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[hothoovesgaming]

Developer Update #3

DISCLAIMER: Hot Hooves Gaming is an indie game developer with no ties to Hasbro or any of its properties. We don’t own any of the characters featured therein, save for the individual Original Character (OC) who has been created for this non-profit fan-made game project.

Wow! April has come and gone in a big way, and I can hardly believe that May is already here. The best part of all this is that classes are over for me and my next semester doesn’t kick in for another few months. Things have been moving particular slowly this month due to class projects and exams, but I’m hoping that May, June and July will be big productive months for our My Little Pony Visual Novel project. Moving on into the update, let’s go! ^_^

Let’s put a number on the project’s progress bar:  8%

Script

We had mentioned that during March, we would be progressing with the story lines for Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. In a rather unfortunate way, this has proven to be a very slow process due to the complexity of the first arc we began tackling: Rarity’s romance arc.

This is arguably going to be one of the longest set ups in the game, as far as the romance arcs are concerned. You see, the way that the romance arcs work is that they are fan fictions within the game that advance the plot in one way or another. I wasn’t satisfied with saying, “This is going to be the romance arc for _______. The focus of this story is going to be choosing correct dialogue options that will eventually win the heart of the fair pony by the end of the arc, and they’ll have hearts in their eyes the rest of the story from that point on.”

LAME. And without proper context. So it’s easy to make the main character a lovable dork who gains the interest of all the girls simply because he’s the new colt, or because he is the one who will save the world. Or maybe he’s the main character of the visual novel and he’s supposed to get the girl, right? Well... technically he is. It’s built into the plot that after spending time getting to know the mane six - hey it would make sense to feel impassioned about one of them right?

But what about the mane six? As far as I know, they are not ones to embrace feelings of love toward another colt - in the romantic sort of way. The build for the girls in the visual novel is going to be slow and subtle, to the point that it should feel more natural for the girls to accept that they’ve fallen for the main character who wasn’t just saying the right things all the time, but who was interacting with them constantly and helping them with internal and external issues. “Dusk” tags along with the girls so he can get to know them, and as things spring up as a result of the Crystal Crisis, the girls find that having Dusk around is a much bigger deal than simply having Twilight, or Applejack as their companion when they set off on a trip.

What does this mean for Rarity’s romance arc? I mean to say that it’s going to be much more in depth than a simple scenario where Dusk and Rarity chat for a while and eventually return to Ponyville having grown a little closer after spending quality time together. There’s going to be more to it than that. Mystery. Intrigue. A change of clothes to fit the situation and the genre for the specific situation. It’s something we’re hoping ya’ll will be able to enjoy as a side story within the main campaign of the game. 

It all culminates in the main campaign when Dusk has interacted with everyone and he has forged wonderful bonds that will sustain him for the rest of the story. Oops... at least... that’s what we want you to think anyway. >_o

Cliffnotes: Rarity’s story is still being scripted, so we’ll be working on that immediately! XD XD

Art

Art actually took a lot of attention during the month of April, thanks in part to some advice that we received from a follower on Tumblr. The gist of the conversation was spearheaded by the notion that we needed to get our artist and his respective works “out there”. Credibility, reputation, a following - these are very important factors that could make or break HHG if not handled sooner rather than later.

So during April, we released our Spring Heat Art Pack which featured six fan art pieces for MLP characters enjoying themselves in the warm Spring season. It was a great bit of practice for us, and a challenge to complete a couple of pictures a day during our Spring Break week.

We have also been working on sketch bases for characters who will be appearing in the visual novel including, Shinning Armor, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia. 

Working on other pieces of fan art, some of which will soon be featured in a future post has also lead to a great deal of practice and increased morale among the group. Some healthy, petting to our collective ego to let us know that we are not the only ones who think that our art is improving as time goes on, and that in the context of the full visual novel - many will be able to appreciate the final product when it finally manifests. ^_^

Programming

Not too much time has gone into programming or planning anymore parts of the visual novel game. We’ve already done a fair bit of experimenting using Tyranno Builder as our visual novel engine. We feel that the prototype menus are a great start to something that could become a little more sophisticated in the future.

However, we are still focused on the scripting phase of our pre-planning process in order to better understand what the game will end up looking like at the end of the production process. By doing more research into the way that other visual novels present themselves, we’re hoping we can come up with an aesthetically pleasing way of presenting our game. When the script is finished, it will be much easier to build the game according to the dialogue and narrative content.

Our main focus for this month is going to be completing the romance arcs for all of our characters in the story. That is, to finish the stories beyond the half way point that we have set up for each of the Mane 6. Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie have half of their arcs complete - next up will be the first half of Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. After ward, Dusk will take a full day to complete the rest of the romance arcs for all of the girls.

The main campaign will then continue with a very exciting revelation that will turn our main character’s world upside down. O_O

That’s going to wrap up this month’s Developer Update for the month of April (in May) XD. Class made things a bit slow for the month of April, but with May on the horizon, we hope to finish a lot of content in order to move the project ahead.

See ya’ll in the next update. And remember -

A crisis is coming...

[hothoovesgaming]

So during my Spring Break, I went all out and started drawing pony fan art almost everyday to complete a set of pictures I would call, “The Spring Heat” pack. I drew a total of 12 pictures, 6 SFW and 6 NSFW fan art pieces which I will be posting here for everyone to see and enjoy. Save ‘em, share ‘em, have fun with ‘em. ^_^

I’m drawing and writing about ponies every day, and I’m hoping I can share more in the future. The pony pics I’ve featured here are the SFW pics I made for my Spring Heat Pack.

Thanks for taking a look and I hope to return soon. Stay classy, ya’ll. >_o

- Takano

[hothoovesgaming]

Moving smoothly. 😄

Im pleased to say that the story and script are moving along smoothly from one scenario to the next. With every day of focused writing sessions, I'm getting closer to the parts of the story that I want to see realized on the page.

We'll be leaving the Crystal Empire behind and continuing the romance arcs for Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack in Ponyville. Think of these romance arcs as mini fan-fictions occurring alongside the main campaign. Each of them explores Dusk's developing friendship with the girls, and he is included in their adventures like a new member of the team. With his altruistic personality on the forefront, he is compelled to help whereever he can, all the while hoping that he can not only grow closer to his pony friends, but perhaps find a clue about who he is.

The romance arcs may seem like they should be relegated to optional side stories, but Dusk's development would not be complete any other way! Each one has a different flavor fueled by his unique interaction with each of the girls, and their own reaction to having someone new around to propel their story forward.

When the romance arcs are complete, you as the player will have to come to a very important decision. I'll leave you to deduce what that decision will be... 😉

[hothoovesgaming]

Developer Update #2

DISCLAIMER: Hot Hooves Gaming is an indie game developer with no ties to Hasbro or any of its properties. We don’t own any of the characters featured therein, save for the individual Original Character (OC) who has been created for this non-profit fan-made game project.

Welcome everyone to Hot Hooves Gaming’s second developer update for our My Little Pony Visual Novel Project. It’s been a crazy March for HHG, what with our “Spring Heat” event taking place during our Spring Break (probably not your Spring Break XD), and a lot of story to progress with alongside some more character portraits that have increased the cast of characters to nearly overwhelming numbers. No time for April Fool’s jokes here, so we’ll be diving straight into the update.

Let’s put a number on the project’s progress bar:  7%

Script

The main arcs that we worked on in March were the romance arcs for Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. As far as the story goes, our main character Dusk and Twilight have gathered the Mane 6 and traveled to Canterlot to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Their search for answers took the group to the Canterlot Library, but with no clues and no leads to clear up the mysteries of the Crystal Crisis, everypony returns to Ponyville to do their own thing.

Twilight’s side story has presented a unique problem that’s stumped our writers and for good reason: we don’t know how to rhyme. XD Hahaha, as silly as that is - it’s an excruciating issue when you are attempting to write for Zecora the Zebra and one finds that it is impossible to rhyme words like a pro. Her lines have been written as if she is speaking normally, but at some point, we will have to come back and address this issue.

Surprisingly enough, Pinkie Pie’s story worked like a charm from beginning to end with no hiccups. Character development for the Pie family is on full display in this romance arc, and we are very excited to continue the second half of her story later.

Fluttershy’s story underwent a couple of rewrites, beginning in the brainstorming phase. Not only is the final draft different from the original brainstorm, but we actually started writing a completely different story (according to our best synopsis), but it was way too convoluted and confusing! During a time when were already progressing very slowly, we made the hard decision to scrap the chapter altogether and start over. This gave us a chance to come up with a different story that took away a major element we were trying to push from the start: Flutterbat. I guess we’ll have to give that another shot later if we want to include them in the story at all. Sorry ya’ll. However, we feel that the final draft for Fluttershy’s romance arc will not disappoint, and it is actually super duper sweet. Wait till you see it. >_O

With April coming into full swing soon, we have been reviewing where the story is heading now that we are going to the Crystal Empire. When we return to Ponyville, Dusk will be able to engage with Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash in the first half of their respective romance arcs.

Art

Some of our greatest efforts in the form of art has come in the form of a special set of pictures called “Spring Heat”. The challenge we had for our artist was to draw at least two pony fan art pieces every day during Spring Break. One picture would be a pony engaging in some SFW activity with a Spring theme attached to it. The second picture would be the same pony in a more unconventional NSFW situation O////O Oh my! The challenge was a success, with 12 pictures being produced over six days. Featured here are some of the SFW pics that are color sketched and ready to continue onto the coloring phase before completion.

These will be the first pieces of official fan art produced for public consumption by our artist at HHG, and if ya’ll could see what his first attempt at fan art was a few months ago… ~CRRRIIIIINNNNGGGEEE~  We try not to think of it.

This art pack will be posted once all of the pictures are completed with one set for the SFW pics and one set for the NSFW pics.

The cast of characters for the game has gone up by a few mares (and perhaps one or two stallions) thanks to the romance arcs that are being written along the way. Future additions may include Flim and Flam, Photo Finish, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia. Featured below are a couple of new supporting characters who will be joining the story for the Mane Six’s romance arcs.

Programming

This is the area that has seen the least progress recently, and it’s thanks to the work that we have already completed up to this point. We already have a prototype menu for the pre-alpha version of the game, along with a message box, and in-game menus for the load game screen, the save game screen, the backlog, etc. HHG has other obligations that keep us from dedicating our time exclusively to the MLP VN project, so we do our best to progress a little bit in each field at a time. Preparing the script and assets for TyranoBuilder to use in the future takes priority over working on any builds of the game.

We’ll be doing our best to produce a proof of concept in the coming weeks in order to better showcase how the game is going to work and what features it will have such as the in-depth story, branching dialogue paths, and dramatic CG scenes.

We’re hoping to focus on one very important thing in particular this coming month and that is the SCRIPT. It is through the completion of the script that we will be able to identify all of the characters who need base character portraits; and with all of the major events and scenarios mapped out, we will be able to better plan for the CG scenes that will need to be drawn out.

Completing the script will also allow us to enter the Script Review/Editing Phase to examine dialogue and plot consistency through the entire main campaign. Allow us to emphasize this one more time in case our readers may be unaware: the My Little Pony Visual Novel Project is a narrative story centric dialogue-based character driven visual novel experience. Probably the most extensive of its kind, and we here at HHG are dedicated to bringing the fandom an experience that they will not soon forget.

Thank you everyone for coming to see our Developer Update for April. It is thanks to the inspiration of this series and its passionate fanbase that we are able to continue doing what we do best - creating deep stories and visual spectacles our audience can look back on with excitement and a thirst for more.

See ya’ll in the next post. And remember -

A crisis is coming…

[hothoovesgaming]

Flutter-Fumbled the story…

Haha, well this was bound to happen eventually. The romance arcs have certainly been the most challenging part of the scripting process. So far I’ve written the first ½ of Twilight and Pinkie Pie’s romance arcs. I started writing Fluttershy’s story… and I hit a bit of a creativity bump.

After three brainstorming drafts, I settled on a synopsis I could roll with. I started typing and getting things going, but something felt off for a while. Not only was I taking too long to get things moving, but things were starting to get convoluted. That is, I was trying to find too many reasons to make things happen the way they were.

Everyone was in character, it all made sense… but did it really? Why do I keep asking myself if this makes sense? Uuuuurh it was really getting confusing - so I scrapped the script for the arc up to that point! Nooooooooo 😂😂😂

Well, since then I’ve taken a step back and come up with a much more cohesive story that strives to put the main focus on Dusk and Fluttershy getting along - obviously right? Overall, I’m feeling good about it, and I’ve even added another character to the cast.

Wow… that cast of voice actors is gonna be something else in the end. Woof. 😅😅😅

[hothoovesgaming]

Telling the Story...

Hi everyone! HHG is rolling by to leave an update concerning story set up and maybe a little background info that will shed some light on what to expect from the My Little Pony Visual Novel Project.

First of all, we’d like to think that this is going to be a visual novel unlike anything players have seen before. While we can all agree that many great stories have been told using the MLP universe and the visual novel medium, we’re putting a major amount of emphasis on world building and character development that is usually relegated to fan factions which take the time to set up characters and events to tell a full narrative story with a beginning, middle and end.

It’s not enough for the main OC to walk into Ponyville and simply accept things as they are. What is it about Ponyville that makes it so important to the ponies of Equestria? What is it’s economic footprint and how do ponies like Rarity and Pinkie Pie make a living in such a modest town?

What is Cloudsdale like in the eyes of a unicorn who is seeing it for the first time? It is said that Pegasi are not capable of “magic” in the same sense that unicorns are capable of “magic” but has that stopped them from becoming masters of this famed city in the sky? 

What is the social hierarchy of Canterlot? How is the city’s architecture affected by the different classes? Is everypony as stuck up as they are perceived to be?

What exactly happens on the Pie Family Rock Farm?!

These are all subjects that are touched upon as the story is told through the main OC’s eyes. The stage is always set with a backdrop before characters engage in dialogue. It is our way of making sure that when the scene begins, locations are more than just background images for the ponies to stand in front of. 

You first need to know WHERE we are, that way there is the added sense that even though the focus is being placed on the foreground ponies - the world is alive around them with background activity that is outside of the main character’s scope of focus.

[hothoovesgaming]

Developer Update #1

DISCLAIMER: Hot Hooves Gaming is an indie game developer with no ties to Hasbro or any of its properties. We don’t own any of the characters featured therein, save for the individual Original Character (OC) who has been created for this non-profit fan-made game project.

Hi everyone! Hot Hooves Gaming has been hard at work on our My Little Pony Visual Novel Project, and we’re here to leave our first big update that will catch everyone up to where the game stands as of the beginning of March. During the early phases of the game, we will be posting about progress in THREE specific categories. As we continue onto later stages of the project, more categories will be added to the Developer Update.

First let’s put a number on the project’s progress bar:  5%

Script

The script for the story is extremely important since it will include all of the events and dialogue that will make up the game from the beginning to end. An outline for the main campaign has already been complete. During the scripting process, the outline will be expanded upon and rewritten as the finer details of the story are written.

There are currently 8 chapters so far, and the maximum number of chapters is in constant flux as new scenarios are written along the way.

The script is being written as a text-based adventure. This is being done so that we can run through the story one line at a time, the same way that it would appear in the visual novel. The program has an auto-save system, and choices can be made the same way that they will be made in the game.

Art

Character portraits and CG scenes are going to be essential to the visual novel experience, and we want to make sure that most of this art is complete before diving into the visual novel maker.

Altogether, we have base portraits for 24 characters, with more on the way. Base portraits will feature a neutral expression, and the next step will involve adding small changes in the portrait such as folding ears and tail movements. Oh, and more expressions of course.

NOTE: Though there is room for experimentation, we are sticking to a 2D art form with movements that occur with changing images not animation (though that would be pretty cool).

Programming

The visual novel engine that we will working with is TyranoBuilder Visual Novel Studio (not sponsored).  We’ve finally started practicing with this VN engine and have encountered a great amount of success in building scenes and modifying the UI.

Modifying the UI is taking the form of a mild modding process where we extract the images from a specific template in the game and we modify the images to fit the theme of the My Little Pony series. Since the style sheets for these templates have already been made, the menus are fully functional and ready for play testing.

This is not to say that the game will not dabble with experiments to make as much of the game as original as possible. We have developed three versions of the title screen so far, and we are currently working on a fourth iteration to see how it works when it’s all put together.

The screenshot below is the latest version of the title screen (ver 3).

The My Little Pony Visual Novel Project is a narrative driven story-based game that is dependant on character development and story progression. There will be choices made throughout the story that could affect the results of certain conversations and potentially - the ending of the game. These features are still being discussed at HHG, and development will continue to focus on the “True Ending” route with little deviation from the canon of the story.

Hot Hooves Gaming will be returning at the end of the month with another update and perhaps some new information about the story and the characters that will be featured in the game. We look forward to bringing our audience an enthralling and fascinating story featuring the characters from MLP that we all know and love experiencing a story that expands their world in this alternate canon.

A crisis is coming…

[hothoovesgaming]

It suddenly feels REAL! <3<3

So we’ve recently made some huge progress here at Hot Hooves Gaming, regarding the MLP Visual Novel Project, Code Named: Crystal Crisis Equestria. 

Remember that proof of concept that I keep bringing up? Well, I have finally started putting it together in the form of a Prologue to the visual novel that focuses on Twilight as the main character. Through this is a (relatively) short playthrough, I’ll be showing the mechanics that will be going into the game.

Music and sound design may take a little longer to get down - moreso, the sound effects because of the sheer volume of different sound effects that could be added to make a scene feel more lively. Not too sure if voice acting will be incorporated either, but that’s not really the main idea of this pre-alpha demo. It’s more to be able to show you some of the art, the writing style, and the way it will all be presented. 

I’m already excited to see these little snippets of story being put together in a cohesive way, and the background music gets me pumped up every time! 

[hothoovesgaming]

Visiting Canterlot...

So the story has finally moved into unknown territory. You see, while I have a majority of the main campaign finished, there are certain events that i only jotted down as bullet points as opposed to a full blown outline.

Visiting Canterlot is one of those storylines that didn't get fully flushed out while I was writing. Now I'm going in and adding all types of things that I hadn't planned on doing. For instance, we meet Fancy Pants on the way to the castle! Whaaaat?! That wasn't in the script, who put him there? Lolz It just came to me and it has worked to help the story big time, especially for Rartiy's romance arc. It might not be what anyone is expecting, and that's the beauty of it. Let's just say, the crisis has dealt a heavy hand to everypony regardless of class.

Now we're meeting Celestia and Luna for the first time and we'll be meeting another side character who will be helping the mane six on their quest, in a small way, but an important way nonetheless.

That's been a bit of a challenge too, making sure that anyone who is introduced plays an important part, big or small. Some ponies are missing from the story, but it's because I haven't been able to find a way to integrate them without making it feel forced. For example, Lyra and Bon Bon are not on the story as of yet. Why? I just haven't found a place for them. They could end up somewhere, but maybe as background ponies after all. We'll just have to wait and see!

I'm really excited to write Luna into the story now that we've finally gotten to Canterlot Castle. GET READY FOR THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE!!!

[hothoovesgaming]

Sweet Marble Pie is cute when she’s consistently bashful. ♡♡♡ Marble Pie belongs to Hasbro, the fan art is by Takano Miyashi at HHG.

[hothoovesgaming]

Happy Hearts and Hooves Day!

This is more a special day for all of the pony ships out there! You're all worth sailing any day and everyday! My personal ships: TwiArmor (yeah I'm weird, get over it), TwiTempest (thank you for that MLP The Movie), RariShy, RaraJack (that's Rara and Applejack), SunStar, and... let's go with PinkieDash.

This is all I have off the top of my head at the moment, apologies if I didn't mention any classic pairings.

Have fun everypony!

[hothoovesgaming]

A thing about animation…

So i recently uploaded a video to my Twitter that showcased a series of images with alight differences to them. Altogether it shows the main character, Dusk asleep and slowly opening his eye.

Now that felt exciting. That smallest bit of movement made me feel like the character was alive for the briefest moment. I liked it, and I wish I could bring that type of movement to the MLP Visual Novel project.

It’s not that I can’t, but at this time, I’m not thinking in terms of full blown animated sequences. Movement that occurs over a few fully rendered slides is more what I’m going for atm. I recently tried to move a neck and head through a full motion (in sketch form) and managing the layers alone is an arduous task. I don’t know where to start and I fear that I’m doing it the “hard” way when there are much simpler techniques available to do the same thing with less effort.

It was a nice experiment, and while I may incorporate something as simple as the “eye blink” in the game, I’m not thinking in terms of a full animation. A transition over two or three pictures to show motion will do for now.

I’m slowly starting to figure out how to build a scene and introduce characters through TyranoBuilder. More updates coming soon, and thoughts for that demo/proof of concept gameplay will be available soon! Thanks for listening y'all. ^_^

[hothoovesgaming]

Brainstorming

If there's one thing that I love doing when I'm coming up with a story, it's the brainstorming phase. Everything about the MLP Visual Novel project started as a brainstorm for a pony dating sim that slowly evolved into an epic storyline with more characters than I could count (on my hands anyway).

Reaching Chapter 6 in the script is bit of a milestone for me because it marks the first time I've been able to think about the other story arcs that are happening throughout the story. You see while I have the main campaign thought out from beginning to end, there are certain plot points in the middle that I have not been able to flush out until now.

Now I'm brainstorming for new storylines and outlining new information. It's very important that I remain consistent and avoid contradicting events that happen later in the story. Phew!

Here's some unofficial/official brainstorm notes. It's not much, but I've had to think of this more often now since developing Dusk's relationships with the girls is extremely important. 😉😉😉😉😉 Caution: all storyline brainstorms are subject to change.

On a side note...

Oh my gosh this is so cute!! 😍😍😍

[hothoovesgaming]

Wednesday is U.I. Day

Wanted to let y'all know that its been a good day for working on the UI for the game. You may already know that the message box has already been completed, and I've been working on making a solid menu that matches the aesthetic of the game.

I've chosen the design I'm going with for now, and I have even worked on the text for the buttons that appear in the Menu. At the moment I can't get a picture of all of it together, but samples are displayed below.

I figured u wouldn't be able to see it, but there are white feathers behind the labels that light up when u select the option in the Menu. There's a little "back" button in the upper right hand corner that is very bland when the whole this is put together. I'm thinking of playing with that next time I work on the UI.

With this, I will be moving onto the Backlog, Save Game, Load Game, and the Config screens. The idea of finishes a "final draft" of the Menu is to feel satisfies enough to move onto something else. Doesn't mean I can't go back to it though.

I'm also looking for feedback on the name of the story I've got going... in the story, there is this event that every refers to as "the crisis". Equestria is in peril, once again. There are crystals involved in some way shape or form in the story, so - Crystal Crisis Equestria. Thoughts???

[hothoovesgaming]

Understanding Scope...

Leaving some more information here to flush out the type of game that Hot Hooves Gaming is working on. Before HHG was established, we dreamed of making a game that everyone could enjoy from start to finish with a driving narrative, character development, a satisfying conclusion and a chance to romance ponies.

Taking inspiration from RPG games like Final Fantasy, and the Tales of... series, we figured we would be making an RPG game using RPGMaker MV. We planned to create a long adventure with 20+ hrs of gameplay, pony sprites, a battle system, hand drawn enemies and character portraits, the works!

Circumstances came around though and this vision would be replaced with another vision for the project that was thought impossible - a legitimate visual novel game complete with multiple endings, different paths, CG scenes, and different romance paths for multiple characters in a play through with one main love interest of the player's choosing.

Honestly, this is what we wanted to do from the start, but we figured that RPG Maker was the only way to tell the story in this way. Granted it would be possible, but not without going about it in a roundabout way.

Though HHG is new to the TyranoBuilder Visual Novel engine, we have found this to be the perfect way to present our story to our audience with as many bells and whistles as possible.

Character portraits are being made on a weekly basis ensuring that the cast is going to be at least 25+ This includes the mane 6, Spike, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Derpy, Minuette, Moon Dancer, Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, and the list goes on!

Found below is an example of the storytelling style the game will use as a visual novel, just to avoid any confusion.

There will be character portraits with changing expressions and details, outfit changes and a possible max of 4 or five characters to a screen. Dialogue happens in message boxes at the bottom of the screen. Special events will be accompanied with large images that take up the screen. These images can be revisited later in a CG gallery.

We are still working on the script and learning how to work with TyranoBuilder so anything that resembles an Alpha build of the game is currently unavailable.

In time, we hope to at least create a proof of concept demo to show what the game and storytelling style will be like. We hope you stick around for news as production continues.

[hothoovesgaming]

A hiccup with images! O.o

So I’ve experienced a bit of a hiccup in an far as how much I have prepared for the game after reviewing the images I have actually drawn for the game.

… that sounded a little confusing.

Or maybe it’s not. You see I became inspired to work on this big visual novel project while I was drawing fan art for MLP which featured the title character of the game romancing each of the mane 6. It was about 4 images per character along with some extra stuff toward the end that totalled a collection of ~42 pictures! I was like, “This is great I shall incorporate all of these into the image gallery for a visual novel date sim game!” Not a bad idea right?

Except that after all was said and done, I have continued to draw and draw and draw and I finally started working on the character portraits for the game. Like these ones here:

And I realized, I’m starting to draw everything in a style that differs greatly (but not too greatly) from the art I was drawing before. I had developed a new look for the characters that I was comfortable with and that I was planning to use for the rest of the game. “OH NO… I don’t think I can use my old images anymore.”

Not only was the look different, but I was limiting the scope of the story so I could tie in these pre-made drawings which had been done with no real story in mind, just a sequence.

So I’ve scrapped them. 🙃🙃 And I’ve given myself the freedom to come up with new stories with images based on the events in the story instead of the other way around.

What does this mean for the ~42 unreleased art pieces? Well I have to properly credit each one individually, which won’t be easy… But when that’s done I’ll be releasing them in some form or another as… concept art. Nothing reflective of the way Dusk and the mane 6 will interact in the game, bit it’s pretty darn close. In the end, it was practice.

Bit of a shame, but if I can get the CG scenes to be as good as the practice set (or better) then y'all can already tell the look that I’m going for in the long run.

In short, I have gone from ~42 CG images ready for the game… to 0.

[hothoovesgaming]

New Menu and Hud

In an effort to give the MLPVN it’s own visual flare, I’ve been working on original designs for the Menu and HUD that appear in the game. By making custom images that replace the ones pre-made for TyranoBuilder, I’m able to give everything a touch of ponies to make things more funny and colorful.

I’ve already made prototypes for the Message Box and Menu as seen below. All of the buttons are missing though.

Next I hope to add something to the Data Save and Data Load screens. Some cutie marks, parasprites, a different font and look. Imagine if the “NO DATA” box had a picture of that pony meme with the “idk” look on its face? Or Sweetie Bell doing that ‘I’m so bored" crawl on the ground. It would be so fitting, ya know?

I’m open to any ideas from the audiences, so feel free to leave your brainstorm in a comment or PM. See y'all later.