Them's Fightin Herds! "The stampede is coming!"

[gato]

.

GET READY FOR A BLEAT DOWN!

 

Them's Fighting Herds is a 2D fighting game that just started it's own crowdfunding campaign, features a cast of colorful quadrupleds beating the hay out of each other in the cutest yet surprisingly mechanically sound way possible.

You can find more about the project here, or let me make a resume of whatever you might want to know about it bellow.

 

YOU FIGHT LIKE A COW!

Here are some of the gameplay features in the game:

• 4-button Fighting: A-Light, B-Medium, C-Heavy, D-Magic. (since the game gets rid of silly notions like punching, with the characters not having hands to begin with)

• Magic System: Emphasize your character’s special abilities through a dedicated button and a unique resource. (think of V-Triggers and stuff from SFV, but considering this game's story it might have predated that)

• Juggle Decay: Opponents become gradually heavier during a combo, but ONLY after the juggle decay bar is filled. This manages combo length without imposing a hard limit, allowing creative and situational combos to emerge.

• Enhanced Super Attack: Spend an additional meter to add utility to your main super attack with effects that stay true to the characters’ unique personalities and talents!

• Dynamic Music System: Rockin’ character themes that adapt in the heat of the battle makes every fight a treat to the players AND the spectators. (it's a must hear, I'm a big fan of the guy in charge of the soundtrack and I hope big things for him)

• GGPO powered netplay for the smoothest possible fighting game experience. (No version specified yet, here's hoping they opt for the newest one if the game does well enough)

• Ranked/unranked matchmaking for quick and efficient fightin’.

• Visual lobby which allows players to explore (read: goof around in) locations within the world of Fœnum with other players. Customize your avatar with cosmetic items you collect through exploration and single/multiplayer gameplay!

 

 

 

THE DEER-EST LORE

Thanks to an odd mix of events that transpired before the game was even conceived the guys over at Mane6 got themselves the help of no other than Lauren Faust (a remarkable woman who worked on titles like Wander Over Yonder, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, the Powerpuff Girls and more) to help with the making of the world and characters.

Fœnum is a world inhabited entirely by sentient four legged, hoofed mammals.

Across the land, these creatures have thrived much as we humans have, building societies and creating cultures revolving around the natural environment their particular species is indigenous to. Right now, Fœnum is dominated by these hoofed mammals, but this was not always the case. Long ago, the very lives of the Fœnicians were threatened daily by the presence of PREDATORS. Toothy, carnivorous beasts who were eventually BANISHED to a magical realm generations ago, ushering in a prosperous and peaceful era for for the grateful grass eaters.

But the time of peace is almost over. Countless packs and prides of Predators have discovered a way to escape their supernatural prison and are on the verge of infiltrating Fœnum en masse, led by the greatest and most horrible of them all!

And so each nation of Fœnum has sent their strongest, bravest, most skilled of their race to face the Predators’ Leader and close the portal of the prison realm with an enchanted key. But it is up to each of these “Key Seekers” to become the one and only “Key Keeper” by securing the key for themselves  – even if it means to take it by force! Which it does. 

Who will claim the key? Who will face the terrifying leader of the predators? And will she save Fœnum? You will have to play to find out!

The cast of characters is composed as of now by the brave and honorable Arizona, the skilled yet very very prideful Velvet, the alpaca who is on love with love Paprika, the only unicorn who dared to use dark magic Oleander, and lastly, the only sheep who dared not be a sheep and voice her own opinion (at the most unfortunate of times) Pom. There is a sixth character claiming the spot of key keeper and the obvious bosses from the predators but they will be revealed in due time.

 

 

Fighting is Magic

Them Fightin Herds is a game that also has a very peculiar story out-universe but if you are not interested in pastel colored equines I'd suggest you to skip it, I'll leave it between spoilers and you can judge the game unbiasedly (that's a word now) with all that I posted above.

 

Once upon a time, in the magical land of... Well... This planet... A group of developers who branded themselves as Mane6 wanted to make a fangame about colorful ponies beating the tar out of each other, despite the limitations of the engine of choice they managed to bring not both the attention of the fans of those horses on the first place but also from the fighting game community because despite it's innocent appearance it managed to be a solid fighting game that could be enjoyed both by casual fans and the most dedicated ones.

This odd mix managed to spread as far as to make it to places like Gamespot or the very cusp of the North American fighting events, EVO. As a matter of fact, it was one of the competitors for one of the main spots on the streams until it was ultimately defeated by the (IMO amply deserving) Super Smash Brothers, that year Smash Brothers Melee would finally receive the recognition it deserved, but things would start going downhill for Mane6.

Due to reasons never specified but that could be attributed to the high amounts of attention the fangame was receiving it ended up receiving a C&D order from Hasbro themselves. They discussed it for a while but sadly came to the conclusion that this fangame could no longer exist as it were and announced the cancellation of the title... To say people were disappointed or angry would be an understatement (this was a specially bad year for the fandom this people originated from). Unfortunately such is the destiny of some fangames, I mean, look at what happened to Freedom Planet...

... I really mean it, look at them, because they are the exception to the rule and Mane6 also want to join into that category. As it turns out after the announcement of the C&D no other than Lauren Faust decided to jump and offer her help to finish the project (somehow), it was some 2 or so days of arguing between the members of the team but then they decided to accept her offer and start anew. This brought an even more unexpected surprise, Mike Z (of Skullgirls fame) offered the team a chance to win access to his very own Z-Engine if the crowdfund for the Skullgirls DLC went well enough (spoilers: it did). So Mane6 saw themselves with an unique opportunity to make a game with a competent engine and have the help of a wonderful storyteller and artist for their universe... This sounds great right?

It was, but the game kinda felt silent for years... And I mean years!

But they've finally come back! Stronger than ever and determined to make this project come to fruition... OR ELSE...

 

 

 

The indiegogo site for the project goes a lot more deep into the funding process and the perks you'll get by funding so by all means check it out.

I originally made this thread thinking about the 2 or maybe 3 people who might still be interested in the project after it's original incarnation got the boot, but it'd be awesome if more people join us, this is a new world and a chance for a new beginning both for the players and the developers. So if you are interested, by all means come join me on the crowdfund or just come talk here about the game (tho I'm no fighting expert, love the genre, but never really went to the lab :u)

 

Also I can't seem to get the link option working right now, let me know if they are visible for you :x

EDIT: Fixing links, one EDIT at a time . -.

Edited September 21, 2015 by gato
Need to fix links

[gato]

Shoryuken also got wind of this game and decided to make a little inverview, you can check it here.

 

Looks fun. I'll have to check it out when it gets up to speed, kinda miss the initial concept but hey cease and desists can't really be argued with. I hope this turns out to be just as good as Skullgirls anyway, with the amount of time and effort they seem to have put in they really deserve it. 

If anything this is an opportunity to get into a new world full of possibilities... tho in that regard, it's kind of a shame that Mane6 loved their old characters so much that they pretty much ported them over. Here is hoping the campaign goes well enough to get us some more characters to make this something even more unique.

 

[Cola]

ANY GAME WITH A DYNAMIC MUSIC SYSTEM LIKE THAT DESERVES MY FULL SUPPORT

oh and i guess the game itself is cool too

[gato]

Not gonna lie, I went from "might pledge" to "TAKE ALL MY MONEY" the moment they showcased the soundtrack for the first time. Speaking of which, they added another tier that gives you the full digital package without having to deal with the physical stuff, which is awesome (otherwise you'd have to spill 200 for the complete OST and the lobby sprite)

Also, after 24 hours the crowdfund is sitting quietly at 24% and 104k dollars, I'm not sure if that's bad nor good but certainly not looking up for my expanded roster dreams (might be wrong tho, but considering how this game works each character's cost would grow exponentially).

[Ducktor Naldush]

Colour me interested. I don't know if I'll be able to help them financially, but I'll keep my eyes on this project. I enjoyed what little we got from them before the cease and desist, I'm sure they'll make a great job.

 

 

[Candescence]

We've got our sixth fighter/Rainbow Dash replacement: A DRAGON HORSE.

Wait, what?

High above the clouds atop the highest of mountains lies the diminutive Empire of Huoshan (known to other Fœnecians as The Volcano), built over the gaping maw of an active, lava-spewing crater. The Empire’s subjects are Longmas, a very proud race who are half horse, half dragon. Every Longma is a member of the military, sworn not only to protect their beloved Empress (Daughter of Heaven, Empress of the Miniscule yet Mighty Realm of Magnanimous Magma, Lava, and Fire) and their honored volcanic home, but all of Fœnum itself.

It took the Empress not even a moment to make her choice for Key Keeper. Her name is Tianhuo, and amongst her people, she is undoubtedly the greatest the noble half-breeds have to offer. As Captain of the Imperial Guard, Tianhuo is the frontline defender of her Royal Highness!

For certain she is an intimidating sight, emitting stoic confidence, but not a hint of arrogance. She has no disdain for her opponents. In fact, she greatly admires skill and strength and cannot enjoy a duel unless she faces a combatant who offers her a challenge… and it takes quite a combatant to stand up to her bat-winged, aerial attacks or the force of fire she is able to magically conjure when she reaches her greatest speeds. Indeed, not many are even able to get past the daggers that shoot from her fiery, dragon eyes when she stares you down. No one is more disciplined, no one more determined, and even the Predators’ Champion should beware

Gameplay: Tianhuo, Captain of the Imperial Guard strikes from above, below and all around! Flexible, aerodynamic, and explosive, she is a real firecracker!

Flight-based attacks keep your opponent’s head in the clouds! Cancel any and all of your attacks into her Firecracker Magic attack to overwhelm your opponents, or use it to move quickly across the stage.

[Nix]

I dropped $40 on this because Pinkie Paprika was eating their pie chart.

 

Game looked great when it was a MLP fan game, and it looks even better now.  I really hope this succeeds.

[Penny]

It looks cool, but I don't really have any interest in this game. I was only ever interested in it before the C&D, because I wanted an MLP fighting game. Ever since it lost the MLP part, I just can't get interested. It's just a fighting game now, albeit a well made, pretty cool looking fighting game. 

 

Still though, I'm happy the people behind it are continuing to do their thing. Even if the game lost my personal interest, I'm hopeful it succeeds, because from what I played when it was still MLP based, it was pretty dang fun and these guys deserve the success.

[gato]

It looks cool, but I don't really have any interest in this game. I was only ever interested in it before the C&D, because I wanted an MLP fighting game. Ever since it lost the MLP part, I just can't get interested. It's just a fighting game now, albeit a well made, pretty cool looking fighting game. 

 

Still though, I'm happy the people behind it are continuing to do their thing. Even if the game lost my personal interest, I'm hopeful it succeeds, because from what I played when it was still MLP based, it was pretty dang fun and these guys deserve the success.

Yeah, that's most of the bronydom's feelings as well, which doesn't really sit well with me but to each their own.

Anyway, it's one of the reasons why I didn't like how much they relied on the old game to talk about the current one in the crowdfunding start video (which is why I didn't post it on the OP) they should have now by the comments on EqD that they'd receive little support from that side and try to appeal to the people who want a legit fighting game (niche as it might be, at least present it as such).

 

But back on topic, something I totally forgot to add to the first post is that if you have any question to ask to the dev team it'd be a good idea to check out their Tumblr, they answer questions there every now and then and have a FAQ tag for you to see if your doubts were already answered, So give it a look it whenever you find the time to do so! Twitter is also a good spot to ask and/or check some fanart. They also has a Facebook but sadly that one doesn't see much use so I'd ignore it.

They also have a Twitch account but it hasn't seen use in years (it even has the old logo) so I'm not sure if it'd be worth following. Actually, I'll go ask about it. . _.

[WhoWhatMan]

My main problem with this whole game is that it feels like "Not-MLP". We got the western cow who is "not Applejack" or the elegant, classy reindeer who is totally "not Rarity" guys! Like, I can totally understand that it better to reuse ideas on something new and original to save time but I wish they didn't push the fact that "oh they wouldn't let us use MLP so we just going to replace the characters with something new". It's extremely distracting.

[gato]

My main problem with this whole game is that it feels like "Not-MLP". We got the western cow who is "not Applejack" or the elegant, classy reindeer who is totally "not Rarity" guys! Like, I can totally understand that it better to reuse ideas on something new and original to save time but I wish they didn't push the fact that "oh they wouldn't let us use MLP so we just going to replace the characters with something new". It's extremely distracting.

I believe this is what I was trying to say on my previous post so thanks, they shouldn't have mentioned the previous title so much as if to makes us feel that this is nothing but a reskin of FigIM, the truth of the matter is that if we read the whole world Lauren crafted you'd notice that each character is different to the previous one both on personality and background except for maybe Arizona and Pom (and I'm kinda doubtful about the later), at the risk of sounding like a fanboy I really doubt she'd want to copy paste FIM into this realm considering all she went through and some light shed on recent interviews about how she feels about this and that (I don't really want to derail to much so forgive my vagueness) so that reassures me that at the very least the story and characters will not be "Not-MLP".

The only thing they've outright copy paste'd was the character movesets (and that's not even 100% correct, more like 90%?) and fighting styles but people are talking about those things as if they were created and owned by Hasbro or something when Mane6 were the ones who made those from scratch. It's really their own fault that the association exist on the first place since they relied a bit too much on it.

 

But I digress. (sorry, been watching too many Megaman Lets plays lately :v)

 

Back to the realm of actual news, they've added a whole bunch of tiers for those who want to pledge or upgrade.

But more importantly...

HAI GUISE, I R SRS SOLDIR NOW

[Tornado]

Kinda surprised that they kept plugging at it after all this time, though pretty glad. Still a real shame what happened originally though.

[gato]

Kinda surprised that they kept plugging at it after all this time, though pretty glad. Still a real shame what happened originally though.

The Shoryuken interview puts that emphasis on how much was left of the previous project to reach completion that makes it hurt even more, but if you are the kind of person who believes in silver linings and whatnot that lawyer wall they hit might have turned out for the better considering how the current game looks. (of course, if it'd still were about horses they'd probably be funded by now but alas...)

Speaking of funding on microfont, after 2 days fighting with a calculator they've just announced the first set of stretch goals!

 

Still no console version on sight but I'd guess that'd be the next item on the list.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Velvet Reindeer
Links still causing me troubles

[gato]

Off to Greenlighter pastures!

After a few days it seems like the game managed to get approved on Steam Greenlight! What does this mean for us? Well for starters anyone who backed $40 (Guardian Sheepdog pledge) or higher will gain access to a closed beta at some point later on the development (I think it's actually going to be kinda close to release so don't expect anything like SFV here, could be wrong tho since I'm sure there'll also be an open beta) not to mention all the little trinkets and benefits that might come with a Steam release (here's hoping Steamplay is one of those). If you want more detail about it as well as a neat little contest you can check on the link posted at the beginning of this paragraph.

Of course, this doesn't really secure the fate of the game, since we have barely broken the 200k mark out of 436k (not even 50% funded so far) so if you guys are interested on the game better get them wallets ready.

 

 

RULES OF NATURE!

We also got a bit more of info about the world's lore from Lauren herself, apparently this are going to be a series of posts with the one linked here being the first of them, unfortunatelly it doesn't reveal anything we didn't know already (except that the confirmation that the Predators were not so evil per se... But considering they feed off you if you had the chance you'd probably get rid of them instead of accepting the circle of life). Which is why I didn't decide to post about it before.

 

 

Them's Streamin Herds!

But the most important news about this game right now is the announcment of a livestream showcasing the current (VERY EARLY) build of the game. The stream will happen tomorrow at 7pm EST / 4pm PST on their Twitch Channel. There will be Kappas, Alpacas and Maybe some fracas, be sure to be there! \o/

 

Also, apologies for the invisible links, I swear this forum hates me and makes me edit the post several times on purpose >_>

 

 

EDIT: Recording of the Livestream here!

Edited October 4, 2015 by Velvet Reindeer

[gato]

Halfway-ish thereish?

The IGG has surpassed the 250k barrier which leaves it a little close to 60% on the way to the game's funding, still a long way to go but there is only one way of fix that, which is by funding, talking and hyping the game to everyone we know about it (note: Mane6 recommend to not be annoying while doing so... or be it... Your choice)... But since that's not really an update making much of a fuss about besides a Twitter post Mane6 decided to add a little more to it.

For starters, they took the game to Xanadu and recorded some impressions.

 

 

 

Them's Streamin Herds 2: Anniversary? What Anniversary?

The second part of their update is the announcement of their second stream, where they'll keep showing some early footage from the game and Lauren Faust herself will join to talk a bit about her side of the development. (or at the very least answer some questions). The stream will occur this Saturday October 10th on the same Twitch channel, at the same twitch time (read: 7PM Eastern/4PM Pacific).

They've also said tomorrow we are getting the second chapter on the book of Lore, I don't think I'll post about it tomorrow but if you are interested about how Arizona got into the tournament, then don't forget to check out Mane6's page for it!

With that said, we'll see each other at the Twitch stream... Or on the next update I decide to post here so...

 

 

See ya later! (I'm totally using this posts to post fanart huh?)

Edited October 8, 2015 by Velvet Reindeer

[gato]

GO MANE6 GO!

 

We are reaching the final push! The funding is going a little over 75% and we are on the last 6 days of the campaign, if you haven't funded now this would be the hypest time to do so (me being a filthy casual, threw my money on first day).

But lets not talk just about it, after 3 streams... yeah, three, there was a surprise one two days ago that you can see here, a lot of dev stuff at the beginning but after part 3 they showcase the dynamic music system so it's very worth a watch... But yeah, after three streams I'm in position to share whatever I could find about both the gameplay and the story of the game.

 

Gameplay Boys!

As mentioned before this will be a 4 button fighter, 3 buttons for all your hitting and comboing needs (light, medium and heavy) plus the magic button which is tied to character's specific moves (kinda like the V skills on SFV) I haven't been able to get much information about what the characters will be able to do with magic besides EX moves but I know for a fact a few skills that are new and other things that carry over from the previous project, if you guys think I'm posting something you've already knew accept my apologies, I'm writing this with the people who didn't follow the previous game in mind. Also as I mentioned before, I'm a fan of the genre but at the same time I'm a complete noob so please excuse my scrubyness.

 

 General

* Most projectiles have hurtboxes, this means characters can block them by just hitting them. it seems to require some timing to pull off properly so think about it as something akin to SF3's parries.

* Launchers (usually reserved to down-forward + Heavy, are the movements that launch the opponent to the air opening to some mahvel air combos) are insanely powerful as of now and their hitbox is huge (or at least in Oleander's case), the idea behind this seems to be that this movements will be very powerful yet at the same time very easy to punish (right now there is a low but very big hurtbox on Oleander's launcher), many people didn't like this so it might change in the future.

* Teching: The action that allows a character that was knocked down to quickly get up and make a counter attack or escape from a sticky situation, in most fighting games this is reserved to a button or a combination of buttons but in this game it seems like it's going to be directional. If you are knocked in the air holding up (or up-forward or up-back) will let make you do a little hop and regain equilibrium, on the ground, holding down (or down-forward or down-back) will let you stand up or roll quickly. You cannot be hit while teching but you can be grabbed. Many people voiced some concern about this (especially since many players while being attacked keep holding back as a reflex) but Mane6 seems to be confident this will work for the time beign.

* Infinite prevention: As of now the game uses a method similar to MKX which is known by Mane6 as TSTHWYCTDHM (or, The Shiznit That Happens When You Combo Too Damn Hard, Man) it's a bar bellow the characters lifebar that begins to fill as they keep getting hit, once full if the character is in the air they will simply become heavier and very hard to juggle, if its in the ground, it will just fall down allowing it to tech or get a second to breathe.

* Super Moves: As of now the plan is that each character will have one lvl1 super, a lvl2 that's a follow up to the lvl1 and a lvl3. It remains to be seen if that will be the case for all the characters or that's how the lvl2s will work later on.

 

Arizona:

* Magic: She obtains one stock of magic by every time she lands her lasso move (kinda like Scorpion's chain on MK but also has an anti air version), she can have up to 3 stocks and can be used to perform EX moves, when asked about it the dev said there was another function for them but couldn't say which one it was.

* Movement: She has most of the basic movement tools of an SNK character, her backdash is a short hop, her forward dash is a run motion, she has short hops, regular jumps and super jumps. You'll find everything but the roll with her.

* Super Move: A simple dash forward that hits the opponent and sends them flying, if followed up with a lvl2 she will kick the wall, and kick the opponent in the air making them bounce and opening them for a combo.

 

Velvet:

* Magic: She has 6 stocks that will fill up automatically, but the speed they fill up depends on how far you are from the opponent (the furthest you are the fastest it fills) they are used to fire certain projectiles that can be held for a certain time or until you press magic again to fire them.

* Movement: Velvet has momentum and a good keep away game, her forward dash is a very pitiful step but apparently her backdash compensates for it (a little spin backwards), if she crouches while moving she has the option to slide a little both forwards and backwards which can catch some opponents off guard.

* Some normals or specials seems to have the property of freezing the opponent (probably a special but I'm not aware of the command to make it happen yet it's short range tho).

* Ice chunks can be attacked, but ice eruption (the one that comes from bellow the ground) can't.

* Super Move: A giant pillar of snow covers the opponent, if followed up with the level two another pillar will appear freezing the opponent in place (a bit of a glitch but hits that keep the combo going after this lvl2 don't seem to increase the hit counter).

 

Oleander:

* Magic; Reading, "Magic button" seems to be what makes Oleander crouch and read some pages from the Unicornomicon, this increases her magic stocks up to three (as a neat detail, her magic is purple, the rest of the characters so far have cyan colored magic). This allows her to set up traps and shoot air projectiles.

* Movement: Not much is known about it yet but we know she has a double jump, I believe they said that would be tied to her magic meter on the first stream but since the third one that no longer seems to be the case. She used to have a teleport on the previous game but we don't know yet if that move will remain (probably yes)

* Her book can be knocked down and you can see it crawling slowly towards Oleander after that, but as of right now that's purely aesthetical since she can summon it back with any movement.

* Super Move: A giant laser a la Shinku Hadouken in the early Marvel games, she doesn't have a lvl2 now (and I don't remember her having it on the previous game).

 

Paprika:

* Magic: They haven't figured out how it'll work in character yet but the plan is to have her start with a full magic bar (6 stocks) that will act as some sort of ammo, she can use magic and gain random effects from it (a la Faust on GG) but she's limited to those stocks she starts with for the entire round and there is now way to win them back.

* Movement: seems to be a rather slow movement right now but that's probably changing later on, We know for a fact she has a teleport.

* So far she's the only charge character in the game.

 

Misc:

* The dynamic music system is.... Surprisingly good, I've seen games like KI and PSO2 that have a very good dynamic music system but the chaotic nature of the fights sometimes makes for some choppy transitions which doesn't seem to be the case on this game.

* The variations are: Intro for each character, outro for each character, character winning variations, high pitch variant for the third round (a la Mario kart, kinda), distorted variant (if a combo goes on for too long the music begins to fade away until only the beat remains).

* The test theme they've been using in the third stream wasn't supposed to be at any point on the game but due to fan demand Mane6 is considering using it in the game somehow. (possibly training mode)

* In case of a mirror match the dynamic theme will use the same track depending on who's winning but the intros and outros will be different.

* There are plans for some sort of in game currency in order to obtain accessories for your avatar in the lobbies, some people have thrown the suggestion of letting users bet with that currency on matches, it's all in pre production phase right now since the lobbies are not the main point of the game (.. Yet...).

* There is this little thing some players like to do in a lot of games while dominating another player and is the act of repeatedly crouching and standing at a fast pace, this is commonly known as teabagging (don't ask), if a player tries to do this in game for a certain period of time the character will start doing... something else... of course this are very placeholder animations but you get the idea.

 

 

 

Lore Boys!

* Prologue: Enter the world of Fœnum

* Chapter 1: The future belongs to the young

* Chapter 2: The tundra tournament.

 

In the story department they are going something a little above the usual FG story, I'm not going to say it's something unheard of nor revolutionary but more like a mismatch of things from other franchises. Also, keep in mind that not even Lauren's statements should be considered canon besides the stories posted above since they can be changed later on.

* The story seems like it's going to take the current  Mortal Kombat way, as in have a single, big, story that includes all the characters and one true canon ending instead of several possible ones. No word yet if there is going to be something akin to a ladder mode.

* The team's current idea is that the story will use maps similar to the visual lobbies as a way to deliver some world building, you'll travel around, talk to NPCs, maybe have some enemy encounters? (I doubt it, but there are ways of making something like that work without making more characters). in any way it won't be the usual dialogue->fight case (I believe Mortal Kombat also used this kind of vehicle for story telling at some point).

* A bunch of questions were raised about the ungulates and the prophet disturbing the natural order and getting rid of the predators for their own benefit, this led many question how morally right the inhabitants of Fœnum actually are... Lauren's answer is a very big Maybe... She says the story itself is told from the ungulate's perspective and as far as they are aware the prophet was a hero and the predators are evil. If there is some more backstory to that we'll have to find out on our own, the only thing that's crystal clear is that the main villain IS evil since it literally ate any attempt at a peaceful solution the Fœnians sent.

* There are both spectral and living version of predators, the spectral ones are a lot more docile and are actually more like drones who carry a task and little else.

* Having said that a lot of predators adapted before being banished and nowadays are living peacefully on Fœnum, dogs seems to have developed a sort of symbiotic relationship with the lambs and Longmas are descendants of giant predators, proud of possessing the best traits of both species.

* Oleander's relationship with FTNGH (the entity on her book) are going to be important. She's betting everything on her belief that giving enough time she'll be able to wield dark magic in a way that might be able save the world, but the book on the other hand simply doesn't care about it and plans to kill the unicorn. This will be expanded a bit more in a later post on Mane6's site.

* They are considering making comics that follow the story of the game (and maybe expand on it a little), they are simple and with little to no restrictions.

 

I think that's all I got for now, I'll add the links as soon as this forum lets me so see ya all in the next post, hopefully with some more good news to share about this project.

EDIT: Links added!

 

 

EDIT2: 4th stream confirmed for tomorrow at the usual time. (7PM EST)

Edited October 16, 2015 by Velvet Reindeer

[gato]

FUNDED BOYS!

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

...

 

Thank to all of you guys who donated! Or even just checked this thread out of curiosity! Now the real hype begins as the game starts getting out of that sub alpha state and becomes it's own thing!

Anyway! So yeah, the game got funded with some days to spare (now I won't feel bad for throwing money at Indivisible and Starcraft 2), to celebrate Mane6 will be hosting an impromptu stream very very soon (I'll post more info as it becomes available but it'll be today).

Also, Oleander's story is up. :u

 

EDIT: Stream is up!

Edited October 19, 2015 by Velvet Reindeer

[Nix]

FUNDED BOYS!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I was actually kind of worried for this thing a week (or two?  I don't remember) ago, but I'm super glad to see that it picked up some steam towards the end.  I don't think there's much we can hope for in terms of stretch goals, but I'm just glad that this game will actually be made.

Now we play the waiting game; I can't wait to see how this turns out.

[Strickerx5]

This is great to hear! I was also kind of worried for a bit there. Wasn't it only like a couple of days ago that we were still $100,000 out? Really happy to see the dev team catch this big break after some very rough patches. Hell, they just reached $450,000 so maybe we'll see a release on Mac and Linux before the deadline.

Can't wait to play it when it's ready!

[DaBatGuy]

They just reached all the stretch goals with 5 hours to spare. I'm surprised it got this far in the last few days

[gato]

And so she did...

 

Pretty much like BatGuy said the funding is finally over! 135% percent of the game funded, all stretch goals reached (tho there weren't many of them), 10.530 backers and $587.026 raised. Pretty cool huh?

To celebrate the ending of the campaign ManeSix hosted another stream but this one with a twist, a first to 10 fight between Arizona and Velvet where the characters were being controlled by the chat a la Twitch Plays Pokémon. Ending with a 10 - 8 victory for Velvet fans. (might be hosted on youtube? I don't think so since it isn't the same without the chat experience)

 

So what's next for us and this thread? Well there are still lore updates to come for all the characters and the backer forums is coming at some point this year (I think) but besides that I think we'll be mostly clear for what's left of the year, ManeSix has expressed wanting to keep the streams going (on a bi-weekly or monthly basis) so if any of that happens I'll try to let you know about this here.

Another thing that's happening right now is something a group of fans did on Skullheart (Skullgirls forum) decided to create a way to help all this portion of the fans who contributed to the project despite the peculiarity of never having played a fighting game in their lives (or never do it well), enter Fightin Fœnatics! A group that plays the aforementioned game that will do its best to help players of all skill levels bellow SonicFox, while SG and TFH are going to be a tad different the basics of how fighting games work (and maybe the combo game) are quite similar enough to get people started. I'm going to assume every single one of the people reading this thread besides me are at least on Daigo Umehara's level but if you are not feeling so confident about your game then maybe it would be a good idea to check this group.

 

See ya Soon-ish!