry to hear you haven't got a chance to work in a proper team yet- you seem like a really experienced person, so I can imagine, that you'd like to get into something seriously. I wish you good luck either way. 

On 1.09.2017 at 9:29 PM, Magic_Spark said:

Creating sprites by hand is very tedious and its why I said that most go with 3d models and then animate them and render the frames needed.

I have all the pony's geometry and can texture them any way you want. Rendering them out would be simple for me as I have all  the tools. 

Personally I don't have experience with 3D stuff, so I'd perform terrible there.
You made me curious though- I'm really interested to see how it would look like. The sprites with the required amount of them will surely take sooooo much time, so having a way to get this through would drastically make the development progress faster. I'm not hiding, that any help would be appreciated, as by myself, I'll be probably sitting for months, if not years making all the necessary sprites and animations...

 

On 1.09.2017 at 9:29 PM, Magic_Spark said:

I have a license for Maya, 3ds Max, Motion builder, Zbrush, 3d-Coat, Mudbox, Torque3d (I payed for the version that allows web publising) and several other applictions for programming and digital painting. Too many to list.

---and I don't have much.  That's quite impressive. I can imagine, that you're way more experienced at everything than I am.  I wish I had time to get into all of this and be able to come up with something good.

 

On 1.09.2017 at 9:29 PM, Magic_Spark said:

Hope your game gets going well and it looks like your off to a good start.

Thank you very much!  This game (and basically the show itself) started my whole adventure with game development, so I really hope it will get somewhere. I won't be able to feel accomplished if this project will fail. It's not just a game for me. 

 

Sorry I haven't replied sooner- I've noticed the notification, but was so busy back then, that I forgot to reply afterwards.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Rikifive

[HereComesTom 2,232]

2 hours ago, Rikifive said:

Honestly though, both styles have their pros and cons and that's why I can't decide. So... which one do you think would work and look better? Personally I'd lean more towards the HD, due to way more possibilities and the smoother look, but pixel art is great too...

 

Oooh what to do...

I know one thing- it will take years to get it all done.  

I know the feeling of working on something for years---I'm working on adding ways for data to flow through the if-statement dialog commands my level editor right now

But which of those two options will get you a better chance of finishing sooner?  It sounds like switching to HD will basically press the reset button on all the progress you've made so far.  And plenty of modern games still use pixels; Sonic Mania's a terrific example.

[Rikifive 23,472]

31 minutes ago, HereComesTom said:

I know the feeling of working on something for years---I'm working on adding ways for data to flow through the if-statement dialog commands my level editor right now

But which of those two options will get you a better chance of finishing sooner?  It sounds like switching to HD will basically press the reset button on all the progress you've made so far.  And plenty of modern games still use pixels; Sonic Mania's a terrific example.

I'm pretty sure many developers know that feel.  What does that exactly mean?  How the works are going?  

I think pixel art-- but it really depends. Some things are easier to draw normally, than build out of pixels- some work the other way around. That's why I can't decide... I enjoy drawing the typical digital art, because I can practice my drawing skills better that way.  As for the current progress- to be honest I don't have much. There's literally not much, so having to redo things will not be the problem here - that's why it's a perfect time to consider which path should I take. As for the progress visible in screenshots in the main post- well they're pretty much irrelevant now, as I'd have to edit them either way. (They're from the game I had in other engine, back before I have switched to GM). Sooooo everything basically is up to be made.
I know, but the HD one seem to look nice.  Aww, I don't know!  

[Fluttershy Friend 25,445]

You know that I'm not a gamer. However I have some idea about this threat. If you need my advice Riki please send me a PM. It will be easier to me to write it in Polish. 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Fluttershy Friend

[Totally Nyx 35,471]

Haven't had much time to visit this thread in a while, woopsies! I hope your game's coming along well.

As for the poll, I'm throwing my vote into pixel art, but feel free to ignore that. I have no idea how hard it is to do one version over the other for various aspects of the game. My reasons for choosing pixel are purely selfish unfortunately. I'm much more partial to the older games than newer ones. It doesn't have to look lifelike to be good.

Here's a thought, you could possibly mix the styles. Ok, ignore that. I typed something up but reading through it I think I had just made your problem a lot worse. xD

 

Anyway, good luck with this game!  If you ever need help from someone pretty inexperienced with this stuff, I'm more than happy to contribute. (I actually have a little programming experience, but I've, uhh, been letting it slip)

[Rikifive 23,472]

On 19.09.2017 at 5:34 PM, Fluttershy Friend said:

You know that I'm not a gamer. However I have some idea about this threat. If you need my advice Riki please send me a PM. It will be easier to me to write it in Polish. 

If you'd like to share your ideas, feel free to message me.  

19 hours ago, Totally Lyra said:

Haven't had much time to visit this thread in a while, woopsies! I hope your game's coming along well.

As for the poll, I'm throwing my vote into pixel art, but feel free to ignore that. I have no idea how hard it is to do one version over the other for various aspects of the game. My reasons for choosing pixel are purely selfish unfortunately. I'm much more partial to the older games than newer ones. It doesn't have to look lifelike to be good.

Here's a thought, you could possibly mix the styles. Ok, ignore that. I typed something up but reading through it I think I had just made your problem a lot worse. xD

 

Anyway, good luck with this game!  If you ever need help from someone pretty inexperienced with this stuff, I'm more than happy to contribute. (I actually have a little programming experience, but I've, uhh, been letting it slip)

And these purely selfish reasons are more than enough! Seriously though, I don't require you to know how the works would look like behind the scenes, I'm just asking for the simplest opinions regarding which one would you like to see. As for difficulty in making- both styles have their pros and cons, that's why I can't decide, so I was thinking of some random thoughts from the others, to help me decide.  I'm also a fan of retro games (Amiga and NES will be always remembered), so I know, that the game doesn't have to be in majestic HD to look good. I value gameplay over visuals. 

Actually a mix of pixel and non-pixel art is pretty common thing nowadays. Sometimes you may notice pixelated characters in not exactly pixelated environment, such as slightly blurred backgrounds for visual effects and such. I may also 'cheat' a little like this, but that's another story.  

Just sharing opinions and helping improving things are more than enough.  Ah, the fun fact is, that I haven't touched the code that much lately, as these graphics took the whole spotlight now.  Either way, thank you!  

[LostVagabond 25]

Much prefer the HD look than the pixel version, particularly for the characters. That being said, it certainly would take a lot longer to complete, so I suppose it would really come down to how easy it would be to implement. Either way, both look extremely well done.

Edited September 22, 2017 by LostVagabond

[Uncle Apples 296]

HD looks MUCH nicer! Hope you go with that 

Can't wait to play this! 

[Rikifive 23,472]

It seems, that we kinda got a tie here.  In that case, I'll be working with HD a little longer. There are few things I'd like to try, mainly animating sprites, as this is my main concern (sprites in general are the most problematic and time-consuming things). If that will go well, I'll most likely just stick to HD. That would also solve problems with resolution scaling, as pixel art is sensitive to that.

Either way, switching styles is still easier and faster, than doing this from nothing, so nothing will be wasted I suppose.  

 

Thank you for your input.  

[Compeador 101]

same as an developer and heard you said pixel is easier to make so I go for pixel here, a good game depends on its playability, plots and environment design imo, so I think you should pay more attention to those things instead of the graphics. (hey, graphic is still important, but no greater than the stuff I mentioned)

RAID WW2 may be a good example here, it doesn't receive much positive feedback due to its gameplay is similar to PAYDAY 2, which is the dev's past famous work, though it has good graphics and animations.

Edited September 27, 2017 by Compeador

[Rikifive 23,472]

21 hours ago, Compeador said:

same as an developer and heard you said pixel is easier to make so I go for pixel here, a good game depends on its playability, plots and environment design imo, so I think you should pay more attention to those things instead of the graphics. (hey, graphic is still important, but no greater than the stuff I mentioned)

RAID WW2 may be a good example here, it doesn't receive much positive feedback due to its gameplay is similar to PAYDAY 2, which is the dev's past famous work, though it has good graphics and animations.

Oh yes, I know the gameplay in general is the most important thing. It's not even about the quality and stuff- both styles have their pros and cons. I'm really curious about one thing- animating sprites. Nothing will take more time and effort than these, so I want to try both to see which one would be better to work with. I have some experience with pixel art games, so there I know what to expect - now I just want to give the typical digital art a try hoping, that it would help me there (i.e. be easier and more automatic (?)).

 

Personally, I always look at gameplay- then there come other aspects, such as graphics. I literally would play a game with stickmen, only if the gameplay would be good enough. I used to play (and sometimes come back to~) Atari/NES/Amiga/PS1 games (that were the best), so poor graphics aren't what will prevent me from playing a game.  

 

I'm just curious about the sprites- and I'll most likely choose the easier path. If working with smooth lines will fail, I'll come back to pixel art I suppose.  

 

Thanks for your input.  

[HereComesTom 2,232]

Please tell us that this project is ongoing!  You've put a lot into it, and I hope you come up with a terrific product in the end

[Rikifive 23,472]

18 hours ago, HereComesTom said:

Please tell us that this project is ongoing!  You've put a lot into it, and I hope you come up with a terrific product in the end

At the moment I'm participating in game-making contest, so this project is paused for a while. But it's not dead!  

Thank you, I hope so..  

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

A while ago I thought Pixel would be best, but admittedly I didn't see how amazing the HD work was, it looks very true to show

Hope this project turns out well, still looking forward to it.

 

[Rikifive 23,472]

Mhm, that's why I'm thinking about the HD version. It would just match better I think.

However, the only problem I have are the sprites-- their animations, to be more specific. Other than that I think I'd be able to nicely slowly make progress. I have some ideas for user interface and such, but for animations... I'm just bad at that.  

Once I'll get all the software back and be able to work on it further, I'll see what style will be easier to animate, then I guess I'll have to pick the style only because of that factor..

On the other hoof, as for pixel art, I think I'll make an another, smaller pixel mlp game in the future- I have an idea... 

 

Thank you for commenting!  

[horror_n_oates 71]

I could give my two cents on the pros and cons for the pixel art side of things if it would help!

Depending on the resolution, it would be beneficial to use pixels because of their simplicity and the variety of tools out there to get smooth and mathematically appealing curves, which would help with creating assets and speed up your pipeline, but there is the issue of clean pixel resizing and considering the (static?) resolution, you would also need to consider the size of the pixels (2x2, 3x3, etc) which may affect how certain objects and characters are animated. Pixel art is good for modular assets too if you needed to build areas quickly too!

Mode 7 in the SNES is a good example of how certain pixel maps can be manipulated to achieve animation, but that is primarily for dynamic backgrounds and visual effects. Animation for the player characters would probably (if you use pixel art) look visually best if done sprite-sheet style/frame by frame, unless you could emulate the show by using symbols in a rig. A large part of "cheating" with pixel animation could be achieved by resizing certain sections of a sprite (ala Knuckle Sandwich or how Pokemon Black and White animated the battle sprites), which is closer to the MLP's style but hasn't been experimented with too much as far as I heard.

Another game to look to for HD-looking pixel art is Owlboy, which does cheat by pulling the camera back and resizing the pixels to give the vistas a near-HD look; though it does have a larger resolution than most pixel art games which usually use consistent pixel proportions.

Hope this helps!

[Rikifive 23,472]

The scaling is actually the problem I've bumped into when working in pixelated environment.
All the different resolutions and what's worse- all these aspect ratios are what blow my mind. A game with really low resolution would look good when upscaled, where at higher base resolutions there are troubles, as upscaling pixel art by, for example, 1.5 makes it all look broken. On smaller resolutions, scaling up by, let's say, 6.5 would be, or at least should be unnoticeable. I'll try few things and see how it turns out later.  

 

~Each opinion & information always helps, thanks!  

[horror_n_oates 71]

15 hours ago, Rikifive said:

The scaling is actually the problem I've bumped into when working in pixelated environment.
All the different resolutions and what's worse- all these aspect ratios are what blow my mind. A game with really low resolution would look good when upscaled, where at higher base resolutions there are troubles, as upscaling pixel art by, for example, 1.5 makes it all look broken. On smaller resolutions, scaling up by, let's say, 6.5 would be, or at least should be unnoticeable. I'll try few things and see how it turns out later.  

 

~Each opinion & information always helps, thanks!  

I recommend scaling by whole numbers like x2 or x6 so the pixel proportions and image would be preserved. Doing it by decimals often transforms the pixels in unfavorable ways

Good luck!

[Rikifive 23,472]

17 hours ago, horror_n_oates said:

I recommend scaling by whole numbers like x2 or x6 so the pixel proportions and image would be preserved. Doing it by decimals often transforms the pixels in unfavorable ways

Good luck!

Oh yes, I perfectly know how it works.  Deformed shapes is what I've bumped into already.  And that's the problem to be honest- if anypony would have that highest common monitor resolution of 1920x1080 then it would be relatively easy to configure - but sadly, I need to consider some other resolutions, mainly other aspect ratios.

 

Nevertheless, the more I think of this, the more into pixel version I lean to. Eventually I'll make a HD remaster after 999 years.  But I just have to give that animation a try, even though I'm pretty sure it will be a complete disaster.  

 

Welp, I'm a menu lover ^{(HUD and UI in general, that is)}, so toying with these--- and with mechanics is my thing, sprites- not really.  Can't wait to get into coding! I'm kinda tired of art...  

 

Thank you!  

---

By the way, these votes in the poll...

It's not helping!  Just kidding, thanks for your opinions!  

Edited December 11, 2017 by Rikifive

[Codelyy 1,281]

I've only just discovered this project and it sure looks quite interesting. Though it sure looks like a big project for a single developer? 

I'd love to work on an MLP game and would offer help if you needed it though sadly I don't know GML and have way too much University work to do 

[Rikifive 23,472]

17 hours ago, Code said:

I've only just discovered this project and it sure looks quite interesting. Though it sure looks like a big project for a single developer? 

I'd love to work on an MLP game and would offer help if you needed it though sadly I don't know GML and have way too much University work to do 

Oh, it is. RPG's are considered as one of the most difficult genres to make and from my experience I can tell, that I totally agree. Working on that game is much, much, much slower than on the other projects I had/have. It's actually a pretty common mistake, that people aim that high, but this is the very first game project I have ever started, so I can't imagine leaving it. I will never feel accomplished until I'll bring this one to life.

Generally, I think it's totally doable, though I gotta admit, that these sprites are the biggest problem I've bumped into. That itself surely takes so much time to make.  Another problem will be sound effects and music. I'm only capable of doing some 8-bit thingies, so there my skills are pretty much useless, though I hope I'll be able to find some help online, such as publicly-available resources.

 

No worries, it's fine. Besides, at the moment there's not much to code- not until I get the base things done. ...And actually coding will be the fun part for me, I like it. I'd be more worried about different aspects.  

 

Thank you for visiting!  Much appreciated!  

[HereComesTom 2,232]

2 hours ago, Rikifive said:

Oh, it is. RPG's are considered as one of the most difficult genres to make and from my experience I can tell, that I totally agree. Working on that game is much, much, much slower than on the other projects I had/have. It's actually a pretty common mistake, that people aim that high, but this is the very first game project I have ever started, so I can't imagine leaving it. I will never feel accomplished until I'll bring this one to life.

Generally, I think it's totally doable, though I gotta admit, that these sprites are the biggest problem I've bumped into.

I'm having about the same experience with Weather Factory Meltdown; at the moment, I'm taking a break from it so I can build a Celestia sprite base---including a base for the animation of her mane and tail.  And I've been working on that since mid-October, and at this point, I've only got her walking base and three-quarters of her mane animated!  That might have something to do with the fact that her slowly-flowing mane's animation is 80 frames long, as is her tail's animation...

On that note, if you have a use for the mane and tail bases I'm building, feel free to use them once they're complete!  I'm not sure they'll be at the angle or aspect ratio you're looking for, of course, but...80 frames!

[Rikifive 23,472]

Yeah, making the sprites themselves- not that bad; animating them- RIP.  

80 frames long? I get why though, now that has to be time consuming indeed. I'll be struggling with that as well once I'll get there! 

Good luck!  

[Codelyy 1,281]

5 hours ago, Rikifive said:

Oh, it is. RPG's are considered as one of the most difficult genres to make and from my experience I can tell, that I totally agree. Working on that game is much, much, much slower than on the other projects I had/have. It's actually a pretty common mistake, that people aim that high, but this is the very first game project I have ever started, so I can't imagine leaving it. I will never feel accomplished until I'll bring this one to life.

Generally, I think it's totally doable, though I gotta admit, that these sprites are the biggest problem I've bumped into. That itself surely takes so much time to make.  Another problem will be sound effects and music. I'm only capable of doing some 8-bit thingies, so there my skills are pretty much useless, though I hope I'll be able to find some help online, such as publicly-available resources.

 

No worries, it's fine. Besides, at the moment there's not much to code- not until I get the base things done. ...And actually coding will be the fun part for me, I like it. I'd be more worried about different aspects.  

 

Thank you for visiting!  Much appreciated!  

I know what you mean. The worst part I find about developing games is actually having to create the assets XD... which is normally what leads to most of the problems with my projects as I suck at creating assets for them such as advanced sprites and 3D models.

And yea an RPG is a pretty big project for a single developer but as long as you're dedicated which you seem to be then you'll likely be fine . Just make sure you don't do what I have done in the past when working on projects and implement way more then you are basically capable of. I have a lot of projects where I've basically tried to add tons of different features and functionality instead of actually trying to finish the game which has lead to a lot of abandoned projects on my computer.

[Rikifive 23,472]

17 hours ago, Code said:

I know what you mean. The worst part I find about developing games is actually having to create the assets XD... which is normally what leads to most of the problems with my projects as I suck at creating assets for them such as advanced sprites and 3D models.

Hah, then I think we understand each other perfectly there.  

 

17 hours ago, Code said:

And yea an RPG is a pretty big project for a single developer but as long as you're dedicated which you seem to be then you'll likely be fine . Just make sure you don't do what I have done in the past when working on projects and implement way more then you are basically capable of. I have a lot of projects where I've basically tried to add tons of different features and functionality instead of actually trying to finish the game which has lead to a lot of abandoned projects on my computer.

It will be fun to do, except that amount of assets...  

Actually I've been through this already... - it happened in this project. It is my very first project ever and the first attempt was... rather random (what did I expect from a complete lack of coding knowledge? ) . I was thinking about adding more features without thinking about their quality. It started to remind me of some of these random, poorly designed&balanced games and I realized, that it all was a mistake, something, that I totally didn't want to share (I think I can consider myself as 'perfectionist' ~ I absolutely wasn't happy with any of the results), so after I did some smaller, quick (each made in 3-14 days), extremely silly projects in the meanwhile (as visible on my profile page; better don't go there), I started doing the MLP game from the beginning, where I was coding stuff on my own, adding what I was capable of handling. And now again, the project was restarted, but this time in another game making software, that would be more accurate to what I want to accomplish. Now there I'll have to implement every single mechanic, so that shows me the true value of every feature I'll be about to implement - and that will be great to build it all!

I love designing the game as I like, I love making it all work as I like.  

Thank you for sharing your experience! Always nice to talk with fellow game devs.  

Edited December 13, 2017 by Rikifive