My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic (Gameloft Game) Released!

My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic

Gameloft's anticipated take on MLP:FiM has been released! Unfortunately, it's only available in Australia and New Zealand at time of writing, but its download page (the iTunes NZ site is linked above) has plenty for you to slobber over even if you can't yet get it working on your iPhone or iPad. More after the break!

Update: The app is now available in the US. Find it here!
Update #2: The android version can be found here.
Update #3: Looking for a boatload of friends? Check out EQD's official name share post.

Currently, it appears the game contains elements of both single-player adventure and town-building. Development by Gameloft as well as the inclusion of dialogue from the show's VA's both bode well for its success. Have some copypasta:

"Saddle up for adventure with Twilight Sparkle & friends! After being locked away in the moon for centuries, Nightmare Moon is set free and spreading night across Ponyville! Only Twilight Sparkle and her friends can free Ponyville from her grasp and bring light and friendship back to the land. Help them rebuild the town and reach their dreams in exciting quests!

✰ Your favorite ponies are here: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and more!

✰ Make your Ponyville the most magical place in Equestria.

✰ Play fun mini-games with your ponies: Ball Bounce, Apple-Picking and Magic Wings!

✰ Interact with your friends and feel the Magic of Friendship!

✰ Enjoy official TV show voice talents featured in the game!"

Installation instructions for those outside the game's release area (courtesy of Lusht on Reddit):

1. Log out of your iTunes account.

2. Download the app. 

3. When given the option, create a new ID. Don't set up payment, as you'll need to provide valid billing information from Australia or New Zealand.

4. Download the app (it's free).

Unfortunately, I'm without an iDevice, so I'm assigning this one to you guys. Play it and report back!

MLP: Offline Episode 1 Launches

Download it Here!

That's right - the MLP Online devteam has released the first episode of five for their offline version of the game. The episode is entitled "First Contact" and is quite a while in the making. You can check out the post on their forums, and you can view the official press release after the break...

Today, we on the MLP:Online Team are proud to announce the first release of our single-player campaign: Episode 1: First Contact. Play as Twilight Sparkle and AppleJack as their curiosity and Twilight's love for Science begins an adventure that will take them across the whole of Equestria: 

A meteor lands near Ponyville, and Twilight leaps at the chance to be the first to study it. Despite the opposition from her friends, the urge to study it gets the better of her, and she is joined by AppleJack as she embarks on her quest to find the meteorite (and to tell Celestia all about it). But even the edges of the Everfree Forest are not safe, and they soon find themselves in more trouble than they can handle!

Find the download over on our website at mlponline.net (http://mlponline.net/) and join us in anticipation of the remaining 5 episodes to come!

First Contact has been long in the making, and we have worked hard to complete it. It certainly has been a long and rough trip since the debut of our initial beta back during BronyCon Summer 2012.  Thanks go out to each of our current and former team members, the Brony community, and all of our friends and affiliates who made it possible. We sincerely hope you enjoy the first episode of the game, as we have had a blast making it!

My Little Game Jam Open For Voting

Vote and Play Here!

As you probably know, My Little Game Jam finished up last weekend - and they received a very impressive 37 successful submissions. You can expect a wrap-up post (or posts) featuring the fan favorites after the contest's end, but for now: Go! Play! Vote! 

Fighting is Magic Leak Update

Mane6 has responded to their initial response following the Fighting is Magic leak. You can find their post here. It's a long one, and it clears up a bit of confusion, so it's worth a read.

Fighting is Magic Leaked, Mane6 Responds

In a quite shocking turn of events, a working build of Fighting is Magic was leaked to the internet by an undisclosed member of the game's Quality Assurance program. Needless to say, this brought Mane6 into lockdown mode, cancelling their QA program, suspending Bite Sized Updates, reverting to a completely closed development cycle for at least a few weeks, and scrambling to clean up the mess this has created.

You can read Mane6's open letter about the situation here. I personally would discourage you from downloading/distributing this, as it was in no way the team's intention, and the build was meant to be strictly internal for a reason. I strongly support waiting for the full release of this game, out of respect for all the work that's been put into it, but in the end, it is your choice.

???

Welcome to Pon-E3!

Schedule

It's here! For the next 2 days, stayed tuned right here on Equestria Gaming to see and hear presentations from devteams all around the fandom. In just a few minutes, we'll be kicking things off with Mock Equestrian Wars, an online turn-based/RTS game with tons of promise. You can find the complete schedule at the link above. Get ready!

Pinkie's Hyperactive Chat

Pinkie's Hyperactive Chat

Or on the Equestria Gaming Arcade

Fan MMOs are sort of a rarity, especially when they are released in quick succession. It wasn't too long ago that MLP:Online was released, and even then it was just the single player mode. And all of a sudden out of the blue pops a brand spanking-new pony MMO that nopony has ever heard of and takes the crown for the first playable MLP MMO (and one of the first ever HTML5 MMO games). Mind you it's still in an early alpha state and doesn't have all the features of the final product (it lacks different hairstyles and races), but it's still quite worth playing already.

Why not give it a try, eh?

Important Lyra's List Update

We are currently accepting GDD submissions for Lyra's List #3, but in the meantime, we've received some comments asking to allow people like programmers, artists, and musicians post to Lyra's List as well, so that they can be found and contacted by the devteams behind the projects themselves. We think this is a great idea, so from this point on, anyone who thinks they can be a valuable member of a project can submit to Lyra's List. Find out how after the break...

For full details about Lyra's List submission, look here. If you just want to know how to submit if you are looking for a project to work on, have some modified copypasta below.

You can write up a quick resume-like document (in Google Docs) detailing skills, experience, preferred genres, etc., so prospective devteams would be able to contact you if you fit their needs. This is preferred, but it is also acceptable to link to a site that contains work that you've done (your DeviantArt account, for example). Send the link to me at enigma9994@gmail.com, with the word GDD somewhere in the subject.


Be sure to include the following in your email as well: your name (what people call you on the ponynet), and what your primary talent is (programming, background art, spriting, music, script writing, level designing, or anything else).

Just a reminder; all submissions for Lyra's List #3 are due June 30, 2012. That's all folks.

New Cloudsdale Revision

Cloudsdale

Our partners over at Cloudsdale, an up-and coming brony social network, recently released a major revision to their site, which has now left beta and is open for everybody to use. From what I've experienced of it, Cloudsdale is a very unique network, quite different from sites like Facebook or Twitter. It's user base is growing steadily, and it's definitely worth checking out. Have some copypasta after the break.

Cloudsdale has just left beta and is now publicly available for everypony to use. The application is a unique take on the social network, designed specifically for the Brony community. While most sites created with this purpose in mind have been clones of other popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and others, Cloudsdale takes a different route and offers a completely different experience, wrapped up in a beautiful package. Cloudsdale uses the very latest web technologies and is built with  a combination of the the powerful Ruby on Rails & Node.js frameworks to ensure that it's users get the best experience possible, with new features being added on a regular basis.

We offer features like

• A beautiful, easy to understand design.

• Support for mobile, with native iOS and Android apps coming soon.

• Live chatting with other users.

• Different "Clouds" for discussion of various topics.

• Built with the latest and greatest web technologies.

• And much more.

MLP: Roleplaying is Magic Season 3 Edition

MLP: Roleplaying is Magic Homepage

Earlier this morning, the MLP: Roleplaying is Magic team released Season 3 of their popular pony tabletop game - the meatiest and most expansive version yet! 

For those of you intimidated by the thought of adding numbers and rolling dice, I recommend at least skimming through the 170-page, full color rulebook: the bestiary section alone is worth a read. Find the press release below the break!

Hey, everypony!
Tall Tail here, with an exciting announcement! /)^3^(\

At long, long last, after a year of development and plenty of hard work, we're finally ready to release the Season Three Edition of My Little Pony: Roleplaying is Magic!

With much more streamlined mechanics and a player-friendly d6-based system, greatly expanded content, more playable races, new pre-made adventures, a plethora of original artwork, and the same firm commitment to staying true to canon, S3E is our best edition yet, and we couldn't be prouder to present it for your enjoyment!

Head over to our website at www.MLPRiM.com to download the S3E release packet, which includes the 170+ page full-color rulebook .pdf, the stand-alone universal character sheet, and even a unique S3E GM screen you can print and assemble--a little extra something for you brave GM's out there!

Thanks, everypony! We hope you enjoy playing S3E as much as we enjoyed making it, and remember to tell us what you think by emailing me at TallTailTellsTales@gmail.com !

Your faithful game development friends,
- The Roleplaying is Magic Team

Legends of Equestria Open Server Weekend

Legends of Equestria Main Page

Those of you who participated in the LoE stress test weekend a while back know what to expect from the game - but the rest of you are in for a treat! The Legends of Equestria team has just announced an open server weekend from July 5th-7th, during Everfree NW 2013. Find the official release past the break!

The Legends of Equestria Development Team is excited to announce the second open server weekend!  

During the weekend of Everfree Northwest 2013, July 5-7th, Legends of Equestria will be opening its servers to the public! Jump online and explore an expansive world while hanging out with friends and fans alike. The game will be publicly available to download from the official Legends of Equestria website. Attending Everfree Northwest? Legends of Equestria will be available via flash drive at Everfree Northwest's gaming table in conference room Columbia A.  All Legends of Equestria accounts are made through the Legends of Equestria forum, so be sure to register before attending! Afterwards, check to see if your computer meets our system requirements at this page: http://forum.legendsofequestria.com/index.php?topic=2189.0

Contact:

Legends of Equestria Email: devteam@legendsofequestria.com

Social Media Links:

https://www.facebook.com/LegendsOfEquestria

https://twitter.com/legendsofeq

http://legendsofequestria.deviantart.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/LegendsofEquestria

http://www.legendsofequestria.com/

Everfree Northwest Releases Gaming Guests

Everfree Northwest Convention Website

If there's anything which could make me more disappointed about missing this convention, this is it! 

This year, Everfree NW will welcome Legends of Equestria, My Little Investigations, and MLP: Roleplaying is Magic, among others. Additionally, Everfree NW and the Gaming Colts will host a game jam. Find the full press release after the break!

Who doesn’t like a good game from time to time? We have no idea! That’s why Everfree Northwest is delighted to announce the following gaming events and guests.

- Crystal Games Challenge -

The Gaming Colts will be hosting their very first game jam—Crystal Games Challenge—in conjunction with Everfree Northwest in order to support and nurture the practice of game development within the My Little Pony fandom.

For those unfamiliar with the term ‘game jam’, a game jam is an event where people come together and make a video game or non-digital game like a board or card game. Participants rapidly prototype games and game designs. Everyone involved shares a common theme as well as restrictions with a centralized goal. Developers are asked to create a game from beginning to end in a predetermined amount of time (maximum of 48 hours). While brief, the short time span helps encourage creative thinking resulting in small but innovative and experimental games. Such exercises help introduce new ideas into the gaming industry and help game makers new and old hone their skills.

The event will begin on June 22nd at noon Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) and end on June 24th at noon PDT. All are welcome to join in. The challenge will be run online with details being passed out by the Gaming Colts on their website, Facebook, and Twitter. Then, working with the Everfree Northwest Gaming Division, The Gaming Colts will showcase many of the submissions from the game jam in the convention’s Game Room during the con.

For more information, check out the Gaming Colts website, Facebook, or Twitter, as they will be frequently updated with more information as it becomes available.

- Guests -

Legends of Equestria: A massively multiplayer online role-playing game centered in the land of Equestria, Legends of Equestria is a place where you can play as your very own custom pony, questing and going on adventures with your friends! You’ll be able to fly around, use magic, raise a pet, grow crops, and a whole host of other fun activities. The Legends of Equestria team will be giving a panel presentation going over the ins and outs of their game, so join us and find out all there is to know about this exciting project.  On top of their panel, the Legends of Equestria team will also give convention attendees an opportunity to play the game in a pre-alpha state, with convention-specific quests!

Panels they’re on: Legends of Equestria and Games that Ponies Play: Making Games that Players Enjoy

My Little Investigations: What do you get when you cross My Little Pony and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney? You get My Little Investigations! Join Twilight Sparkle as she investigates crime scenes for evidence, questions and interrogates ponies, and ultimately confronts the culprit. The developers behind My Little Investigations will be holding a panel, talking to and taking questions from fans about all things MLI.  Hear from them what it was like developing for the first case and what their thoughts are on the future of the game—and you can expect some teasers for case 2 as well.  MLI fans won't want to miss it, and newcomers to the game are welcome too!

Panels they’re on: My Little Investigations and Games that Ponies Play: Making Games that Players Enjoy

Bluescreen Bronies: In a community exploding with talented developers, the Bluescreen Bronies play, review and critique the games these creators design, along with other games popular with the Brony crowd. Part of the Everfree Network line-up, they present the latest in gaming news and game review each week. Join them as they host community game developers for the Games that Ponies Play: Making Games that Players Enjoy panel as they explore the in’s and outs of game creation from start to finish.

Panels they’re on: Games that Ponies Play: Making Games that Players Enjoy

The Gaming Colts: The Gaming Colts are a new group of Bronies dedicated to promoting the development of games by Bronies. They work to support all games created by Bronies and to nurture the community’s creative talent for game design and creation. Before Everfree Northwest, they will host the Crystal Games Challenge, a game jam to promote game development within the Brony community. Come see the games that are created during the jam in our Game Room, where the Gaming Colts will work with Everfree Northwest’s Gaming Division to showcase many of those creations.

Panels they’re on: Games that Ponies Play: Making Games that Players Enjoy

My Little Pony: Roleplaying Is Magic: My Little Pony: Roleplaying is Magic is a pen & paper tabletop RPG that aims to provide a truly unique and fun pen & paper roleplaying experience. Based on freeform roleplaying and concepts from such systems as Dungeons & Dragons, World of Darkness, Mythic, and others, the system is light on strict rules and focuses more on a player’s ability to weave a collaborative tale with narrative-focused mechanics. The project lead and creator of the game, Tall Tail, will be in our Board Game Room on Friday and Saturday. Join in the fun and look for a game or start your own. Come and tell a story with us.

Keep up to date on all of Everfree Northwest’s news and announcements by following us on our website, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. As a reminder, con pre-registration ends on June 15th. Badges can still be purchased here.

Presenting Equestria Gaming's Online Arcade!

At Equestria Gaming we pride ourselves on being the #1 source for My Little Pony fangames (at least, we hope so!). But as you might have noticed, lately we've slowed down somewhat (not in speed, we're highly optimized when it comes to speed and SEO). Was the current generation of authors going the way of Strawberry Spice? Nope! We've just been preparing something really awesome that we hope you all enjoy.

Introducting the Equestria Gaming Arcade, a place where you can access all of your favourite online MLP fangames in one easy website, with even more on the way! We have classics such as Story of the Blanks, Super Filly Adventure, along with enjoyable minigames like Catch the Scootaloos, Derpy Hooves sweet dreams, and the ultimate cure for boredom, Waiting is Magic! Pretty much any browser-based game is supported, so if you have any Adobe Flash, HTML5, Javascript or Unity3D games then feel free to submit them to us.

Anyhow, the arcade is located at http://arcade.equestriagaming.com/, and currently features 8 games (more are in the pipeline!). The features are not completely final yet either, we plan on adding a ratings system in the near future and maybe some extra eyecandy for those with modren browsers. Enjoy!

BREAKING NEWS: Gabe Newell is a Brony!

As of now, Gabe Newell is now confirmed to be a Brony. Go on and celebrate, everypony!

(April Fools) Equestria Gaming Requested to Cease and Desist, Goes Underground

Edit: Before I cause any more undue stress, this post is just a joke. Take it with a grain of salt :)
Hello all! Hope you're having a good day so far. Ours hasn't been so peachy.

A few hours ago, we received a Cease and Desist notification from Habsro, Inc concerning our "violation of Habsro Inc.’s common law trademark rights, common law service mark rights, and trade name rights related to their MY LITTLE PONY property."

Needless to say, this is a crushing blow for the website, and at this point it seems very unlikely we'll be able to continue to provide our current services. Head down past the break for more details.


After receiving the notification, we immediately contacted the sender to verify its validity and began to prepare for the worst. After a brief exchange, we've confirmed that there is no legal way to proceed with the site as it currently exists. As of today, Equestria Gaming is ceasing and desisting in its current format.

However, things are not as bad as they seem. We're currently exploring a variety of extralegal operations to keep the spirit of Equestria Gaming alive, including ham radio broadcasting and a subscription service via a series of vespa couriers. We're in the process of cataloguing all of our previous articles as .jpeg files, and are prepared to distribute them via slow-scan television upon request.

Needless to say, this post amounts to a declaration of our intent to turn to piracy. Our temporary headquarters consists of three crates in the back of a cattle van traveling through central Asia, but our final destination must remain a secret. Any mail sent to our old address will not be forwarded.

We implore you, our readers, to remain vigilant in these troubled times. Know only that the Equestria Gaming staff would lay down their lives for the free exchange of pony gaming news if need be. Oh, and have a happy April Fool's Day.

Update on the Equestria Online/Legends of Equestria Situation

SweBow, a former developer of Equestria Online (now working for Legends of Equestria) has released a statement on the whole team-split incident which puts a couple things straight, corrects some misinformation that had been going around about the incident, and explains exactly what happened.

You can find his written statement at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WI01lDh8ZLmh5VDdw2YPjjs1y8ui88KaQjBpjK5h5iI/edit?pli=1, or if you're really lazy you can find a short(er) summary below, detailing the main points.

• The team split up not because of the argument between Raindrop and SweBow, but because of a disagreement over a Code of Conduct which Raindrop did not approve of.
• Raindrop was inactive for six months of the project's development and the team had to work by themselves (for the most part.
• While he was gone, the team drew up a Code of Conduct to govern themselves.
• The Code of Conduct stated that everypony had a say in the project, had a right to their files if they left, owned their work, and could not be kicked out of the group without a majority vote.
• Raindrop wanted absolute power, while everypony else wanted a democratic way of handeling things - which had worked well previously.
• By absolute power, Raindrop meant that he had complete control over everything. Nobody in the team had any right to what they created except him.
• Because of this, the teams split up, and the %99 percent created by those who left went with them.
• None of them wished that it would come to this and tried to come to an agreement with Raindrop, but failed. Everyone who left did so of their own free will, and they have no hard feelings against Raindrop or Equestria Online.

Hope that explains everything. If not, then I would advise that you read the full version linked above.

Xtux, out!

Legends of Equestria

Many of you have seen the breaking news we posted recently, about the disbandment of Equestria Online. Well, as of now, a new MMO is in development by many of the same developers. It is called Legends of Equestria. You can have some copypasta below, explaining it a little bit. More information should come in later today, so stay tuned!

<Copypasta>

Recently, a group of former developers from another popular MMO based on MLP:FIM have decided to begin an independent project. They will be known as Legends of Equestria, and the current amount of content they have is already more than that of any other pony MMO game to date.

We’ll release more information under the name of Legends of Equestria when we have it.

Feel free to visit us at http://www.legendsofequestria.com/.

</Copypasta>

BREAKING NEWS: Equestria Online Ceases Development!

Update: Much of the information in this post is out of date. Please see our new post on the subject.

In a very sudden move, the Equestria Online team has split up, and most of the development team has left the game. Apparently it was due to an argument between the founder and the temporary leader, and the latter was kicked out until something could be worked out. This angered the rest of the development team, and they threatened to leave unless the founder stepped down and gave away the project's name. He refused, and they left. For now, Equestria Online's development has ceased

This is very disappointing news, and we're hoping that the team will resolve their issues and get back together. It is very sad to see such a great MMO put on the shelf due to personal reasons, although there still is the MLP Online project that's been under development for quite some time now. Perhaps we should now follow it instead?

Mane6 C&D Megapost

Mane6 C&D Megapost

As many of you know, earlier this month, Mane6's highly anticipated project, Fighting is Magic was shut down by a Cease and Desist demand from Hasbro. In this megapost, you'll find the devteam's reactions to the events of the past few weeks, a massive FAQ section, as well as some insight into the future of Mane6. It's definitely worth a read.