Review: Stop the Bats!


 The pony fangaming scene has a good share of games inspired by particular episodes. Stop the Bats! is one of them, created by Versimer in a mere 8 days using C++ and the SFML library. That's fairly impressive in itself, considering that some fangames use premade engines and still take longer to complete.

But just how good is the game itself? Well, you're gonna have to hit the page break to find out.

Ponykart is Recruiting

Some Ponykart concept art

 I've been waiting for an opportunity to give Ponykart's unofficial revival project some more exposure for a while now, and now the time has finally come. You see, they're looking for some C++ programmers who also have some experience in C# to help them with the port, along with the usual graphics designers, musicians, and even writers (although I still have no idea why a kart racer would need people dedicated to the latter, especially since characters in said games rarely speak).

 Interested? Check out their announcement for details on the requirements and how to submit an application, or just read the copypasted version below the break. You might also want to check out their Google Group and GitHub repo.

Unicorn Quest


 Coming in to fill another spot in the "pony games comprised entirely of OCs" lineup (which seems to be getting distressingly popular as of late) is a project by the name of Adventures in Equica: Unicorn Quest. The developer, Yotes Games, describes the project as an action-RPG, with a battle system reminiscent of top-down shooters and exploration similar to 2D Zelda titles. The game is still in the conceptual phase at the moment, unfortunately, but the developer promises daily updates for those of you who are interested in the development process. You can read more about the project, including the developer's long-winded explanations of various game concepts, in this post on his blog.

Personally, I'm interested to see how far this project goes; while anyone can write up a pie-in-the-sky game concept without necessarily being able to bring it to fruition, the developer already has some completed projects outside of ponies under his belt, which gives me some confidence for his. Plus, there seems to be a lack of Android pony games that aren't just ports of Flash minigames or clones of other, more popular mobile games; this project has a chance to please that under-served niche in the
fandom.
- RedEnchilada

Nightfall's Fourth Beta

Typical Nightfall gameplay

 Continuing the grand tradition of Nightfall beta releases being uploaded at the appropriate time comes its fourth beta, with some lovely new additions/improvements such as an Adventure mode, more skills, and various much-needed performance fixes. That's right, you can finally run Nightfall at a fairly decent speed in Wine (although you probably won't be able to run the game at faster speeds, since that is done by increasing the framerate).

For convenience's sake, I've pasted the changelog below the break. Have fun with the new beta!

Another Adventure of the Lunarbolts Update


 It's been over a year since the last full Adventure of the Lunarbolts update, and as usual they showcase a couple scenes ostensibly about the developers creating this game, albeit while being portrayed as hopeless fools whose props repeatedly explode and are almost entirely unable to accomplish simple tasks. Perhaps there is no Adventure of the Lunarbolts game after all, but this is all an extended joke directed at overhyped projects created by bickering development teams?

There's always the possibility that they'll end up not releasing the game at all, but a documentary of its developers having lunch.
- Tuxxy

Brony Gamers Play Holding a Giveaway

The Brony Gamers Play promo image

 So a while back there were a bunch of people who got together to make Let's Play videos and called their channel Brony Gamers Play. Since February marks their second year of existence they've decided to hold a daily stream over at their Twitch channel and give out various prizes every day, which is pretty sweet if you're the type of person who doesn't mind watching other people play video games with the slight chance of winning something in return.

To qualify for the giveaway you'll have to follow their Twitch channel at http://www.twitch.tv/bronygamersplay/ and talk to them on the chat. There's also a chart detailing as to exactly what games are being given away on each day, which may or may not interest you.

The Amazing Jumping Adventure


This simple game from NzureuzInternational is a game about hopping on clouds and Shadowbolt heads to ascend into the sky. It's basically a ponified clone of Doodle Jump. There's an in-game store with a few things to purchase with your accumulated score, but the options are either aesthetic (a couple of extra characters that are just reskins of Cloud Kicker) or only useful for score attacking ("start at 650 feet" and "add 500 feet to the end score", both of which cost exactly as much as you get out of them). Whether or not you enjoy this will depend on whether or not you enjoy the original game it's based off of. The game also has Android and iOS downloads for taking on the go, if that's your thing.
- RedEnchilada

Neverfree

Magical purple alicorns saving the day.

 After playing around with Neverfree for a bit I've come to the conclusion that its creator must be quite the Cave Story fan, as this game's mechanics are highly reminiscent of the indie classic (yes, you can use the rapid-firing weapon as a makeshift jetpack). It could honestly make for a really great game if one were to expand upon it and add some more levels, maybe some more varied enemies/bosses that do more than just pace from one end of the room to the other as well. There was also a particularly crowded spot near the final boss that could lead to the player clipping through the wall if they were repeatedly jostled about by enemies, which one should be cautious of if one attempts to play this.

 Oh yeah, the game would really benefit from some music/sound effects. I was also quite pleased to see someone using LÖVE for once; it's probably my overall favourite 2D engine and it feels like there's never enough people who actually use it.

Horse Game is Recruiting

Early screenshot of the new Horse Game level

 For a while now Horse Game's developer has been working on a brand new level, but as you can imagine it's made for quite the workload and he could really use some help getting his project off the ground. If it turns out fairly well he plans on turning this into a fully-fledged game, and that hopefully includes the possibility of online multiplayer (really, who hasn't played the demo and fantasized about playing it with their friends?).

In case you don't want to visit the original Reddit post for some reason, we've pasted its contents below the break.

Crystal Gaming, a Fandom-wide Team Fortress 2 Tournament


The folks running the Finnish Crystal Fair 2014 brony convention are organizing a Team Fortress 2 tournament named Crystal Gaming (unrelated to the Crystal Games Challenge we covered a few days ago), aimed at players of all skill levels. The tournament, designed as a promotion for the convention, is taking signups through the end of the month. They've got some TF2-related prizes for the top teams, and are also accepting item donations to add to the prize pool, if you've grown bored of hat collect-a-thons and want to offload your inventory or something like that. Read past the break for their press release, with more info and some useful links. (Or you could just read it on their site, if you'd rather.)

Equestria Jukebox's Alpha is Released

Screenshot of the Equestria Jukebox website.

 In January I wrote about Equestria Jukebox, the unusual pony creation utility/chat app successor to the Pony Avatar Creator, and its alpha client came out on this Monday. It looks pretty neat so far, although there's a distinct lack of manes and accessories for users to pick from and I was unable to save my abominations to the server, leading me to believe that they have gained sentience and are actively discriminating against ugly original characters. Do note that the userbase is fairly small at the moment, so if you do make a chat group it'll probably take quite a while to grow (unless the service undergoes a sudden growth in popularity).

There's always Lunasync as an alternative, of course, although nobody seems to use it ;~;

Demo: Daring Do


This game from Okamikurainya is a fairly standard pony platformer starring Daring Do (who would've guessed?), with its fair share of barely-visible jumps and doodads floating around waiting to be collected. The lack of any temporary invincibility after a hit leads to many situations where one hit leads to more that can't be avoided. The boss is unusually clever for these kinds of fangames, though, and manages to be pretty fun when you're not getting backed into a wall and killed instantly. There's some potential for a fun game here if the developer works to add some variety to future levels.
- RedEnchilada

Demo: TWALAGHT SPARKUHLZ REVEHNSHE 2

Title logo for TSR2.
TWALAGHT SPARKUHLZ REVEHNSHE 2

Coming from Penta Studios, of Waiting is Magic fame, TWALAGHT SPARKUHLZ REVEHNSHE 2 is the sequel to the first game about defending Ponyville from parasprites and other assorted creatures of the forest. The demo released for the MLGD competition contains an introductory sequence, three levels (allegedly; I keep messing up and dying halfway through the second) and five upgrades. Not a ton of content, but certainly enough to discuss a bit, yes?

Crystal Games Challenge 2014

Some weird pony.
 Last year there was some event called the Crystal Games Challenge, and unsurprisingly they're holding another one this year from June 13 to 15. That's really all I know, aside from their plans to feature the entries on a convention panel somewhere like they previously did at Everfree Northwest.

They have an exclamation-plagued announcement at http://www.thegamingcolts.com/2014/01/15/announcing-the-crystal-games-challenge-2014/