Really awesome game!

I looooove the story and the graphics and the ponies!

I also think it's great that this one's composed of entirely background characters too!

Just a few glitches:
When you try to buy Trixies milk for the third time in a row without dying (I think this is when it's happened, I've only gotten it once.) the game glitches and the little yes/no buy screen doesn't pop up, you're just stuck there in the store on the milk unable to go anywhere.

After you defeat the Ursa Minor it brings you back into the battle again and again, except this time the screen turns white and you can't see anything. (Might be because I fought it by spamming Clock Up.)

And two minor things, there's a little green square on the floor of the lower cave area, not sure exactly where, sorry I didn't take a screenie. And the landing on platforms is a bit weird, you can land a bit off them and still make it on.

Oh and, why does that table appear in front of the first Poison Joke

And Trixie is best pony!

I love that you're changing the games a little.
I loved the intro as well, especially Trixie's new artwork which looks way better.
(I actually managed to piss off Zecora, by constantly knocking. You were quite busy with the text screens.)

Colgate can be a little tricky with her toothbrush, I had to be extra careful because of how weak the tootbrush is and watch out not to hammer-head like I used to do with AJ.
The healing apples were a little scarce.
I missed being able to slam the owlbears into each other.

Sound:
Not sure if the mystical-relaxing music is good for the game, it's good for the mood due to having next to no beats, but for my playing skills and keeping me focused...
Anyways keep the music. A options panel for sound effects and music would be nice though, I found the sound effects and voice too loud compared to the gentle music.

***********
Now for the real problem which I hope wasn't made to increase the difficulty by using handicaps.
I can't seem to toggle the run mode on, and Minty Fresh/Colgate/Romana(whatever) already has a pretty low jump.
You seem to want me to first get the auto-recharge magic ability so I can use the Flash in order to increase my jump and speed capabilities.

Can you increase her attack range?
I managed to finally beat the Ursa Minor only by syncing when it jumped on me and I had to attack with the toothbrush diagonally.
The bear also doesn't back up when I need to and often can take 2 lifes in a row.
This was without the armor powerup.

>>36340

>Oh and, why does that table appear in front of the first Poison Joke

99% sure it happened after you watched PNN. Notices what she does with the table when she's finished ;)

Oh of course, I thought it was something you were meant to jump on to avoid the poison joke... And I kept failing and becoming toothpaste...

>>36340 - Thanks for the helpful comments!

I've encountered that shop glitch a couple of times; it's not just limited to the milk, either. >.> I think it happens when you click while the items are still moving, but I haven't figured out how to completely fix it yet.

As a placeholder fix, you can now press "Q" to escape the shop if it gets stuck.

I'm impressed you were even able to Clock Up during the
boss fight ... he's so aggressive, he usually jumped on me before I could charge during testing. :)

If the little green square is what I think it is, that's not a bug, it's a feature. Examine it closely. ;)

>>36341 - Glad you're having fun!

Yeah, Colgate's intended to play quite differently to AJ... as a unicorn, she's less powerful and quick, but she can use her magic to compensate.

There shouldn't be any place in the game you can't get out of in SOME way, but yes, Clock Up makes it a lot easier and faster to get around. ;)

>>36355 - That's actually such a good idea, it's now in the game. :) Trixie's discarded news desk is now standonable, and allows for safe, toothpaste-free passage over the poison joke!


So, minor update to fix some of these problems:

- A couple of extra apple trees have been added.
- The "Q" key now acts as an emergency exit from Trixie's shop if she gets stuck.
- The first boss should no longer glitch out if beaten while Clocked Up.
- The first boss has been adjusted to be slightly easier. (He's still no pushover, though!)

I hope everypony's having fun. Thanks again for playing! There are a LOT of secrets this time around, so have fun. ;)

Great game, now for a little bug, if you charge clock up near Teixie's shop you'll get into the shop menu, and be stuck there.

The points multiplier does not seem to reset when Colgate is affected by poison joke.

On a related note, I'm Trixie's best customer.

>>36366
Oooh, I assumed that was a feature, kinda like a "Good job, you're a tube of toothpaste but your still kickin' owlbear flank!" but now that you mention it you do get a crazy amount of money doing it...

Also another Ursa Minor glitch, when I entered the cave the game stopped, I could only move my brush and my magic power bar kept charging, but everything else was stuck.

Oh and you can enter the Ursa's cave by going left far enough too.

Colgatee!!!! You piss me off to no end.
Anyways just a little rant from a casual about tedious gameplay.

The giant reptiles and timber wolves have that temporal invincibility after taking a number of hits which makes it hard to fight one at close range without getting damaged.

Colgate having no run to increase my jump distance forces me to jump perfectly right off the edge of each cliff in order to make it. Sometimes I need to use the Clock Up like where I meet Derpy in order to get back up.

Spoiler:
I was a tad bit disappointed when I didn't get to play asMinty.

Can you let the player decide how much energy he/she uses for the time freezing ability?

It's hard to ''micro'' with Colgate, that's for sure.
I also often times found myself using all my magic on Colgate's spinning toothbrush range ability, due to accidentally setting it off.

There's a bug when you jump over the sign which says boss; If you jump and land towards the left, then only the background appears and you can't continue the game.

I also discovered that you can reach the Ursa Minor by jumping in the hole where you saved Minty.

The boss music starts in the boss room before the windigo/spirit horse makes it's entrance.

Btw
Am I suppose to not hear the owlbears's sound effects when they die? Same for Applejack's bucking?

>>36366
>>36379

Re: Multiplier

I'm kind of stealin' Marcusmaximus' thunder here, but I remember him telling me it was supposed to happen (and it's the "easiest" way, if you don't get pwnd, to afford the more expensive stuff at store)

>>36393 - It's all good - I don't feel particularily thunderstolen. :) Sorry for my slow response time, I've been busy working on animating [CLASSIFIED INFORMATION] for a certain other game. ;)

He's absolutely right, though - the poison joke counter is intentional. Your survivability is limited as toothpaste, and as you've no doubt noticed, your score is cut in half every time you die.

>>36389 - the Xmas special was written in kind of a rush, and due to my USB key dying I'd lost a lot of the code I'd used in the previous one. Some features went missing in the transition, notably the sound effects.

I'd like to fix it at some point, but as 'tis not the season now, it's fairly low priority. :)


One more minor update for Colgate. Some bugs have been fixed (probably some new ones added >.>), and, in order to conserve magic, you can now cancel Clock Up at any time by pressing Shift.

Oh, and there's an added treat after the credits that should hopefully add some replay value. Enjoy, and keep hunting for those secrets ;)

>>36407
>and as you've no doubt noticed, your score is cut in half every time you die.

Can't say I had. This is, of course, completely a lie, but this really is my first playthrough since you added the summary screen, so I have that going for me at least. I guess I won't complain about easy bits, though.

Being able to cancel Clock Up is quite handy, too; thanks for that.

>>36407
>>36415

Cutie Mark system finally implemented

NARF YEAH.

>>36427

Now I'm curious. How many CMs are there to be obtained in the game?, I see a couple at >>36415 that I didn't get...

>>36429
I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. I've got a few more that aren't in that first screenshot, either. (Note these aren't names, just descriptions of how to get them—I didn't screenshot each one, sorry.)

Captain Scarlet - Complete game without dying
Mega Man - complete the platforming section with the timed disappearing platforms
Tooth - Clean all five rock-teeth in the cave section.
Three red apples - Eat a large quantity of red apples.
Green apple - Eat a large quantity of green apples.
Crossed out scroll - Pester Zecora into saying something that doesn't rhyme.

I'm assuming your middle three are for not getting hit at all (which I can't do, not that good against the first boss yet), rescuing Minty?, and completing the game quickly?

Gonna be hard to get all of them in one game; in fact, if I'm right about your first one, it may be impossible.

Incidentally: What makes the whole Minty thing trigger, anyway? I rescued her in an early play-through, and haven't found her again.

>>36433
Oh. Heh. Fairly wrong on two of those.

Starman - Don't take damage.
Three wrapped candies - Don't buy anything from Trixie.
Stopwatch - Don't use Clock Up.

Also, bug: dying in the cave, then going back out to the forest, results in none of the forest's level actually loading besides the poison joke. This leads to falling forever. As toothpaste.

>>36434
Mm. I maaaay have been looking in the wrong spot. Possibly.

Silhouette of a horse - Die as a result of being turned to stone.
Sonic screwdriver - Have Doctor Whooves use the sonic screwdriver to save you.
Assorted mints - Rescue Minty.

Also, hm, ending 4. I haven't actually spotted ending 2, either...

I was expecting to fight some time anomaly creature where I get to fight the boss with unlimited Clock Up.

Or some secret ''forest master'' boss or getting to play as him.

By the way...
Is it possible to make it so you can hold Z in order to jump continuously? It's useful for jumping really fast when you touch the land.

Ending two is finding Derpy, but not Dr. Whooves, I believe.

I have some feedback, mostly concerning the bosses and the controls...

#1: The throwing attack was awesome, but inconsistent to execute. Double-tapping is not a bad idea, but there's no way to tell when you're doing a double-tap. That's why the attack comes out at random times for me: I can't tell I'm doing a double-tap because the game isn't conveying to me that I'm doing that.

Comparison: In Kirby games, Kirby often has some sort of dash attack that's executed with double tap + attack, same as in your game. However, when you do a double tap, he always dashes. That way you can immediately realize what the timing for the double tap is.

I'm personally fine with there being no dashing, so maybe the motion needs to change, preferably something you won't get by accident as often.

#2: The bosses were really inconsistent, in multiple aspects. I'll go over it with the two bosses I've played against

Ursa Minor: First of all, right at the beginning there's just enough time to activate a fully-charged Clock Up. It's a special power so I assumed it would help against the boss, but it doesn't allow you to hurt it. You only get to hit the eye once, which cancels the Clock Up. Not really an inconsistency problem, but it is weird how useless your special power is against the first boss.

First inconsistency problem is the patterns of his attack. At the beginning of the fight we learn that he gets to roar, then attacks. If he attacks, you basically always get hit so you have to attack in that period. But afterwards, there have been plenty of times where mister bear gets to attack without having to do a roar.

I assume it was done to raise difficulty as the battle goes on, but it's not entirely fair to the player, because you're tossing what the player learned out the window. A better solution would be to lessen the time on the roar, leaving the player less time to react/attack.

Next up is how, even after having redone the first boss battle about 10 times, I still don't know what part of the bear I could be hurt by and which part not. The first thought is of course: you get hit so long as you touch any part of his body, which was the rule for every enemy up until that point.

Which made the battle extremely difficult, because of the range of the toothbrush. It was scary to jump in front of him even when he was in his reeling animation after getting hit in the eye: since the game beforehand told me that if I touched something, I got the damage.
Even now I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's the claws that hurt and not the rest of the body. But this conflicts with what the game has been telling me up until that point and there's nothing that tells me that I can touch him without getting hurt.

Obviously there doesn't have to be a text balloon telling me, but for example, making his fur see-through could already be a step towards telling the player: you can touch this boss, just don't touch the claws.

And about the claws: if the boss got on top of you with a jump, I usually got under his belly. Whenever I tried to run away after that, he would usually turn and hit me with the claws on his BACK leg, since his claws don't end up in the same spot when he turns. If that happens it's basically a death sentence with just 3 hearts.

Now on to the second boss, Ursa Major
Everything about this boss was telling me that this was a runaway boss... Not a confrontation. I feel like I found out through luck and well... I was running for like 5 minutes. Not exactly the result you had in mind.
So after dying once (I died a lot, sue me), I just tried stuff out, which didn't really feel right regarding the tense situation. I went after the eyes first (since that was the minor's weak spot) and somehow ended up in the mouth, which apparently meant I had to go there all along.
But nothing in the game tells me what I'm supposed to do. Again this should be fixed visually: why not have smelly, green breath come from his mouth when he roars? If there was something there, I didn't notice it, which should say enough really.

Main problem was that I didn't really have any idea what to do (until I got into the mouth) and I feel like I survived through pure dumb luck.

For the record, I'm not bashing this game, just trying to help out and hope this game or the next game will become even better!

>>36447
Well, you want Ursa Major's teeth so aiming for the mouth shouldn't be too far fetched.
Now for the first one hitting you while turning, eah, that needs some fixing. There's no way you can run unless it wants.

>>36451
Of course, it does make sense to jump inside the mouth if you want his teeth, but the game doesn't show you that that's the goal. Again, it shouldn't be shown explicitly but there should be a hint (especially because at first appearance, the whole fight is about running away)

>>36458
Well, it doesn't show you that's the goal until after you're already in the mouth
(sorry for doublepost, time to sage)

>>36447
you know what you're talking about. I pretty much agree with everything you suggested, especially the double-tapping attack. I found myself accidentally using it a lot.
Also, I thought the second boss was really creative, but yeah, it was hard to figure out what I was supposed to do besides just run...

Anypony else get the "died a lot" cutie mark? XD

>>36357
Oh yeah, I found that green sock and picked it up, but i got no idea what to do with it :/

>>36463
I got that mark too... Mostly because of the Ursa Minor. And yeah the Ursa Major boss battle was creative, music was epic too.

Gonna replay it and see what I can do this time...

>>36469
So after replaying it (now having bought all the items instead) here's some more thoughts

First of all a glitch: I went into the cave level, grinded some points and then tried to get back to the forest. Instead, all that loaded was the night sky and the music.

To me it seems like the game was really inspired by Castlevania, or perhaps just intentionally similiar. A lot of the enemies are similiar and even their placement is somewhat alike. First level of castlevania 1 has mindless zombies and jumping panthers which are kinda like the bears and timber wolves. The ones that really strike out are of course the Cockatrices and Skeleponies: very alike to Medusa Heads and... Skeletons from Castlevania 1, same patterns and attack methods. Heck, even the animation where Colgate gets hit looks like Simon's little jump backwards.

The main difference lies in that enemies aren't really that fearsome in this game. Most are easily avoidable or easy to defeat (only exception being the big dragon and maybe the timber wolves). As of such the game as a whole feels really easy despite the slow movement (which I like), hard platforming (which I like, a lot) and mega hard boss fight (okay I don't like that one). In fact, because the enemies aren't that strong, the difficult boss throws you off even more.

Right now the difficulty is mostly in the fact that it's hard to reach an enemy with your toothbrush. The forward attack doesn't go very far and doesn't feel like a fluid motion as a result. The up attack is fine since you usually jump while using it anyway. The down attack... is pretty much useless since it doesn't seem to go very far beyond ground level. It's main use seems to be trying to hit enemies on a lower platform, but try as you might you probably won't reach.

The game reminds me much more of Super Castlevania 4 than the first one, because there are more ways to attack and it's about frequent action + platforming. This is a good thing, but you should compare Colgate's toothbrush to Simon's whip, which is a very versatile weapon in Super Castlevania 4.

My idea would be to increase the range on the forward and down attacks. Another idea that might work to make the toothbrush more versatile is to give Colgate the ability to hit enemies with the toothbrush when she spins it around. With a relatively small hitbox (compared to the normal attacks with range increase) it would be a good defensive maneuver.
After that, make the enemies harder: give them more difficult patterns (Cockatrices are nothing compared to Medusa Heads), let them take more damage and put them in spots where they're really hard to reach.
Doing all that will definitely change the way the game is played, but I think it'll be more versatile, a little tougher but most of all: more fun!

I think the spinhit could be really broken (especially if the range isn't increased) right now which is why the enemies would need to be more difficult. You'll have to test it and try it out yourself first.

tl;dr: Game feels easy even though it isn't, look to Castlevania for (more) inspiration on how to make enemies harder and make Colgate's brush more effective.

>>36481
Damn, Thirtyfour...have you been learning /show/'s ways of text walling?

Anyways you kinda broke your own logic a little.

>give Colgate the ability to hit enemies with the toothbrush when she spins it around.
Oh...you aren't referring about the ranged spin attack which takes up magic.
So like...when you smash the Up arrow key in order to make the toothbrush spin at Colgate's location.

>I think the spinhit could be really broken (especially if the range *isn't* increased) right now which is why the enemies would need to be more difficult.
>broken = overpowered/cheap.
>the enemies would need to be more difficult.
>if the range is *not* increased. (waaaat?)
>if the range *is* increased. (fixed it for you)

That was a pretty damn good secret.

Video related: Just replace Piccolo with Colgate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1zjyTM7rbJs#t=116s

>>36482
The Hoof of the Text Wall has been passed on for 2000 years I just really like typing. Y'know, words...

Don't really know what to say

It was fun, that's for sure, but it did have a good amount of glitches too =/

>>36481
I was getting a Castlevania vibe from it too

Very nice game! :D

Wow, this is a really great game with quite a few secrets to be found. I especially liked the improvements on the backstory and cutscenes. Nice work!

I have to agree with the other comments about the accidental brush throws though. It seems a different combination would be better (maybe down,up,X?).

Here are some bugs and errors I've noticed (many spoilers ahead)

Note: I'm late to the party and only played the current version with all the previous fixes. Also, none of these bugs were too distracting from the game.

If I just to the left of the shrine where the rainbow of light is (onto the rock), I die immediately.

There seems to be some clipping errors inside the cave, especially when clocked up. (See picture for a platform that I've fallen through many times, espcially right after obtaining the rainbow.)

If I clockd up on the platform containing the "boss" sign, I am teleported to the boss level (and not clocked up).

My hit area seems a bit too big a times (that is, its too easy to hit enemies). For example, if I aim up on below the second platform with owlbears (immediately to the right of Trixie), I can hit an owlbear that is above and behind me.

"single handedly" should be "single hoofedly" on Trixie's balloon (or is Lyra secretly in this game too?).

I couldn't get the "Silhouette of a horse" cutie mark stated here >>36435 despite having died in all four forms in that game.

I'm also unsure if triggering the extra conversation with Trixie, by buying every at once, is supposed to give me mark or not (but I didn't get one).

If I visit Trixie on the second platform rather than the top platform, the screen keeps shaking a bit after my visit (possibly because of where the platform is placed).

The combo counter seems to behave a bit strangely. Letting go of left and right resets the counter and falling on the ground resets the counter. This seems unusual since when I'm racing from one end of the ever-free forest to the cave in a single Clock Up, my counter gets reset at each of the two mounds. I feels like there should be separate counters for the brush and stomp attacks or my counter should always be 0 when on the ground (thus ruining the 64x on the two timber wolves at the end).

A minor issue is that if I visit both Doctor Hooves and Derpy as toothpaste, I get the conversation about Colgate asking where's Derpy (despite meeting her as toothpaste).

And if I jump into the boss level as toothpaste, I'm automatically turned back to normal Colgate (not technically a bug, I guess since it would otherwise be impossible to win).

Sometimes, my jump height temporarily is reduced when fighting the Ursa Minor for some reason.

I also get the following errors when running the game in browser or off of dragon-mango.com in the stand alone player. However, these issues may be due to me running the badly supported Linux version of flash player. (I'm running version 11.1.102.55 for the stand alone player.)

When entering the boss level, before entering the Ursa Minor's cave, the game "freezes" (I see the level with no Colgate). I have to right click on the window and hit "play" to get to the boss (skipping the cutscene and introduction).

When the Ursa Minor is defeated, the screen turns white but the battle continues (and I can even die). Again, if I right click on the window and hit "play", I get to the Ursa Major battle, skipping the cutscene (but the boss' name appears this time).

If I leave to the cave, I get the same error Storm Vision described in >>36434 (hitting "play" in this case puts me back into the cave).

I should also note that none of these errors occur if I play locally so maybe its some kind of synchronization problem or race condition (but again, maybe its just the flash player acting up).

Why do you have to make the last boss so hard? It's really frustrating that I can't outrun him so he kills me so easily.

>>36559

That's why it's called a "boss", you know.

Hint: if you -really- mean the -last- boss, don't outrun him. Get into his mouth instead

Sorry, I meant the first boss. I got confused by which boss was which.

But still, this game is far more difficult and frustrating than your other games.

I'm sorry if I sound rude, but this is just how I felt during the whole game.

>>36563

It's frustrating at first, but once you learn the boss's rhythm, you can actually beat him no problems (>>36429 was my first try with the CM system in, but my.... what... 70th?, 80th?, try at the boss).

What I do is poke eye, trip him, and walk away while he's belly up, constantly attacking up while walking. When he recovers and does his jump, attack up lands on his eye instantly. Lather rinse repeat. Takes a bit of practice, but it's doable.

>>36562

Well, that may be so, but the bosses in the other games weren't nearly as hard.

It was fun fighting them because they weren't too hard.

The bosses in this game are a totally different story.

And once again, I just want to say how bothersome it is that you can't run in this game but you can run in the other games.

First of all, great, super duper job. Witty, fun, challenging at times, so many little extras, so much flavor and atmosphere. The Poison Joke, amazing. It felt like silly Castlevania with a pony and a toothbrush. I could sit here and sing your praises all day, but instead I'm going to be a poop tell you all the little things that I think could have been better.

*The combat system was a little shallow. The brush spins when you switch directions and it's really cool, fun, interesting, and usefull, let the player do that more easily.
*The brush throw was unreliable or sometimes happened when I didn't mean it to.
*Sometimes enemies walked behind things they shouldn't have.
*Sometimes I'd want to jump extra high and I'd have to stand around waiting for my magic to recharge. This breaks flow. Adding a super jump that must be charged or something would help with this.

So after trying to figure out all the secrets I got this CM. This one made me laugh so hard XD [?] To get it, save minty while transformed into toothpaste. [?]

Just tested it, I played the first level and part of the second one, so this is by no means a full review, mainly my first thoughts.

The first thing I noticed was the absence of checkpoints, wich gets frustrating easily. This was especially true in the second level, wich is pretty big and easy to get lost in. Also, when it's necessary to go down, it's often hard to look and see where we're going. The camera should show where it's safe to land without having to crouch.

The combat system is fun, but some abilities may be a bit powerful. The time stop comes to mind. Enemy respawns can also be exploited for points. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it it worth mentioning.

I really liked the graphics and what I saw of the story. The humor was definitely there, and I was kept interesting in what was going to happen. The hidden characters, such as Trixie and Doctor Whooves were also great to see there, and a good motivation for exploration. One thing I would add would be collectibles. They're great at guiding the player through a level, and could potentially replace enemy kills for currency, limiting potential exploits.

Anyways, that's my early thoughts, I might play some more of it later, and will let you know if I see more stuff worth commenting on. Overall, great work.

So i also found a way to get all these items.... and in trixie's shop one of the Items that are not ready at least a slot showed that i bought it. now i dont know if you can actually get these in the demo but after some heavy playing i could not figure out besides what i did. After the saint tooth is the jet pack that lets you dash in mid air but cost magic. now the Mirror icon, i have no idea what that is and i can not figure out how to use it lol. After that is the ancient icon tha you can find normally in the game but this one does nothing unless you find it in game. Finally the last one is a power up for clock up. It makes you faster in clock up (i think) and it also plays a pretty awesome song that I want to know what it is... Anyways i dont know if these items are meant to be gotten in this demo, but i couldn't figure out how to get them without doing what i did. Also the jet pack does not work in the caves but the music when you clock up does stay in there for the cave and if you can do it in the boss fight. To get the items you must press 1-8 on the Number keys. If this was not meant to be found i do apologize but at least i am reporting it.

>>36585
Forgot to mention if you want to use the jet pack you need to press down and jump. anyways have fun and let me know if somepony figures out how to use the mirror looking item. As for now i am taking a break my eyes are tired from palying this for a couple of hours.

My concerns are pretty much the same as everypony elses: Platforming is weird, the Ursa Minor would damage me by getting up (Maybe it should've hopped away), Timberwolves are undodgable, and the controls to throw the toothbrush is weird (I'd waste my magic if I didn't want to use it and I couldn't throw it when I wanted to), not to mention clock up doesn't seem to be as useful as I'd hope.

On the bright side, the toothbrush can be a nice weapon, especially since you can aim and throw it. The story is great and I think I prefer the use of background ponies instead of the mane 6. Everything looks great and the voice actress really gave the game more personality. And the battle against the ursa major was a great use of 'clock up'.

Can't wait to see what is released next and I hope its pretty polished.

This game compelled me to make a post, I love the platforming projects that have been made and especially this one due to the various attacks you can perform!

Some of the glitches have already been mentioned, I ran into the blank screen one where if you tried to backtrack from the cave back to the forest.

For the Ursa Minor, it took me a few deaths, but I eventually found a pattern to poke, spin brush, run, poke as he lands, repeat. In my opinion, he needs a bit of delay when getting back up, or perhaps it would be nice if he were to not hurt you as he got up and move away first before becoming hittable and back.

Although I knew I needed to get the tooth from the Major, seeing how you beat the Minor, it's hard to think that you'd have to let yourself get eaten. There should be some kind of hint.

This is probably just me, but due to my computer having some fun time lagging once in a while, enemies and I can fall through the floor =S It doesn't happen as much compared to the last two at least, I kept falling into nowhere in the winter one!

Hmm... it seems that if I try to walk out of the cave to go back to the first part of the Everfree, it drops me into some start-filled oblivion. I need that Energy Crystal. DX
And I always seem to get lost in the cave as well. But that's more of a sign of how bad I am at cave maze levels.

awesome game. trixie was a good addition too

>>36324
The game is pretty awesome! I kept wishing I could actually run, but I get that it would lower the significance of clock-up somewhat.

However, I did encounter one really large bug. During the second boss fight, while moving right, the stage just...stopped. I mean, it kept scrolling, but platforms stopped. So I jumped off the edge, and the boss just wandered past me. Had to totally reset.

Colgate is my favorite pony <3
This game therefore is my favorite game <3

Where's Minty

when im at the ursa major, i cant jump, she wont respond to the jump key at all =/

very nice game, good old arcade things...
quite a few BG characters hiding around map too.
I don't know how I can defeat Ulsa minor though, i poke its nose then hit its tummy but it pounces on me before I can make escape..

How do you find Minty?

needed the new pinkie mysterey episode in there

>>36598

You can find Minty by finding the green sock in the lower area of the cave level, and jumping into the pit to the right of it.

Okay, so played this quite a bit because I kept on dying.

So, here are my thoughts.

It tends to be annoying that I can't double-jump.

Another problem is the fact that sometimes my jump isn't enough to reach the other platform, and I fall to my death.

I can't reach the boss, because the game keeps freezes on me.

Too little check points!

It seems you have to Grind for points to even buy anything of Trixie's things. I just skipped that and went right.

Another problem is the fact that there are no invincible frames.

I also tend to cause her special move "Spinning Toothbrush of DOOM" to occur without me wanting to.

Another problem is that the hit detection is a bit off.

Sometimes when I jump on the enemy, I take damage and they don't. It's annoying when it happens.

The re spawning enemies are annoying. I get their purpose, but I died trying to get across the disappearing titles because I was forced to attack them or die.

Everything else I like, but it feels that there are some problems that add up to cause a lot of problems.

  Is this what monsters do in their free time?

(Also the hitbox or whatever the edges of a background object is called on the platforms are ridiculously small.)

Not embedding? Whatever, I'll just link it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR2fRAf7WHE&context=C4da4644ADvjVQa1PpcFOo9RUVd1X1pBqrwCpdpULsUTavNlvUxbI=

If the creators of this game are still here, I just want to tell you what a fantastic job you did! I love platforming, I know good platforming, THIS was a super fun platformer! The writing was hilarious the levels and bosses where challenging the animation was top notch, as a matter of fact if you had a pony name, that's what it would be, Top Notch! Seriously though! Loved it! Gonna play it some more! Hope you'll eventually create your epic, mega-masterpiece game!

>mfw when I saw a Colgate Game! XD

>>36607
Your platforming reminds me of the Shaman King GBA games. I loved them too! Seriously, some people aren't good at platforming so they'll complain the game is hard, I was able to complete it though! XP Also, very intuitive controls, hold down look down, hold up look up! Love it!

one error that may or may not have been mentioned.
if you try to go back through the entrance of the cave to are taken to an area lacking everything but the nightsky background and outdoors background music (I tried attacking and jumping just incase the player and environment textures were invisible but it seems that there is literally nothing there), it is the outside

So I was playing right, I used clockup to mp up and brush a few rock-teeth, and i found the green blip ;D but i beat a lizard after a few skeletons and then used clockup, and it teleported me to the boss. WTF?

Having to use your mind and chosing the right skills for the boss fight (the actual fight) pays off much better for the player than if he had to use his ultimate ability and pwn everything.
I especially loved the secrets and the smart ways you have to reach them.

Guy who teleported to the boss, i went back and beat the ursa's, second ursa was much easier, got "never gives up" (because the first ursa caused me much grief) "master platformer" something, i forget what it was and "I didn't put those in my bag"

I would just like to point out that after talking to Doctor Whooves, Colgate says "What a strange person".

Hey, awesome game. Just wanted to point out a bug I found.

I transitioned from the first forest area to the cave after I got hit by the poison joke and turned into toothpaste. After I entered the cave, I turned around, exited back into what should have been the forest, but was instead blank sky. I was toothpaste the entire time for this.

I got stuck in the wall. The image might not be very helpful, but I was pretty far right in the cave jumping up on platform by a bunch of the skeleton ponies and I got stuck.

I'm really digging the awesome music. Though it would be nice if it could be muted or changed in volume so it can coexist with other stuff running.

I could play this over and over again! epic game!

This game is so fun!! The dialogue is hilarious and I like all of the different things that can happen. Great story too. I like how different the gameplay is as Colgate versus as AJ in the earlier game. Please keep up the good work! Can't wait to play more!

Oh one more thing, Is there a way to download the game as a single .swf file?

I've found Minty and Derpy, but I'm having a hard time finding The Doctor. Can anypony help, please?

Ok, WTF... uh... why cant I do anything? I can click my way through the cutscene, but then... nothing!

>>36626
I've had this same problem, only it seems to be with all of the pony games on dragon-mango.com! I've never had problems with flash before, 'til now...

this happens every time I get to the ursa minor.

I can still die though, it just keeps happening when I continue.

This is seriously the most beautiful thing I've ever witnessed in my life. You don't understand the sheer awe I'm in right now. I just finished getting all of the endings and a good number of the cutie marks (I don't know what they all are).

OH MY GOD.

Just so you know, I got the They Might Be Giants reference. Thumbs up for that (and the entire game).

Also, the long vertical section with skeleton enemies in it reminded me of a vertical section in the 2nd level of ActRaiser

This game is beautiful. And epic. Beautiful and epic.

>>36628
I switched to a different web browser and updated adobe. Worked like charm.

>>36601
Use Clock-Out to make long jumps.

You can easily head-jump some of the critters on level 1 to grind easy cash for the items.


My two major issues right now with the game is the lack of checkpoints (mainly because I'm a Diablo-esque player in which I explore EVERYTHING) and the various bugs. I'll post what I find and how I encounter them soon.

It's about time best-pony got her own... anything. Besides the ask tumblrs.

blehhhh, if you're clocked up when entering the boss area, it freezes

For those who are having difficulty with the toothbrush's range, try this:

* Press X to attack, but just before the toothbrush actually moves forward, press up or down.

* If you press up, the toothbrush will swing in an arc below you, and with good timing it can reach farther down than if you just attack downward normally.

* If you press down (actually hold down), the toothbrush will swing in a wide arc above you. It's especially useful against those flying cockatrices.

* With good timing, both of those attacks can swing far enough to hit behind you.

It might take a bit of practice to find the right timing for maximum range, but it gives quite a bit more flexibility and control over your attacks. Plus, it's just fun and looks cool to swing your toothbrush around in circles, and it adds a little more skill to an already awesome game.

If this wasn't intentional, then I would love for this to be an actual feature (as opposed to getting fixed) as it's more practical and fun than just attacking normally.

oh man , that was sweet, even the ending. most fulfilling game i played since... months.

Pretty fun, but...

Double tapping. Forget it. Now. Replace it with something usable (like, holding down the key or something) because as it is, it's hard to tell whether it works or not.

I also think that "grab ledge" feature would be needed, as many jumps are way too precise.

But pretty fun though.

Brilliant game... once again :)

Just beaten it for the first time (and got ending #4).
Oh boy... so much to do.

Thanks for thinking of those with Z and Y switched on their keyboards.

For some reason C doesn't work during the final boss battle, though.

There is buggy part from it but if i right click and play again it works...It has buggy issues but at least there is a skip part where you can proceed than sticking to the background only thing with the ursula.(I fall down like its a cliff but didn't die)

Hey guys, really glad you're enjoying it.

My apologies to anypony whose game derps in the next couple of minutes - I'm uploading a patch that fixes some of the remaining issues (notably the bottomless pit in the final boss battle.)

I am REALLY happy and grateful for all the comments and suggestions, and will respond properly when I get the chance - right now I'm away for Easter weekend, and my internet time is limited. Sorry!

This is the greatest thing in the history of things. Smooth play control, awesome voice acting, hilarious story and character cameos. Please tell me there's a way to download it, I want this for my own!

>>36655 Hey, If you are still open to comments and suggestions.

How about a way to save your achievements and reply earned endings?

And maybe a small hint section to find hidden unearned cutie marks?

A cutie mark for earning all the other marks in the game would be epic!

Maybe even call it the Cutie Mark Crusader (Cutie mark)

This game is insane! The good insane! But what's next? Sea-ponies!?

For some reason, the two times I have attempted to get to the boss room, the game just completely freezes. It loads a screen (one of the two times it looked like what was supposed to be the boss room), but neither Colgate nor the boss appears, and nothing happens.

On a side note, where is that music for the news segment from? I've heard it somewhere before, and I'm just curious where YOU got it.

Nevermind...the boss worked this time. I really enjoyed your ideas for the boss(es).

Still curious about that news segment music though (I know it's probably in the credits, but I missed the credits and now have to get back to multiple school projects T_T).

>>36511
How do you get that compass cutie mark? That's one of the few on here I haven't gotten yet.

>>36657
http://www.dragon-mango.com/ponygame/colgate.swf

File -> Save Page As -> "Colgate.swf"

I suppose you could have the HTML instead but I like fullscreen poni.

Also, heya there PresentPerfect!

>>36650
Did you patch this already?
Didn't happen to me on second playthrough.

>>36671
It's "Archaeologist". At the beginning of the cave sequence, stop time and jump onto the heads of the flying cockatrices to reach a clifftop far to your upper left. (It's tricky, and will take multiple times.)
You'll get a bonus power-up and the cutie mark.

Just played this. Great fun, and barring a few minor annoyances, I didn't have a huge problem beating it.

I did notice that if you go left when you drop into the boss fight hole, you walk for quite a while, then walk into the graphic from the far right. Might wanna fix that.

I also felt that the magic was pretty costly until you had the recharger. It's horribly difficult to hit any of the charging enemies without at least one use of magic, given their long grace period after an injury. Apples helped but seemed pretty darn rare, especially in the caverns.

I beat both bosses in clock up, which probably wasn't an intentional possibility; nevertheless, having C.U. cancelled by hitting the Ursa Minor seemed illogical. Not sure whether that's worth changing.

As somepony else said, the second boss seemed like a runaway boss. I only ended up in the target location after jumping while clocked up and about to be stamped on. Makes you wonder what route I took to get up there...

Still, great work, as expected from Triple P. I look forward to more!

>>36674

I tried it a few times and I can't figure it out. Can somepony make a YouTube video or something?

Never mind, I found the music for the news segment. For anypony who cares, it's "Election Campaign" on The Music Bakery's website. The version that appears in the game is an extremely short loop; the song goes off into some fun flute and strings if you care to check the full version out.

The controls aren't working for me. Colgate isn't moving at all. Does anypony have any idea what's going on?

You should do a Fluttershy game in the future

here are some improvements i think should be there:
-more attack types
-more attacks that use mana
-more variety of attacks, such as pressing the attack key while the brush is spinning does a different attack than after it finishes spinning
-tweak the sound to make it sound more natural
-tweak movement to be smooth, maybe add obtainable abilities like a double jump

>>36679

Try clicking on the game's area of the page, then try the controls. Since it's flash, it stops reacting to input when you leave the window/click outside of it. Happened accidentally to me too a couple times.

>>36684
Ok. It wasn't working in Google Chrome, for some reason. It works fine in Firefox. Thanks!

To the people the people whose games freeze, for the moment, you can try to click the game window with the right mouse button and then choose "play" from that menu. Unfortunately, this may make you miss some cutscenes, but at least let you continue.

>>36655
I've played a later version since my last post at >>36554 and it seems that a number of bugs were already fixed then (and in-game instructions added). But I haven't noticed any significant difference between that version and the third(?) version posted after >>36655 (and I'm quite sure they are all different since the swfs differ).


Half the time I'm still getting the error a few people described when exiting the cave back to the forest.

The post Ursa Minor bug seems to be fixed (so I get the cutscene afterward with no problem) but I now get an empty black screen when entering the boss stage (where I should walk to the right).

Is there a hard limit of 10 cutie marks in the report? I'm quite sure that in the top picture, I should get the maple leaf (although this is the old version) and in the bottom one, I should get the no rhyming one (because of the ending I'm sure I should) and the tooth for brushing all stones. Not that I should look forward to getting the Cutie Pox.

Again, these might have nothing to do with other errors reported here.

I spend way to much time on this... great game!
good characters, story, graphics, music and feeling
<- I hope, I have found all and the 4 endings
I don't know what triggers the different CMC...

some things I've noticed:
You can talk twice (multiple times?) to romana, but only the first time make sense
If you free Minty and go a second time in the pit you end up at the boss fight, maybe you should be teleported back to the sock position
If you freed Minty and go back to the entrance, some cockatrices fly behind the pillar in the background (not tested, if reproducible)
Sometimes I slipped between the platform and the next wall.. all the way down....

>>36688
Come to think of it, I did earn some cutie mark as well that didn't show (IIRC I got, Never Give Up, Master Platformer, Me Got Kicked in the Head Backstage, Fu-Forget You Ah Can Eat All These Apples, Healthy Eater, Magically Delicious, I Didn't Put These in My Bag, Clockwise, and Minty Fresh Heroine. I should've also got No Poet's Society, Plot Device, and Dedicated Dentist.) You might want to fix that.

>>36565
Sorry for the silly question, but how do you pause and unpause?

>>36691
Press Space

What are all of the cutie marks anyway? I've gotten a lot over the course of a few playthroughs, but there's no indication of how many there are. Here's what I've found so far:

Never Give Up- Die X amount of times (I don't have the patience to test any of these numbers)
Captain Scarlet- Beat the game without dying
Invincible- Beat the game without getting hit
I Didn't Put These in My Bag- Beat the game without buying anything from Trixie
Clockwise- Beat the game without using Clock Up.
Healthy Eater- Eat X amount of red apples
Magically Delicious- Eat X amount of green apples
Fu- Forget You Ah Can Eat All These Apples- Eat X amount of total apples
No Poet's Society- Talk to Zecora about 5-6 times (until she yells at you)
Minty Fresh Heroine- Rescue Minty
Tube of Pure Awesome- Rescue Minty as a toothpaste tube
Plot Device- Talk to Doctor Whooves as a toothpaste tube
Master Platformer- Cross the vanishing platforms section.
Dedicated Dentist- Clean all 5 tooth-shaped rocks

and then the Archeologist one mentioned above. Are there any others?

>>36693
Ack, I forgot one.

Me Got Kicked in the Head Backstage- Make contact with a cockatrice so that you fall into a pit as a stone.

>>36690

Wait, I only listed 9. I forget what the 10th one was (it might've been Plot Device), but the point is, the display cap needs to be raised a bit if possible.

>>36672
Ohai Numbers. :D And thanks!

To the creator, I would totally buy an executable too, because I know this isn't 100% finished.

>>36625
Middle path, second hill, hop the steps to the top.
There should be a flat plateau that ends quickly.
A TARDIS will appear. I found out that Romona or the Doctor may appear, Romona about 1/4 of the time

>>36698
Romana only appears after you've spoken with Doctor Whooves.

ending 1 colgate opens clinic expectantly
-complete the game without talking to either dr.hooves or derpy.

ending 2 minuette resume paradox
-complete the game without talking to dr.hooves but talk to derpy and read the letter.

ending 4 clinic destruction
- complete the game talking to DR hooves and either talking to derpy as toothpaste or not talking to derpy.

ending 3 dr hooves and derpy conversation
- complete the game after talking to DR hooves then talking to derpy and reading the letter, OR talk to derpy first and then talk to dr hooves.

modified ending
-bother zecora enough to make her not respond to your door knocks

modified ending
-save minty


Achievements (incomplete)

clockwise (picture of stopwatch) beat game without using clock up ability.

plot devide (picture of the sonic screwdriver) turn self into pony from toothpaste by dr.hooves.

I didn't put these in my bag (bon-bon's cutie mark) beat game withou buying anything from trixie

master platformer (megaman in jumping pose) encounter disapparing platorms? or either don't fall off a platform into your doom in the caves.

no poet society (scroll with cicle and line through it) talk to zecora enough to make her not respond to your door knocks.

never give up (blue maple leaf with white outline) Die a unknown (6 or more) times.

shrine of the ancient goddess (a compass-like object)
Find the secret shrine. (look in secrets to find out)

SECRETS

1. When entering the cave, there is a flock of cocktrices that will fly right to left.
If you activate your clock up ability just right you will be able to freeze them such that they will form a stairs to a secret area high up to the right.

When you talk to the shrine you get a short dialog screen, then you will get a powerful buff that will make mana a non-factor. (super fast mana regen)

2. When you encounter the green sock. fall into the nearest death-pit to your right. You won't die, you instead fall into a boss battle where you save minty.

>>36712
You didn't explain where this shrine is. Is it in the secret area up to the right?

>>36712
Never mind, I got it. Here's some things I've discovered that maybe you haven't:

-You can also get the 1st ending by talking to Doctor Whooves, then Derpy, and choosing not to read the letter.
-You can also get the 4th ending by talking to Derpy as a toothpaste tube (who will not recognize you and leave to find you), then Doctor Whooves
-There's been 16 achievements found so far, I listed pretty much every achievement except for the Archaelogist one above.
-If you go back to where Doctor Whooves is after talking to him, Metal Gear Colgate will appear from the TARDIS and claim to be from the future, then reveal herself to be Romana.
-Trixie gets all beady-eyed if you buy all of her stuff (not sure if you need to buy all of her items in one go or not).
-There are five ways to cure Poison Joke:
1. Die
2. Buy a carton of milk from Trixie (it only costs 150 points so it's very cheap).
3. Talk to Doctor Whooves
4. Rescue Minty (she dumps water or something on you to turn you back to normal)
5. Reach the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major's lair (the game isn't programmed to allow you to fight the Ursas as a toothpaste tube, and even if you did, they'd kick your flank into next Tuesday).

Never mind, I got it. Here's some things I've discovered that maybe you haven't:

-You can also get the 1st ending by talking to Doctor Whooves, then Derpy, and choosing not to read the letter.
-You can also get the 4th ending by talking to Derpy as a toothpaste tube (who will not recognize you and leave to find you), then Doctor Whooves
-There's been 16 achievements found so far, I listed pretty much every achievement except for the Archaelogist one above.
-If you go back to where Doctor Whooves is after talking to him, Metal Gear Colgate will appear from the TARDIS and claim to be from the future, then reveal herself to be Romana.
-Trixie gets all beady-eyed if you buy all of her stuff (not sure if you need to buy all of her items in one go or not).
-There are five ways to cure Poison Joke:
1. Die
2. Buy a carton of milk from Trixie (it only costs 150 points so it's very cheap).
3. Talk to Doctor Whooves
4. Rescue Minty (she dumps water or something on you to turn you back to normal)
5. Reach the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major's lair (the game isn't programmed to allow you to fight the Ursas as a toothpaste tube, and even if you did, they'd kick your flank into next Tuesday).

Gotta ask.

Where the HECK is the Doctor? Can't find him at all.

So... I bought everything at Trixie's as a toothpaste, went into the cave as a toothpaste and fell to my death as a toothpaste. After respawning, I left the cave - and the intro's sky image loaded, with the UI but my character was nowhere to be found and I wasn't able to execute controls either.

>>36724
Actually, no. It was the standard sky background.

Here's a peculiar bug of some sort. See the image for the areas corresponding to the numbers. (I know, the backgrounds are not matched up. I should have taken an easier approach.)
Below the enterance of the cave at the apple tree (3), you can climb up to the left in clock up mode. Doing so and passing a point (1) will result in you teleporting up (2) and then dropping below from the air. If you've left the apples knocked onto the ground, they'll also teleport to the top (4).

>>36720


right upper side of caves , he's of course in tardis.

>>36724
That happens about 2/3 of the time you exit the cave. To fix it, right click and press "Play" and you'll end up back in the cave.

Arghhh am I the only one finding the first boss impossible!? (Obviously not since many of you are discussing the second boss lol). I must just be really bad at this game but I am finding it so ridiculously hard to defeat the first boss.

I concur with previous posts about making the double tap attack much more consistent, since I never really know when it is going to work :/
However I must congratulate you on a such a good game, I love platform games and this has loads of small touches that make it really interesting for fans of the show. Great Work :)

>>36736

I had a lot of trouble with him, too. I eventually beat him with only half a heart left.
I just poke him in the eye, quickly do the double-tap attack, let him hit me (since avoiding him is impossible), poke him in the eye again and rinse and repeat.

>>36736
There's a sort of luck element to it. What I do is poke him in the eye, throw the brush, and run like hell. If he turns around afterwards, you're safe, but if not he'll immediately jump closer and often times you get hit. It's not that hard, but it does take a bit of practice.

>>36738
Obviously you got the Heart Armor from Trixie. I'd like to see you try and beat him without it. You'd get pwned after 2-3 hits. Maybe even after 1 if you're unlucky.

>>36743

...But why would I do that?
And for that matter, why would you like to see me try that?

M-M-MONSTER WIN!!!!11

>>36689
That image is going to be a handy reference.

>>36693
>>36694
I don't think there are any more than those listed in the image.

>>36695
My guess is that you also got 10. From the collected images, it looks like there's an ordering on all Cutie Marks so that it always shows the first 10 (out of however many you've gotten). This would make me think that you got Plot Device, which comes before Minty Fresh Heroine.

I think its possible to get 13 Cutie Marks (which wouldn't even fit in the screen in the current layout).

Note that we can even tell the order for some of the mutually exclusive ones (like Archaeologist and Clockwise since Archaeologist is before Plot Device and Clockwise is after).

Its going to be much harder to know the order for Captain Scarlet/Invincible and the apple Cutie Marks though (anypony wants to eat many apples but never die a single time?).

>>36689
>>36701

Despite the number of playthroughs, I never went back to meet Romana before reading the last few comments.

I also found this fifth game over screen when I played again, which I though was hilarious.

>>36745
Because using the Heart Armor is for n00bs.

>>36754

Well, aren't you clearly more superior than me, then.

>>36756
Sorry, I didn't mean to be so insulting (I always have problems finding the right word for things a lot). What I mean is that it gives you a bigger feeling of accomplishment if you can do things without handicaps.

Excuse me, but would you ever consider putting your game on Newgrounds? You could also make the "cutie marks" function as Newgrounds achievements, which would be quite nice.

>>36624
>>36672
I've tried the colgate.swf, but it doesn't work allone, stops loading at 50%, so I've dig a bit deeper.
Here is a download link for the game.
http://www.mediafire.com/?6i9a0ndc2r95d14

Should be version 1.4 and maybe some files are missing, but I'm not the author, so I don't know...
If the author doesn't want a link, please say so and I'll put it down.

Wow. You guys are awesome. But I'm sure you all knew that already. :)

I'm amazed with the thoroughness you guys have shown in picking the game apart, and finding both secrets that you were intended to find, and those that you weren't 'cause they're not done yet. :)

As you have already uncovered everything on it, I am honoured to present you with this gift, allowing you to more easily share your vast knowledge with newcomers. Use it well.

Once again, I'm away from home for the long weekend - my access to the internet and my other resources is less than usual, so I apologize if I'm less help than I would otherwise be. I'm driving home tomorrow, so hopefully I can do this a little better then.

In the meantime, I'll try and give some quick answers to some questions:

First, again, thanks so much to all of you for the encouragement, the criticisms, and the bug reports. It does my heart good to know people like what I've made... and it does the game good for me to know when things are horribly broken.

>>36770 - I actually want to make the whole thing available for download ASAP, but I was hoping to fix all the bugs and add some of the requested features first.

I would like to ask everypony to please wait until I put it up for download officially, but in the meantime, I can't stop anypony from downloading this version, I guess. (If it's the whole game, there should be 18 .swf files in there.)

Incidentally, the infamous "exiting the cave" bug seems to be entirely caused by loading lag, so playing locally should remove that entirely.

>>36767 - I'd considered putting the game on Newgrounds, but can't. It's made up of several SWF files, and also well above their five megabyte limit.

It IS up on several other flash game sites, though, who nicely wrote and asked me permission.


Regarding the cutie marks: I'll save you the trouble. There are (at present) 17 possible Cutie Marks to get. They are indeed always presented in the same order. And yes, the current twelve spaces is not enough, especially since the current version has a bug that it only uses ten of them.

More bugfixes, tweaks and so on to be added when I get home, eventually culminating in a massive 2.0 upgrade with some new content once I get everything figured out. (But I will have a downloadable of the current version before then.)

In the meantime, thanks for your patience, everypony, and I'm really glad you're (mostly) enjoying the game - and for those of you who aren't, I'll try to address your concerns in the next upgrade too.

Brushie Brushie~

>>36775

The only thing I didn't like from this game is that I was initially afraid you might've ditched Applejack. Luckily, you haven't. =)

17 cutie marks? So there's still one left to find. I wonder what it could be. Also, I just figured this out, but in the Ursa Major battle, you can make him open his mouth back up by hitting his uvula (the drop shaped thingy hanging from his mouth in case you don't know biology that well).

One other thing I've been meaning to bring up, somepony on Equestria Daily claims there's a Debug Mode in the game, but doesn't know the exact combo ("it seemed to involve mashing shift, z, x, and something else").

For a quick, relaxed play through, I didn't have the patience to beat the game. The art, animation, dialogue, music, etc were all great, but after dying as much as I did, I preemptively ended it upon remembering that there was a boss to kill at the end.
I felt like I needed a lot more HP, or some check points here and there (specifically in the cave). Having to restart at the beginning of a level after a couple cheap hits felt a bit much - especially when you don't have a map or any form of guidance. If there was a way to get Trixie's items, I didn't catch it. All I saw was grinding on the monsters in her area (ugh) or backtracking (eww) and hope you don't die on the way there.
So yea, other than all that it seems great, it just needs some checkpoints and maybe not such a harsh point penalty for dying. I've never been one to play games as an exercise of patience or monotony.

>>36785

Trixie is very close to the beginning. When you encounter the first poison joke, there's a series of small platforms that goes up. Follow those platforms and you'll eventually reach Trixie.

>>36775

I just thought of one single thing I actually didn't like. Colgate walks a bit too slow. It sometimes makes it tedious to navigate through the levels -- especially parts you're revisiting.

>>36324
Great game! :D Awesome indeed!
Just one thing that disturbed me, the throw brush attack. At times when I want to use it I end up just doing a normal attack and taking damage, in my opinion it would be better to set the hotkey to something else or allow for a slightly longer time between pushing the buttons.

>>36738
>>36742
Thanks for your help! I ended up defeating him with the help of Trixie's heart thing, which I hadn't realised was actually attainable. Phewww, I was beginning to think I would never get past him :)

Just completed it, and I have to say, I really loved it, as frustrating as it was (as I suppose most good games are), you have made a superb game here, and I can't wait for the downloadable version :) I also love the story you have made around Colgate :D

Just finished this game!

Before trying it I thought it would be game with a pony in it just to have ponies in it, but could I be more wrong?

This game is one of the best flash games I've ever played, I'd say if it was longer it would've been on par with Cave Story and that's quite the feat.

TL;DR
This game is very very well made and must be played by everypony

>>36791

You're welcome! ^^

> I also love the story you have made around Colgate :D
Though a good story, I saw the 'plot twist' coming from a mile away. =P

Just a glitch, haven't read the thread so not sure if it's been said but:

If you go into the first cave and right back out you end up in space, it's just black sky, then you fall off screen and nothing happens.

>>36798

Yup. Been mentioned quite a few times. ^^
It's apparently a loading bug and not a glitch in the programming or anything. It's just slow to load and the character gets place in space before the level is fully loaded.
...At least, that's what I understood from it.

I stood on the highest platform by Trixie's blimp, then I jetpack'd over as much as I could to the right.

Where the hell am I?

>>36800

Shortly after this screenshot, my character disappeared from the screen.

Sir you did an awesome job and awesome awesome awesomesauce. It was really really good. Very great game. Etc.. What I am trying to say is that it is a very good game I love you.

Let's see what I can repost so Marcus doesn't forget some suggestions(unless he already made a list for things to take into consideration)

About those different types of attacks...
>>36643
And the jumping could be increased a little.

-Make Colgate a more dependable and less tedious character.
-Faster movement, a more reliable jump and attack.
(more attacks/spells that use mana?)
-The throwing toothbrush attack gets set off accidentally, try using a different key combo or just one hotkey like S,D,F,V.
-Same for the Clock Up, also a message telling you to not attempt to use it on the Ursa Minor would be good.
(Letting the player activate clock up without having to charge it all the way to the max?)
-Checkpoints.
-A second way of buying items, inside the cave perhaps?
-The jetpack doesn't let you cancel it when you want in order to land where you desire.
-A damage location centered on the toothbrush, present at all times?
(Can you make it so the bones thrown by the skeleton ponies be destroyed by normal attacks?)
-Make it easier/faster to see what's below you.

I saw that you made the Timberwolves pounce way more often and faster in the last update.
By the way...you can sometimes waste double the mana when trying to perform the Throwing Toothbrush attack.
You could just increase Colgate's jump and range attack in order to deal damage to enemies while bouncing on them.
The Ursa Minor could probably be outrun by the jetpack.

The platforms at the first boss should be shaded out a little so it doesn't give the feeling that you can jump on them(unless you're gonna do that in a later update)

How do you use the Jetpack?

>>36841
Click 4 while playing the game.

>>36841
No, sorry; press down and jump at the same time to use the Jetpack.

The game is not loading :'( from 0 goes all the way to 83at once and then stops right there and doesn't continue to load. :'(

>>36827

Considering there's no way to obtain the "jetpack" normally (that I know of), I don't think asking for better support for it helps. Seems to me like a bit of leftover code/graphics Mark forgot to disable the input to.

>>36861
I asked him that because he's gonna implement it in a later update from how much I know.

By the way...
Who here uses ZX and who uses XC?
Z&C=Jump
X=Attack

>>36863
I use ZX. Also, has anypony found that 17th cutie mark?

>>36775

Level map! Very nice.

> Incidentally, the infamous "exiting the cave" bug seems to be entirely caused by loading lag, so playing locally should remove that entirely.

I'm not sure if this is an attempt to fix this bug in one of the latest version, but I've notices that it loads

music-cave
1stboss-01-prelude

upon entering the Cave of Wisdom and I'm only guessing that 1stboss-01-prelude is to try to avoid the current error by loading earlier. But once you jump off the right cliff towards the boss, it loads

1stboss-01-prelude
1stboss-02-boss

So it seems 1stboss-01-prelude is loaded again (rather than using the previously already loaded file).

If you are interested, I could try to take a look at it. Feel free to send Actionscript snippets to
MyUsername at derpymail dot org


And of course, I don't think we are in that much of a hurry to get things fixed since its still very playable.

>>36777
>17 cutie marks? So there's still one left to find.
I believe the 17th cutie mark is
WORST DAY EVER
but I could be wrong. If I'm right, I think there's a bug preventing us from getting it.

>>36716
There's another way to cure Poison Joke.
Go to Zecora's to have a soak.

But admittedly I cheated to find this.


>>36827
I have to say, I disagree with every suggestion here except for the toothbrush throwing combination. This is unless the game is behaving significantly differently on your system (but it doesn't look like it).

Although a number of these changes would make the game easier and this installment is the hardest of the trio, I actually enjoyed the challenge in this one. I think you have plenty of resources at your disposal in this game if you just think about it a little bit.


And why wouldn't you use Clock Up against the Ursa Minor? I use it all the time. When I poke the Ursa in the eye while clocked up, I deal damage but the beast doesn't fall.


>>36829
I agree with this suggestion though. I tried to jump on those for a while too.

>>36869
How do you get that last Cutie Mark and why can't we get it?

Also, I should've figured you could go back to Zecora for a Poison Joke cure. Why did I not think of that?

>>36871

It's actually what I thought of first. When I walked into the Poison Joke, curious of what would happen, I walked back to Zecora immediately.

It's so unfair! :'( i want to play too! but it is still not loading! WHYYYY! D: i was able to play the demo and holiday special just fine, but I can't play this one :'(.

>>36878

Have you tried clearing your internet cache and then try again?

one thing I noticed... if you annoy Zecora to where she won't talk to you anymore, then get turned into toothpaste and go back to her, she turns you back into a pony, but then she doesn't close her door. She just stands there with the door open.

If you want some original music for this game now, hit me up. You've got my info.

>>36871

I can't. I think there's a bug preventing us from getting it, but I could also be wrong about the 17th mark.

I hurt a big dragon and it's turn invisible (so not flashing invisible)

After rescuing Minty, when you go down into her cave thingy a second time, I got stuck in some weird... dark... place... thing. Help?

>>36983
It's supposed to send you to the boss arena, but if you get stuck in an empty area, right click and press "Play".

>>36985
Thank you!! :)

>>36324
Looks like somepony is a fan of Kamen Rider Kabuto

(Minty fresh adventure)
oh god! i love the person who made this game!

there is few bugs i noticed, like in the boss (where the sign points down), the boss didn't appear and i could't move... i think i fell from the world
also i heard that if you come back from the cave, it might show pause menu thingy

thank you for making this game
thank you for using my favourite pony Colgate/Minuette in it :)

i thought i will earn some cutie mark for beating the game without losing any lives.

sadly , i lost ONE , and got no cutie mark ;_;

Waiting, waiting waiting like a baws... for the 2.0 update.
Have an image.

D'oh! I thought I replied with answers to some of these a couple of days ago! Guess it got lost somehow. My bad.

Storm of answers incoming!

First off, and important: Version 2.0 is still awhile off (sorry, other responsibilities to take care of), but a new version is up that adds a few things.

Most significantly, THE GAME IS NOW DOWNLOADABLE! Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to make sure it was as bug-free as possible before taking this step.

The download version has higher-quality audio due to not having to stream, so enjoy!
(And please feel free to repost it everywhere to save my bandwidth. I was going to upload it to Mediafire, but it seems like the site has changed and now requires a login. What the..? :P)


Other tweaks in this version (other than the sound, the online one and the downloadable version are identical):

- A new item has been added to Trixie's shop.

- The area before the first boss now has a cave-in on the far left side, preventing the looping back-of-cave bug.

- The platforms in the first boss' area ARE now possible to stand on, although why you would want to is a mystery to me.

- An options menu has been added, that lets you adjust the quality and turn the music on or off. (In case you want to listen to Colgate's Quest while playing. ;)

- The first boss has been massively nerfed. I really didn't think he was that hard, but watching a few Lets Plays of my game on Youtube have really opened my eyes. The biggest change is that his jumping range has been decreased - he will now narrowly miss you if you're running away from him, as opposed to landing right on top of you.


Several other additions to the game that I've made over the past few days WERE directly because of comments and suggestions made in this thread, and I'm very sorry that my earlier response went missing so you weren't properly thanked.

In particular, those of you who pointed out that the second boss battle was unintuitive. Thanks for the heads-up!

Rather than make his mouth an obvious target (because I want what happens to be a horrifying surprise the first time somepony plays the game), I instead scattered rubble on the ground to force the player to climb the platforms. But I would never have thought if it if not for you guys.

The last cutie mark was indeed bugged. You were SUPPOSED to get it for being turned to stone while toothpaste, but due to a scripting error, you instead had to be turned to stone while toothpaste AND DIE that way, like the Stone Pony cutie mark. It's fixed now.

(Oh, BTW, speaking of the Stone Pony, props to the guy who got the reference. Brohoof!)

And last and definitely least, I've added a paypal thingy to the page in case anypony still wants to throw money at the screen. I actually started this game because of my own IRL wisdom tooth operation, with the hope that the ad clicks might pay the bill. (They didn't. Actually, due to the bandwidth use, it ended up costing me money. T-T)

But none of that matters as long as everypony is having fun. That's what's most important ... as long as I've entertained (and slightly frustrated) all you wonderful people, I consider the game a great success.


Oh, and for some direct responses:

>>37002 - Yes, somepony is. And I thought the idea of Colgate being able to Clock Up because of her cutie mark was funny. (And then realized it became ten times funnier with the actual sound effects. And just wait until version 2.0 comes out and you find out what the records in Trixie's shop do. XD)

>>36917 - Your music's in there already! Dozens of folks have been horribly crushed while listening to your epic boss theme. (And you were personally thanked for your awesome title music by one of the people recording a Lets Play on youtube.) Once again, thanks so much for everything you've done already, and I'll be honoured to use more of your music in future games. (Next up: the volcano!)

>>36861 - Yes, just in case there was any doubt, the jetpack was an early idea that has since been cut out. (It's still available via cheatcode in the forest area because it's fun to use there - but as a real item, in the cave, it just breaks everything.)

>>37049 - You're welcome. Thank you for the encouragement ... and your excellent taste in background ponies. Toothpaste pony forever!

>>37149 - Soon, I promise. And I'll do my best to make it worth the wait.


Whew, sorry for the wall of text, everypony! Peace out!

great updates, so these desks HAVE a purpose.

wow, just wow, because i realized it only today. sheesh.

Patricia Lulam... :D , cute. Double Jump makes sense with her toothbrush, at least it's not sammesault in the mid air like in thesemodern games , i dunno.. there should be a second trixie store in the caves so people won't have to backtrack, though it encourages to lazyness.

>>37252
I'm guessing that many people here are savvy enough to use AdBlock or NoScript to block ads, so it's possible that people playing your game on your site don't see the ads.

The artbook and beta brush download dosn't seem to be working at the moment. keep getting a 404 not found message. have the zips not been uploaded yet?

>>37284 - Glad you enjoyed the updates, and noticed "how" she was doing the double-jump. :)

And you're right... I've noticed a lot of people in the various Youtube Lets Plays seem to forget about the shop, or can't be bothered to backtrack. Perhaps I should add the Cutie Mart back in after all ...


>>37315 - Well, they weren't the evil, popuppy, javascripty kind of ads, but yeah, I suppose that might still be a factor. (Also, I think a lot of people just linked straight to the .swf)


>>37356 - *HEADDESK* D'OH!

My bad. Scripting error - forgot that the filenames on my server are case-sensitive.

I just sent an e-mail with the correct links. Sorry for the inconvenience.

>>37357
Are you gonna add a giant spider boss in the update?
Also any approximations on how long it'll take you to make update 2.0?

Love it, love it, love it. Before this game I had only the faintest idea of who Colgate was, but now I think she might be my favorite pony. xD

You're doing God's work, Mark. The community needs more games like this. I wish I could contribute in some way to future projects.

And to think, I may not have noticed a certain pony (Colgate) in the season finale if I didn't play this game.

>>37284

You can always exit the cave, you know.

Nice game but I'm stuck on the change screen after the "boss" sign on the second level.I've tried again but I'm still stuck here. Is there another path to the boss or is it the only one?

>>37604
You need to jump in a hole where a green thinghy is(it's supposedly a sock, not a lilypad).
You'll fight a mini-boss there to save Minty. After you saved Minty and you got sent back up, just jump in the hole again and it'll send you to the ursa minor.

If you plan on doing more platform areas where applejack has to jump mostly by using the double tap run option then can you make an On/Off switch for it? instead of the run getting turning off whenever you stop?

>>37560
That doesn't work for me. Every time I leave the cave, I just get stuck on this blue background screen, and I have to start over. Is it just me?

I noticed that the cave music (Survival Escape) is the full song in the downloadable game, as opposed to a shortened version of the song in the online game. Very nice. ^_^

>>37793
If you get stuck in the blue background, right click and hit "Play" and you'll end up back in the cave, then try again. Usually it'll work after the first few tries.

Are you gonna release the 2.0 update somewhere between 1-14 May?
I feel like searching your whole site just for the volcano level, but I did manage to find something you left behind in the other thread.

http://www.dragon-mango.com/ponygame/index-beta.htm
You should fix this version sometime...I had tons of fun bucking the enemies and apples straight up into the trees and the boss, as well as using rarity against it.

On the Crouch you have her back legs bending the wrong direction ^^ remember horses back legs fold forward when they laydown other then that I AM ADDICTED TO THIS GAME X.x

Kickflank music, amazing comedy, great voice acting, what's not to like?

"CLOHK. OVUH."

Are you gonna make Colgate's normal attack have a longer range? Playing a weak melee character against timberwolves and giant dinoreptiles can become a problem if you run out of magic.

You should merge all your games into one and make it Like Kirby Superstars selection Menu :v

i love it !

i hope there is coming more :D

Hey guys, sorry for the long time without a progress update.
Still doing stuff, I promise!

The 2.0 update is coming very soon. It will add:

- The missing items to Trixie's shop
- Some of the features that people have asked for, and...
- another surprise feature that NOPONY asked for, but I assure you it's amazing. :)

Thanks so much to everypony who's playing the game, and EXTRA thanks to everypony who bought the artbook. You guys saved my neck (and my teeth!)

Answers to specific comments/questions:

>>37865 - I was hoping to, but I've gotten slowed down by some of the details. You'll still be seeing the new update VERY soon though, I promise!

And yes, I fully intend to return to Applejack's adventure (with the other Mane 6 for backup). I've got some big things planned for her. ;)

But first, Colgate gets to enjoy the spotlight a little longer...

>>38140 - D'oh! I am not a horse expert ;) I'll try and fix that in 2.0.

>>37748 - Good question. I like the double-tap, but I know it gives some people trouble... I'll experiment with adding more control options in future games. (Maybe something like the Mario games, where you can hold down a button to run.)

>>37369 - Jon Peters, is that you?
Ahem. Not in THIS game, but oddly enough, there's another game I'm writing where that boss might fit right in...

And speaking of which ... I'd originally intended for the next game in the Pony Platforming Project series to go back to Applejack.

However, certain events in the actual cartoon have made it clear that Colgate (and a couple of her friends) have another story that needs to be told.

For now, let's just say... pic related.

>>38384
>- another surprise feature that NOPONY asked for, but I assure you it's amazing. :)
What is it?
Is it a new playable character? A new boss? a new location? a reference to the Story Of The Blanks? Do you play as Zecora?

I'm having a lot of performance issues on my Asus 1015B netbook with its AMD C50 processor, running Linux. Everything works perfectly except for the actual game, which slows down to an unplayable crawl event at the minimal quality setting.

Everything else - including the intro, etc - runs at fullspeed.

I really like your game! Eagerly awaiting the new 2.0 update; keep being awesome, Marcus & team.

I'll go ahead and post some achievement and screenshot spoilers

Here's the Invincible achievement

Achievement
Captain Scarlet

Achievement
Archeologist

Achievement
Dedicated Dentist

Achievement
Master Platformer

Achievement
I Didn't Put These In My Bag

Achievement
Minty Fresh Heroine

Achievement
Clockwise

Achievement
No Poet's Society

Achievement
Fu-Forget You Ah Can Eat All These Apples

Achievement
Healthy Eater

Achievement
Magically Delicious

Achievement
Plot Device

Achievement
Me Got Kicked In The Head Backstage

Achievement
Worst Day Ever

Achievement
Never Give Up

Screencap
Win the game

Screencap
Derpy Hooves

Screencap
Derpy offers you a letter

Screencap
Dr. Whooves

Screencap
Dues Ex Machina

Screencap
Minty Fresh

Screencap
Romana

Screencap
Minuette

Screencap
Future You?

Screencap
Pinkie Pie

Screencap
Pinkie Pie not looking too happy

Screencap
Pinkie Pie breaking the 4th wall

Screencap
Yrmph Wllcmmm!

Screencap
Silly Derpy

Screencap
Trixie

Screencap
Toothpaste & Derpy

Screencap
Toothpaste & Dr. Whooves

Screencap
Toothpaste & Zecora

Screencap
Minty Fresh in the background

Screencap
The game over as bear chow screen

Screencap
Ewwwwwww

Ending #1

Ending #2

Ending #3

Ending #4

And this is the last one featuring another silly Derpy

Thanks again to the devs for an awesome game. I played the game very slowly over the course of a month as a time killer (for some reason your website is not blocked at my workplace). Very entertaining to try to get those achievements!

Did I get them all?

For future reference, you may want to ask first before dumping a ton of images on a thread.

S'just being polite is all. Somepony believed you were spamming the thread.

>>38809
Sure thing PP

>>38809
Why did some pictures get 404d ?
Notably the thread's starting image.

> If you'd like to say hi, ask for hints,
>or complain that Colgate doesn't jump high enough, this is your chance. ;))
Our problem is that her normal attack range is short as hell.

>>38905
And kind of complicated to remember. I keep dying because I miscalculate distances and have to get closer, but then I forget how to make the brush attack in a certain way and get ambushed by monsters coming from other places plus the monster I was going for.

If it was just the complicated fighting or just the complicated jumping it would be more bearable, but the two combined are just too much. And then being sent back to the start of the level when I die? Noooo.

Hah, just finished this. Great fun!

I noticed that the cave does not save your score if you die. Well, that is okay, I realized pretty quick that if I didn't want to backtrace to Trixie I should just grind a bit in the forest and buy all the upgrades, but I wonder if that was the intent. (I mean, there could be a Trixie in trhe cave too maybe, plus I'm used to receiving upgrades later in the game, not at the very beginning.) Sure, the basic toothbrush attack is a bit short ranged, but I wouldn't call it unusable at all, plus there's jumping and ->->C for fights too, so it's fine. The basic move gets used in the boss fights and for the teeth in the cave too. So it's fine.

Really neat, enjoyable and professional game.

So... are you ever going to release the 2.0 update? Not trying to be an ass, but it's been nearly 2 months since the 1.6 update and about 3 weeks now since you said 2.0 would be out "VERY soon". It'd be nice if you could actually keep us up-to-date on what's going on rather than going silent for extended periods at a time.

>>39257
A fair question. My most sincere apologies.

I really thought I'd have it done by now - it was supposed to be finished by the end of May. But I'm waiting on some people to send me the things I need to complete it.

There's a certain extra feature in 2.0 that requires me to depend on other people's help...

But I don't want to leave everypony high and dry with NO sign of what's happening with the game, so here ... take a peek at the work in progress.

http://www.dragon-mango.com/ponygame/colgatetest.htm

>>39345
I think you'll end up having to get more people for the same character or the feature.
The Pony Kart team had to wait on a modeler 2months till they finally decided to get somepony else.

>>39363
Yeah, this is going to sound horrible, but if June (or even half of June) passes by and you still receive nothing, ask other people.

It's not a professional project, or anything, but if people can't complete deadlines the project risks dying.

In fact, a fan project is even more susceptible to this because, since there isn't an economic incentive, the project depends on everypony in the team remaining interested in the project and with enough enthusiasm to keep going.

This kind of delay can end up snowballing into leaving the project unfinished, and that would be a shame.

(Off-topic: Oh, hey, I can enlarge the text box oh my gosh :D :D :D)

Thanks for the response as well as the test for 2.0. I do have to ask though: Can you add an option to turn the VA off during the cutscenes? I know adding it took a good deal of work, but I kinda enjoyed having to imagine the voices myself, if that makes any sense (I'm tired, so sorry if I'm not being very clear). I'm not asking them to be removed, just an option to turn them off.

>>38384
> I like the double-tap, but I know it gives some people trouble... I'll experiment with adding more control options in future games. (Maybe something like the Mario games, where you can hold down a button to run.)

What about something like Smash Bros, or Touhou Hisoutensoku where if you hold the button and a direction down for a bit it charges, then executes.

A SQL game, where SCOOTALOO number one fan of rainbowDash wishes to fly better! And goes only epic quest with her friends, to get better flying so she could earn her cutie Mark! With unique switching system, he tested it out in the holiday special so it would be nice. Also I would like more than just one boss battle.

I know I'm being a broken record here, but ARE you going to finish 2.0? It's been over a month now without a word on what's become of it. If you're still waiting on that one person, then I'd recommend taking Maylene's advice and finding somepony else since they obviously don't give a crap about it. Still looking forwards to the update though, so can you please keep us updated on it at least every couple of weeks so we know that 2.0 isn't dead?

Right, sorry for the slow reply everyone! Here we go again.

>>39710
Oops, sorry, didn't see this response - guess my browser was being silly. Yes, voices will be optional ... I'll add it to the options menu to turn them on or off.

>>40092
Hmm. maybe - I'm trying a few things out.

>>40294
That's a neat idea for a game, though if I did attempt it, I don't think it'll be for awhile - I already know what at least the next two games I'm doing are. (Though funnily enough, a couple of the things you ask for are going to be in the next game already...)

Next answer requires a big response, so I'll do it in a separate post.

>>40523
You're entitled to sound like a broken record - I've kept you waiting for a long time, and I'm very sorry.

I don't want to go into personal details about the person in question, so I'll just say that I've spoken to her and she has a good reason for the delay. I REALLY want to use her for the part in question, so I'm going to wait for her.

Also, I'd like to assure everyone, I've NOT just been doing nothing the whole time while waiting for voices to arrive; I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to upgrade a few things, which, although a gigantic hassle to program as they require dismantling huge sections of the game and rebuilding them from scratch, will probably be worth it.

Most notably, 2.0 will now have:
- Full voice acting, that you can turn on or off
- Checkpoints
- Customizable controls
- More cutie marks
- A bunch of extra ending stuff

Also, several things have changed under the hood - notably, the detection for the double-tap is different and should be a lot more reliable.

Also, while doing this, I'm simultaneously working on the development of the next game in the series.

So, yeah, sorry to worry you. I have NOT given up.
I'll try to post an update every couple days with something interesting to assure you the game's definitely not dead.

Sorry again to keep you waiting. I'll do my best to make it worth it.

>>40524
I might sound a tad selfish and unrealistic here, but I was expecting a new area with a new boss for the 2.0 version.
So I'll just ask you which next game is gonna come first...the Applejack one or the Lyra,Twinkle,Colgate one?
And what should I expect from the second game/level?

>>40524
Sweet! I'm happy to hear the 2.0 is still on the go ahead. I can't wait to see it finished and polished. I've still been enjoying the 1.6 and have been looking forward to the update.

You're making this game on your own time and letting everypony experience it for free so you're more than entitled to take the time you need to make sure you're satisfied with the finished product. Can't wait to see the end result.

Glad to see that 2.0 isn't dead. I do hope that you do actually keep us updated every now and again though. Anyways, looking forwards to it! :)

Also, Rainbow is most adorable pony. That is all.

>>40539
Yeah, the extra level and content for 2.0 eventually evolved into an entirely new game (especially once the Royal Wedding episode aired, and gave me a great idea for another game starring Colgate.)

The next game released will be Minty Fresh Adventure 2.

Colgate and friends wake up at the bottom of a mineshaft with tattered bridesmaides dresses, a bouquet, and no memory of how they got there. Getting OUT will require fighting their way past a gauntlet of giant spiders, bats, and of course, changelings.

>>40560 & >>40617 -
Thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep you posted!

For an update as to how the game's going: I just finished an elaborate animation sequence for one of the alternate endings.

Also, I'm rewriting the voice code to be in a separate file so you don't have to waste time downloading the voices if you don't want them ... and allowing me to release the game voiceless if I don't get all my missing lines.

As always, thanks for your patience.

@Marcus
Are you gonna upgrade the graphics and animation for the past games?

Like...
Graphics - making the Ursa Minor & Major's outlines more glowy and improving the texture on their stars.
Animation - The Windigo's flames having a higher framerate and a longer loop.

Can you add a password system for easy access to the bosses after beating the game?

>>37865

How do you play as Rarity

>>40798
Press Shift.

Please take as much time as you need to finish making the game. I want to play the complete game as you envisioned, not a game that was prematurely released because of some arbitrary deadline or time limit that was imposed.

As long as you post every once in a while just to show that the project's moving forward, then it's all good. I'm as eager to play as everypony else here, but I believe that good things are worth waiting for. Looking forward to MFA2!

>>40729 -
I'm planning on updates to the earlier versions of the game (among other things, trying to make more compact versions so they can go on the Equestria Gaming arcade). There will be some graphical fixes (for instance, the oft-mentioned fact that ponies don't crouch that way), but don't expect glowing Ursas. The original test model for the Windigo had that effect, but it slows the game down ENORMOUSLY.

I agree the WIndigo could use a few more frames, though.

>>40775 -
Sure. I'm actually working out a save function, so people can continue the game between sessions - I'm sure it could also be used to unlock extra game features.

>>40818 -
Thanks very much for the encouragement, as always. Things are progressing well on both games.

Here's a peek at another new feature of 2.0...

>>40841

Part of the fun in minty fresh adventure was finding the secrets. I hope the map doesn't show the location of those, cause that wouldn't be fun =P

Perhaps it should show the secret areas once you've found them; that would be kinda neat.

>>41041
Great minds think alike, that's EXACTLY how the map works. (Even Trixie, who now sells it in her shop, comments that the map "may be just a TEENSY bit incomplete, but you can fill it in as you go along".)

Colgate scribbles the missing items on to the map as she discovers them, in a different colour.

Also, I'm pleased to report that both the checkpoints and the new save system are now 90% functional; a "continue" option on the main menu will allow you to pick up the game from where you left off, at the last checkpoint you touched, maintaining your items and score, which was one of the biggest complaints I've heard about the game.

>>41079
Neat ^-^
Also, I've been wondering about a few technical things. Mostly general stuff, like how you design and program the levels, or how the engine works in general. I feel like I should ask a bit more detailed questions, but there's so much I'm curious about that any information would be appreciated =P

One thing I noticed is that the first part of minty fresh adventure is built fairly different from the other levels. It has a fixed height for ground, and blends much more in with the background.

though I guess the thing I wonder more about is how you handle entire level pieces. very many times when I've gone from the caves in MFA to the forest, I've ended up in a blank place or a glitched version of it...


And on a completely unrelated note, I just read through your webcomic, and I must say I'm quite impressed. It reminds me a ton of Dragon Half, which is a very good thing.
However, I am sad that cherrygame is down :<

Tell us when you run out of ideas.

>>41102
OK, since you ask nicely:

Minty Fresh Adventure is actually made up of several different flash files that load into one another with the "loadmovie()" command. This was necessary because otherwise, it becomes too large for Flash to handle, and causes a lot of crashes.

The "going back out into the forest" glitch is caused by this; sometimes the game tries to start before the forest area is properly loaded, resulting in the blank star screen. Hopefully the new version will fix this too.

The first area is different since it was the first one bit I programmed, and began as a test to see if I could do true parallax scrolling. It worked, but because it caused so many other problems, I stopped using it in all the other areas.

The bulk of the game works on the same basic system I've used since the original Pony Platforming Project. There are two huge symbols named Stage and Stage2, that scroll left and right in a loop, changing their contents to a different bit of the level every time they go offscreen.

The physics engine is actually fairly simple - Colgate's gravity is generated by a movement variable that tries to increase every frame.

In pseudocode:
yThrust = yThrust + 2
if (Colgate is touching the floor)
yThrust = 0
else
_y = _y + yThrust

Whether she's touching the floor or not is determined by a pixel-precise hitTest() aimed at her feet.

Sorry, that probably got a bit technical, but I hope it's the kind of insight you were looking for. TLDR; Actionscript 1.0 and a whole lot of hitTest and TellTarget.

I'm going to be doing a panel on flash programming at Otakuthon, and I'm SURE looking under the hood at Minty Fresh Adventure will factor into it. If it ends up being videotaped, I'll see if I can link it somewhere.

And thanks for reading Dragon Mango! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and it's awesome someone else remembers Dragon Half (which I loved, though my friends and I were all a bit miffed when it came out, as we too noticed it was VERY similar to our then-unpublished comic...)

Though I like to think that DM headed in a slightly different direction since then.

Oh, and thanks for the heads-up about the Cherry game; I've fixed the link.

Work on Colgate continues, major update coming soon. I really want to have it done before Otakuthon, so let's see how that works out...

Oh, and:
>>41121
funnily enough, I'd actually considered having them as bosses in the original Platforming Project I was planning with Applejack, but a few other people have used them in a very similar way, so I decided against it.

Though Death Pony will pretty much HAVE to appear if I do indeed make "Cantervania". :)

>>41147
It's sad about the filesize. in some ways it's weird too as I've seen many large-looking flash files before that were a single part, but I guess the hand drawn landscapes and characters is what makes this game really large =/

The entrance glitch is understandable too, given the circumstances. you could perhaps make the program loop a few empty black screens, to give it a bit longer time to load.

To be honest I don't really like the forest area ^-^l|l
It's a bit too flat for a platformer, and the blending in with the background is confusing at best. it's awesome that you got parallax working though :3

The two symbols trick is very nice too, and does make it easier on the engine ^-^
However, perhaps it would take less space if you merged the symbols, and used to instances of the same symbol instead?
Further more, using two instances means about 2.5 to 3 screens worth of content is loaded at any time(1.25 to 1.5 for each, to give the other time to change seamlessly. Changing this to 3 instances with .66 of the screen length each might be even better, since only 2 screens worth of content would be loaded at any time. This might reduce some potential lag(alternatively, having 3 instances might end up causing more lag than before. I don't actually know; just throwing ideas at the wall here =P)

The physics engine is fair too. I was asking because a lot of people tend to mess this up, using a messy manual code, or giving the player upwards speed for a period of time, and then changing it to downwards speed *shudders*
The thing that worries me about yours is the ever-increasing speed. With a big enough fall this could result in falling through the floor. You should consider adding some sort of terminal velocity if you haven't already(or just label it "fall damage" and move on :V)
Fun idea: You might also want to use a variable for the acceleration, in case you ever want to change it between levels("Bang, zoom, straight to the Moon!", anyone? =P)

I'm kind of confused you're using actionscript 1.0 though. Shouldn't 3.0 be better in about every way? (unless you just don't have the license, which I can understand)

Either way, I'm looking forward to the updates. The engine does seem to get even better with every update ^-^
Oh, and good luck at Otakuthon ;)

~Sind

>>41163
Yep, not to mention the music and sound effects. Flash just starts to choke a bit when I put it all in memory at once, so it's helpful to have it modular like this.

Also, believe it or not, it saves on bandwidth a bit - since it doesn't have to load too far beyond what the player actually sees.

I'm not too fond of the forest level either - it was an interesting experiment, and I'm glad I did it, but I won't do it that way again. I've got better ways of doing it for future levels.

As for the two symbol system, you misunderstand - they ARE two instances of the same symbol. The one on the right is always a frame ahead of the one on the left, thus creating the illusion of a continuous level (when one scrolls off the side, it goes either two frames forward or two frames back.)

In short, your idea is brilliant, but it's also pretty much what I'm doing already. Sorry for the confusion. :)

And yeah, I've had problems with the floor before. Once Colgate starts falling past a certain speed, she can go right through platforms. I try to avoid drops that large, but a couple did sneak into the final game.

There's a similar obstacle I'm facing for the "main" Pony Platforming Project, with Rainbow Dash, who is capable of reaching horizontal speeds so great that she clips inside, or indeed right THROUGH, walls. I ended up solving it by adding a second symbol, named "airbrakes", that is always in front of Dash at a distance equal to her xThrust variable. If THAT triggers a hitTest with the wall symbol, Dash's speed is adjusted so that on her next frame she will stop just short of the wall (and go into a "crash" animation), rather than clipping through it.

Once I have that properly debugged, I'll apply it to the universal falling state as well.

As for Actionscript 3: the game is designed entirely in Flash 5, so AS3 isn't an option. (Wouldn't use it anyway - the newer version of the language is a bit of a mess compared to the original, having taken out or crippled several key features.)

I've tried (and indeed, bought) later versions of Flash, but 5 is still my absolute favourite with its clean interface and lack of clutter, and the one I always use if I have a choice.

There IS actually a tiny bit of AS3 in the 2.0 version of the engine - done by using loadmovie(), I can run a little AS3 shell while the main game remains AS1. The game now uses shared objects to allow for loading and saving, something I couldn't have done in AS1. So, I guess Actionscript 3 isn't completely awful. :)

Hope that answers your question. And yep, I'm hoping that the next version of the engine will be even better. I try to learn from everyone's complaints in these threads. :)

Ugh, sorry for wall of technical text. My next update will be more interesting, I promise!