My Little Pony: The Game

[HereComesTom 2,232]

To not search far, I'm wondering what kind of elements should the game involve ~ I was thinking of making the basic ones like fire, ice, lighting, wind, water etc. but it all should have a purpose...

 

 

Actually, I'm toying with some elements for WFM as well, and I'm having a hard time deciding what colors to put with those elements.  I'll let you know my thoughts about elements here just in case any of this thinking is useful for you.

 

Since a few enemies in WFM have elemental affinities, I wanted a system where two elements are opposites of each other---fire is the opposite of ice, electric the opposite of earth, and plant the opposite of arcane.  That way, you can use a spell that's opposite to the enemy's element for a quick kill and maybe bonus item drops.

 

I'd wanted to use these colors:

 

 

However, I realized that the opposite elements aren't really opposites on the color wheel.  Since I'd wanted (maybe long-term) to have girls in the show's original target demographic play the game, it might feel a bit more educational if opposite elements also had opposite colors, so I'm toying with an arrangement where:

 

red = arcane

orange = fire

yellow = earth

green = plant

blue = ice

purple = electricity

 

I'm not totally sure I'll even have elements in my game long-term, though.

 

I dunno if any of this'll help you or not.  Though if you have use for icons like these, I've made tons of them; let me know if you want them!

[Durov 84]

i will say this and i will say no more git gud danke meme gnome

[Rikifive 23,485]

@@HereComesTom, Actually not the elements themselves are an issue here, but how they all would work. 

 

I was thinking of something like this:

Fire

- Strong against Timberwolves, ~plants

- Chance to ignite (damage over time)

 

Ice

- Slows enemies (they get their turn slower)

- Chance to freeze (unable to move for a short period of time, physical skills have certain critical strike [dealing one unfreezes enemy] )

 

Lightning

- high maximum damage, but high min-max damage range

- Only one element capable of dealing critical strikes.

 

Water

- slows enemies

- effective against floating enemies

 

Wind

- decreases enemies' ATB (Active Time Battle Bar ~ enemy will have to regain it = that simply means he needs more time to get the turn)

- effective against small enemies

 

Light

Rare spells ~ effective against villains.

 

Dark

Rare spells used by villains and such..bosses maybe?

Difficult to get resistance to it unlike with other elements

 

Magic

Simple spells without any element ~ just uses magic power as a main factor of damage.

Resistance depends on magic defense parameter

 

 

But I kinda can't think of spells with these elements.

I mean, Twilight would have magic ~ lightning, fire, ice

Rainbow Dash weather - ice/lightning/water/wind

Pinkie - Fire...? from cannon

Applejack - physical only?

Rarity -  fire/ice/lightning-gems thrown at enemies

Fluttershy - same as Rainbow Dash, but lighter~

 

 

I've been wondering if I shouldn't simplify it and go with

- Physical Damage

- Magical Damage

- Elemental Damage

 

I'll be wondering on that one later I guess.

 

Anyway I like your idea - that sounds like an interesting concept! 

As for icons - I'm not sure what the game resolution will be yet, so it's hard to tell what size of icons will I need. Besides, it also depends on the style of menus etc..  :-P

 

ooh and by the way, I've played your game - it's nice! :3

Fluttershy's spread shot was wrecking everything. :3

 

 

 

@, k, ty, whatever that means. 

Edited October 2, 2016 by Rikifive

[HereComesTom 2,232]

 

 

ooh and by the way, I've played your game - it's nice! :3

 

Thanks

 

 

 

But I kinda can't think of spells with these elements. I mean, Twilight would have magic ~ lightning, fire, ice Rainbow Dash weather - ice/lightning/water/wind Pinkie - Fire...? from cannon Applejack - physical only? Rarity - fire/ice/lightning-gems thrown at enemies Fluttershy - same as Rainbow Dash, but lighter~

 

Well, for WFM, I was thinking I could straight-up borrow spell names from Dungeons and Dragons, like Cone of Cold, Fireball, and Chain Lightning.  Magic Missile would be a good name for a straight-up Magic-element spell, though things like Magic Beam or Magical Ray would work just as well.  There's no reason why you couldn't try the same for MLP: the Game.  Here's a list---though most of these won't be useful, there are some gems in here:

 

https://www.dnd-spells.com/spells

 

For non-spell effects like Rainbow Dash's weather-control, I'd just call them Rain Cloud, Lightning Cloud, Hail Cloud, or the like.  Maybe Thunder Cloud if you wanted to throw in sound-effects.  Plus, Whirlwind or Cyclone would make a good tornado-throwing attack, which RD has even done in the game.

 

For Rarity, maybe giving her spells that are the names of gems would work, like Fire Ruby...or, if you wanted, you could import some enemy names from my game and use them as spell names for her:  the orange fireball-chucking enemy was called Sizzle Citrine, the lightning-dropping enemy was Zap-o Topaz (palindrome ftw!), and an ice-element enemy I plan to implement if I ever add a debuff system to the game is Chill Chalcedony.  If any of these sound good, feel free to use them!

 

If Pinkie put fireworks in her party cannon or other pyrotechnics, it'd totally make sense for her!  Maybe she'd be able to throw water balloons, too?  Or even chuck ice cream for ice-damage?  It's a weird thought, but I figured I should throw it out.

 

AJ might be able to have some spell-like effects on her if she used her lasso to entangle enemies?  I'd like to add an ability to WFM where she pounds the ground with her hooves, and the earthquake stuns enemies briefly, so maybe she could stun enemies, too.  Or maybe she could do a little wind damage with a fast-spinning lasso?  I dunno.

[Rikifive 23,485]

@@HereComesTom, Hmm.. that list might come in handy.

 

Rainbow Dash - Yeah ~ I was thinking of that kind of spells ~ bringing clouds and making them rain ~ same as with storm clouds~ winter-clouds etc.. And some cyclone skills as you said.

 

Rarity - Yeah, exactly what I had in mind!  Though thanks for naming ideas, they're interesting ~ I'll think I'll simplify them a little and just call them 'Burning Ruby', 'Freezing Sapphire' and stuff like this, to make them easier to recognize. :3 I may however, add some less common skills, so I'll see what names could be used. ^^

 

Pinkie Pie Oh throwing water balloons and ice creams is what I wasn't thinking of before - Yeah that would make sense considering Pinkie.   I will be thinking of more throw-able things for her.   Thanks, that helped a lot! 

 

Applejack I think I'll make her partially-focused on party-buffing ~ her "yeehaw's" will encourage ponies by raising their parameters. And yeah, ground pound dealing physical/fire damage and lasso stunning enemies is what makes sense for her.   Also, perhaps she'll be able to use her lasso to throw objects as well? Like hay blocks, for example. 

 

We'll see. Thanks for ideas and discussion! That encourages my brain to think. 

[DaringDo-While 47]

I haven't read all posts here yet, but I wanted to write something just to show my support because this sounds like a really nice project. 

[Rikifive 23,485]

Why, thank you! ~And that's more than enough! (=

[Fluttershyponygal 82]

I am overwhelmed with jealiously...your thread seems to be booming while mine sits with a single post...*sigh*

[Rikifive 23,485]

To be honest I didn't even see yours here ~ unless you're referring to that one posted on RMW. If yes, then that might be a wrong comparison, because it's obvious, that a ponified game will get more interest in a ponified environment. 

Either way, I'm sorry to hear this, but don't give up! It should get more interest sooner or later!! 

 

Actually I'm surprised, that my project got some interest.

To be honest there's nothing special in here yet ~ All I can offer at the moment are few silly screenshots and promises about how 'cool' this game will be, which may be not true in the end.  :-P

 

Don't worry though, you're progressing much faster than me ~ I think I'm going too ambitious with this one, so it will take forever. ..And if I'll fail, then I'll feel extremely bad for disappointing anyone..

Currently I kinda got stuck at making pony sprites ~ having a job and other real life responsibilities makes it extremely difficult to handle. Not mentioning, that I still have the whole game to write from scratch. Programming mechanics and the system in general will take a while. I kinda have a bad feeling about all of this.  :awuh:

[Fluttershyponygal 82]

*shameless self-plug*

 

https://mlpforums.com/topic/157635-my-little-pony-the-bonds-of-friendshiptbof/

[VirusChris 2]

Hey there Rikifive! Good to see your project continue on here!

 

I do hope it doesn't get the C&D... just try to keep it under the radar as much as you can. Also if it DOES get the C&D it would be a shame it all that hard work goes to waste so you might "reskin" your game to something else with animal themes like with what Them's Fighting Herds did.

 

Just a suggestion if it happens, but I really look forward to seeing your MLP RPG finish and enjoyed by many as it is.

 

I'll be looking forward to see what you can come up with! I'll post my own game idea later, but do you know how to set up signatures? I want to put the banner in to show my support for your game but I can't see it in the Edit Profile options. Am I missing something here?

[Rikifive 23,485]

@@Fluttershyponygal, But on the other hoof, your game gets some nice activity on Gamejolt, so that's great, isn't it? 

 

@@VirusChris, Hello hello! That's kinda sad, that I had to migrate, but it's not that bad I guess. At least I've moved to more suitable place I think.   

 

Yeah.. I hope I'll just be able to calmly develop this small colorful game without any issues. Seeing it being taken down would make me extremely sad, not because of wasted work, but because that's the very first project I ever and my whole adventure with game development started there, so as MLP in general has a value for me, this project does have it as well. While I admit, it's kinda a pain to develop this game, due to extremely high amount of required work, it's just something I need to finish, because I want to. 

 

Thank you so much for your kind words and support!  :idea:

As for the signature, I believe you need to have 40 active posts to get a higher rank (currently you have 'Blank Flank' which is kinda like 'Validating') and get more features. There should be the news box at the top with more information.

[VirusChris 2]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the info!

 

Well any help you need with your game, let me know and I'll see if I can do whatever I can do help it improve.

[Rikifive 23,485]

 

I'll need help with everything!  

Naah, but seriously I'm currently struggling with pony sprites and coding basic stuff like stats and such. Scripting is what I like to toy with so it should be fine, I'm more worried about making hundreds of sprites.  :-P

Though no worries, it shouldn't be that bad! 

[HereComesTom 2,232]

What dimensions do you need for the sprites?  I've got sprites for each of the mane six and a few other ponies as well that're pretty much the size of Rainbow Dash in my signature (minus the umbrella-saddle, of course), so if you wanted to use those or start with them, I could give you the image files right away.

 

I probably should've asked this sooner, sorry about that!

[Rikifive 23,485]

@@HereComesTom, Dimensions are always subject to change. Personally I'd love to use typical digital sprites and go with HD graphics. But that would require much, much more work and skills.

I'm not good at this, so that's why I'm kinda sticking to pixel art. While smaller dimensions are easier and faster to handle, I've decided to use bigger ones, than I was planning at the beginning.

 

The current concept I have is this:

(though it's still a work in progress)

 (~70 pixels width; ~60 pixels height /// Originally I was aiming to simply use 32x32) 

I think, that size will be enough to get me stuck for months struggling with sprites and their animations (including for skills).

 

Using smaller sprites would mean having to use smaller resolutions and I'm kinda worried about that as low-res pixel art would collide with the style of the show.

 

I honestly don't know what to do - what I know though, is that I'm going too ambitious. I think I should get back to smaller resolution and focus on scripting, because otherwise I'll be developing this game for many years.

 

Either way ~ these sprites could come in handy as a reference ~ I admit I'm using references pretty often when working on something.  :-P

 

 

And no worries! It's all fine ~ Remember, that you're not obliged to do anything for me, so everything is always welcomed, no matter how late, nor how tiny the help would be. 

Edited August 20, 2017 by Rikifive

[HereComesTom 2,232]

If you'd like the frames I'm using for my animations, they're yours for the asking!

 

Question:  are you planning to have animations for the ponies moving diagonally or just in the four cardinal directions?  Either one could work; Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG were both great games, and the former just had character animations for the cardinal directions, while SMRPG had sprites (for Mario, at least) in all eight directions.

 

Actually, this talk about the pros and cons of sprite sizes reminds me of this compare-and-contrast video I did with the Fiends from Dream Valley game, it's here if you'd like a look (it's about six minutes long):

 

[Rikifive 23,485]

I plan to support 8 directions (~more would be even nicer, but let's better calm down with this ).

There'll be pixel-movement, so players will be able to freely move around ~ it would look kinda lame, if there would be only 4 directions. 

 

Oh yes - I was thinking of a style/size/animation exactly like there's in the Fiends from Dream Valley. By the way, the game looks amazing!!! 

As for few cons of bigger sprites, you've mentioned - taking a look from my perspective, that is ~

FPS drops - I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be an issue, because from what I know, it's pretty hard to harm FPS in Game Maker. Besides, this engine is capable of handling 3D games, so simple sprite-based 2D/top-down view game shouldn't be problematic at all.

 

Size & Zoom - It's always something, that can be configured. It's possible to use nicely detailed sprites while not using much of screen's space - it just needs to be scaled properly. Or you can stick to smaller sizes, yet still 'smoothy'. As for my game -  I need to have enough of space for both players, as I'm making a local-coop RPG. Characters taking so much space would make it hard to play when playing on co-op.

 

That style and size would look amazing, but that requires so much skill and work, doesn't it? ^^

 

Anyway, that game really looks great! Is it still under development? 

Edited October 27, 2016 by Rikifive

[BlackLiquidSrw 15]

So, will you stick with the bigger sprites you've made then?

[HereComesTom 2,232]

 

 

Anyway, that game really looks great! Is it still under development?

 

Unfortunately, it isn't---the team that made it disbanded and moved on to other projects.  It's too bad; with a few of the issues like the slowdowns and controls ironed out, it could've been really great.

 

You mentioned a top-down view; would the camera angle be about what it was in this post?

 

 

 

eGhZiTx.gif (~70 pixels width; ~60 pixels height /// Originally I was aiming to simply use 32x32)

 

I've done a pixelart trace of Spike's walk-animation before, so I might be able to try some base animations for a pony walking diagonally or forward/backward that could be built on---unless you've already got bases like that?

[Fluttershyponygal 82]

@@Fluttershyponygal, But on the other hoof, your game gets some nice activity on Gamejolt, so that's great, isn't it? 

 

 

 

If you include the one or two people who reply to the tons of devlogs I post then sure...

[Rikifive 23,485]

@@BlackLiquidSrw, I think, that 32x32 would be too small. I was working with that size before the engine-change and I remember having troubles with making such low-res things like menus. Besides, higher resolution would look nicer. I mean, I do like old-school pixel games, but I'm pretty sure that style would not fit my game.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, it isn't---the team that made it disbanded and moved on to other projects.  It's too bad; with a few of the issues like the slowdowns and controls ironed out, it could've been really great.   You mentioned a top-down view; would the camera angle be about what it was in this post?

Aww, that 'sucks', because that game looked quite decent. 

 

As for the camera angle - Yeah, something like this. Literal top-down view would look kinda weird I guess, mainly due to being able to see only roofs etc.. I want to stick to the common angle used in that type of RPG's.

Have you played 'My Little Investigations'?

 

 

Screenshot above more or less shows the typical angle used in that kind of games, so yeah, that's what I'm aiming for.

 

Also, that's almost a perfect example of what I meant by using non-pixel sprites. This style would be accurate to show in general, rather than using pixel art.

However, that would extremely raise the difficulty and amount of required work (art-wise), so that's why I'll just stick to pixel art.

 

Though I've been wondering if using a software like 'Spine' could be a good idea? Though I don't have any experience at this, so yeah.

 

 

 

I've done a pixelart trace of Spike's walk-animation before, so I might be able to try some base animations for a pony walking diagonally or forward/backward that could be built on---unless you've already got bases like that?

 

To be honest I don't have anything besides that silly WIP Twilight's animation of walking to the right/left (I'm kinda focusing on the scripting part of game dev atm). First, I wanted to make Twilight's sprite look acceptable and then make a base out of her for more ponies, so I don't even have a base yet.

 

I was planning to make different animations for walking and running, due to obvious reasons. There'll be need for idle as well, not mentioning many other animations for battle screen ~ for skills like Pinkie Pie using her cannon or throwing objects, Rainbow Dash flying etc. etc.. so when I think about it - then using tiny sprites would make it all much easier, due to small amount of details.

 

Anyway, there's still a wide area for changes and experimenting. Well, honestly I don't have anything done graphic-wise, so I didn't even decide what resolution will the game have yet.

What you see on images posted on this thread - are simply screenshots of the game when it was still developed in RM and was using 640x480 resolution. Now it all is going to be remastered and the resolution can be any, so it all depends on the size of sprites ~ then I'll scale the rest to make it all fit.

 

What I mean is, that if you'd like to try your hoof on it, then I'd be really happy and I'd be glad to help if needed.

 

 

If you include the one or two people who reply to the tons of devlogs I post then sure...

I kinda can't understand ~ is it bad? What they're doing there? 

[HereComesTom 2,232]

What I mean is, that if you'd like to try your hoof on it, then I'd be really happy and I'd be glad to help if needed

 

I would like to try my hoof at this   I just got my hands on a poseable MLP doll (Coco Pommel) that I can use as a reference.  Plus, if I open your WIP animation of Twilight in Windows Photo Gallery, it lets me see each of the seven frames individually, so I can pose Coco Pommel for each frame, take a picture of her in each of the 8 directions, and create a base from there.

 

If nothing else, the bases might help you figure out what resolutions do and don't work.

 

One more thing about the compare/contrast video that I'd wanted to say in the video, but didn't (partly because Nintendo's too trigger-happy with their claims):  New Super Mario Bros actually strikes a pretty good compromise between "Look at our awesome artwork up close!" and "We need to keep the camera zoomed out so the player can see what's going on":  the levels start out zoomed in a bit on Mario, but after a few seconds, the camera subtly zooms out.  I'm not sure whether that technique will be useful for MLP The Game, but I figured it'd be worth bringing up.

 

EDIT:  Actually, I could use some information from you:  how flexible are the tools you're using when it comes to the dimensions of an individual character?  70x60 might work well for a pony going straight left/right, but if the pony is moving diagonally, then that might end up being more like 70x70 or something like that.

 

I just need to know whether the images all need to be of the same dimensions regardless of direction or not.

Edited October 27, 2016 by HereComesTom

[EmeraldStar04 250]

This looks SO AWESOME! Will there be an option to make your own pony?

[DaringDo-While 47]

How's it going with the elements used in game, are you going to keep those or simplify the system? 

 

Btw a little offtopic but I just wanted to share what I came up with when trying to figure out what combat class each pony could have if they were FF characters.

Twilight Sparkle - Red Mage (kinda like the groups jack of all trades)

Rainbow Dash - Thief (fast and agile)

Pinkie Pie - Ranger (special high damage ranged attacks from use of cannon)

Rarity - White Mage (many supportive abilities)

Fluttershy - ?

Applejack - Monk (non magic user with strong physical attacks)

 

Fluttershy is harder.