>>25396

Brilliant.
A bit simple at the moment, but looking good so far. Also dig the art ;)

Bucking owlbears into more owlbears is pretty fun! I'll keep an eye on this game for sure.

This has potential.

Movement sounds remind me of Counter Strike.

What the hay is this?

A guy who pops out from nowhere announcing he's making a game... and then posting a working demo instead of posting empty words?
Not only a working demo, but also a GOOD, FUN working demo?

You rock. This place needs more people like you.

Here are some thoughts from an Indie game developer who has done some study on game design, take what you like and ignore everything you don’t:
What I like:
Gameplay wise
-I noticed apples give health if you buck them from trees (great idea)
- Solid Concept

Non-gameplay
DAT ENDING ANIMATION – capped & new wallpaper, Pic related.
Animation in general is great. Aesthetically pleasing and smooth in general.
What I don’t:
NOTHING
Possible suggestions:
Gameplay-wise
- Terrain – water that is slippery? Poison-joke that reverses the controls? I’m sure you can come up with some other ideas. This is to add another a layer of depth and open opportunities for more varity and strategic elements.
- Buckable objects that can be used as projectiles? Perhaps bucking apples into enemy’s can hurt them? Or bucking a bucket over can create a puddle? Ect
- Wider range of enemies at the moment what you have is good, But some more enemies could bring new elements to gameplay. A ranged one, or one that is armored on the front but weak on its behind, meaning you need to jump over it? Don’t have TOO many, make sure everypony is unique and brings something different to the gameplay.
Possible bugs:
- If you jump and buck mid-air, applejack hovers. She should either not buck, or perhaps some kind of jump-kick?
- At one point I 'charged' though an enemy and killed them. At first i thought it was a new attack, But repeated tests yielded nothing but death. So, i guess it was a bug?


What you have is brilliant – But at the moment in lacks variety. Understandable given the fact this is a proof-of-concept thing, not the final game. Adding some more enemies and attacks would be a good move, especially if you can make each character unique, as opposed to just each race. Applejack could use her Lasso to get far away objects or pull enemies closer for a buck. Similar, unique aspects to each character would be wise.
As would different terrains, to add another layer of depth to the game.
Perhaps an over-worldmap allowing you do go to different areas, ect.
A general tip from an experienced game developer: don’t succumb to feature creep. Feature creep is adding features for the point of features. Do things one at a time, then play the game – if it doesn’t bring something new to the flow and mechanics, and especially if it isn’t fun, remove it. Variety is good, But variety for the sake of variety isn’t. My first game went down the tubes because I put in so many half-flanked features, it was a huge mess.
In any case, I really had fun with it. Played though 4 or 5 times to ensure I missed nothing.
Do you have a development blog or something I can keep up with?

>>25415
>>25415

After some more playing around i worked out how i did the charge attack the first time. Good job OP, but here's a comment -
at the moment there doesn't seem to be any real difference between the charge and Buck. Both are 'close range' and enemies die on a single hit with both, so - game-play wise there is no effective difference. This is what I mean by variety for the sake of variety. Unless, that is, there is something I missed.
Let me give you an example, just to show what I mean. In the game I’m working on I have about 7 weapons, each with their own properties and uses. The laser brings down enemy shields and can go through multiple enemies, but won’t hurt them much. This makes it useful for attacking shielded foes, or swarms of weak-but-numerous enemies. The grenades have AOE, but can go over walls, making it good for tacking out enemies without exposing yourself. The Pistol Is weak, But has a large clip and high rate or fire making it useful when you want to get a lot of bullets out quickly.
That is, each weapon has unique properties and is useful in different situations. This is in integral part of my game design philosophy – there are to be no ‘upgrades’ only ‘sidegrades’ – nothing is outright better or the best, things just excel in different areas.
Of course, you can ignore me if you want, and if you don’t like my ideas then, by all means, do.
But with regards to your game – why should I charge?
Sure, there is the novelty of it the first few times, but that wears off. I would suggest making charge able to ‘plough through’ enemies, allowing you to attack more than one at once, But you can already do that by bucking enemies into each other ( a brilliant feature, by the way. I love doing it! Don’t remove it!) So with the charge, and indeed any other attacks you put in, make sure they have unique properties that make them useful in some situations. Otherwise, you’ll get people running though the game bucking everything and ignoring every other attack. As for what you can do with charge – I don’t know. Using the Armored-enemy example I posted above, you could have a charge ‘knock him over’ making him vulnerable to a buck, but I’d why away from making an attack specifically to counter one thing. I have confidence you can come up with something!
Anyway – please don’t be disheartened by what im saying. I don’t mean to throw the game in a negative light as I’ts really fun! I just tend to talk more about what can be improved then what’s good (and it has a LOT of good, I can tell you that)

>>25415
>>Perhaps bucking apples into enemy’s can hurt them?
MFW i realize i can actually already do that!

GLORIOUS.

I wonder why it didn't work before.

Anyway OP, there seems to be a lot you didn't mention. I wonder what else i haven't found yet.

I could make music for you, if you want, man. I have some of my work on this page: http://soundcloud.com/orangefrobro

>>25421
Okay – Apple bucking is now my favorite thing to do in the game.
It does seem a bother to set up – I have to buck apples, wait for enemies to come within range, then fire and hope my aim is good. Seems a bit of trouble when I can just buck ‘em – Maybe carrying a (limited) number of apples would be a good idea, and have another button to buck them immediately – or use them as health. It’d make a good strategic choice – do I want to use them as weapons now, or save them for health when I need it? But then, it’d only be effective if apples were a little scarcer. Perhaps early levels could be full of them, but later levels not so much? Not only would this serve to implement some difficulty as time goes on, but the strategic option of ‘I could use them now, but might need them later’ – don’t want to make them too scarce, though. Or people will never use them and always hang on for a ‘later’ that’s never justified. But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Sorry if I’m being annoying OP. I’m just genuinely excited. This is the kinda game I would make for MLP if I wasn’t entangled with my own project. I had a similar idea, But it involved filly rarity’s quest to find her pet rock. The idea was the player could never stop moving but had to avoid obstacles, traps, puzzles and combat enemies – all while the horn dragged rarity across the level.
I never got around to it, but it was a similar platforming concept.
I’m ranting. Sorry.

I DEMAND BIG MACINTOSH AND APPLE BLOOM BE PLAYABLE CHARACTERS!

I don't care if they play similarly to AppleJack or if they are unlockables

Thanks guys! Really happy you're enjoying it. :)
And I'm VERY grateful for all the helpful suggestions!
Sorry, there's still no formal developer blog or anything of the sort - hopefully this thread will do in the meantime.

>If you jump and buck mid-air, applejack hovers. She should either not buck, or perhaps some kind of jump-kick?

I'd considered that, but practically, in terms of gameplay, having her stop and buck in midair seemed like the best choice. It gives the player more control over their jump, acting as a "brake" that lets you stop exactly where you need to - and lets you hit the trees while keeping them in the background.

It's a little bit physics defying, yeah, but not TOO much by 2D platformer standards ;)


>at the moment there doesn't seem to be any real difference between the charge and Buck. Both are 'close range' and enemies die on a single hit with both, so - game-play wise there is no effective difference.

The difference is more in the way they affect AJ's movement.

The dash lets you plow right through enemies without stopping - you can also jump out of it to get some extra distance, useful for crossing large pits (not that there are any in the game just yet.) Also, you can start running again right after landing from the dash, using it to accelerate faster and faster.

Bucking, either on the ground or in the air, stops AJ completely, which is good for maintaining control - plus it causes the chain reaction of kicking one enemy into another (or an apple into an enemy, or an enemy into a tree, and so on ...)

And lastly, jumping on the enemies' heads, Mario-style, lets you jump up much higher if you hold down the jump button as you do so.

(I don't see anypony mention headstomping in the thread yet, so I wonder if nopony tried it...)


> Sorry if I’m being annoying OP. I’m just genuinely excited. This is the kinda game I would make for MLP if I wasn’t entangled with my own project.

I'm not annoyed at all, I genuinely appreciate all your comments, and I plan on acting on several of those suggestions. Thanks so much!
Also, your idea for a game is brilliant, and I hope you get to make it someday. I want to play that :)


>>25425 - I'll see what I can do. :)


>>25423
>I could make music for you, if you want, man.
That would be AMAZING. Thanks so much for offering! :)
E-mail is mark @ (the site which is hosting the game) if you want to drop me a line.


> Anyway OP, there seems to be a lot you didn't mention. I wonder what else i haven't found yet

Sorry, I kinda did that on purpose :)

One of the things I wanted to test out was how intuitive the game is - how much of it people would figure out on their own. It seems to have been pretty good, though I guess not a lot of people found how to run.

I shall add instructions to the game ASAP.

As a matter of interest, did anypony find the magic shop yet? I'm surprised nopony's discussed the effects of the various items for sale. ;)

A slight revision of the game has been posted!
Bucked apples now have a greater range, and holding Up or Down as you kick lets you alter their trajectory.

>>25436
I found the jump on their head smash thing earlier today but I had to leave before I could comment on the game. It is awesome by the way. I love playing an applebucking, owlbear tossing, applemunching country pony. Such a good concept. I saw the magic shop earlier but could never jump high enough but now that I know about the run it was simple to get there.(yes I was climbing all the trees trying to find these secrets) I agree about being able to take some apples with you. Though Id rather not having them be usable for health if I take them because then I would buck them less and what fun would that be? Im looking forward to this.

I absolutely love this project.

It was a surprise to see a person making a game that NOT used Desktop Pony animations, and who's game could cause an immediate good reaction, even it it as just a short demo.

*thumbs up* people like you is what makes /collab/ a board worth to visit.

Very old-school, very fun.

Do want more of this. Like the animations, too.

Pretty awesome so far, I love the physics interactions (figuring out I could turn apples into projectiles was pretty sweet). Can't wait to see more from this

Nice touch with Trixie in the magic shop.

Also apple-shields are awesome.

>>25436
i'm the samepony that posted the textwalls last night

>>It's a little bit physics defying, yeah, but not TOO much by 2D plat former standards ;)

Yeah, there's not a problem with it at all. I just thought it was a bug at first. In the final game, Make sure you explain that so other people don't do it and think 'this game is so bugged, not playing anymore!'
But because its so unexpected and jarring, I’d be Lampshading and then handwaving it with NPC’s to justify and protect willing suspension of disbelief.

I see there is some difference between bucking and Dashing – but it still does not appear very important – Perhaps when more gameplay elements are added the differences will become more pronounced.
As for Mario-style attacks. I noticed them, but didn’t really consider them an attack of their own. I didn’t know they allowed a higher jump. THAT’s a good mechanic, especially if there are places you can only get to through head-jumping. Good for secret areas.

Intuitive testing is a good move. Very important. I like to get a bunch of friends around for an afternoon every new version of my game – host drinks and food, and watch them play. Its hard to not just help them, but I need to see what can be worked out on their own and how hard they find it.
Okay, found the magic shop. When I knew I was looking for something it was easier to find.
hahaha Trixies face!
Golden apple – Seems to be a standard ‘more health’ thing. That’s cool.
Apple shield – that’s a great idea, and I like the ability to ‘re-charge’ it by bucking more apples, and the fact if you use the last one its gone. Again, a good tactical decision in times of apple scarcity ‘Do I want to use it to defeat this, or wait until I can get more?’ I do think the apple animation is too fast. On another note, having it go around you Horizontally, and not affect enemies coming from above, could be a nice touch.
Horse shoe – A solid power-up, but it brings in a level-design issue. It’s possible to ‘skip’ some sections by jumping on top of tree’s and tree-hopping. While this was always possible, its much easier with the horse shoe. To fix this, just keep it in mind while you level design, to make important parts of the level don’t have canopy to trot across, Or put an enemy in the tops of the trees – perhaps a monkey?
Monkeys could pick apples in trees to throw at you, hurting you, and attack you if you go close to them. This would create another choice – do I want to attack the guys on the ground? Or the ranged monkey? I need to get rid of him before he uses all the apples.
Bucking a Tree would still cause the apples to fall down; removing the monkey’s ranged power and possibly even stunning the monkey. Sustained Bucking could even cause the monkey to fall down, allowing you to kill him from the ground. Or, while up in the tree’s, a simple buck in his face would finish him off.
Red Ball thing – Couldn’t work out what it does. Trixie. Y U NO REVEAL.

I share the same opinion as others that this is a great demo and very well made.

Intuitiveness datapoint:
Found before reading the remainder of the thread:
-Dash (by accident)
-Walking on trees
-Stomp
-Applebucking
-Aimed applebucking
-Demo end

Found after reading the remainder of the thread:
-Magic shop
-Multiple dash (it originally seems random, but now doesn't)
-Jump down from platforms

The control are very intuitive.

Minor gripes and suggestions:
-Losing momentum when stomping on an enemy feels strange (after dash jump).
-Having to use the mouse in the magic shop when all else is keyboard controlled seems odd (even the story portions).
-Jumping close (right next to) a ledge makes it harder to climb onto it (I actually don't understand why the jump height is a bit lower (might be a bug)).
-Being able to aim apples makes me think you should be allowed to aim enemies too.
-Bucking an apple upwards between two trees makes it bounces between the trees which is a lot of fun! Not sure if this was intentional.

Oh my god, I love this game, retro platformers ponified, if a bit sparse right now. Totally acceptable that it's sparse, of course. I can't wait to see future versions.

Also seconding that comment from earlier about playable Big Mac/Applebloom.

>>25519

Also, in addition to this, I found the magic shop and Firefox locked up on me trying to access it. Not sure what that was about.

>>25396
Very well made for a Demo.

Thanks SO much for all the comments and suggestions, everypony!

Thanks especially for telling me about parts in the game that are causing problems for you.

I've managed to reproduce both the magic shop bug (in Opera it doesn't crash, but you hear dozens of screaming chickens - Trixie, what have you done?! o.O) and the jumping corner bug.

The corner bug is just a side-effect of the physics, and just needed me to tweak things a bit ... the magic shop bug was a huge gaping flaw in the code that seriously needed fixing, so thanks for pointing that out!

I'll give a hint about the Red Crystal, since it probably won't be in the game much longer (it's just a silly joke for this demo/test version) - it's a Castlevania 2 reference. Those old folks like me who remember that game will probably know how to use it. ;)

A minor update to the game is now up, which fixes those two bugs (to the best of my knowledge), and also adds aimable monsters. Try kicking chickens into trees. :)

A much more significant update will hopefully be along by the weekend - sorry, I'm going to need to take a day off coding to make sure I get the next comic done for Dragon Mango (it updates every Thursday).

More pony platforming coming soon, I promise!

BTW, anypony have any good title ideas for this game? At this point it's still just "Pony Platforming Project"...

This game is very nice so far, me likey!

Two small suggestions for now:

Have each apple heal a small amount, maybe 1/4 or 1/8 heart. That way taking damage is more risky because you can't instantly heal to full at the next tree - it encourages people to get a bit of skill, or at least wait a second instead of rushing into a situation.

Also, I know you probably didn't do the animations yourself, but Applejack's legs look really weird. It would be nice if you looked at what a trotting horse's legs look like and redid the animations so they were more obviously normal... or even just copied a trotting animation from somewhere else (eg pic). /irl horse pedant

>>25635
oh celestia I finally figured that red crystal out. lol that wtf face was good. That ending text now makes awhole lot more sense. Good show.

>>25635
My actual suggestions:
Applejack is Lost!
Pony in Peril: When Owlbears Attack!
My other suggestions:
No Country for Little Ponies
Haylo: Bucking Evolved
Ponymania: Applejack's Quest
Applejack Conquers the World!
Blazing Apples

Other than those terrible names, I got nothing.
Fantastic game though. I am really looking forward to the finished product.

>>25635
>BTW, anypony have any good title ideas for this game?

How about "Applejack's Quest?"
The story is Granny Smith being sick, and Applejack venturing into the forst to get a rare medicinal herb so Zecora could brew a cure for Granny.

Since you're a big castlevania 2 fan (Loved the red crystal, by the way) Call it Cantervania 2: Applejack's Quest

And make it something about applejack having to find all the elements of harmony after Discord takes over Luna and makes her NMM or something.

Or, you could totally call it Applejack-Philomena and make it play like a 2D Banjo-Kazooie. I would play that forever.

>>25732
>Cantervania

Have a million of Internets. You just won them all.

Sent ya the late e-mail.

This... This is beautiful. I demand more.

>and of course other playable ponies...)

That will not be necessary.

>>25425

>BIG MACINTOSH AND APPLE BLOOM

I CHANGE MY MIND

So, I just noticed that if you use the silver horseshoe, and then stomp on an enemy for the height boost at the leftmost cliff, that about halfway up the cutscene where Applejack looks at Cantervania triggers.

Does the world wrap?

I've been searching for the magic shop for like 15 minutes... this is harder than i expected...

>>25813
Nevermind i found it :D

Red crystal reference made me die lol...
>pic related

Just wondering if you got my e-mail.

>>26091 - Yes I did - sorry for the ultra-slow response, it's been a busy couple of days. Expect a response soon.

>>25800 - Well spotted! I had no idea that was possible - that's some skillful jumping to get up that high! Yes, the world does actually loop - I didn't think anypony would notice with that giant cliff in the way. Shows what I know :)

Thanks for the name suggestions, everypony! I'm leaning towards "Cantervania", but still, nothing's finalized just yet... :)

There'll be a new version of the demo going up in the next couple of days. Sorry for the wait!

My honest opinion?
I love it, and is not even ready

Is the demo to your liking?

Bumping since the first song is done.

http://soundcloud.com/orangefrobro/applejack-platformer-game

Surprise! It's totally not dead.
Still glitchy as heck, mind you, but I think it's improving. And there's some new stuff!

This new version has music: some of it composed especially for the game by the super-talented brony above (thanks!), and some of it "borrowed" from various other games and anime.

It also has a new title screen, and a slightly improved jump that hopefully won't get stuck so much.

...and it has a surprise at the far right of the map that I don't want to spoil, so please try it for yourselves. ;)

Have fun, and please let me know what you think!
Game URL's same as it ever was ( http://www.dragon-mango.com/ponygame )

BUCKING IN MIDAIR

THIS GAME IS THE DEFINITION OF EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEME.

No seriously its awesome!

I have to agree with the serious awesomeness of this game.

That's some really great animation and attention to detail.


Although I won the first time, I lost at least five lives after that until I learned I could buck her head rather than just aim owlbears.


I can also confirm the jumping problem seem to be fixed.

There's one thing I forgot to mention last time:
Applejack is completely invincible when bucking. If timed just right, you can pass through a falling chicken (while your buck missed the chicken) without taking damage. I don't know if this is an intentional side effect.

But with the newest addition,

it is possible to pass through her landing (attack) by bucking right before Applejack is hit, which is fairly easy to do. You can almost stay in place the whole fight because of this.

Shift allows you to switch the characters... and it's bugged.

After switching the character on the edge of a paltform it throw me out of the scene.

Thanks as always for the encouragement and suggestions!

>>28710 - Well, that would be why I didn't mention it. Good job finding it though! :)

That particular feature isn't quite ready yet, as you can probably tell from being kicked out of the universe.

It's just there as a test - and most of her abilities don't work yet. (Though lasering chickens is amazingly effective.)

>>28589 - Yeah, you're right. Originally her invincibility window was to make sure you had the chance to buck (as the startup is fairly slow), but I think it's a bit TOO good now.

I think I'll change it so that, rather than outright invincibility, her hitbox shrinks and moves backwards - so you can still kick something that's walking towards you, but it won't save you from something that's CHARGING (or, indeed, landing on you.)

She'll still be invincible during her charge attack though, as that's much harder to use as an evasive maneuver (but looks cool when you do. :)

It's now featured on EqD.

Totally dererved because this must be the best pony plaformer I've ever seen.
You win a thousand internets just for using original graphics instead of using stock Desktop Ponies animations. :o

I like it a lot, but it's very buggy with the character switching. The entire world often gets messed up on a character switch, with background becoming foreground and nothing working all of a sudden. She's not as powerful as Applejack either.

I went left, and I also went right, but i've never gotten to the end without hitting Shift by accident and a big glitch occurring.

It's great though, keep it up.

i was playing through the game which is awesome and i died when i pressed continue it kept falling through the grown forever. I refreshed and it happened again just when i press start either through the intro or play game. I even closed the game completely and came back and it still happened. I figured i would help out and tell you the problems i had :) but good luck on this project and i hope it gets finished soon :D

Items do not come with you to the boss room...

ya the game also exploded a couple of times when i turned into rarity lol

Double-tap fails intermittently.

Thse also may or may not be bugs:
Headflank cancels run.
Attacking during a running jump results in buck intead of headflank, also cancels run.
It's possible to change the direction of a buck during the pre-hit animation. I actually like this one.

>>28759
>>28766
see
>>28711

Yah there's definitely a serious bug where if you switch characters the terrain freaks out, sometimes disappears completely!

Also, something that kinda bugged me was how AJ's attack felt backwards to me. I thought she was going to buck behind her instead of in front of her. In other words, I found myself turning the character around, then bucking, even though she turns around automatically. This lead to many unfortunate deaths and bucking-in-the-wrong-directions :( I guess I'd get used to it after a while, but I'm still having trouble with it. Anypony else having this problem?

Other than that this game is looking freaking amazing, with huge potential! Can't wait!

A ledge ate me :|

Great demo, can't wait to see how it plays when the game is done.

Also, I need to know the name of the boss theme. It's awesome!

I got stuck inside a cliff by accident and my sprite and attack changed to rarity's. Didn't even know there were other characters to paly as

Oh! I figured it out, if you buck while running you'll do a headflank. So you can buck enemies, headflank them, jump on their heads, and kick apples at them. Also Rarity has 3 attacks I can see, if you hold up or down you get the others.

Whoa! Suddenly, mass awareness. Thanks, guys XD

Also, thanks very much for pointing out the glitch in Rarity. Again, she's only a test - I THOUGHT I'd dummied her out, but obviously missed her.

The glitch happens because Rarity was programmed to interact with the old stage layout (from before the boss was added, when the world was much smaller and ended with the Ninja Gaiden castle scene).

She's still not finished, but the glitch is now fixed. You may now laser enemies to your hearts' content (though she's still not playable against the boss yet, sorry.)

In the actual game, you won't start out with Rarity. If you want a companion, you'll have to rescue them, then choose if you want them to join you. Several different "2nd characters" will be available that you meet as the story goes on; like in Castlevania 3.

>>28767 - not sure why double-tap is failing you - the timing is a little tricky, I guess.

The run cancel is intentional, because otherwise it would be WAY too easy to just keep dash attacking non-stop.

You can, with good timing, re-enter the run state by releasing the arrow key during the dash and pressing it again as she comes out of it.

>>28772 - Funnily enough, my wife does exactly the same thing when playing. (Expecting AJ to kick backwards). But it's the standard in games to attack the enemy in front of you, so I built the game with that in mind.

As has been pointed out, you CAN change direction during the bucking animation if you realize you're facing the wrong way. I hope that helps a little.

Thanks so much for all the input. I'll try to make the game even better!

I really enjoyed bucking apples at enemies, even though its sorta tough to set up. Will we ever see maybe a lasso charged up move that throws a small enemy directionally?

>>28782
Is there any gain in saying no when you choose if you want them to join you? Or you can only keep one other playable character and so must choose?

During the boss i instinctively did charge-jump-attacks, but it only gives a normal buck. A mid-air charge move would be great, as it would gives more variety in moves and something to master as the game progresses.

They'll probably only have you keep one extra character.

I personally enjoyed Apple Bucking the Understandably Upset Owl Bear Mother's face in.

>>28783 - I'm hoping to have a "magic lasso" available from Trixie's shop eventually that will do that (plus allow you to swing across pits that would be too large normally.)

Incidentally, you can already kick enemies/apples diagonally by holding up or down as you buck. Try it on Mrs. Owlbear, you can actually knock her out of her jump by kicking one of her children at her. Not that I encourage that sort of thing.

>>28784 - Yes, that's precisely it. You always control AJ and one "partner" pony. If you agree to have another pony join you, your current partner will tell you "you should go with her for now" and depart.

I'm hoping to include different endings (or at least, variations on the ending) based on which partner you had, and another for being hardcore and doing it with just AJ.

>>28787
>hoping for a Friendship Ending when you choose everypony once

>Just played the game

I liked it! Super smooth except for the physics defying jump attack. It was difficult to buck the enemies at first but boy is it satisfying to knock them into each other! Also nice touch bucking apples out of trees to heal. I for one can't wait to try the finished product

I've encountered another little glitch, which can be triggered by performing a dash attack during the boss opening (while AJ is running towards her starting position), causing her to fall through the ground.
It is also possible to use the attack button while AJ is running to the right after the boss battle. Doesn't look like it's intended to do so, but it's pretty neat looking.

Despite all of that, this game is really nice and really fun to play. I spend quite some time toying around with various techniques and game physics, which leave quite a few possibilities at times. I don't think I have anything else to say about this, since the game is still in an very early phase, and most of my suggestions have already been stated, like the op invincibility on the buck and the likes. Btw, that boss battle was awesome, to say the least.
Also, Rarity doesn't seem to bug out if you switch to her at the starting point. Are there any effects on her current Up-attack, or is it a placeholder right now?

When you hop on Mrs. Owlbear after you beat her, Applejack runs off screen on air.

This game is unnecessarily awesome cant wait till you finish it. All of my money, just take it!!!

When you look up and the screen scrolls up, it should immediately scroll back down when you stop instead of having to crouch to get it back to normal

>>25436
>buck in midair seemed like the best choice

Perhaps you could redo the animation, though? Maybe make it like...I don't know, make it so that her front hooves don't press down against an invisible ground.

Still, though, this was absolutely fantastic. I loved it.

When you charge and jump the speed decreases. Is this intentional? if it is, it's kinda awkward.

I found a glitch where if your rarity and you have the horsheoes and you press z and x at the same time you can jump infinitely if you time it properly.

Glitchy ground.
It goes away when stepping on it.

>mass awareness.
That's what you get from publicity, especially on EqD.

Anyway, I finally made it thorough this demo with both AJ and Rarity.
I love the graphics and animation, and I love the start screen where AJ stands awesomely proud in the epic wind. I also like the fact that apples can be bucked off the trees. Rarity is currently too easy, projectile makes it quite trivial to get thorough with her, it may be okay if there's going to be score for time, though. Too bad the boss is currently AJ only, I wonder how Rarity's attack would work on Mrs. Owlbear.

However, to beat this demo I had to stop all CPU-hungry processes on my computer. It gets really ugly and glitchy under any load, I managed to land under the ground multiple times.
Bit still I'd love to see more of this game.

Is Rarity's Up attack supposed to do anything?

>>28805
being fabulous

Finally, The Gold Heart

-You cannot replenish the two extra hearts once you lose them unless you get it again

-When go to fight the boss with the golden heart, the title never shows up and game goes on standby forever.

>>28800
I know this is a glitch, but PLEASE keep it somehow as a cheat/unlockable, It's so much fun air-swimming with focused buttonpresses.
Maybe have it aesthetically shown as the butterfly wings from Sonic Rainboom.

This.... This is awesome. Bowlingf with owlbears... That bossfight... I want more man, more! <3

I do I Castlevania 2? I don't know how to use the crystal or the 'Cantervania Cutscene', as it is being called, and I wouldn't want to be out of the loop.

>>28822
Simply get the red crystal from Trixie and kneel down at the cliff on the left side for a few seconds.

The controls are quite well done and flow nicely.


The one glitch I noticed is that Rarity's up attack does nothing. Is it supposed to be a projectile block? (In which case it's utterly ineffective in the demo because nothing uses projectiles)

I like where this project's going, honestly! The gameplay's pretty solid, the graphics are adorable, and I love the little nods to classic gaming you've thrown in - the red crystal easter egg is one of my favorite things about the game. ^^ I could assist with the music if you need any extra help in that department.

Pic unrelated.

Ok. You blew my mind with this game. It's excellent. I can't wait to see what you do with it. If you could add C as a jump button, that'd be nice, so players could choose which fingers would do what then. Just a suggestion. I love the little cheats you put in the game too.

I think I just played this game seven times. I want to help you make this so badly. Contact me on dA or Youtube or something I'd love to help.

i found rarity. :3 so fun!

The music for the magic shop and boss doesn't loop.
Other than that this is great.

Noticed an interesting bug, if you jump using Q instead of Z you fall through platforms(on the boss) But normally you can hold Q to constantly jump.(Does not give the extra height a Z hold does on bouncing off an enemy.)

Only other things I'm at a loss for at this point:

Dash+Jump attack is still a buck, the headflank seems more reasonable.

What does Rarity's Up+ Attack thing actually do? I was hoping it could knock apples from trees or absorb them since I hadn't found any combat use for ti, but no.

sigh

Why do people insist on using x and z for controls? Do you guys have *any* idea how far x and z are apart on a German keyboard layout?

Oddly enough some programmers are competent to make up for that fact and make it work with x and y as well when your keyboard is set to German.

I'm guessing you're aware of these, but just to reiterate: double-tap isn't 100%, bucking direction can be confusing, the powers don't carry over to the boss, powers disappear when you switch to Rarity, and your apple power is the only way to attack when you have it.

What could be added:
An alternate way to run. I'm a fan of the back, forward ( <-- , --> ) method.
Toggle spin or no spin to buck?
A running jump attack would be awesome.
A Scoring mode? Dunno how big you intend to make this game, but a score system can't hurt if you do indeed have the time.

And this might have just been me being stupid, but I had to read here that you could buck the boss in the face. I had been attempting to finish her by just bucking owlets into her, and I was about to complain that she regained her health after you died. I'm glad you didn't make her do touch damage - that would have been ridiculous considering she takes up a third of the screen. I've always hated when developers did that, and it's why I laughed maniacally when I got the Alucard Shield and turned the tables on everypony and everything.

Oh and Rarity game over screen since nopony else has posted it.

>>28782
pshhh! Standard Schmandard. If the majority of people are experiencing what I and your wife are, I say go ahead and change it! :P
I dunno if the majority is really experiencing it though...

>>28850
Instead of complaining about it, why not just pop off your Z and Y keys and switch them. There - problem solved.

But seriously, why would anypony consider making this with the controls flank-backwards just to suit a few people?
It would be different if you hadn't taken such an obnoxious tone

>>28850

Umm, Q works too instead of Z, so what are you complaining about?

awesome game! keep us all notified this needs to get attention :D

All stuff I found in the game so far:

Applejack's controls:
-ATTACK to buck towards target in front of you
-Double-tap FORWARD to dash
-ATTACK while dashing to headflank
-Use ATTACK to buck trees to get their apples. Apples are health replenishment.
-Use ATTACK to buck apples to serve as projectiles

Rarity's controls:
-ATTACK to fire stunning blast. Kills the chickens.
-Hold DOWN and ATTACK for rapid fire.
-Hold UP and ATTACK to become fabulous but utterly defenseless.

Secret places:
-There are two Trixie shops in the game, one at each side of the starting point. Find a tree with an odd-looking branch at the right side of it, and use it to get onto the floating rock platform with her shop.

Secret controls:
-Press [Shift] to toggle the character between Rarity and Applejack.
-If you get the Silver Horseshoe with Rarity, keep pressing UP+ATTACK to keep jumping higher.
-Use 1/2/3/4/5 to get all of the different Trixie bonuses. 1=Nothing, 2=Golden Heart, 3=Silver Horseshoe, 4=Apple Shield, 5=Red Crystal

Secret endings:
-to get Secret Ending #1, get the Red Crystal, then find one of the game's 2 cliff sides (it doesn't matter which one you use). When standing against the cliff side at the bottom of the cliff, hold DOWN for a few seconds.
-To get Secret Ending #2, use Rarity's infinite jump trick to scale the cliff at the left end of the level.

:p

.."headflank?" Seriously. A bvtt isn't even a flank, it's a rump. And headbvtting has nothing to do with that X_x

Awesome game.
I love Rarity but in this game she's useless, I mean she can't run shecan't kill... It'd be awesome is she had ability to crawl on walls(like when she found her talent, she was dragged towards rock no mater what)
Simon's quest reference is awesome.
Overall I really like this game.

Sorry I really underestimated Rarity.... She is a perfect killer, I forgot that you can jump on enemies and kill them while they're stunned. This game just became 20% cooles for me.
BTW there is a really easy way to kill boss, if get him in the corner you just need to stay on a branch and kick him right after he stands up so he can not even touch you.
I'd suggest to add attack on his stand-up like if he was angry, I think it will help.

>>28863

"him"? The boss is a woman. The angry mother of all the owlbears you beat up.

I've found, that, if you switch characters while dying, you will fly. It's rather amusing.

>>28850
There is a simple shortcut to solve your problem: Alt+shift, which turns the German layout into an English one.
>>28854
Are you serious about that button-swapping thing? Keyboards don't work that way, you know?

I found another bug... if you already got a bonus from one Trixie shop, and you select "nothing" when visiting the second, you don't keep your old one either (Silver Horseshoe in my case) :|

some more...
-Trixie's shop respawns together with the enemies. Is that intentional?
-When you are in the air when you start automatically running off screen (to the boss stage, or after the boss is defeated), you run off-screen in the air.
-Pressing Attack while automatically running off-screen makes AJ dash and moves her a bit higher in the air without coming down.

-When you do Rarity's double-jump trick to scale the left-side cliff, and don't land until you go BEYOND the area that triggers the Landscape ending (seems to be about a tree length beyond the apple tree), you end up in the boss stage :p

'kay, the landscape ending goes exactly up to the apple tree it seems. Yuo an actually stand normally beyond it for a bit, but going further left goes to the boss.

..woah. It actually wraps around if you go beyond even that :D

>>28872
Always worked for me

this game is fun.

Bloody hell,

I had found a lot of bugs no one had mentioned, and then flickerflare comes and points them all out <.<

Well, not all of them:
- if you pause while being hurt, it causes you to die instantly.
- you can jump right after using dash attack(even if you are in midair). This however is super awesome and I will be very disappointed if you change it.

Also, may I suggest adding some acceleration when falling downwards?

Hey guys - wow, once again, it's overwhelming to see all the encouragement, comments and suggestions I'm getting. Thanks SO much.

Proof that I do listen: a new version is out that fixes some things.
http://www.dragon-mango.com/ponygame/index-beta.htm

In this version:
- An Options menu has been added.
- "Reverse Bucking" option: makes AJ kick backwards instead of forwards.
- Quality option - to speed up the game on slower PCs in exchange for more pixelated graphics.

- C is now an extra jump button, for those who feel more comfortable with the attack on the left.
- Y is now an extra attack button, for those who have German keyboards.

- Rarity is much less buggy.
- Rarity's Telekinesis move now knocks apples off trees.
- Rarity can be used against the boss.
- Switching characters while being hit should no longer kill the crap out of you. I still wouldn't recommend it, though.

- Items now carry through to the boss.
- Apples picked up will heal you all the way to 5 with the Golden Heart item, instead of stopping at 3.

However, due to memory issues, a couple of NEW bugs have surfaced:

- Pausing doesn't work
- The Ninja Gaiden joke ending is glitched - you still hear the music, but the screen is all red.

Thanks again for playing, everypony - all the comments I've seen here and on EqD have helped a LOT in figuring out what works and what doesn't.

I won't be working on this for a few days (I've got another project I've promised to help with), but I'll keep on improving it when I have time.

More coming soon!

>>28898
Not sure if this is intended, but Applejack switches direction each buck if you're using reverse bucking.

>>28903
Also, she if you are moving she still bucks in same direction as in normal bucking.

>>28898
Thanks for the update!
However, a few new things popped up that are probably unintentional:
1. Entering the bossfight with Rarity "freezes" the game.
2. For some reason, you start the bossfight with no extra lives, and the continue button at the bossfight is broken. Same goes for the refight button after winning, which throws you back to the Title screen, while the usual title screen button throws you back to the previous version of the game (I don't even)
3. It doesn't really make any sense to set the Y-button to attack, since it's supposed to replace the Z-button, which is for jumping.
4. It's possible to shoot the boss several times after winning the battle, causig the death animation to be played multiple times (which is awesome in my opinion, but probably not intended)

I hope this will helpa little, you can't imagine how fun it is to look for every possible bug/glitch imaginable.

I can't figure out how to do this jump trick with Rarity people are mentioning.

I found a bug when I died as Rarity while fighting the boss.
When I hit continue at the game over screen, the death sound effect would play again, then go back to the game over screen. Basically I got trapped there. I was only able to escape this by clicking "Forward" in the right-click menu.

>>28932
You need to first get the Silver Horseshoe from Trixie with Rarity.
Now here's the tricky part: you need to kind of press the jump and attack buttons at the same time, but with the jump command activating first with the attack following the jump, so that Rarity has the attack sprite while jumping. Then just try to repeat the action and you should get the hang of it.

when you die and start falling off the screen with tapping shift AJ and Rarity can fly up
fun fact: when you do under Trixie shop you can fly up the shop and entering and buy extra hearts and you continue the the game

I'm loving this game. Applejack doesn't get enough love from the community, IMO.

hahaha, just found the Castlevania secret

>>28979

Cantervania.

Love this game! Incredible graphics, and love the boss.
But I'd give anything to change controls or use a controller.

>>28999 - I highly recommend you try JoytoKey.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/JoyToKey.shtml

It's a program that lets you map keyboard keys to your controller buttons. It's actually REALLY useful, not just for my game. There are a ton of flash-based games that become a lot easier and more fun when you can play them with a joystick.

(For the fun to be doubled, get MotioninJoy as well - then you can play using a PS3 controller :D)

Thanks again for playing... new, less-broken version coming soon, I hope.

One thing I would suggest for the game is to switch the jump/attack buttons to the A/D or Q/E keys. Just something that may replace the awkward Z/X keys that were on it when I played. But only if you think it is a good idea.

Please map Z with Y. German players will thank you.

- Clicking on Fight Boss Again leads you to the title screen
- If you're standing on a branch (or jump) at the time you kill the boss, you run in the air (see fig. 1)
- Beating the boss with the horseshoe is way too easy.

Other than that I'd like to insist on keeping the forward momentum constant when jumping, it's kinda annoying.
Oh, and a mute button on the option menu would be dandy.

I think I see the problem on the jumping momentum.
I meant jumping-while-dashing, falling has the same momentum than a regular jump. It might be an error on the code.

Since you're concerned about intuitiveness...

Before reading this thread, I figured out... Running, jumping on enemies to kill them, high jumping off of enemy heads, midair bucking, dashing, bucking apples for projectiles, and bucking enemies for projectiles. I also found Trixie.

I was remarkably slow in figuring out how to beat the boss. Took me a long time to figure out that she doesn't damage you unless she's jumping, and even longer to realize I could buck her in the face. I thought I had to kick the baby owlbears into her to kill her, which was proving grossly impossible before I ran out of all 9 hearts.

Things I did not figure out:
- Jumping down through platforms (didn't occur to me to try due to the map layout)
- You can aim bucked objects to go high or low
- You can switch to Rarity with shift
- You can hold up to "buck trees" as Rarity
- You can hold up to look with your camera

The game immediately made me think of The Legend of the Mystical Ninja's sidescrolling levels, especially after finding Trixie. But I kept getting the strangest suspicion that I should be able to buck walls to open up a secret area like in Donkey Kong Country.

I did figure out after I found Rarity that I could stun owlbears in midair with her attack, and I was able to jump off of an enemy head, onto a stunned enemy which was too high for me to jump onto, for massive airtime. I actually can't replicate this, as I only had an owlbear jump at me once which I assume is a glitch itself.

I feel like I should be able to charge Rarity's laser attack. Is it just me, or does Rarity trot faster than Applejack even though she can't run? I also feel weird because Applejack's buck hits where she's facing. Useful when you're jump attacking things, but awkward on the ground, where I kept turning around expecting to buck with her hindquarters, and finding her turn around. I wound up relying on charge almost entirely on the ground in order not to keep doing that.

This is totally my new wallpaper :3

(Made a Rarity one too, but she looked kinda cross. AJ looks a lot friendlier ;) )

Hmm, it doesn't seem possible for Rarity to win the boss fight, since her attack doesn't stun the boss. Also, it seems pouncing on the small owlbears has no effect in the boss stage.

And finally, when pressing Continue after losing from the boss (with Rarity), I don't go back to fighting the boss: It just reloads the Game Over screen.

Okay, so it IS possible to win the boss fight with Rarity... but there are bugs:

-Stunned owlbears are unaffected by jumping on them, making Rarity's main weapon useless against them.
-You can keep attacking the boss after defeating her, which kinda keeps playing the dramatic knockdown sound/animation every time you hit her. This can go on until your player starts automatically walking out of the screen :p

Some more bugs:
-Dying (or finishing the game) doesn't make you lose the Special you bought from Trixie. I suggest simply making the main menu load reset it ;)
-Clicking "Back to Title" after the boss fight goes to the OLD version of the game somehow :|
-Clicking "Fight the boss again" reloads the game tot the title menu (but this does still give the new version). If you finish this way and restart the game, you also keep the bonus you had.

That's it for now :p

Fun game. I found a probable bug.

Pressing Q as Rarity performs a jump to the left regardless of which direction Rarity is facing. I don't think backwards jumping was intended.

Bumping 'cuz the third song is done and so more people could see this game.

>>29348
Played through again, didn't find the new music. Should probably try the secret ending again though.

I really like it so far. Very slick animation, as well as the quality. Still a little buggy but I'm gonna be keeping an eye on this! Looking really forward for the final product :3

On a related note, totally love the Dragon Mango comic. Is it still going?

I keep falling through the map or walking inside the cliffs and getting stuck

This is an awesome game!!! Keep going, it's great!

HOLY SHIT THIS GAME KICKS MY FLANK
>Bucks tree apples = Health OMFG
>Bucks apple = Ranged attack FFFFFFYEAH

I can understand its not ready but I have two criticisms;
(Which are probably already mentioned in this thread, but I'll say them anyway)
1. Unable to Jump while moving
2. Level design needs more content, I thought I was going in circles for a bit

Other than that I eagerly await the release! Thanks so much for sharing!
Image is Spoiler'd for AWESOME

I am sorry to say this Trixie, but your golden heart seems to malfunction aswell. You see, it gives me 5 hears just fine, but when I lose 2 hears, and then go eat an apple, I will still only have 3 hearts :o ... I am getting a refund for the silver horseshoes now :)

>>29676
That's been fixed on version 2, which is halfway down the thread.

Oh Sweet Celestia!

If you wait at the title screen for long enough, Ditzy Doo flies past!

You still there, Marcus? I'll just get to working on fully realized songs until you get back from wherever. I'll do the boss theme and then the volcano level theme for you.

I've noticed a glitch no one mentioned.
when you're moving, you can't jump with q, but you can with z just fine.
also, rarity jumping backwards is hilarious. she just jumps to the left no ,matter which way you're facing when you hit q.

I've noticed a glitch no one mentioned.
when you're moving, you can't jump with q, but you can with z just fine.
also, rarity jumping backwards is hilarious. she just jumps to the left no ,matter which way you're facing when you hit q.

Christmas Update bump

No sound or music for Xmas update?

Where can i find info on the update?

Looks a little like the first level of Act Raiser... cool.

Hey everypony! Yep, it's still going.

Sorry for the lack of communication recently. Between my work on a certain other pony game, and having gotten really sick recently, I hadn't been able to get as much work done on the game as I'd hoped.

Just wanted to let everypony know that I DID manage to get the Xmas special level done, albeit horribly late. (As I promised, though, it was in time for Eastern Orthodox Christmas :)

I'll probably only leave it up for a couple more days, so please take a look if you can handle one more bout of belated holiday cheer. I worked really hard on that boss battle.

New stuff to come soon!

>>31388
Oh, wow!

At first I just thought I was looking at a reskin, but then:
- Explosions!
- Dialogue!
- New items!
- Special-effect Terrain!
- New enemies!
- One hell of a Boss Battle!
And lol, that ending sentence!
I sure hope this version is kept permanent on another page!

>>31388
This is the best christmas pony thing ever! Windigos, space invaders, Rudolph, Christmas Derpy! I have to admit that was pretty fun with the being blown around during the second boss stage. I think the boss needed a little bit more difficulty but all in all it was great fun. Is there any way to download this so I can still play this level when you switch it back out for the normal one?

>>31392
Also,
"For PNN News, this is the Great and Powerful Trixie, reporting from atop a giant festive evergreen."
I can honestly say I never expected to read that sentence.

What do you do With the nose?

Oh wow. It took me ages to find Derpy =P

Still, awesome level. Loved playing it :3

Thanks a lot, guys! It's really encouraging to know that people are actually playing this! ;)

>>31392 - Thanks for trying it! And I'm glad liked the PNN News Flash - I plan on having more of those.

>>31393 - That's a great idea! I'll put together a zip of all the necessary parts and put it up for download.

And yeah, the boss is a lot easier than I intended it to be. I had a hard time getting all the elements in place and still having the game be stable, so I eventually decided that "too easy, but fun" was good enough.

(I might see if I can tweak it for the download version, though!)

>>31422 - the ruby-quartz nose doesn't do anything for AJ, but on Rudolph... well, try it. The effect will be pretty obvious.

BTW, did everypony see both endings?

>>31429
Where is Derpy, Rudolph, and the secret ending? I know i should find them myself but it ain't easy

>>31431 - Right at the start of the level, just below the rock AJ is standing on, you can see the back half of a reindeer sticking out of the snow after a crash-landing. Go over there and you'll get Rudolph.

Derpy doesn't really do anything, but you'll probably find her if you explore the sky as Rudolph. He can fly by doing a running jump, then using the up arrow to gain altitude.

Lastly, for the second ending, just finish the level after finding Rudolph. (Sorry, due to my half-flanked rush job programming this, Rudolph isn't playable against the boss - but don't worry, the game does remember that you have him!)

Oh, and I forgot to mention - for German players (and those who like it better that way), C is a second jump button.

I hope that helps!

It does however have a bug that wasn't in the original. If you buy the hearts upgrade, you will keep it even after trading it for something diferent.
Also it's kinda annoying that the nose is completely useless in the boss fight D=

awesome update!
I found a few bugs though. If you stand around the area where you find Rudolf, you can get hurt multiple times. Also, I sprinted and jumped toward the wall on the left at the beginning of the level as rudolf, and then i got stuck behind the wall somehow! Just some minor glitches i guess.
Nevertheless, this was really great, keep it up!

>>31435
Thanks for the answers! It's great to get info from the maker himself even though i love finding secrets on my own. I'm definitely gonna keep watching this thread for updates.
I noticed that when you are on ice and stop charging it kind of jerks a bit, not sure if that's intentional or i'm delusional.
->>31422 and >>31431

Just saw the non-rudolph inclusive ending.

You lampshaded that the game was late for christmas, which is more than apology enough for it being late.

I'm also still impressed by how Applejack engages in an epic duel with a trio of furious wind spirits and never loses her hat. You should so include hat loss as a status ailment in future updates! Maybe it disheartens her and halves her attack or lowers her running speed?

>>31486
Or just take extra damage like in Mario 64? You can still get through levels easily enough if you've got the skill, there's just more risk if you mess up.


Goddamn, I hated that monkey so much. ;_;

Holy shit that boss battle was amazing. Never thought a boss battle in a demo would be that awesome. You rock! And that MUSIC. Who does that music?

Glitch: If you have the horseshoe power up and you jump off the top of the tree and kick in mid air you will fall threw the ground

Ahh, always more bugs. Thanks for pointing these out (and special thanks to the folks posting Lets Plays on Youtube, where I can see the exact bugs and facehoof at my own sloppy programming!)

>>31441 - D'oh! I was trying so hard to fix the earlier bug about not being able to heal beyond three hearts that I missed that! >.<

And yeah, for the download version, I'll add the missing parts of the boss battle (ie, being able to use Rudolph, and the Windigo having an attack other than running at you and getting kicked in the face.)

>>31469 - Ahh, the phantom injuries. THAT's caused by an invisible snowman spawning inside the cliff. >.< It's a side effect of the way the scrolling works. I've tried to fix it before, with hilariously disasterous results - I'll do it better next time.

I know WHY you can get stuck inside walls (it's due to Flash skipping frames, and thus forgetting to prevent AJ from running inside solid objects), but still haven't figured out how to stop it. I'll keep trying though :)

>>31486 - Ooh, hat loss. What an evil idea. I'll see what I can do.

>>31493 - Really glad you liked it!
The boss music I'm using is one of those "borrowed" elements from another game; it's called "Those Who Bear Their Name", from Xenoblade. And yes, it's quite possibly the most epic boss theme ever.

I know I'll have to replace it eventually, so enjoy it while it lasts. (And get the Xenoblade soundtrack - seriously, it's all that good.)

>>31512 - Aw, horseapples! Didn't see that coming.
It's probably because gravity is programmed to constantly accelerate you, so falling from that height causes you to go so fast you pass through the ground.

As we know from Brony Physics 101, Applejack is made of dark matter. Thus, she is very heavy, and interacts weakly with conventional matter like the floor.

I'll see what I can do to fix this, too. :)

I tried both versions and they're hilariously awesome. I unfortunately couldn't reach the Space Invader in the Christmas one, but I thought that was a funny little touch.
Boss fights were awesome. For some reason, I'm picturing a Pinkie Pie mini-boss fight, with her doing stuff like throwing the Arrow Cursor at you or bumping into your Hearts.

>>31517
>As we know from Brony Physics 101, Applejack is made of dark matter

Thats why she can buck that windigo into oblivion.

Anyway it was funny when I bucked a snowman head into the trees and suddenly a dead owlbear flew out.

Loved the Original and love the newer version, animation is particularly impressive. I just wanted to comment on The two stage windigo battle at the end, which during its second stage was a nice change of panic level. Reminded me strongly of the final boss battles in the old kirby gameboy games. I was wondering if you got any inspiration from those or any other games for that segment?

What the hay? I'm getting all kinds of lag in this thing. My controls lock out about every five seconds, and as a result instead of changing direction or attacking I just keep moving. I keep getting raped by the VERY. FIRST. SNOWMAN.

Great game.
Bucking evil spirits into oblivion gives serious Chuck Norris overtones.

One suggestion though. AJ's midair attack has the same standing bucking animation, looks out of place. Maybe you could make her hold forelegs close to her body, sort of a dropkick?

Hey yo, I saw that you used my Trixie picture from the picture of the game posted on EquestriaDaily. You should probably ask before you use somepony's art or you might catch some flack...

>>31576
Yup, you're right. Terribly sorry - I was in a rush to finish the game in time, so I just used a google image search to find a high-quality image of Trixie and stuck her in there.

Have to admit, I thought it was official art from the show. (So great job on the accuracy!)
Anyway, please accept my sincere apologies - I'll have Trixie's sprites replaced right away.

Just played the updated Xmas version with the CutieMarkCrusaders instead of Trixie.

>>31429
I've got a really cool idea for a boss fight. 8D

Well, mostly:

The boss would be the Hydra. Applejack runs into one, and it starts to chase her, but it falls into a small canyon. The Hydra is still able to stick its heads out of the canyon, and continues to chase Applejack, whom is running alongside the edge of the canyon.

This first part of the boss fight takes place with Applejack running from the Hydra and dodging its attacks. She never actually attacks it, but only has to dodge it right now.

What do you think of my idea so far? c8

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been having a bit of a rough couple weeks - I just had my wisdom teeth out, among other things. But fear not, I survived, and will be bringing more pony platformy goodness in the near future.

>>32155 - Thanks for checking it out!

Fear not, Trixie will be back in future installments once I draw my own sprites for her. (The Trixie I used there was made by pasting bits and pieces from screengrabs of the show - but apparently one of these screengrabs was actually somepony's original art. Argh!)

I have to admit, it was aggravating to have to replace her, but I've tried to make the best of it. I hope people found the CMC cameo almost as much fun, and I added some extra stuff to the game while I was at it.

>>32156 - What do I think? I think that's a GREAT idea, and you can absolutely expect it to turn up in the game at some point in the future! (Pic related ;)

Is this sort of what you were imagining?

Thanks, as always, to everypony who's playing my game and commenting on it. And there'll be more to come soon.

>>32168
Oh my gosh, that is EXACTLY what I was thinking. 8D You got it down perfect!!

Also, I thought of what the level would be before the boss fight:

Fluttershy has finished tending to a hurt frog, and he needs to be taken back to Froggy Bottom Bog, but she's too bust with her other animals to do it, so Applejack offers to take the frog back.

The platforming part is her going through the bog, fighting new kinds of bog enemies, avoiding the mud so she doesn't get stuck, etc.

When she brings the frog back, that's when the Hydra shows up. It chases her out of the bog and to that canyon, and you know the rest from there. ;)

I do like the idea for that boss fight a lot, but I don't exactly know how it makes sense... I mean, why doesn't Applejack just run away from the canyon and be safe?

>>32175
Well, she has no room to run away, because to the right side of AJ is a line of steep rocky walls, so the only place she can run is in one direction.

Sorry if you can't picture the same thing I am. :(

>>32176

Oh, I can picture it now. I just never thought of that. Okay, now I can fully enjoy this idea! =)

>>32177
Well, I'm glad you do~! ^^

I also thought of more to do for this boss battle:

Because of the way this whole thing takes place, Applejack can't attack the Hydra because she needs to keep moving. So I had to think of how she could attack without actually attacking...and then I got it.

After a certain amount of time has passed of her dodging the Hydra's heads, one of the Hydra heads will get behind her, preparing to eat her. This part AJ can't dodge, because the head will be locked onto wherever she moves. Also, ahead of her is a large boulder that she'll need to avoid. The way this works is that at the right time, AJ will have to jump up into the air, just as the Hydra lunges forward and the boulder comes into view. The Hydra head will go underneath her and smash into the boulder, thus injuring itself.

The head that is injured won't be able to attack for the duration of the fight, and all you have to do is repeat this with the other three heads.

After you've defeated all of the Hydra heads, the second half of the boss fight begins...

>>32168
I also thought of how the second part of the boss fight would play out:

After she beats the Hydra in the first part, which I mentioned in these comments if you missed it:
>>32168
>>32179

Anyways, right before she gets away, the Hydra flings a boulder into the rock wall in front of her, making it come toppling down. Applejack moves out of the way and onto a wide pillar in the middle of the canyon, with no other place to go. The rock slide destroys her only way out, so she's trapped. And that's when the Hydra finally arrives. It's right here where Applejack realizes she has no choice but to fight.

Here, the player actually uses Applejack to fight like in the other games. You jump around, kicking the Hydra's heads when they get down close enough, while also avoiding them at the same time. Her kicks don't do much damage, but she can do extra damage when two Hydra heads go for her at the same time and she jumps to dodge them, making them collide with each other. Those two heads get dizzy for a bit but then go back to attacking her.

When the Hydra's health bar goes down all the way, all four of the heads lunge for Applejack, which she avoids by jumping, of course making them all collide into each other. The Hydra then stumbles around because none of its heads are fit enough to control it now, and it collapses onto the wall on the other side of the canyon where Applejack is. One of the heads falls backwards a bit, but then tries lifting itself back up. AJ sees this as an opportunity and leaps onto the head, then leaps to the canyon ledge. She takes one look back at the Hydra, who goes completely unconscious, and then turns and heads back to Ponyville.

Phew...that was quite a mouthful...I hope all this doesn't sound like too much for you. D=

>>32198
>>32168
>>32179

It begins....>.<
What have you started, OP?

>>32667
What do you mean by that? O.o

>>32667

Excuse me, but what do you mean by your comment? =c

>>32684

I believe he means that this idea is such a huge endeavor that he fears you might've bitten off more than you can chew.
He might've meant that jokingly, though, to just express his amazement at you taking on this great request.

>>32698

Oh, I see.. o:

Well, I thought it sounded like a lot, too, but it's just an idea.

They don't have to make it if they don't want, although I still think it's a really cool idea.

>>32710

And derp, by "you", I actually meant the OP. I somehow had you two mixed up for a sec, sorry.
(But I think it was clear what I meant.)

>>32711

Oh, whoops. xD Well, it's okay~ :3

By the way, what does "OP" mean?

>>32714

The "Original Poster". In this case, Marcusmaximus, the maker of the game.
(It could also mean "Original Post" or "Overpowered".)

>>32715

Oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know~

Well, I got the the first set of songs you wanted composed. Anymore jams you want me to make? Are there any songs you want me to redo?

Looks like everypony is on vacation this February...
Tell me when you're gonna do a Swamp or Cloudsdale level, OP.

>>34362
Tell us when you do anything

>>34401

I do wonder where he's been lately. o=

>>34401

By the way, did you see the level I made up for the OP?

Anything new, OP?

>>34874

They haven't even said anything since January. =o

I wonder what they've been up to?

>>34874

They haven't even said anything since January. =/

I wonder what they've been up to? =o

>>28710
Yah, I'm surprised not too many people found Rarity, she is really cool. PRESS SHIFT FOR RARITY PEOPLES. SHE HAS A RANGED ATTACK.

>>34924

Hey, thanks for your concern. Sorry it's been SO long.

Regarding what I've been up to ... well, don't forget I'm also helping Mane6 with their game, so that's been a big part of it. (Also, even with all the pony stuff I'm doing, I still do update Dragon Mango every week, so... yeah.)

Still, sorry I haven't been keeping you guys up to date on what's going on with the game. I've actually got a BIG surprise waiting for you that should be ready very soon... it's just taking awhile to get it just right. But soon, I promise!

In the meantime, I've at least put up a little animated test thingy of the Hydra to keep you going for the next day or two while you wait. ;)

>>35106

Oh, I didn't know you were working on another game. o= I'm sorry. :(

Hey, that's awesome! I can't wait to see the surprise! :D

Also, does this man you read all that I came up with for the Hydra scene? c8>

>>35106
> I'm also helping Mane6 with their game

Wow, you work on Fighting is Magic? I didn't know! That's awesome!

>>35106

Also, might I add that you did a fantastic job on that Hydra animation! It looks just like I pictured! 8''D

>>35133

Wait, where is this animation? I can't find it anywhere...

>>35135

It's right here: http://www.dragon-mango.com/ponygame/hydratest.htm

He did a great job making it look the way I imagined. :'D

>>35136

AHAHA! After some work, I've managed to defeat the Hydra!
Good work, OP!

>>35137

Great work! :D

I can't wait for the rest of the game!

The snowy part of the Christmas special game with the winds is so complicated!!! I got the anchor but I still can't get past it! I've been trying for more than an hour and I am real mad!!! Why is that part so hard!?!?!??!

That was a great game! Very hard but lots of fun! But, the snowy part really had me angry but all and all, grade A game!

I must say, I'm REALLY excited for this

My Goodness this is a BAD game. And don't give me the excuse that 'it's just a demo' NO. Anypony who has ever played a platformer and thought about it would not make the mistakes that this game made. I'll list them.

1: The stupid birds. What the hay? How are we supposed to hit them? Your bucking doesn't work if you are going past them. It is hard to aim and good luck jumping on them. That's why good platformers don't use such narrow attacks for arrial enemies. They ether use a large cone or a sphere so that it is easier to hit.

2: Some of the platforms are just an inch too high. I have to keep jumping in this one spot to make it see that I am trying to jump up so I can continue.

3: The Boss. The BOSS. The FREAKEN BOSS! This is the ultimate core of where it all fails. Several mistakes are made.

First: You have to run though the boss when it' son the ground, not when it jumps up in the air like.. EVERY OTHER PLATFORMER.

Second: it is painfully hard to try and jump around the owlbears without jumping on them or the branches of the apple trees, turn and buck them onto the owl bear while the GIANT! beast trys to stomp you into an oil slick. Ether make the area bigger, the boss smaller or the enemies smaller.

There is no excuse for these poor mistakes. It almost makes me think you didn't even bother to play your own game.

>>37693
1) Personally I like the dash and headbutt for taking them out. That or jumping on them but you said you weren't a fan of that. While I understand you may just want a game you can run through. I like ones where you have to have some good timing with a little bit of strategy.

2) I may have to give that one to you. Some of them do take careful placement to get on.

3) While the boss is hard, its not outrageously hard. When the mother jumps you have to take it out. It's you or her. A few times I have been able to run underneath but yeah it is difficult. That's why you have to go straight for the kill.

Sorry you weren't a fan of the game. I hope you find something more to your liking. In my opinion, I thought this was a fantastic fan game and I can't wait for the hydra level to be done.

>>37693

Oh you!

>>37693

This just smells like parasprite. Don't get me wrong, it's okay to dislike a game. But to say stuff like "piss poor" or "there's no excuse" on a free game that looks absolutely smashing (an almost universally agreed-upon opinion).

>>31429

is in the middle of ice lake , but you must use rudolf flying and jump several times ... and is really hard take a picture (than spider man xD ) so enjoy .

That Rudolf character reminds me...
@The game creator

Let's see here...
Possible characters: Rudolf, Rainbow Dash, Applejack in ghost form, other.

Are you gonna make a longer flying game segment ?
Where you battle on clouds, and kick the black ones to cause lightning, or use the white ones as vehicles, and the pink ones for health. Maybe Dash gets a range attack with lightning bolts or gets Applejack's headbutt ability, with more lightning effects.

And have these guys as bosses ?
>pic related

Have a hydra.
Though the rocky magma head would have been better if it was placed in the middle.

>>40865
Is this now a suggestions thread?

This is how Luna should have looked like in the show.
Perhaps drop the horse muzzle, replace it with Faust's curved snout and there you go.

>>42174
excuse me marcusmaximus, but when you jump in from the cutie mart, in the pony platformer holiday you see an alien and a black cloud. what is it and how do you get to it? is it just a bug or a mystery?

>>28834
Them tabs

>>25415
I can't find this background...

or rarity

>>32715
Or Operator

Any plans for the following? Extremely fun halloween game, Horror game, Overpowered Luna game.

>>43922
You just want Luna in it, don't you?

>>43922
You just want Luna in it, don't you?

>>43927
Yep, nobody tried to make celestia, luna, twilight overpowered in a game.

This was such an amazing game! All of them are! You should keep makeing the Platforming Projects!

чячячячяч

>>44152
Thanks very much. I AM actually working hard on the next one ... it's just proving to be a heck of a lot of work. (On the plus side, you can expect it to be quite a bit longer and more detailed than any of the previous ones!)

congrats on getting shown on eqd

congrats on getting shown on eqd

Bump for Marcus.

Gentlemen...how do we add on Applejack's ramming into crates gameplay?
I'm thinking of lassoing an enemy and using it like a wrecking ball.
An unrelated idea is for AJ to climb trees.

Turn AJ into a dragon. A black one too.

Last edited at Sun, May 19th, 2013 16:51

>>44953

>>44953
>>44954
It does sound pretty interesting for the normal farmer to turn into all sorts of crazy things like a skeleton, ghost, dragon, horned pegasus, manticore, zebra, etc.

>>44944
If the lassoed enemy lasts enough smashes and doesn't leave you undefended, fixable by making the rope circle around you, then it sounds good.
Bouncy enemies and destructable walls would be enjoyable...maybe bucking whole trees into enemies and riding the trees down a slope.
Perhaps enemies that need more hits to kill would get knocked down(kd) per one hit. Another idea is kding some giant mob like the reptile from Colgate and bounce on his head to get past him, while he's in the kd state, better than having to drain all his health.

I feel like having to say this even if it might slightly undermine the above ideas. The enemies are fun to kill from one hit. Truth is that Applejack is more like a warrior class for newbies, one hit is enough to set off the chain reaction and do enough damage, without smashing the buttons or calculating positions too much. Can't stop and buck? just ram through them. As well how Applejack can knockdown giant bosses, it gives you a pause so you can play easier. AJ series isn't a sprinting game or requires a specific way of killing the enemies like Colgate's Ursa, it's a basic game with an easy to play character. It is pretty much the Make it count/chuck norris effect, one roundhouse kick = end of the world. It's satisfying when one action can do so much.

Ideas that would add to the easy gameplay would be rainbow apples for instant bombs that don't damage you. The explosion deforming like a bomberman bomb, rather than a hard to use rectangle bomb.
Another one would be to hang onto ledges, something which would have made Nes games infinitely easier. Not sure about climbing actual walls like ninja gaiden, that'd look weird for a horse. (Would have helped a lot in the Xmas game too, no one can block while jumping...unless you're chuck norris)
Giving Rudolph's air smash ability to Applejack would be a good upgrade, especially for specific pit falls with ceiling spikes. It would add some continuity, like saying AJ learned it from Rudolph.
Applejack doesn't have defenses against projectile attacks. The first idea was to be able to buck projectiles back, while also you don't get damage while in the bucking stance, so it's not that risky. Gonna have to think more about this one.
Fast, flying, tiny enemies. A spread attack like a medium cone for AJ would be great for the flying enemies that charge you, I always remember flying enemies being the bane of any melee character. (though the bomb could also take care of this if it has height damage like flames rising up)
Technicalities: If I jump then it decreases my sprinting speed, there's no momentum. Also there's apparently two jumps - one short and one medium, they're pretty random.
Also just throwing it out there: A black hat for Applejack, making her even more like Chuck Norris.

Last edited at Tue, May 21st, 2013 14:50

I was gonna post two paragraphs about not turning the Applejack's game series into a pit falling frenzy or a labyrinth where you have to find the exit or x amount of items, and how PPP1's linear level design is actually a good thing, and why not to create more stages like the second heavy wind level in the christmas game...

But I'll cut to the chase:
Allow the player to reach high places, making the game not feel so flat/so grounded. (Rudolph's flying was good, but needed somewhere to land)
Remove pit falls and add platforms of varying heights, maybe a few moving ones, again so it's not so flat and so you can skip or dodge enemies easier, also making the game an actual platformer.
Perhaps a higher alternate route like... Mario's cloud bonus level. This especially comes into play when you either want to climb the mountain or go below it through the caverns.

Only complaint with pic related is that the trees could use some longer branches and the green bush's platform could be lower so I don't need the jumping power up to reach it from below.

Last edited at Thu, May 23rd, 2013 09:02

>>42051
>>44953
Here's some more Generation 1
http://www.dreamvalleygame.com/game/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAa2crtth6E