Talking about the Yotes Games financial plan going forward. The wheels of fate are now in motion. It's a race to see which gets me money to survive on faster, YouTube + Patreon, or Remote Mobile Game Development jobs.
2018-08-16 08:50:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Basically it's a red alert panic mode as I'm scrambling for ideas to make my YouTube channel interesting to follow. Gonna keep studying these HitFilm tutorials and writing out upload ideas.
2018-08-09 17:56:29 +0000 UTC View Post
Patreon Improvement
New Goal: $500 a month
I'm hitting some financially scary times and need to start stocking up cash and proving (to myself and creditors) that Battle Gem Ponies is definitely a game lots of people are willing to pay for.
Here are some notes I'm pondering over. I'd love to hear your two-cents on this Patreon boost plan because something compelled some of you guys to go all-in and support Battle Gem Ponies, and others to re...
2018-08-07 22:15:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Lots of things are working better than ever, and lots more are sure to come. The real issue right now is seeing how much can get up and running before BronyCon.
2018-07-18 11:05:32 +0000 UTC View Post
A pretty slow work week all things considered. Chaos in life lead to the timeline taking another hit. Making games is hard folks. Don't do it.
(Patreon seriously kept morale afloat this month though, so thanks guys)
2018-07-11 19:05:01 +0000 UTC View Post
This week has been a wild one, I'm tellin ya...
2018-07-05 04:09:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Come see what's up in the latest & greatest Battle Gem Ponies devlog! I talk about map making, organization, spreading the word, and talking non-#brony folk into giving the game a try!
2018-06-27 18:58:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Notice a bit of a facelift? I worked on some of the Ultra Pony designs this week, just filling in those gaps in design I was drawing a blank on for the longest while. Now I can say I'm satisfied with how everypony looks and can clearly see them animated in my head.
Actually animating the sprites is a step to come much later in development, but I can roll with these for now. Come see the steps toward a new playable build featuring a new level editor and a few m...
2018-06-20 21:27:27 +0000 UTC View Post
Gonna take advantage of my renewed energy and new outline/fill-in plan from last week to finally start making some more notable progress. Just looking around at the E3 titles, the feeling of the new Pokemon games, and indie stuff too.
I can just tell that BGP belongs there among them. As characters to love and a franchise to get hype about. I want it to exist. I want to meet other developers I look up to and share that mutual respect. I want to make a game worth geeking out about.
2018-06-13 19:47:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Newest DevBlog & Patreon shoutouts today!
2018-06-06 13:14:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Not much was done in terms of progress this week since I took about 5 days off to basically see all my friends one last time at the local convention MegaCon before swearing to lock myself away until BGP's completion.
In place of that there is tons of Pokemon news that could have a major impact on BGP's chances of success. A super-polished fan game was released and a bunch of new spinoffs were announced so there's lots of interesting things to reflect on and talk about on this week's ...
2018-05-30 19:17:20 +0000 UTC View Post
See the latest gamedev update to learn what's the holdup.
2018-05-24 00:14:27 +0000 UTC View Post
Every time I look at this game I just see so much potential. I want this out there more than I ever wanted anything in my whole life. This could be a smash hit on the app store if I just finish it within a decent timeframe...
2018-05-16 22:52:30 +0000 UTC View Post
Here to talk about my remaining #gamedev schedule and new #Unity #programming practices in this week's #
Such a shame about the panel getting waitlisted, but I plan to have stuff prepared either way. BGP's launch deserves a celebration and a little retrospective. If not at this con, then at another next year.
2018-05-02 08:31:51 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm ironing out all the kinks lately and it looks like smooth sailing for a bit while I just run through each interface and get everything working as expected. The hurdles after that involve getting the gameplay behind it all revamped too. I can only hope nothing else slows things down further.
2018-04-26 03:29:58 +0000 UTC View Post
A big show went down last weekend as I introduced Battle Gem Ponies to a pub full of strangers. And it actually went well! People like ponies and RPGs, so I might be onto something here...
2018-04-18 18:13:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Getting pretty nervous about having a new version of the game ready for the Orlando Overdrive event. I'm trying to at least recreate all the features that existed in the last public version, but without all the combat bugs and slow downs. With the menus pretty much complete and the new battle flow planned out, I'm hoping I'll be able to just barely make it with the sacrifice of some sleep just once or twice.
2018-04-11 18:31:45 +0000 UTC View Post
A bit more work to do to get all the basics up and running again but I really think all the major head-scratchers are behind me. I know how to put things on screen, do math, play sounds, open menus, manage input, load efficiently, control collision, alter objects, change text, swap images, and animate sprites. Getting into the groove of things now, and the rest is a matter of Find/Replace and Copy/Paste.
I just can't wait to have a basic functioning world...
Another week in and the game's revamped menu systems still aren't done! Feels like I'm running in place sometimes, but week after week new things are being added and I'm feeling more and more capable as a developer. I just want the alpha build done already!
&nb...
Menus, menus, menus... Looking fresh though. Still going through the process of making sure all the interfaces work and feel better than ever before. Cleaner sprites, dynamic sizing and positioning for every possible device, and helpful new tools like scrollviews and shaders to add some extra polish. Plus...
2018-03-21 18:40:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Finally coming to grips with the new tools and having something to show for it! There's been a real headache and a half over this, but hopefully it pays off with a bunch of dropped jaws and people saying "Oh, that's cool." when they first open the game..
I need to settle into a groove! Time to 2018-03-14 04:52:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Release feels so close. It's like the pieces are all in my lap and I just have to follow the instructions to put them together. The final version of Battle Gem Ponies is so clear in my head now that I'm fanboying over it sometimes.
In the last 7 days I charted out exactly how all 360 battle moves will look, I recreated every menu, rebalanced the battle system, came up with catchier names for things, sorted out details for a DLC & multiplatform la...
2018-03-07 05:59:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Improvements to Battle Gem Ponies workflow are showing some promising results and I'm looking forward to showing off a very impressive demo in March. For now I'm slowly getting used to the new tools I'm using and figuring out the most efficient ways to bring all these ponies (and everything they can do) to life.
Each passing day I want to see the alpha build exist more and MORE but new things just keep slowing p...
2018-02-28 08:54:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Still setting up the new BGP workflow. Gotta convert the spritesheets to super-efficient packed-textures, recreate all the prefabs using the new Unity systems, and start painting all the tilemaps that will make up the region of Pinto...
Exciting things are coming, and if you're curious about the steps towards this glory, then check out 2018-02-22 17:51:09 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm basically recreating Battle Gem Ponies using every new tool and protip I've gotten this month, but this time it'll be much more organized, run smoother on all devices, and have some neat features I couldn't pull off before.
This change up won't affect the release date that much since I planned to do all this for the alpha build anyway (but to a lesser extent before Patreon boosted the budget). So basically, just expect a prettier Battle Gem...
2018-02-22 06:45:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Taking notes, and making sure I get this right. I want BGP to be the most impressive RPG on the app store.
2018-02-06 19:17:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Tiles, tiles, tiles galore! Wanna see some tiles? I'll show you some tiles anyway. Because that's what I spent most of this week staring at, touching up, reorganizing, and reconstructing. Right now this is the step I'm tackling to make sure I have all the pieces I need to build the BGP world that currently exists on 100 sheets of graph paper. The gamedev grind never seems to end, but my confidence in the project increases by the day!
Here is where we stand with
Chipping Away at this game-o'-mine and feeling more confident of what it's growing into each passing day. Take a look at this week's jam-packed devlog!
2018-01-23 09:21:57 +0000 UTC View Post
A whole week of wicked coughing and drawing maps on graph paper. It's been a drag-myself-through-the-mud kinda week but I finally got there. The maps are done, detailed, and ready to be tiled in-game soon as I line up all the placeholders.
Also handled some story details and progression design. The game's design document has been updated with new overworld interactions, cutscenes, object placement, and more to make for a more fun/smooth/professional expe...
2018-01-16 20:26:05 +0000 UTC View Post