Octavia in the Underworld's Cello

The Underworld's Cello (fixed)

 So I knew that I was going to be posting about at least one adventure game today, but to be quite honest with you I was rather surprised when I opened up my deviantART notifications and found a demo for a first-person point & click adventure game right before my eyes. It stars Octavia (duh) and Vinyl, as they venture into a dilapidated mansion after following some poorly-written directions to a Nightmare Night party, and yes, it does run splendidly in Wine once you install dsound. Thing is, it is quite a bit darker than your average pony adventure game, although the fact that it's being released so close to Halloween probably explains that.

Heh heh heh...

...this should be fun to review once it comes out.

Released: Never Heard From Ever Again

Never Heard From Ever Again

 Back in August we posted about Never Heard From Ever Again, a weird little first person horror game with the nastiest lolipop-related jumpscare you'll ever see. The full thing was released today on Desura, marking the first time a pony game made it onto the service, but it's $1.99, also giving it the unprestigious "honour" of being the first My Little Pony fangame for the PC platform that is neither free in freedom nor free beer. Mind you, that's not a lot of money, but there are still plenty of people who will probably find this choice in distribution objectionable.

Meanwhile, guess who's too cheap to buy a copy?

Corruption

Corruption

You guys never cease to amaze me. Complete with custom animation, creepy musical styling, and some slightly mind-bending visuals, The Oddwarg's Corruption is certainly one of the most colorful games to come out of My Little Game Jam. It's a little shorter than what I'd normally review, and borders on creepypasta, so I held off from grading it. Find the rundown after the break!

To be honest, the level styling of Corruption reminds me a lot of the Luna Games, which I'm a huge fan of. Using keyboard controls to move while controlling a magically levitated lantern with the mouse, the player attempts to guide Twilight through a shadowy underground maze. 

The unique art style and enveloping nature of the game mask the fact that there's not a lot of discernible story. There are a few clues - Discord smirks at you before the game launches, and Celestia greets you with Smarty Pants after the game's conclusion, but overall, the plot is indecipherable. 

However, I can't really fault a chaos-themed game for confusing me. I won't spoil the penultimate scene with a screenshot - rather, I'll leave you with the knowledge that I found it awesome and that it borders on creepypasta. 

Lots of insanity, and then... this. Well, that was anti-climactic - perhaps there's a secret ending?

The game might have begun to bore me had it dragged on longer - however, it was short enough that the mechanics remained fun. Aside from using your lantern to prevent Twilight from falling into numerous pits, variety was found in moving glowing balls and platforms to solve puzzles within the cave.

Overall, I think this game could go far if expanded - there's certainly a lot of unique potential here. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for creepypasta. Either way, it's quick and certainly worth playing!

Xtux's note: despite the author's claims you can run this game on Mac OS X by downloading the latest version of Java from http://java.com/en/download/mac_download.jsp and not through the Software Update utility.

Silent Ponyville: Echoed Sorrows is hiring

Silent Ponyville: Echoed Sorrows

 Silent Ponyville: Echoed Sorrows is a game where you dive into Pinkie's mind to uncover the cause of her constant nightmares. (Or something like that. There isn't much to go off of from their site.) The team behind the game is currently looking for a few extra hands to assist with development. Though there isn't much information about the project at the present time, they already have a trailer up, and  a GitHub repository of unfinished code is available on one of the developers' profile for curious eyes to look over.

More information, including how to contact the team, is available either on their site or copy-pasted below the break.

We need help!
In order to minimize time wasted on mostly useless paragraphs (like this one), we'll cut straight to the chase.

We need:

Background artists
    In order to make this game shine, we have to have slightly more than a black background (and no, green will not do the trick here either :P).

    Qualifications needed:

        Ability to create a background from scratch (by scratch, we mean, not a modification of another background)
        Ability to do a pixel art style (not absolutely needed, but it would be great if you could)

Cutscene artists and/or animators
    Qualifications needed:

        Ability to create a cutscene depicting a story, either from an amount of static images, or from an animation

Writers
    While the original "Silent Ponyville" fan fiction was amazing, it is not fit for a video game.

    Qualifications needed:

        Experience with writing
        Ability to improvise based off of pre-existing material

Voice actors
    At the moment, we are only interested in monster sounds (e.g. groans, wails, screams, etc...), and a few lines from pinkie pie.

    Once we have the story finished, we will revisit this.




Send your applications to: ule1452 (at) gmail (dot) com

Remember to include your skype username, and some examples of work you have done in the area you're applying for (if you don't have previous experience, show us that you can work in that area)

 In other news, I'm going to attempt to keep team member requests such as this one listed in the Events section on the site's sidebar as long as they stay active, since that section gets fairly little love as it is. Announcements will still get their own posts, of course; this will simply be a way to keep an easy index to find open positions on projects, for those interested in contributing to something.

Silent Ponyville

Silent Ponyville (Outdated Demo)

Our fandom has outputted a decent amount of creepypasta games, but for the longest time there has only been one true horror game and that would be Silent Ponyville. It has been under development for almost a year now and is based off of the well-known fanfic with the same name, and we've decided that it's about time this rather interesting game gets a (brief) post. I've never been a fan of the games whose so-called "horror" consists of trying to disgust players with horrific corpselike monsters, but hopefully Silent Ponyville will focus more on the psychological side of horror then many of its trashy peers.

By the looks of it development should take a couple more months and it is being produced with the Blender Game Engine which means that it should support most desktop platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and even FreeBSD! The game also has a playable demo from December '11 (Windows-only, so I didn't get to play it) that can be accessed over at http://silentponyville.blogspot.ca/p/demo-christmas-special.html in case you desperately give this game a shot, no matter how outdated the build is.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that the game's soundtrack has a Youtube playlist? It contains some great stuff, and I highly recommend listening to if you're interested at all in video game music.

Never Heard From Ever Again

Never Heard From Ever Again

 Sometimes I question the wisdom of those who choose to develop 3D games in Game Maker, as there are many far better engines suited to the job. Still, that doesn't mean that one can't create a decent 3D fangame in there, as Never Heard From Ever Again hopes to be. I'm not sure if it will achieve that goal as of yet, given that the current version is a short little demo using a placeholder model for the main antagonist, but from what I've seen it isn't all that bad. It does rely a little too much on jumpscares, however, and it seems to have some problems running in Windows 8.

Hopefully we'll get more progress updates in the near future, but in the meanwhile you can download the game in order to get your daily dose of jumpscares. You might also want to check out the README file, as it explains the backstory and whatnot.

Demo: Trilight

Download Trilight Demo

It's a cold, dark, stormy afternoon (at least, it is where I live) and that puts me in the mood for pony horror games! Trilight is probably better described as "puzzle-horror" - the game puts more emphasis on creatively interacting with the environment than creepiness - but it fills the void all the same.

Flipping between Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the Great and Powerful Trixie, the player must make their way through a darkened landscape full of traps and mysterious shadow ponies. Each of the three playable characters has their own powers - bucking, flying, and conjuring shadowy blocks - to help overcome obstacles along the way. The demo's only a few short levels long, and never gets very technical along the way, but it's enough to hint at the puzzles and thrills to come in the game's full version. 

My only complaints are a couple of hit box bugs that occur when you run or jump into an immovable object - sometimes, you'll end up sliding backwards or stuck when trying to jump upwards. Still, that shouldn't slow you down much. Have at it!

Edit: The team's looking for a writer and artists - check the comments for more information.

Review: A World You Should Not Know

A World You Should Not Know

 A while back some guy over at the My Little Game Dev forums thought it would be funny to make an Equestria Girls game with dubstep, lousy textures, and annoying audio. The resulting project took a mere two days to make, and along the way somehow turned into A World You Should Not Know: a horror game starring Twilight Sparkle as she tries to retrieve the magical crown from...whatever. Sunset Shimmer isn't involved at all: the story is basically just an excuse for the game.

The review continues after the break, as usual.


 According to AWYSNK, the alternate universe explored in Equestria Girls is actually just another one of your typical, not-so-abandoned facilities you find lying about everywhere in video games, and the aforementioned crown is locked behind some sort of cruddy door that requires six keys to open. For no reason in particular these keys are guarded by warped version of the mane six, who evidently have been just sitting in there, waiting around for some idiot to wander in without a shotgun so they could chase them down and make pony hamburger.

 Regardless of the weird premise, the game actually manages to be surprisingly scary due to its heavy use of claustrophobic spaces and creepy breathing made by your foes. Being stalked by anthro ponies may sound and look silly from the screencaps, but trust me; it is anything but ridiculous. Their messed-up textures and truly bizarre animation is quite disturbing to behold as they take massive strides towards you with their freakishly long legs, following you through the rusty corridors.

Neither words or pictures can convey how terrifying these things are in motion.

 Speaking of rust, the textures in this game are of a rather low resolution when compared to most of its modern contemporaries, although you probably won't be paying too much attention to them while peeking around the corners, carefully listening to see if you can hear any nearby footsteps or breathing. The darkness tends to make it difficult to see any stalkers until they're really close, so it's advisable to play the game with headphones. A map is also included in the game folder, which the player may consult if they're feeling too lost.


 I really don't know what else to say about A World You Should Not Know, or if there is anything else. The game wasn't bad or anything, but for various reason I've never really found this genre very interesting, although those of you who are into horror games might enjoy this. I'd still say that Derp Till Dawn was a much better game overall (and that it deserved a higher score than I gave it), so I'll just slap a 5 on this and be done with this review so I can get on to adding Twilight Wing to the Arcade.

 GPL violations are magical

My Little Game Dev Marathon Reviews: Pink Pone Action / The Unknown / Luna Wander

Time for another dive into the My Little Game Dev Marathon submissions! Again, they've been reviewed and graded relative to the other games in the competition.

Find Pink Pone Action, The Unknown, and Luna Wander below the break!

Download Pink Pone Action

This one's a bit of a head-scratcher. Playing as the long-nosed, unintelligible Pinkepone, the player must traverse a candy-coated level that looks like Super Mario meets Sugar Rush.

However, things are not as they seem. A la Cat Mario (perhaps its closest relative) and other unfair platformers, the world of Pinke Pone Action will kill you by any means necessary. As you fall before inexplicably exploding turtles, collapsing ceilings, and invisible blocks, your amount of lives remaining dips into the negative numbers.

Like many of its counterparts, Pink Pone Action appears to be a demo for a full-length game - and worlds of frustration - to come. I'll look forward to it.

Grade: 7/10

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Download The Unknown

I'm not sure exactly what to make of this creepy little survival-horror game. The player awakens in the middle of a darkened, snowy, evergreen forest with nothing but his wits and a few flares for protection. Unfortunately, you're quickly surrounded by strange stone ponies with glowing red eyes.

The Unknown takes advantage of the first person medium to add creepiness to your mysterious assailants - they only advance when the player turns away, freezing  the instant you sweep your view back to them. Luckily, they're vulnerable to your dwindling supply of flares.

The object of the game appears to be to survive for as long as possible, limited to the resources you can scavenge from the ground. Until it gets a plot, The Unknown is certainly good for a scare, but not much else.

Grade: 5/10

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Download Luna Wander (Win x32) | (Win x64)

Among the submissions, Luna Wander takes the cake for world size and perhaps also hours of gameplay (although the latter is tricky to measure). While neither of these can guarantee a game's success, those of you into open-world sandbox games will find a lot to love here.

Playing as the recently exiled Princess Luna, the player must traverse the vast three-dimensional surface of the moon and find enough food and water to survive. These demands are met easily enough (especially if one plays in creative mode,) so what's left to do? Check out the mysterious objects scattered far and wide, that's what.

Located sparsely across the moon's surface are power-ups to help your exploration, materials with which to build crude shelters, and many other strange objects (which I won't spoil.) Even if you cheat using the included map, exploration will take a very long time - so play if you're ready to submerge yourself in the meditative world of the game for a while.

This one's a little hard to grade. At times, I felt lost in the wasteland with little sense of direction and few to no reference points - but I get the feeling that was part of the intended experience. It's not the right game for everyone, but what Luna Wander attempted, it confidently achieves.

Grade: 8/10

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Update: seems like we've overtaxed MLGD's Dropbox. Here are alternate download links for Luna Wander and The Unknown - Thanks, Jach Marsdonpone!

A My Little Pony Platformer Game

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the next Fighting is Magic™.

Raridoom Beta

Raridoom Beta Download

Ahh, Mondays. Good time for a first-person changeling smackdown? Yes. Actually, that holds for pretty much any day of the week.

Raridoom is actually a ponified mod of Chex Quest (read: Doom), with spells, hand-to-hand combat, and voice acting. Difficulty settings are a huge bonus: if it was too easy the first time around, crank the setting to Nightmare Mode and see if you can still knock corrupted Bon Bon for a loop. Posters with slogans like "The Queen is Watching You" scattered around the dungeon corridors add a touch of humor to the otherwise dreary setting. Also, make sure to select the menu option marked "Read This!" to get a hang of the controls.

The beta's still a little rough around the edges: the title screen could use a revamp, and starting certain levels on certain difficulties caused the game to spit errors. Still, if you're a Doom fan, this is a project you won't want to miss - bon appetit!

Text Adventures!

Why the random header image? Because back in Star Swirl the Bearded's day, they didn't have any of those fancy graphics we're all so keen on critiquing. Also, because apparently relevant header images are everything here at the stringent and strictly professional EQG headquarters. Honestly, I don't see how this image could ever fail the relevancy test.

Today, I've taken a look into the dark and mysterious world of pony text adventures. Prepare for links and mini-reviews after the break! 

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Star Swirl's Parser Based Adventure (Download)

Overview: In the distant future, the Cutie Mark Crusaders have accidentally released Discord - and with control over time, he's determined to rewrite the events of the past. Playing as Star Swirl the Bearded, escape his traps and save Equestria, past and future!

Writing: The writing here was a plus, especially when Discord got snappish. Handy on-screen instructions and a dropdown menu made it easy to figure out how to proceed...

Difficulty: ...that is, almost too easy. The puzzles weren't much of a challenge, and the adventure didn't last very long.  Still, with time travel and a riddling Discord, there's enough here to make a great extension.

Grade: 7.5/10

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Welcome to Ponyville (Online or Download) (No, not that Welcome to Ponyville)

Overview: After surviving a mysterious tragedy in your home town, you pack your bags and head off to Ponyville for a fresh start. Rather than overcoming puzzles and avoiding death, you advance the story in the style of a visual novel. With RPG-style stats, an open sandbox world and a bare-bones relationship system, there's much more content to love here.

Writing: So-so. The grammatical errors are at their worst during the opening text wall, and as the story progresses the writing gets marginally better. It remains far from perfect, however - so if that sort of thing bugs you, cross Welcome to Ponyville off your list.

Difficulty: Non-existent. The game uses textadventures.co.uk's built in mechanics, which are pretty solid, but I hit a snag when the game timed out and ended prematurely. You may want to create an account or use the client to download and play the game online.

Grade: 7/10

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Death by Discord Demo (Online or Download) [WARNING: HORROR/GORE]

Overview: See that tag which says horror/gore? Well, don't ignore it. The game is pretty dark. Discord's trapped you in a Saw-like nightmare, and you must use your wits to survive. Unfortunately, the demo's very short.

Writing: I enjoyed the writing here - but it's hard to get a sense of it over such a short period of time. At the least, the script is precise and grammatically correct.

Difficulty: Easy. Overall, the challenges were intuitive (though this might depend on your mental state.)

Grade: 5/10, on account of length.

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Honorable mention: Brony Hero of Equestria (fimfiction link)

A choose your own adventure, rather than a text adventure - not quite a game, but theme-fitting nonetheless. Gallivant around the country, wreaking havoc and seducing everything. There's a lot of random, off-color humor to love here, if that's your style.

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Well, that's it for today! I was caught by surprise - I'm quite taken with this sort of game. If you'd like to see another text adventure featured, by all means, send it in!