New Banner!

Well, I updated the website's ageing banner. It's only temporary, and was drawn by the DeviantART user Equestria-Prevails. We'll be updating the banner regularly, and yes, in case you were wondering, you CAN submit banners if you wish.

New Favicon!

Well, I've been working on the site lately, fixing small errors and things like that, when suddenly I realized that we don't  have a favicon.

So...here it is!

Please note that this is not final, and may be replaced later. I also plan on updating the site's banner; as it's getting rather old. You can email me submissions if you wish.

Equestria Gaming Schedule Test

Our little pony gaming site has grown quite a bit over this past year and a half - including views from the Arcade, we've almost hit 4 million pageviews! We at Equestria Gaming aim to continually improve our site as we grow, providing more and more varied content for you all. With our new submit system and big improvements to the EqG Arcade in the works, we've started working on improvements here and there.

Today marks the first day in a weeklong test of a new weekly posting schedule for Equestria Gaming - something to make sure you get a big share of pony gaming content each and every week. You can find this test schedule below the break. Keep in mind that this is what it is - a test, and is definitely open to change or improvement.


Throughout the Week - News Posts - If anything noteworthy in the world of pony gaming happens, we'll be sure to post it. This doesn't have a set day - there will most likely be multiple of these a week.

Sunday - Developer Spotlight - A feature on an individual pony game developer/devteams that will highlight their work.

Monday - Review - Classic EqG feature - a review by one of the authors of a pony game.

Wednesday - Review

Friday - Arcade Additions Compilation - A short piece on the games that were added to the EqG Arcade over the past week.

Saturday - Review

Periodical - Lyra's List - A monthly feature which allows people with an idea for a game to submit a design doc and attract possible team members, and for game artists to submit their previous work and find a devteam.

Periodical - Game Maker/Downloadable Games Compilation - There are a large number of games submitted which aren't large enough to merit a full review, and are also not in a web-based format, which makes adding them to the Arcade impossible. This compilation would help recognize these games.

Give us your feedback in the comments - what do you think about the schedule? What would you like to see from Equestria Gaming? Every idea helps!

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!

Countdown to Season 3 (Through Banners)

One of the most difficult journeys the brony community must endure is the long, everlasting offseason. We here at EqG aim to help that wait until Season 3 seem a little bit shorter, in any small way we can.

I'll be releasing approximately 3 new banners a week, representing in chronological order all 52 episodes of Seasons 1 and 2 until the opener's airdate is announced. It'll then be calibrated so that the last banner (part 2 of the Season 2 finale) will end on the night before the season premier. This current banner kicks it off - Friendship is Magic, Part 1.

Changes to our Theme

Lately we have been making many changes to Equestria Gaming. Most of them were behind the scenes such as performance optimizations and while those were quite useful we always had it in the back of our minds to make visible improvements to our site. So as you've probably noticed, we've currently themed our site around Queen Chrysalis to celebrate the season finale and the reveal of a new villain, along with an entire race of emotion-eating monsters. This theme will probably not be permanent and is not yet complete, we would appreciate it if you leave some feedback in the comments.

Background and title vector by Gig Mendecil.

New Youtube Channel!

Attention readers!

Due to circumstances beyond our control we have been forced to create a new Youtube channel. Our old one was only accessible to Strawberry Spice (who is now inactive), but the new channel is accessible to the entire team, which means that you should be seeing more videos from us such as playthroughs, trailers, and maybe even a video review or two!

So in case you were wondering, here is the link to our new channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/EquestriaGamingVideo.

Enjoy!

Introducing Lyra's List

Do you have an amazing idea for a pony video game, but lack the game developing experience to make it a reality? Are you in the process of developing a pony video game, but need some added help from programmers/artists/musicians/writers/et cetera? Are you a person with game developing skill, but no project to work on? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then the Game Design Document List, henceforth known as Lyra's List (cause she likes stuff named after her) may be helpful to you. Learn more after the break...

One of the first steps in the development of many games is to write a Game Design Document (or GDD). A GDD's purpose is to coordinate efforts amongst a development team. It forms a sort of guide to all the team-members, so everyone has a sight of the overall vision.

A GDD simply contains information on aspects of the game, such as story, characters, level design, gameplay, art, music, user interface, and controls. There's no specific formula to create a GDD, it just has whatever information and content the developer chooses to include. For example, some GDDs include portions of script, and others include concept art. Neither of these steps are necessary, but are often used.

The role of Lyra's List is to take submissions in the form of GDDs, and compile them in a list so that people with a vision of a pony game can meet and collaborate with people who have game making experience, to help make truly amazing video games.

To submit to Lyra's List, you must draft a GDD (of any length and format) in Google Docs, and send the link to me at enigma9994@gmail.com, with the word GDD somewhere in the subject line. Be sure to make the document public, and include the email address of yourself and anyone else involved with the project in the document.

Alternatively, if you are someone who's looking for a project, you can write up a quick resume like document (also in Google Docs) detailing skills, experience, preferred genres, etc., so prospective devteams would be able to contact you. This is preferred, but it's also acceptable to link to a site that contains work that you've done (your DeviantArt account, for example).

In the email, include the following information, if you are submitting a GDD: your name (whatever people call you on the ponynet), the working title for your game, the genre (as you would describe it), and whether you think it will be a short term (< 1 week), medium term (1 - 6 weeks), or long term (> 6 weeks) project.

If you're looking for a project to work on, include the following in your email: your name (on the ponynet), and what your primary talent is (programming, background art, spriting, music, script writing, level designing, or anything else).

This post officially marks the opening of the submission phase for Lyra's List #1. They will be compiled on May 1st. Depending on how many submissions are received, the deadline for Lyra's List #2 will be announced at that time.

If anyone has questions or ideas on how to improve this concept, be sure to let me know in the comments.

Equestria Gaming is Now 1 Year Old!

Equestria Gaming is now one year old. Since I had to do something for a commemoration post (and I had no idea what else to do), have some Flintstones singing. I have something else to post later that might be a tad more interesting then this, but don't count on much.

(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.

Equestria Gaming now has a Google+ Page!

Well, we've recently decided to get a Google+ page, that you can find at https://plus.google.com/b/104923021330270502188/104923021330270502188. It's not THAT big of a deal, but just decided I'd post anyways in case any of you guys were interested.

XTUX, out!

Strawberry Spice Stepping Down

Hey there readers of Equestria Gaming! Strawberry Spice here, and I've got an important announcement for everyone.

I'm going to be stepping down as the head of Equestria Gaming, and I'm handing the position over to the wonderful XTUX345.

More after the break



Thank you all for sticking with me since this blog started almost a year ago, it really has been fun, but now things such as college, work, and other things have come up for me, leaving almost no time to dedicate myself completely to something like this anymore.

XTUX345 has been taking care of the site for a while now, and he's improved it quite a lot as well. I'm very confident he will continue to drive the site in the right direction, as he has been.

Now, I'm not leaving for good! I'm going to still exist, and if something big comes up I might make a post about it, but XTUX345 will be 'officially' running the site now.

Thank you all for reading this, I wish everyone here good luck.