Ponyvania Intro

Ponyvania

 So it seems that Ponyvania game we posted a while back also has a pretty sweet animated intro, probably the best we'll ever see in a fangame. Shame it'll probably add a lot to the game's filesize and hurt those of us with slower internet connections, so if I were the developers I'd probably release a version of the game with the intro stripped out. Still, I've seen far worse examples of pointless filesize inflation in a particular game I reviewed on this site a while back...you probably know of what I speak.

 And yes, I'm still working on that Moonstuck part 2 review, so be patient. Reviews take time, especially when you possibly have two of them to write in one day.

 Imagine if this intro was actually rendered in-game instead of just being a pre-rendered cinematic. It'd probably be quite hard to code, sure, but it'd be really impressive from a technical perspective. Plus, yay for drastically reduced filesizes!

Ponyvania Demo

Ponyvania

 Back in 2012 some Texans decided that the My Little Pony fandom needed a Castlevania-type game and began to create one themselves in Game Maker, with the splendidly original title "Ponyvania". The project seemed to progress smoothly, with the latest demo being released in July '13, but I remained entirely unaware of Ponyvania until some Anon posted about it on /mlp/ last Saturday, bemoaning the overall lack of attention that it has seen (aside from an Equestria Daily post about a pre-demo trailer). The Anon also mentioned Legacy of the Pony, which I shall hopefully cover later now that I have a working dual-boot setup, but in the meantime I shall focus on this sadly neglected fangame.

My thoughts on the project can be found below the break, as usual.


 Ponyvania managed to give off a good first-impression when I first started to play around with it. After beginning a new game I was nifty little pony creation utility with which I promptly attempted to recreate Taylor's OC, but unfortunately I failed and instead ended up with a Berry Punch recolor. Then the game began, and I was impressed by the quality of the backgrounds/scenery sprites until I got a taste of the weird jumping physics, which took some getting used to. Ah well, so far so good, but then I decided to head outside...

...And things promptly went downhill from there. It seems that the developer's idea of difficulty involves plopping down a bunch of enemies and spawning monsters directly underneath the player, killing them in short order even if escape or combat is attempted. This, compounded with a bizarre decision to reverse the standard actions of the Z and X keys made the game much harder than it should have been, and changing this in the pause menu was more difficult than it should have been due to some rather confusing default key bindings (even after reading the Readme).

Borrowing this screenshot from Anon.

 After much annoyance and little progression I discovered the skill system, helpfully buried in the menu and requiring manual keybindings. The ability to shoot laser beams and dark energy balls seemed pretty cool, but alas, enemies in standard mode still spawned too quickly for me to effectively use my fancy stuff. Perhaps things would have gone better on the Easy difficulty level, I dunno, but I still consider Ponyvania's difficulty to be more due to poor design and balancing rather than presenting a real challenge to the player.

Since Ponyvania is still a demo I'm not going to give it a score or anything, but it's going to need some pretty huge balance adjustments to be considered "fun" (unless you're playing on Easy or in the multiplayer mode, which I wasn't able to test). Maybe I'll revisit it once some work has been done, but until then I'll just sporadically get back to redesigning Equestria Gaming's theme.

Flash: Pony Creator v3 / Square Ponies / Taking Wing

If you're like me and school has just kicked into gear again, you might not have time for games which require a serious time investment. But there's always time for flash games.

Updates to generalzoi's (in)famous pony creator, pixelated madness, and more after the break!

Play Pony Creator v3

For better or worse, the original Pony Creator has been the premier pony image resource for the artistically challenged among the brony fandom since 2011. It's third incarnation boasts a sleek new interface with sliders and arrays of accessories to add to your ponies. While the amount of possible creations has increased dramatically, so have the number of ways to fail (see above.) Have fun, but stick with simple themes and minimize accessories to keep your OC classy!

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Play Square Ponies

Square Ponies is ponified twist on the author's previous title Dodge N. Playing initially as one cubic Rainbow Dash, zip around the screen to collect coins while avoiding the multiplying red squares in a manner reminiscent of The World's Hardest Game.

The game's old-school interface and the ongoing difficulty of unlocking playable ponies keep the game interesting for a while, but Square Ponies is a mini-game at heart. Enjoy!

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Play Taking Wing

Taking Wing boasts a catchy soundtrack and smooth overall gameplay, but I personally find cloud-dodgers a bit old hat. Playing as a customizeable pegasus (a plus,) soar through the skies for as long as possible without being struck down by parasprites, rain clouds, or passing Wonderbolts!

MLP:FiM - Pony Creator Finished

MLP: FiM - Pony Creator

MLP: FiM - Pony Creator is an advanced Pony creator programed in flash by generalzoi.

This game has no goal, allowing you to fully customize a pony of your own. Unlike other Pony creators, this one is extremely extensive! You can choose from a wide scale of different sizes and shapes for your pony, randing from filly to Slenderpony height. The colors for your pony's mane, coat, and tail are all full color scale. There are a bunch of different head shapes as well, allowing you to create either a male or a female pony. A full selection of Eyes, Expressions, mouthes, manes and tales, a cutie mark creator, custom poses, and accessories really makes this game stand out.



When playing this, I experienced very few problems, the only one worth mentioning was dealing with the eye location. When the eye is really small, it gets 'stuck' on the edge where it can't go any further. This isn't a major problem, because you're still able to move it with your mouse, it just doesn't go as far as some might hope.

Too lazy to color correctly. Or find the right mane/tail.

The game really does come with a lot of customization, and after it's 'completion', it comes fully loaded with a pose function, where you can either choose from a list of preset poses, or pose each limb on it's own. You're also able to export the pony in png image format with a transparent background. You can also save it as a high quality image, though due to some strange coding bugs, both export buttons may not work at times, he is currently looking for a solution to this minor problem (I only had problems with the high res so far).

The game also includes a number/letter import/export function, so you can share your pony design, or save your pony design for later editing! Though please don't spam the comments with your pony designs. That's what DeviantArt is for.

This game was made very well, and even though it might seem a little complex at first, the tutorial and guide definitely helped, and was jam-packed with different customization features. This game runs very smooth, but being the game it is, I cannot  put a rating on it. So have Insane Pinkie and Flootershoi instead.

Pon-E3 Promo Video!

Yes folks, we just went though the trouble of putting together another of those trailers just to reveal who is attending Pon-E3. Why didn't we just put it in text like the other announcements? Because videos have been scientifically proven by totally reliable sources to be 20% cooler then plain text when used for announcements, that's why! And if you disagree with us, you can take it up with my cat (he's quite smart you know).

Anyhow, the event will start at 6:00am, PST on July 13, and end at 6:00pm, PST on the 14th. The entire thing will take place online and it won't cost you a cent to drop in. And in case you want a detailed schedule of the event you can find it at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TlIHQqEOlpF_y5LGVekI8LizpRcU5Gq3NMgwnV8WcAE/edit?pli=1.

See you there!

Pony Avatar Creator

Pony Avatar Creator

When it comes to designing an original character non-artistic Bronies often turn to tools such as the (in)famous Pony Creator. While those usually had tons of customizable attributes their output was somewhat unsatisfactory,  giving each character an extremely generic pose that was easily recognizable and often the subject of mockery from those who actually took the time to draw their OCs. However a new pony designer tool has turned up, with the main purpose of creating web avatars, and unlike most it features animation and a somewhat less generic pose.

Does the Pony Avatar Creator manage to break the mould, or is it just another crappy pony creator? For our full opinion on the game, continue reading after the break.

Upon opening the Pony Avatar Creator the user is greeted with a glasses-free version of Vinyl Scratch, which they can then proceed to customize. As with other programs of this type there are various options that you can play around with, and a colour changing tool (as titled in the app). I had a couple gripes with the latter, mainly that it was rather difficult to manipulate if you wanted to achieve certain less-used colours, although this shouldn't be a problem for your average user. Sadly enough for a pony creation game there are surprisingly few customization options, with a tiny selection when compared to your average application. Five manes just simply isn't enough, and if it weren't for some of the other features I'd stay away from this program alltogether.

SexyDude34, 15 year old saviour of Equestria and Celestia's long-lost cousin.

So what else does the PAC have to offer? Well in a surprise break from the usual your creation is animated! It will tap its hooves, do various random stuff and follow your mouse with its eyes. It's kind of a shame that it couldn't be exported as a Flash animation, but that's asking a bit much now isn't it? There's also a gallery that you can upload your pony to by clicking the "take screenshot" button, although once you leave the page you cannot reedit your OC. In case you're bored you play a Youtube video in-app and the pony will "dance", while the speakers in the background will thump with the wubs. Again, this has absolutely no real purpose but it's a nice touch, so I'll roll with it.

What did I think of the Pony Avatar Creator? It was really polished for what it was, but for once it seems the creator focused more on polish then content, which was pushed to the bare minium. It's sad really, but hopefully the creator will take the cue and add more stuff to the editor and make this a truly worthwhile program.

MLP Generator Version 2.0

MLP Generator Version 2.0

Game Mirror

(because the first link only works for a few people)

MLP Generator is a simple Pony Creator, made in flash by Shadarack Tailroam.

The game has no goal, but it allows you to customize a pony of your own, with 21 different mane and hair styles, your own custom cutie mark, a full color spectrum for mane, hair, and coat, and eye color. You can even choose between male and female, and being an earth pony, pegasus, unicorn, or alicorn.



The game was put together well, with a few small problems. The biggest problem I encountered was the customizable cutie mark part. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't seem to get that cutie mark in there. This was a problem few others encountered, so it must have just been my computer. A few of the other smaller problems with the game were all along the lines of the colors not completely filling in the entire mane, tail, or coat.

It's like Scootaloo, but with a Mohawk and spiky tail.

While the game already has a lot of customization, there is still a lot more it could have. More types of eyes, body builds, facial expressions, and accessories would be nice. The cutie mark customizer was a very welcome addition, no other pony maker has that option as of now. And if you're feeling lazy, just press the random button a few times for every option, you're bound to find something cool eventually.

The game was well put together for a pony builder, but lacks many features, and the thing that made it stand out most, the customizable cutie mark, didn't seem to be working for me (I've heard it works for everypony else, so my computer just derps). I can't really put a rating on this type of game, so instead I'll just say: Check it out.

My Little Pony Dress Up

My Little Pony Dress Up by OLa

My Little Pony Dress Up (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (animal maker)) is a simple dress up game, created by OLa over on Doll Divine.


The game itself has no goal or objective, pressing the ten different buttons lined up on both sides of the screen will result in the pony in the center changing. There are ten of each outfit and pony part, including colors and eye types, though the accessories get a little confusing.



The game was made pretty well, using different parts from the mane cast, and a few other ponies, you're able to make a pretty wide selection of ponies. The main problem I had with it was the lack of a back button, and when I mistook the reset button as an undo button. Now, for the small things, like the mane or eye type, it's only a small irritation when you accidentally click one too many times. But when you're trying to get the accessories, horn, or wings just right, it takes forever to go back one option.
(For those of you wondering how to get wings, just press the Horn/Wings button a bunch of times, you'll eventually get there)


Other than that, the game was done relatively well, and I can honestly say I had some fun dressing up Scootaloo (No I'm not crazy).

What? She's in school. Of course she would wear this!

The game itself is difficult to put a rating on, since there was no goal. So instead I'll just leave this here: OHGODWHATHAVEIDONE.

Custom Pony Game

Custom Pony Game by Emily Taylor

The Custom Pony game isn't really an actual game, just a simple create your own pony tool  using images ripped directly from the Hub's pony flash game.

The game is very easy to use, Pressing the arrows will scroll through the many different features of the pony you are creating, the R resets the feature to it's default, and the ? sets it to a random feature. You can also change the pony's pose between one of many, each pose is fully animated. The picture of the camera on the top right of the screen, when clicked, freezes the pony in place, allowing you to take a smooth and clear screenshot. The R at the top right of the screen sets every feature to something random, creating a fully random pony.

The idea behind the game is practical and simple, but there are a few things that are holding it back. The colors are the major issue, there is a very small range of bright colors you can make your pony, and the other big problem is that it only supports female ponies, which is understandable.

Mane 6 at the Canterlot Gardens Convention!

Mane 6, the developers of MLP: Fighting is Magic, are have announced that they are attending a new convention titled the Canterlot Gardens, which takes place from September 28-30, 2012 in Strongsville, Ohio. So far, only Nappy and Leeden have been stated to be attending the convention, although apparently there are other, unannounced members that will be attending. We still have no idea what they're showcasing since September is a long ways away, although thankfully we have Bronycon and the Everfree conventions along the way. So if you live nearby (or have plenty of cash on your hands), Mane 6's presence alone should make the Canterlot Gardens worth attending, even though I'm sure it'd already be a great convention without them. So if you're interested, go on and check out the Canterlot Garden's website at http://www.canterlotgardens.com/, and when September comes around I would highly consider attending if I were you.

Equestria Jukebox's Alpha is Released

Equestria Jukebox

 In January I wrote about Equestria Jukebox, the unusual pony creation utility/chat app successor to the Pony Avatar Creator, and its alpha client came out on this Monday. It looks pretty neat so far, although there's a distinct lack of manes and accessories for users to pick from and I was unable to save my abominations to the server, leading me to believe that they have gained sentience and are actively discriminating against ugly original characters. Do note that the userbase is fairly small at the moment, so if you do make a chat group it'll probably take quite a while to grow (unless the service undergoes a sudden growth in popularity).

There's always Lunasync as an alternative, of course, although nobody seems to use it ;~;

EqJ needs a Deadhead room.

Equestria Jukebox

 Despite the infamous Pony Creator utility being the most commonly-used of, well, pony creators, there are still a fair amount of people who prefer the Pony Avatar Creator demo for various reasons (even if its pony model looks a bit off, and it doesn't have a really wide variety of manes or accessories). The creator could have kept it in its current state and simply added more stuff, but it seems he has other plans for it and is in the process of transforming it into a full-fledged web service called Equestria Jukebox, with chat rooms and whatnot.

 Will this take off? We'll see once the open alpha comes out, but in the meantime you can find an exclusive sneak peak of the service below the break.

 

 From what I've gathered, the pony creation service will be available to all, although users will have to sign up to have access to some of the more advanced features such as joining/creating chatrooms.

 Upon signing up users will be given a quick tutorial on the site's usage or something. The Youtube player from the original app has been carried over to this new version, allowing the owner to cycle through music tracks and whatnot while people chat about stuff. User avatars will also be automatically generated from the OCs that they create with the site, which is pretty neat I guess.

...Come to think of it, this is a lot like Lunasync but with OCs instead of Luna.

 The homepage has a list of currently active, password-free rooms. In the future Lexuzieel is planning on implementing playlist voting so rooms may still be active while the group's owner is away. Yep, there's totally no way this can go horribly wrong...

 And now we've come to the feature everybody cares about the most: the pony editor. Users of the service's predecessor should feel right at home, and will probably be quite pleased once more manes/accessories are added. This time around the Lexuzieel apparently has some people to help him make these, so hopefully the project won't stagnate in quite the way that the Pony Avatar Creator did.

 In a way I almost wonder if Equestria Jukebox really needs to be this big, frankensteinian web service instead of just a pony creation utility, or exactly how Lexuzieel plans on getting the money for hosting this, but we'll get to that once the open alpha has been out for a while. Lex is also looking for translators or something so the site will be accessible to a wider audience, so if you're interested you could contact him via his steam account (Lexuzieel) or his Skype account, alexrurm.