Fallout Equestria: the Unblinking


 Now that The Overmare Studios has released this new Fallout: Equestria preview, I can kind of understand why their previous videos used a first-person perspective: their current pony model looks surprisingly creepy when animated, especially with those large, unblinking eyes. Come to think of it, it feels like there's something a bit off with almost all of the animations, although I can't quite lay my finger on it. Perhaps it's just because the animations are incomplete, or maybe this is actually a surreal horror game and Littlepip is an android who happens to fall into the uncanny valley. It's already scarier than Dead Space, so why stop there when you can go all the way down?

 They're also recruiting, and since I don't feel like pasting their ad below the break this time you can read about their requirements at http://theovermare.com/blog/2014/04/flow-of-animations.

Equestria Racing


 Here we have Equestria Racing, which appears to be some sort of ponified Superman 64 clone minus the beat 'em up sections and kryptonite fog. I do have some rather mixed-feelings about it so far, but hopefully the final product will manage to make for it by throwing in some interesting locations to fly around in and whatnot.

I've embedded some of the previous development updates below the break as well, in case you're interested in seeing those.

Legends of Equestria Releases Post-Babscon Trailer


 For various reasons, the Legends of Equestria development team decided to release a Babscon trailer showcasing the game minus the apparently quite awesome dragon invasion they held near the open server weekend's end, which I find somewhat disappointing. Ah well, at least it's a nice preview for those of you who want a sample of the LoE experience without waiting for another open server weekend or the lines of people sitting on that one rooftop and general goofiness typically found in private servers, the latter of which I wouldn't consider a downside to visiting a private server at all.

 And on another note, tux3 released his LoE private server build on GitHub a couple days ago, which you can grab at https://github.com/tux3/LoE-PrivateServer/releases for whenever those go live.

Ponykart Looking for 3D Modelers

Rainbow Dash's kart design.
Ponykart

 Work on the Ponykart C++ port seems to be progressing smoothly, if at a rather slow pace, but it seems that they still have a shortage of 3D modelers (a problem seemingly shared by many FOSS games). The fandom does seem to have a distinct lack of those as well, sadly, but if you happen to have some experience with 3DS Max and/or Blender and would like to contribute to the community in some way or another, this is probably an almost perfect opportunity for you to get some practice and should look pretty good on your résumé.

 I wasn't told exactly where interested applicants were supposed to apply for the position, so you might as well just do so at the recruitment thread if you feel like it, which can be found at http://ponykart.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=dqbg1ss4oeajnblv8k3b5g44f0&topic=52.
- Tuxxy

Review: Pony Platforming Project 3 1/2

The title screen for MFA 1 1/2
Pony Platforming Project 3 1/2

 If you remember when Minty Fresh Adventure was released back in April over two years ago (has it really been that long?), Mark Sprague mentioned that he was planning on releasing an expansion of sorts to the game, but it kind of got pushed out of the way in order to focus on finishing the much more ambitious Minty Fresh Adventure II by the end of the year. Of course, we all know how that went, and in order to keep us distracted from asking where his game went Mark has gone and finally tossed PPP 3 1/2 to the masses...two years late.

Ah well, at least it's something. In case you're wondering how the expansion turned out, I've written a review of sorts below the break.

Today: the Beginning of Yet Another LoE Server Weekend Thing

 Back in March we posted about an upcoming Legends of Equestria open server weekend from April 18 to 20, and now that the 18th has finally been reached we are pleased to announce that the event has begun on time. You can download a copy of the game here, and don't worry about login issues; apparently the team has resolved those so we probably won't have more horror stories of people literally waiting for several hours to get in.

 If you aren't able to play this weekend for whatever reason, I'd suggest downloading the client anyways since Tux3 will probably release another private server for it after the event is done. We've also copypasted a guide to the game below, which you can also find at http://forum.legendsofequestria.com/index.php?topic=10677.

Horse Game Update 3


 Apparently punting small animals off into the distance is all the rage these days, as the newest Horse Game video seems to focus almost exclusively on this cruel (yet totally hilarious) activity. There's also a rather nice sword and a WIP map which will probably look much more impressive in the near future once some more work has been done on it, although that's probably not their main priority right now.

Oh yeah, and the team's lead developer occasionally posts small updates on his Twitter account, which you can follow @SprakleDev.
- Tuxxy

Nightfall Beta Five

Nightfall's title screen.

 Today marks the release of Nightfall's fifth beta, along with all the new features and balance adjustments that such an update usually entails. So if you've already finished My Little Investigations (or haven't gotten around to playing it, like yours truly) and have some spare time, you might as well give this a spin and see if the changes are for the better or not, since apparently the game is getting fairly close to leaving beta and will be considered stable once it does so.

Changelog below the break.

Review: My Little Investigations - True Blue Scootaloo

True Blue Scootaloo screenshot

After a long time in development, with almost no word on progress from the team until recently, Equestrian Dreamers finally released the first case in their point-and-click adventure game, My Little Investigations, titled True Blue Scootaloo. While the game has received its fair share of attention and hype, does the first substantial fruit of the team's labor live up to expectations? Well, that's what this post is for. Check out some rambling opinions on the game across the break.

Note: This review contains spoilers for the case. Read on with caution if you want to experience the game blind.

My Little Investigations Case 1 Released



 That's right. After almost three years in development, My Little Investigations - the fandom's premier Phoenix Wright-inspired adventure game, from Equestrian Dreamers - has finally released its first case, True Blue Scootaloo. They also have the soundtrack, as well as the source code for both the current version and the previous Java-based version, available for download.

 This case has been a long time coming, and I could go on about how excited I've been, but I think I'll save that for a review. For now, I'm just going to point you guys over to their Downloads page to get it for yourself. See their announcement below the break. (Or just read it on their site...)

It's Always Sunny in Dark Skyes


 In case you read the comments of our last post, you'd have heard that Dark Skyes' artist Pukey Pony got together with several folks and began work on an actual visual novel based off of the ill-fated trolling attempt (albeit without the supposed "deep RPG elements" and "100+ hours of gameplay"). As of now they're using placeholder music and backgrounds until more progress is made on the writing and character artwork, but I guess that isn't a really big deal since the fandom does have an overall lack of complete dating sims and it'd be nice to have that particular genre covered.

 There was a video update before this one, but Sam Hyde had it taken down from YouTube over "copyright violations" or some crap like that.

Review: BFS

A load of horse crap.

 As his previous efforts have shown us, Vanni is determined to redefine the way we see RPGs, and to accomplish his vision he has even gone so far as to program it from scratch in C instead of going about the usual route of whipping up crap in RPG Maker like a mere commoner. This may prove he's no scrub, sure, but even the best of developers can slip up sometimes, so is this an example of such?

Pony fans will definitely want to check this one out, so read on below the break for my thoughts on it.

Tom the Rock Simulator

It's a rock.

 Ever the ambitious fellow, Vanni decided to release a tie-in game to the ever-popular Goat Simulator (also being released today) featuring Rarity's waifu as its main character, doing what he normally does when he isn't being showered with affection from Maud. Some may find the content a bit lacking, although I personally think that it's an excellent representation of Tom's daily life including the bits where he does his own stunts and attends all the award ceremonies his voice actor has been been invited to lately. I'd suggest that future releases add in a realtime day/night cycle and possibly some wildlife to occasionally appear in the background, but as its stands right now this is probably one of the better avant-garde fangames we'll see this year (with the possible exception of BFS, which I'll be posting about in a bit).

Rumour has it that a sequel is coming to the App Store featuring unlockable outfits. Look for it in Summer 2014!