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Battle Gem Ponies! The fully-animated action-packed RPG adventure! An evolved version of a Pokemon fan-game turned indie project.
Rotation battles, specialized move slots, new types, gym leaders specializing in strategies instead of types, EVs & IVs that can be altered with a slider instead of breeding, a balanced roster without intentional tiers, and a version of Eevee that can switch between any of the types at will. All ideas that went into this project's conception.
Sound good? Then come along for the ride!
Welcome to the official Battle Gem Ponies Pre-Alpha thread!
BGP has been an idea swimming in my head for years before finally starting development in December of 2014. It was inspired by a Fire Red version ROM Hack called Ponymon where the Pokemon were replaced with My Little Pony characters. The hack went unfinished for years and the story didn’t seem to do much more than name swap and make friendship references. I wondered how cool it would be to see that MLPxPokemon idea taken all the way and fleshed out into a completely new adventure.
Fan games like Pokemon Uranium and Fighting is Magic inspired me to take up programming in high school so I could make fan games of my own. Specifically, I always wanted to make my own Pokemon game that did away with all the parts that annoyed me in the main series. Things like grinding, HMs, boring/easy fights, and evolution lines with stats too low for competitive viability would be no more! The first attempt at making such a game didn’t go too well, being just a kid with one java class and a C++ tutorial under his belt. So I spent the next 7 years practicing game development (even getting a degree in Gaming & Simulation) to build the skill necessary to craft a full-blown RPG like this.
Over the years the game has gone from overambitious Pokemon fan game to legally safe overambitious Pokemon clone with its own characters, world, logos, assets, and so on. Measures have been taken to make sure this is a Cease & Desist-proof original property inspired by Pokemon that's made from scratch.
Lots of blood, sweat, and tears are going into making this game a success. I hope Battle Gem Ponies is turns out as good as the game I saw in my head all those years ago. I can’t be the only one who would like to play a game like this, right?
Thanks for checking out the project and enjoy the demo!
-- Tony Yotes --
BREAKING NEWS:
For anybody late to the party, Our Patreon is up so you can pre-order the game there as well.
We couldn't be any happier with how this turned out. Flew past every Launch Day Stretch Goal with an extra month's budget to spare! It's all an indie team could ever want.
Thank you. Thank everyone who pledged, followed, shared, liked, or anything to support us and show that we aren't just shouting into the void hoping someone out there cares. This campaign proved to us this game has an audience. And now we have names and faces for the people we're building this for.
We won't let you down.
Command super-powered, shape-shifting ponies in strategic turn-based RPG combat. The battle system is a variation of Pokemon's Rotation Battle in that matches are 3 vs 3 and either player can swap out their current fighter at the beginning of the turn (but at the cost of attacking last). Your pony will shapeshift between these 3 forms until each one's individual HP reaches zero.
Each pony has access to 4 moves in battle. A Light move (weaker attack able to be used many times), a Heavy move (stronger attack with limited uses), a Status move (usually a buff/debuff or non-damaging move that affects battle), and a Tutor move (taught by a trainer that the pony can't learn naturally). Each type of move has its own slot in a pony's moveset that only attacks of that type can fit into. This encourages some creative strategies and also makes more of the overall movepool useful in battle. Having a special Tutor move slot also gives ponies with trainers an advantage in battle.
To catch wild ponies to add to your team, you have to weaken them and use capture gems that "download" the opposing pony's data and allows your pony to transform into it. In order to complete the capture process though, the wild pony needs to be defeated.
There are 18 elemental classes each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In place of the "Normal type" there is a neutral class with no special advantage or disadvantage, thus being able to cause a regular amount of damage on anypony. The classes are Fire, Aqua, Surge, Plant, Ice, Ki, Toxic, Earth, Air, Esper, Bug, Ghost, Draco, Steel, Light, Dark, Chaos, and Magic.
A major aspect of battle is the Ultra transformations. Like with mega evolution, finding special objects in the overworld will allow you to transform any one of your party members into a powered up version of themselves (sometimes with alternate elemental types too).
Another big difference between this game and the series that inspired it, is the absence of grinding. Battle Gem Ponies is designed in such a way that the player's time never feels wasted. Wild encounters are more sparse (they're also visible and avoidable), EXP is more generous and always shared with your entire pony collection, boss battles are varied and challenging, no amount of grinding will make milestones a cakewalk (battles for badges have your levels rounded out), and hidden stat values can be tweaked with a simple menu interface instead of a complex and random breeding process.
In Battle Gem Ponies the focus is on the fun of these Rock, Paper, Scissors RPG battles. The story, interactions, and animations will make you fall in love with the characters. The mechanics, challenges, accomplishments and surprises will make you fall in love with the gameplay.
In this world, ponies are supernatural beings that draw power from magical gemstones on their bodies. Often aggressive and always striving to prove themselves through combat, ponies can be observed clashing with one another in the wild. If a pony was ever to trust a human it deemed worthy, they would become a bonded pair and the pony would fight under the human's strategic command. Many people often dream of encountering a pony of their own and being chosen to become its trainer.
You’re the new kid in town and your parent just landed a job working for one of the world’s leading pony gem researchers. Being this close to so many ponies could finally be your chance to make a bond with one…
Embark on a journey to become the best pony trainer in the world and protect the world from those who want to use the Legendary Alicorns of the Sun and Moon for evil. A mysterious organization known as the Paragon Cartel is launching a global takeover and plans to use genetically engineered ponies and mind control technology to command ponies by force!
Just one corner of a brand new world…
H - Rest House
G - City Gate
C - Celestial Shrine
P - Paragon Cartel Secret Base
(start in Honeydew and venture around)
A colorful and varied region with a gemstone motif and mysteries scattered across the map. It's meant to be an adventure lasting at least 6 hours on average. Preferably longer, and extended indefinitely with post-game content. The environments should be visually varied and filled with enough story content to keep the player interested in progressing. Every single section has at least a handful of notable experiences within.
The scope has been thought out and written in a 200+ page long game design document along with every other aspect of the game.
Follow the game on your favorite social media sites to get the latest news and have your burning questions answered!
Interact with Yotes Games on any of the sites below.
Alternatively, you can just email mailbox@yotesgames.com
The latest current build is the 2021 Combat Overhaul Demo, now available on Itch.io!
Available for Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.
Overworld Demo 2017 contains 3 areas, 12 ponies, and a Random Battle Now mode.
(Combat calculations may exhibit bugs.)
Engine, Development Tools, & Plugins provided by Unity3D and its Asset Store
Orchestral Composition & Soundtrack
Eric Eom (Euleom)
Chiptune Composition, Soundtrack, & Sound Effects
Justin Heng (bluco)
Game Design, Production, Marketing, Pixel Art, Animation, Writing, Programming
Tony Yotes (YotesMark)
Rotation battles, specialized move slots, new types, gym leaders specializing in strategies instead of types, EVs & IVs that can be altered with a slider instead of breeding, a balanced roster without intentional tiers, and a version of Eevee that can switch between any of the types at will. All ideas that went into this project's conception.
Sound good? Then come along for the ride!
INTRODUCTION:
Welcome to the official Battle Gem Ponies Pre-Alpha thread!
BGP has been an idea swimming in my head for years before finally starting development in December of 2014. It was inspired by a Fire Red version ROM Hack called Ponymon where the Pokemon were replaced with My Little Pony characters. The hack went unfinished for years and the story didn’t seem to do much more than name swap and make friendship references. I wondered how cool it would be to see that MLPxPokemon idea taken all the way and fleshed out into a completely new adventure.
Fan games like Pokemon Uranium and Fighting is Magic inspired me to take up programming in high school so I could make fan games of my own. Specifically, I always wanted to make my own Pokemon game that did away with all the parts that annoyed me in the main series. Things like grinding, HMs, boring/easy fights, and evolution lines with stats too low for competitive viability would be no more! The first attempt at making such a game didn’t go too well, being just a kid with one java class and a C++ tutorial under his belt. So I spent the next 7 years practicing game development (even getting a degree in Gaming & Simulation) to build the skill necessary to craft a full-blown RPG like this.
Over the years the game has gone from overambitious Pokemon fan game to legally safe overambitious Pokemon clone with its own characters, world, logos, assets, and so on. Measures have been taken to make sure this is a Cease & Desist-proof original property inspired by Pokemon that's made from scratch.
Lots of blood, sweat, and tears are going into making this game a success. I hope Battle Gem Ponies is turns out as good as the game I saw in my head all those years ago. I can’t be the only one who would like to play a game like this, right?
Thanks for checking out the project and enjoy the demo!
-- Tony Yotes --
BREAKING NEWS:
For anybody late to the party, Our Patreon is up so you can pre-order the game there as well.
We couldn't be any happier with how this turned out. Flew past every Launch Day Stretch Goal with an extra month's budget to spare! It's all an indie team could ever want.
Thank you. Thank everyone who pledged, followed, shared, liked, or anything to support us and show that we aren't just shouting into the void hoping someone out there cares. This campaign proved to us this game has an audience. And now we have names and faces for the people we're building this for.
We won't let you down.
CONCEPT:
Command super-powered, shape-shifting ponies in strategic turn-based RPG combat. The battle system is a variation of Pokemon's Rotation Battle in that matches are 3 vs 3 and either player can swap out their current fighter at the beginning of the turn (but at the cost of attacking last). Your pony will shapeshift between these 3 forms until each one's individual HP reaches zero.
Each pony has access to 4 moves in battle. A Light move (weaker attack able to be used many times), a Heavy move (stronger attack with limited uses), a Status move (usually a buff/debuff or non-damaging move that affects battle), and a Tutor move (taught by a trainer that the pony can't learn naturally). Each type of move has its own slot in a pony's moveset that only attacks of that type can fit into. This encourages some creative strategies and also makes more of the overall movepool useful in battle. Having a special Tutor move slot also gives ponies with trainers an advantage in battle.
To catch wild ponies to add to your team, you have to weaken them and use capture gems that "download" the opposing pony's data and allows your pony to transform into it. In order to complete the capture process though, the wild pony needs to be defeated.
There are 18 elemental classes each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In place of the "Normal type" there is a neutral class with no special advantage or disadvantage, thus being able to cause a regular amount of damage on anypony. The classes are Fire, Aqua, Surge, Plant, Ice, Ki, Toxic, Earth, Air, Esper, Bug, Ghost, Draco, Steel, Light, Dark, Chaos, and Magic.
Another big difference between this game and the series that inspired it, is the absence of grinding. Battle Gem Ponies is designed in such a way that the player's time never feels wasted. Wild encounters are more sparse (they're also visible and avoidable), EXP is more generous and always shared with your entire pony collection, boss battles are varied and challenging, no amount of grinding will make milestones a cakewalk (battles for badges have your levels rounded out), and hidden stat values can be tweaked with a simple menu interface instead of a complex and random breeding process.
In Battle Gem Ponies the focus is on the fun of these Rock, Paper, Scissors RPG battles. The story, interactions, and animations will make you fall in love with the characters. The mechanics, challenges, accomplishments and surprises will make you fall in love with the gameplay.
STORY:
In this world, ponies are supernatural beings that draw power from magical gemstones on their bodies. Often aggressive and always striving to prove themselves through combat, ponies can be observed clashing with one another in the wild. If a pony was ever to trust a human it deemed worthy, they would become a bonded pair and the pony would fight under the human's strategic command. Many people often dream of encountering a pony of their own and being chosen to become its trainer.
You’re the new kid in town and your parent just landed a job working for one of the world’s leading pony gem researchers. Being this close to so many ponies could finally be your chance to make a bond with one…
Embark on a journey to become the best pony trainer in the world and protect the world from those who want to use the Legendary Alicorns of the Sun and Moon for evil. A mysterious organization known as the Paragon Cartel is launching a global takeover and plans to use genetically engineered ponies and mind control technology to command ponies by force!
FEATURES:
Fully Animated Battle RPG!
Every single pony and attack is uniquely animated to bring these pixel art battles to life!
Explore a Vast World!
An enormous, vibrant region awaits! Travel through deserts, mountains, forests, graveyards, and underwater temples on your quest through the Pinto region.
Power Up Your Pony!
Form a powerful bond with your shapeshifting pony companion and watch it grow stronger, learn awesome new moves, and take on the toughest of enemies.
Travel with Your Pony!
Surf across oceans and lakes with any swift-swimming ponies. Teleport to the nearest Health Center whenever you like with a simple phone call. Even have whatever pony is with you smash any boulders in your path, just because they all can!
Customize Your Team!
Choose who you take into battle from a selection of 60 Ponies and their Ultra Forms. You can alter their moves, stats, and equipment to become an unbeatable trainer!
Hundreds of Different Moves!
Using attacks grouped into Light, Heavy, Status, and Tutor slots that make you think more carefully about which moves to take into battle.
Discover the Secrets of the Legendary Alicorns!
Powerful, winged unicorns that embody the Sun and Moon are said to be the strongest ponies to ever live. People have wanted to harness their power for personal gain since ancient times. With recent advancements in technology, however, it might be easier than ever for their power to fall into the wrong hands...
Collect Badges and Save The World!
You’ll have your skills tested by expert Mavens and fight for your life against the evil Paragon Cartel. Simple story objectives that fans of Monster RPGs will be familiar with, but perhaps with a few surprises along the way...
THE PINTO REGION:
Just one corner of a brand new world…
H - Rest House
G - City Gate
C - Celestial Shrine
P - Paragon Cartel Secret Base
(start in Honeydew and venture around)
The scope has been thought out and written in a 200+ page long game design document along with every other aspect of the game.
SCREENSHOTS:
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Follow the game on your favorite social media sites to get the latest news and have your burning questions answered!
Interact with Yotes Games on any of the sites below.
Find Yotes On:
| Linktree |
Alternatively, you can just email mailbox@yotesgames.com
DOWNLOAD LINKS:
The latest current build is the 2021 Combat Overhaul Demo, now available on Itch.io!
Available for Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.
Overworld Demo 2017 contains 3 areas, 12 ponies, and a Random Battle Now mode.
(Combat calculations may exhibit bugs.)
Magfest Demo (02/12/23)
Download: https://yotesmark.itch.io/battle-gem-ponies
CREDITS:
Engine, Development Tools, & Plugins provided by Unity3D and its Asset Store
Orchestral Composition & Soundtrack
Eric Eom (Euleom)
Chiptune Composition, Soundtrack, & Sound Effects
Justin Heng (bluco)
Game Design, Production, Marketing, Pixel Art, Animation, Writing, Programming
Tony Yotes (YotesMark)
Last edited:
| The exact reaction we're fishing for with non-brony audiences
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