• MLP Online Single Player Demo

    MLP Online has released it's single player demo/beta test for everyone to participate in. They are looking for direct feedback, particularly the comments below.  If you are interested in helping out, hit up the new MLP Online blog for download links and instructions, or the forum post dedicated to it.  

    You can also find a video of the combat after the break!



    63 comments:

    1. Lol I flew straight at the download link xD

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    2. AHHHHH YEAAAAAHHH.

      MLP online demo/beta and BF3 Beta on same day?

      Oh school, why do you troll me with all these essays! D:

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    3. Aren't those battlesounds sounds the ones from earthbound?

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    5. @Rico_Chet94

      Earthbound alright. Probably placeholders, though, or so I hope.

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    6. The day my computer cooks itself aswell. Looks like I best fix it tommorow.

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    7. I'm getting flashbacks to when Final Fantasy was actually good. But I'd like to see a Pony RPG with a battle system similar to Grandia's. ^_^

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    8. Windows only.... Sad pony is sad.... :(

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    9. Two things: The ponies look like they are floating and ponies continue to move after a transition to another area. But the game looks very nice! Also, major props to whomever implemented the Earthbound attack and action sounds! That was an extremely nice touch ^-^

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    10. @ZAquanimus Thank you for letting me know BF3 beta came out today, thank you so much!

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    11. Let's see there's...
      Equestria Online
      Fighting is Magic
      And now MLP Online?
      Ponies, BUCK YEAH~

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    12. YES. I sent this in last night.... at 2:00. Now I'm tired.

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    13. Seriously guys BF3? Oh well this game might be nice try out

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    14. Cutscenes are barely implemented, and will need more work, so we left the stage directions in somewhat. Use your imagination.

      The only options in combat that actually work are Attack and Defend, and Defend just makes you wait and perform no action.

      Fluttershy’s cottage interior isn’t ready, so we glossed over that part -_-.

      Fluttershy’s cottage exterior violates the isometric rule, just run over the bridge and pretend you didn’t see nothin.


      when i read these i lol'd hard.

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    15. Sorry Mac bronies, but it's stuff like this is why I stick with PC. Could always go to a local library if they have a computer lab. Ones around here do, but I have no clue for everywhere else.

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    16. DAT FUCKING BATTLE THEME FUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAARK

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    17. The only things I've seen wrong so far aside from what was already mentioned are that the inventory/bag box can be lost into the top of the screen if you drag it there, and if you walk onto the green hedge trim on the right side of the bridge going to Fluttershy's cottage, you can cross into the background and walk anywhere,like the roof of the cottage, the river, Angel's hut. Problem about that is that once you go onto the background portion, the only way I've found to get back onto the main road is to walk through the sharp corner of grass in the road's bend by the fence post. After the door scene with Fluttershy finishes ("Step aside, we're coming through!")You can get BACK into the background portion by walking through the same corner of grass by the post, but after that I don't think there's ANY way back onto the main road, the old entrances block up. I hope this helped! And soooorry if this has already been mentioned.

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    18. well, wanted to try it, but it keeps crashing before it even loads!

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    19. I'm definitely interested, but it's hard to get a good read on anything with this limited a demo. I think I'll have to reserve judgement until it's a little more complete.

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    20. @Prony

      Ah ah ah. You ALMOST got every major game coming out. Don't forget about GabuEx's My Little Investigations, an AA inspired fan game that takes the best of AA and MLP:FiM and combines them into one, awesome game.

      But yeah, the ones you listed look REALLY good and I can't wait to see more from them. :D

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    21. I recognized the Earthbound sound effects immediately, ha ha.

      I'm going to download this and give it some testing, and then see where it goes. I'd love to play a full length JRPG-esque game with ponies. I cannot stress enough how much I would love that.

      Also if you're looking for good battle music for this beast, there were some really good submissions in the Remix Wars IV, one of which was actually a battle-music-ized version of the main MLP theme. Give that a look-see.

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    22. The frame in the top right of the screen covers the Manticore when you encounter him (it?).
      Otherwise, I like where this is going.
      Can't wait for more.

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    23. It does look like its coming together nicely but I was kind of hoping to see a bit more of the game in this demo (like what the shop and job systems are going to be like), But I suppose that is being saved for the big multiplayer demo. My only major complaint would be is that some of the load times were pretty big. I know that there was a warning about them but the wait to get to Fluttershy's back garden took nearly 15 seconds for me, I thought the game froze.

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    24. I can't say I'm too fond of the FF-style battle system, particularly considering the game is going to be an online rpg. I wouldn't mind it in a single-player game, though.

      Maybe it's just me, but in online games I prefer to have some form of control over my character.

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    25. Looking pretty decent so far. Dashmaster up there found a rather interesting and fun glitch. :P Besides that, its looking alright to me. Wish there was more, but I'm not complainin'. It's something. :)

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    26. Just played the demo that came out today... Love it. Just needs a lot of work of course lol, but so far, I don't hate it at all. Looking forward for more and more updates! Keep it up Team of worker peoples!

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    27. Ima pull up to da target and buy this pony game...

      all my bits!

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    28. I'd rather see the combat system which actually takes skill to play.

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    29. I'm confused as to how a turn-based game with battles on a separate screen can be translated in MMORPG to any extent at all.

      First of all, desynchs are easily possible with a separate-screen system. Second, one player going AFK would literally cause the rest of the party to lose control of their characters. Third, it COMPLETELY destroys immersion to move the character to a separate-screen battle. Fourth, since battles have to be entered as a party, it makes communication, inventory management, and relaxed gameplay extremely easy to interrupt, even if one party member tries to avoid combat for a moment.

      Finally, with a turn-based system like this, you lose all aspects that make MMORPG fights interesting at all: there's no positioning, no real-time decisions, no options to string attacks together to make them more effective, and you end up with (like every old-school RPG) the mindless and tired attack/heal first-order optimal strategies which result in every battle being the same thing over and over.

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    30. Well, it seems I got out of the map.
      http://i54.tinypic.com/5wbb5w.png
      http://i51.tinypic.com/1ilu7o.png

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    31. There are an awful lot of misconceptions I see in the comments section here, luckily the FAQ should handle them.

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    32. looks well coded, though I'm unfamiliar with some of the functions. It runs very smoothly, aside from the occassional bug. I got stuck on top of a tree/fluttershy because of holes in walls/obstacles.

      I wonder how it will handle multiplayer...

      ...wait, was this supposed to be a MMORPG? I forget...

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    33. @Lupus Albus

      There's stuff like this on the interwebs. First that comes to mind is stick figure arena, then club penguin, then WOW, the list goes on.

      As for turn-based battle in THIS game? I don't think it fits w/ the themes of FIM anyway, but why ruin everyone's fun by forcing that sort of opinion.

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    34. I would suggest making the "Next" prompt to advance the text into a button that stands out more. Or just make it so that clicking anywhere in the text box advances the text once it's all typed out.

      I also recommend an Options button in the menu in the upper-right corner.

      And I STRONGLY urge for implementing key remapping! I hate wasd, the arrow keys are no better, and while the keypad works well enough, it would be rather awkward to use along with the mouse if it actually did anything in the game, which it doesn't. I was forced to use GlovePIE for this game, which will cause me further strife if I will actually eventually be able to communicate with other players via text.

      Fluttershy's back yard scrolls more than is what would be aesthetically pleasing. Considering that "room" is smaller than the screen, is it possible to prevent all scrolling on that screen completely?

      Upon further scrutinization, I notice that the walking animations are not smooth - they appear to be missing half of the frames they need. Basically, a hoof will teleport from extended backwards on the ground to extended forwards on the ground instead of being lifted off the ground and placed further forward. A minor issue to be sure, but I don't feel I'd be doing my job as a tester if I didn't point out everything I noticed. This issue is not noticeable when your pony is walking north or south.

      When Fluttershy speaks, I notice that the text does not appear to use any capital I's and instead just uses lower-case i's.

      As for the Manticore encounter, there needs to be some manner of incentive not to fight him - one that feels equal (yet different) from the experience gained from defeating him.

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    35. Dammit! I got all excited for something else...I thought it was Equestria Online.

      Now I know how I'll feel when Equestria Online goes online.

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    36. If anypony's interested, I recorded the numbers from the video demo. Metaforms have somewhere between 34 to 39 HP, and Metalites have somewhere between 56 to 63 HP.

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    37. Anybody else hope the sound effects stay the awesome earthbound ones? XD

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    38. Guys, turn based MMO's are nothing new. It's not popular though. The one game we should all remember is "Concerto Gate". Which is a turn-based MMORPG. It actually works in principle, but it is true to say that real time battles are more preferred.

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    39. The text feels too close together. Not just to the edge of the dialogue box but each of the letters are awfully close to each other imo. The black background and the yellow letters don't look that nice. Even if the letters were white with a yellow outline it would look better.

      This was mentioned, but when entering a new area, sometimes twilight will still be walking without the movement key being held down and walks into a wall. it's fine once I get moving again though.

      I love the way the battle screen looks! Very cute. However when the battle is won, that black and yellow text box and level-up information look out of place. Maybe a pop-up box in the same pink/red scale instead? The stat increases moved by too fast for me to actually see them.
      when I tried to see if there were any spells, it would end the turn and let the manticore attack instead.
      The shadows under the ponies usually don't fall directly under them and it looks weird.

      For the multiplayer bit, turn-based combat could still work. If I recall, Atlantica Online uses a turn-based combat system (albeit not a final fantasy-esque one) and pulls it off with aplomb.

      All in all, what's already done looks great! Obviously there is still an unprecedented amount of work to be done but what's there is lovely. Good work!

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    40. Don't have the right system to run it sadly.

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    41. I believe the game has great potential
      they just need to work out the buges

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    42. Just crashes after trying to boot up...way to know how to program.

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    43. So the demo ends after the manticore fight?

      CiS influenced them maybe? :P

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q1zJJfaGeI at 2:52

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    44. @Temp1261

      The floating for Rarity is a known animation bug, and there is an input bug sometimes during transitions - we love the Earthbound sounds too, but they won't be staying in the final version.

      @Dashmaster

      Much of the GUI is under works, and the clipping is known to have some issues - the lines weren't drawn large enough. Thanks for mentioning it, though!

      @GreenGuy
      @Lupus Albus

      The turn-based battle system will be in Single Player mode only, the MMO side will be primarily social-based and is unlikely to have combat, at least in the first release, unless it is part of a mini-game.

      @Lupus Ford

      I dislike the "Next" prompt as well, I'm sure this will be adjusted in the future.

      Options can be accessed via ESC, but it is a good idea to have it on-screen.

      Key re-mapping is already possibly in the engine, but we have not exposed any interface for it yet. Some actions, such as the battle system, still need to be mapped.

      Bounding areas is an upcoming item on the list of things to do, so be rest assured that kind of area won't be in the final game.

      Some of the animations aren't perfect yet, but good eye on them, I will relay that to Urimas.

      The lower-case 'i's are actually capitalized in the scripts, but the Celestia Medium font uses those silly lowercase style ones. We may have to use a tweaked version.

      Also - the Manticore encounter was pretty much just made for the demo, we have other plans for enemies.

      @Lupus Datsun

      The text is sometimes difficult to work with. A prettier GUI is on the to-do list, but we have some more important things to work on currently.

      Known bug, mentioned above.

      The text area is re-used from the chat-box outside of battle, and will be styled. Only the Attack and Defend actions are present for the demo, there will be much more coming along. The shadows were thrown in just cause, and will be different in the future.


      Thanks for your feedback and comments everypony!

      If you have more questions, check out the FAQ we put up at http://www.mlponline.net/faq

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    45. JOBS! indeed.

      Looks promising so far. I assume we'll get some keyboard shortcuts (or something similar) up ins for common tasks like flicking through dialogue? Having to click "Next" each time will get a little tedious.

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    46. I will beta test the hay out of this game!

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    47. Still no luck getting it to run. It gets to "done with gui" in the command prompt then crashes,
      and I still can't figure out why.

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    48. definitely thinking about giving this a look!

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    49. WHAT?! I FIXED THE FONT! I FIXED IT DOG!

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    50. Good for a first Beta, the text is a bit buggy at times.

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    51. this looks bad im just gonna wait till it get better maybe :P

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