Messages

501

Resolved Issues / Re: "Good Samaritan" badge.

2012 Jun 05, 13:55:29

I vote yes on some conditions. No matter what systen we use, popularity will always play a role in who is most rewarded by other users. There has to be some intervening, unbiased (as unbiased as you can get, anyway) force that oversees any system that is designed to make certain people stand out over others.

What I think should happen is that nominations should be allowed by users. A user can only nominate another user once, ever. Nomination happens based on a post and the nominating user must give a reason why this person should gain a badge. On the moderator side, they can see which users have nominations and how many. Once a user has enough nominations, they can click on that user and see what reasons the other users gave and under what context (the post they were nominated for.) It will then be up to the moderators to decide who gets a badge.

502

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: My Little Pony: Racing is Magic (Video Game Idea)

2012 Jun 01, 20:50:47

i dont play it but my friends do and they said it was rly annoying

Haha, I bet. I found some pretty funny rages on youtube about it only hours after the game was released.
In other news, I'M ON THE LoE DEV TEAM! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
So yeah... this game is now dead in its current state and I'll see what I can do about pushing the idea to be added in LoE, if they didn't/aren't already. Thank you for your support guys! I'll really appreciate it!

503

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: My Little Pony: Racing is Magic (Video Game Idea)

2012 Jun 01, 14:08:26

thank you so much for considering me 
goodluck!
oh and u have diablo 3? did the error thing go away 

Eh, no I didn't get diablo 3. I have heard that error 37 is pretty annoying though.
I just gave that example because I figured you'd know what it was, and I was right!

504

The Retirement Home / Re: Notification Requests Disabled

2012 Jun 01, 13:22:42

That's odd.
Well whatever we've done seems to have fixed our overload issues, so I guess this means you can keep watching your favorite topics and we finally have our space!

I'm glad I did something useful, hehe.

505

The Retirement Home / Re: Notification Requests Disabled

2012 Jun 01, 05:03:15

I think it still exist. But you won't get an email about it.

I thought about such a situation being possible, so I hit the notify button. I'd hate to disappoint, but...

506

The Retirement Home / Re: Notification Requests Disabled

2012 Jun 01, 04:03:02

swebow beat me to it, the button is still there and looks pretty but it really doesnt have an function

It doesn't have a function, or it doesn't have a server-side function? I just clicked it and it did its usual "Are you sure you wish to enable notifications..." popup and when I clicked "OK", the notify button changed to "Unnotify." The button did not revert back to "Notify" upon refresh, nor when I cleared my cache (ok, well I didn't exactly expect that to do anything, but it was worth a shot .) Unless this setting is saved via a cookie for some reason, it has some function on the server still.

Yes, but it won't work, else will make sure it won't work

Uhhhhhh...... Nope.avi?

EDIT: I did a little more looking around and it seems that the notify button still exists and functions on the "News", "Forum Information", and "Meet the Team!" threads. If that's intentional, then that would be what I missed. If it's not, then I think I just made your job easier.

EDIT2: The notify button also exists and functions when you view a users' posts by going to their profile and clicking on "Show Posts." Again, it only shows it for the aforementioned thread groups.

[or]

507

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: My Little Pony: Racing is Magic (Video Game Idea)

2012 May 31, 20:46:10

i think the turning prob should go away once we get a real running pony!
also, i think the boosting shouldn't make u go so fast. The whole fun of a race is being clumped together and in the heat of competition.
btw im thinking of getting unity....is it free? Is it easy? Is it laggy? Does it take up lots of space? is it hard to download? is it fun?

Unity is free. There is a pro version for $1500 that has quite a few more (albeit useful, but unnecessary) features and optimizations. Define easy. You do need to know how to program in either C#, Javascript, or Boo (or know someone who does ), if you want to make anything worthwhile. What it does is give you a 3D workspace where you place game objects. From there, you attach scripts and other components to those objects. The program itself isn't laggy considering how powerful it is. Compared to programs like steam and big games like World of Warcraft, it hardly consumes any cpu cycles at all. My Mac installation is about 1.9 gigs. I have a feeling that it'll be slightly smaller for a windows installation. In comparison, My World of Warcraft install takes about 24.5 gigs and Diablo 3 takes up about 12 gigs. It's super easy to download and install. I find it very fun to use because you can make changes and test them immediately. You can even edit a script while the game is running (that's a programmer's dream)! Also, anything edited while the game is running is automatically reverted back when the game ends so you can test things without worrying about hitting Ctrl+Z hundreds of times. The only complaint I have is that sometimes certain things glitch up when you upgrade your project (you have to update your project with Unity when it updates.) The biggest advantage of Unity is that you can save your project and open it on Mac or Windows and that it can compile the game to a Unix OR Windows executable. I cannot stress how amazing that last feature is. If it didn't compile to both formats, you'd have to reprogram the ENTIRE thing in another language. Talk about a pain in the flank...

Off Topic Edit: LoE opened up the application process for programmers, modelers, artists, and concept designers recently and I've applied as a programmer. If I get accepted, I may not have time to work on this, or will end up working on it as part of LoE. Either way, I'd like to make you aware of the situation. Wish me luck!

508

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: My Little Pony: Racing is Magic (Video Game Idea)

2012 May 31, 18:12:16

np. anyways, i was also thinking we could have a reward system! like:
Congradulations! You have won your first race! *you receive an ear piercing*
or
Congradulations! You have participated in 10 races! *receive a diamon necklace*
Contradulations! You participated in your first race! *recieve a bracelet*
I think that would be a good idea. Ive drawn out a few item ideas. i also have a pony creator thing drawn out too incase LOE doesn't want this in their game.
as for turning.....idk...i guess it just feels like a car to me....like drifting, hooves don't drift..

Just open the game real quick and run around as Fluttershy. I have a feeling that this is what you're talking about. Also, you're right, horses don't drift, but on sand and loose ground surfaces horses do slide a little because of how often they lift their hooves off the ground. The amount of slide, I think, shouldn't be eliminated, just drastically reduced.

[Spoiler:]

509

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: My Little Pony: Racing is Magic (Video Game Idea)

2012 May 31, 17:05:06

Spoiler: show

looking good so far! just a few things that u could fix.....if u wanna
I think the turning.....is a bit more like a car. Like u coast too much. If u don't get wut i mean, just ask. or if  we get someone to make us a pony model, they would clean things out so dont worry about that too much. I think wut im saying is that the turning is too wide. It's more like a car's rather than a pony's. I think a pony's turning wouldn't be so wide . look at Skyrim's model of horse running. look at the turning too. hope this helps -->

this was the best vid of the horse i could find. I wouldn't base the run cycle off this tho. this run cycle really BUGS me. The turning is good tho with it.
I like the figure 8 track. its nice for beginners. If it's not too hard, could u move the two jumping ramps closer together? I barely made the jump and most of the time, i didn't even make it. maybe its just cuz im too lazy to build up lots of momentum. but if somepony were to miss the jump, they would have to go ALL the way back so they could gain enough speed to make the jump. I would also let ponies go just a tad bit faster in the grass and off road....just cuz if u go off road just a bit, u kinda lose the race...
Dirtville is a real challence but that's wut makes it fun! I think the hills shouldn't be on there for running but for decor because when we do get the running pony on there, it might look wierd running on a mountain...that's just me. this is only a minor concern so don't worry about it too much.
The twists and turns of dirtville are challenging and sometimes annoying. U could try changing the turns like a mentioned before. That might make it easier.
Everfree freeway is fun too. I like the aspect of jumping over the grass that makes u go slow but if u added sharper turning, it would make it less annoying. Again, I wouldn't let the ponies run on the pointy mountains because it would look a little funky once we got the final model in.
One more thing, we need an artist to make a main menu! I wanna be the....uuuh......Concept designer...is that what it's called? U know, the person who thinks up ideas for the game. can i be dat??
anyways, i luv the game so far!
1 more thing! I think the game is too based off of springing. I don't think there should be sprinting or run speed. I think everypony should have the same running speed and no stamina bars because then everypony would be zooming around and it wouldn't be very action packed if ponies were zipping and zooming everywhere. It would be better if ponies were in a clump and that would make it more exciting! The only way they should get boosts if they jump over an obstacle well enough, they press a button at the right time at the beginning, or like i said before.

And if you look at the horseshoe in the bottom left of this vid, u see that the more jumps u do, the more the meter on the horseshoe goes up. Once it is full, the pony will get a boost. Or, if your a unicorn, you get either a boost or a random spell

Also, I think the jumping is too high. Once we get the final pony model, i hope it will jump like a real pony
most of these things are things we will worry about when we get a real pony model. 

First off, let me just say that I was so relieved when I saw someone actually reply. For the past day and a half I've been refreshing my download count and forum posts to see if anything changed. I guess I just get impatient and nervous with stuff like this. It also frustrates me when people say, "I have an idea that would be awesome if it was made!" and then don't participate in the process at all. Meh, but that's me. Anyway... back on topic:
    All of the things you pointed out are things I was aware of being troublesome, hehe. I obviously made this with only a vague idea of what to model it after and exaggerated nearly everything to make them stand out. That's something I do a lot that I need to stop doing... Sometimes I feel like everything has to be super-overpowered and stand out or it's pointless. I should know better than that.
    There are a few things I want to address specifically:

I think wut im saying is that the turning is too wide. It's more like a car's rather than a pony's. I think a pony's turning wouldn't be so wide .

First off, and most importantly, don't be Fluttershy . Say what you need to say. I've said it in a previous post: don't be afraid to critique. If I didn't think I could handle it, I wouldn't be posting a half-flanked (pony censor ftw?) game on a forum. Regarding the turning, do you mean make them all turn more like Fluttershy currently does with the very high traction? Acceleration and Traction are currently the same thing, so I think what you're suggesting I do is separate them, increase the ponies' traction, but have their accelerations vary. Well, ok, you didn't say anything about acceleration, but most racing games have that as a stat, so I assumed that you were thinking that

I would also let ponies go just a tad bit faster in the grass and off road....just cuz if u go off road just a bit, u kinda lose the race...

Do you think removing sprinting would make this point null, less important, or would it still be valid?

Everfree freeway is fun too. I like the aspect of jumping over the grass that makes u go slow but if u added sharper turning, it would make it less annoying. Again, I wouldn't let the ponies run on the pointy mountains because it would look a little funky once we got the final model in.

Making turning sharper? You turn with the mouse, which makes it as sharp as you want. Though, I think you're referring to the general low traction of most of the ponies, which I agree with. Also uh, you weren't supposed to... run in the pointy mountains . They're there to make the course look more ominous and tell you, "Hey! Pointy stuff here! Try to run around us!" Of course, those short turns and low traction will make you slide into them quite often . When testing I actually utilized and placed specific patches of grass to slow down the turns, but I should have figured it wouldn't be as obvious to those who didn't design it xD.

I wanna be the....uuuh......Concept designer...is that what it's called? U know, the person who thinks up ideas for the game. can i be dat??

    Yes, that would be the concept designer: the one who designs concepts for games before they're worked on
As far as help goes, I have no objection or preference, nor will I acquiesce any given to me. If this thing is actually going to get anywhere, I need all the help I can get. If you want to be the concept designer (or hopefully, one of the concept designers), then be aware that you will need to be detailed and specific with what you bring to the table.
    My ultimate goal would be to integrate this into LoE as a game you can play with friends whenever you want. For example, there could be a special raceway somewhere, or multiple raceways for the different courses, and you queue up for races. This would streamline the online portion of it, O.C. aesthetic and statistic customization, and so many other things. This, obviously, isn't going to be the easiest thing to do, though I have reached out a few times and Swebow has mentioned me in one of his livestreams (I still squee at the thought); this is a goal, and unfortunately, unlikely to be a distant reality.
    This does present a tiny problem, however. If, and I say this rather loosely, LoE does want this racing game assimilated into their game, they can't and won't hire everyone who's been working on it. So unless people are fine working on it with the possibility of being "fired", or want to continue even though a sort-of-similar game is already being made, the team can't be that big until confirmation, or the opposite, is established with this project's relationship to LoE. It's a very awkward situation indeed.

EDIT: THANK YOU for showing me Lyra's list. I have been looking for something like this for the longest time!

[Spoiler:]

510

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: My Little Pony: Racing is Magic (Video Game Idea)

2012 May 29, 20:02:57

Spoiler: show

i know that people here make some. idk if u could get them to help u. --> http://www.feral-heart.com/
And if you want any ideas of how to make racing more exilerating, look here -->

of course, nobody will ride the ponies but if u wanted only the unicorns to have magical powers, then this would be a good place to look. Like unicorns could could put ice down to slip up the apponents, throw fireballs at other ponies, and give themselves a force feild to protect themself from other unicorns. Pegasi could have certain shortcuts that only flying ponies can use to make them go faster. And if you look at the horseshoe in the bottom left of this vid, u see that the more jumps u do, the more the meter on the horseshoe goes up. Once it is full, the pony will get a boost. Or, if your a unicorn, you get either a boost or a random spell. Earth ponies should sometimes get better boosts than the others to balance things out. This game also has power sliding like in mario kart.
It would b cool if this game came out and u could customize your own pony (when we get somepony to do that), collect items to wear, and connect with total strangers to race with! These are all ideas. I'm not saying that we should flat out copy this game but base a few things off it.
It would be cool if we could level up in this game and only connect with people who are around the same level as us. but not exactly, it would be too hard to search for other ponies of the exact level. You would unlock more items and courses as u level up and better spells if you're a unicorn! tho the leveling up system might be hard. But if we did it, you would get faster as  ur level progressed like in the horse game i showed u( the higher the level the WAY faster u go, that's y u should only play with ponies of your level). It would also be cool if u pressed a button at the right time at the beginning to get a boost(like in mario kart).
These are just some ideas  (if u wanna know more about this horse racing game, ill tell u. It's not in english and it asks for ur social security number wich is stupid)

another idea would be if the game would always be in progress. This means that even tho the game is finished, the ppl making it could still release new items, courses and spells!

All good ideas. I think my current model could stand to be more like Alicia. So far, the only difference between the races is that they tend to be better in certain stats. Earth ponies are better in running speed, unicorns in stamina, and pegasi in sprint speed. It only has about 25-30 hours of semi-concentrated, not-knowing-what-the-heck-I-was-doing work into it. Nonetheless, I've compiled it and am releasing it in all its "glory" (or lack thereof.) Let me know what you think and don't feel bad critiquing it. There are sooooo many things I wish I could have added or fixed up before I released it, but I'm too tired to care at the moment and need to take a nap....

So... yeah. Here is the windows version, and here is the mac version. Have Fun!

EDIT: In my tiredness I forgot to mention how to play the game
<W> and <S> makes you go forward and backward respectively, <Shift> makes you sprint, <Space> makes you jump, and the mouse is used to turn. Press <Escape> to pause the game and/or go back to the main menu. I didn't add a quit button, but you can easily Alt+F4 or Cmd+Q to exit.
    I think I made jumping too important in the game too... I made it so that when you jump, you leap in the direction and at the same speed you were moving at before the jump, but your stamina regenerates even if you're flying at sprint speeds. If you bounce consistently (especially as a unicorn) you could potentially stay at your sprint speed without having to worry about your stamina depleting much at all. Though, as the pegasi and Applejack, it's a lot harder to manage because their stamina drains so quickly and because their jump height tends to make them jump off the road. It's balanced in a sense, I just think I emphasized jumping too much on accident. I'll let you decide.
    I think I may also need to clarify the stats' roles a bit. Run speed is the highest speed you can move at when not sprinting. Sprint Speed is the highest speed you can move at while sprinting (holding down shift.) Wade Speed is how fast you move when not on the road. This would be grass on the "Figure 8" track, stone in "Dirtville", and the creepy blue stuff in "Everspeed Freeway." Jump Height is self explanatory. Traction is actually acceleration. The reason I call it traction is because of the way I designed the physics. It's acceleration in all directions, not just forward. Traction affects how well you turn and how quickly you speed up and slow down. Wading is the only thing not affected by traction. Stamina is your "energy" used for sprinting. As you sprint, the stamina bar depletes. The more stamina you have, the longer you can sprint. Stamina works inversely for how quickly it drains and how quickly it regenerates when not using it. Also, very important, if you run out of stamina completely by sprinting too much, you will become "exhausted" and cannot sprint again until your stamina bar is full again. Otherwise you can sprint as much as you want.

511

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: My Little Pony: Racing is Magic (Video Game Idea)

2012 May 28, 22:33:09

Like I said, I don't have pony models, so that's hard at this point. I guess I could, for now, just let you choose a color for the stand-in "model." I'd also have to carefully balance the stat customization.

Does anybody know someone who has/can make animated models of the mane six? Any other resources such as trees, barrels, wagons, rocks, or other scenic models and textures would be nice too. If you want this game worked on more, it needs resources.

Note: I am now leaving the family BBQ I've been at all day and will be home in an hour or so. Expect download links in a few hours! Please give me constructive criticism! I need to know how to improve it!!!

EDIT: Or not... There are a few more things for me to tweak before I'm happy enough to release it. I also added Everfree Forest as a race course, and may I say that it looks pretty sweet, challenging, and disorienting considering my lack of resources. I'll definitely put up a link tomorrow like I said in my previous post, though. If, for some reason, I don't, feel free to scold me

[Spoiler: Pony selection •]

512

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: My Little Pony: Racing is Magic (Video Game Idea)

2012 May 28, 17:27:45

I haven't worked on my demos in a while and I wanted a fresh idea to work with. I saw this thread and got to work. So far what I've made differs a bit from what you suggested, but that's because I tweaked a few things to make it more balanced and fun. That and it also only has about three days of work into it. I added the mane six (you still have to use your imagination because I don't have proper models for them), gave them all unique stats, created two race tracks (the other one not shown in the pictures below is a simple figure 8 with a jump), souped up the physics, and added a moderate amount of intuitive GUI.

The way it plays out is you select your pony, select the race course, and then run the course by yourself in single player. The main challenge in it is staying on the course (if you stray off the course, you get slowed down immensely) and using your sprint properly. Sprint is a boost of speed that you can only sustain as long as your stamina allows you. So, for example, Rainbow Dash has a massive sprint, but low stamina, so she's only good for quick bursts of speed. Twilight, on the other hand, has a much lower sprint speed, but a lot more stamina. I did my best to make each pony feel different and to give them their own unique niches where they excel.

I'll upload a demo of what I've done tomorrow most likely. I have a family trip today and still want to add a few more things before I release a demo. Tell me what you guys think!

Spoiler: Pony selection • show

Spoiler: Race courses • show

513

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: Who's your favorite pony?

2012 May 21, 03:03:43

If I absolutely had to choose, it'd be and

I am extremely introverted when I'm focused, but still enjoy being with friends every now and then, like Twilight.
I am also very tall and strong for a geek and enjoy using my strength whenever I can, especially to help others out, like Applejack.
It's impossible to choose one favorite

514

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: What's your special talent?

2012 May 20, 23:36:30

My special talent is systems analysis. I am particularly good at taking video game ideas and actualizing (developing/programming) them, but can also apply this skill to help others' relationships, solve complex pattern-based math/physics problems, tweak fine details to make a better whole (art, engineering, design, etc), and other things that require a fine eye.
This is why many people call me, with my approval, a grammar-nazi

I am tempted to say my OC's cutie mark should be something along the lines of a magnifying glass, but I am also perfectly content with my current power sign, as I am also exceedingly proficient at breaking things and subsequently un-breaking them

Bashing my head against the wall? 

Putting new meaning to the phrase "Don't knock it 'till you try it!", are we? Haha

515

Pony Off-Topic Archive / Re: If you can be anything

2012 May 14, 18:42:42

I'd be a unicorn.  Why choose a pegasus and not have magic abilities, when you can choose a unicorn and make yourself fly! And that would totally be ponyville. Also, mare. Even if I'm a man I'd like to be a mare.

Not all unicorns can do that magic

Especially the ones in Legends of Equestria. So far as we know anyway

516

Video Games / Re: My TF2 Servers!

2012 Mar 23, 10:37:02

... (( Oh god, rid of this Fluttershy medic model,  >:[ the hitboxes are missplased and besides what sick man would headshot a Fluttershy?? This is just cruel.  ;-; ))

I have on multiple occasions ^.^