Hello again Stable Dwellers! This is your Overmare speaking. We are happy to announce the release of Development Build 2 today for everyone, so let's get into it, shall we?

Wave 6 Development Build 2

We want to first thank everyone who downloaded the first build of Ashes and providing your feedback and gameplay with us via Discord or our Feedback Forms. It was great to see how people are enjoying the game so far and how we can improve and refine Ashes for future builds.

As we noted in previous blog posts, this is part of our new development process to release regular builds to players while we continue to work towards a final release. We hope to keep the cadance of development builds going every few months, adding new features or content each time.

With that said you can download Dev Build 2 via the link below:

                               \/ \/

Ashes of Equestria - Wave 6 Development Build 2 >>DOWNLOAD HERE<<

                               /\ /\

For Development Build 2 you will find the following features:

New slow motion SATS    

SATS returns to Ashes of Equestria but it has gone through several changes. Here's the summary of how SATS works now in Ashes of Equestria:

• Slows down time when active.
• Drains AP over time when active.
• Drains AP with every attack.
• Shows AP wheel on the HUD around the crosshair when active.

While we had SATS before in our previous builds, we were never quite happy with how it worked, while also breaking in ways that pushed us to rework it. As such, SATS now works a bit more streamlined, slowing down time when active with appropriate visual fx to denote when its active. There are now no more hit chances, instead you now aim manually at your target with the benefit of slow motion, giving you plenty of time to carefully aim.

You can also use SATS in a pinch when you step on a mine and give you more time to react to the situation, which brings us to our next topic...

New Frag Mines and Plasma Mines

We have added new mines to the game, which will be dotted around in the map for you to encounter, or use against your enemies.

Frag mines activate when an enemy comes within their proximity, which starts a brief countdown before the mine is launched into the air after which it explodes in mid air.

We also added Plasma mines which are also proximity activated, to which they release a cluster of small plasma explosives and spread them them over the area after a short countdown that also explode after a little while.

Both sets of mines can be moved with telekinesis and knocked back with melee weapons. A well timed and precise hit from a melee weapon can knock away a mine being flung at you, which is very hard to pull off, unless you use SATS.

You can check out these two new additions in action on our Youtube channel:

Other Changes and Additions

While SATS and Mines are the big additions to this build there are other smaller changes and additions that you can find in Dev Build 2:

• Updated vending machine model with improved texturing and new lighting, making it more visible for you to maybe drop a bit in.
• Adjustments to force of melee weapons stats to account for Mines.
• Adjustments to weapon stats including AP cost.
• Cutie Mark rendering adjusted to blend better with pony body texture as well as addition of new cutie mark for NPC.
• Tweaks to map foliage visuals and wind hitching.
• Numerous bug fixes.

We hope you'll like these additions and changes in Dev Build 2 and would love to hear your feedback on them, either on our Discord or via our Google Forms. Let us know how you think our updated SATS performs or how the new mines operate.

Recruitment

Development of a game of our scope takes time and talent, and we are always on the lookout for new members to join our ranks at Overmare Studios. This increases the amount of time we can put into Ashes, and decreases the amount of time our community will have to wait for each Wave, and by extension, the game.

Who are we looking for? Right now, we’re looking to fill all roles. Particularly we're looking for new talent to join the following roles:

• Programmers
• 2D Concept Artists
• 3D Modellers
• 3D Animators

If your talent lies elsewhere, don't worry. Other teams are still actively looking for the following roles as well:

• Environment Designers
• Audio Engineers
• Script Writers
• Voice Actors
• QA Testers

If you have the time, talent and desire to help us build out and create Ashes of Equestria feel free to apply via the link below:

Click here to Apply Now!

For more details feel free to message us via our Community Discord.. More information on specific roles can be found on the application form.

Final Notes

We hope you like the new additions in Dev Build 2. If you have feedback and thoughts on what's been discussed in this blog post, you can check out the following social media platforms:

Discord

If you still have questions in regards to applying to The Overmare Studios, about Wave 6, the project in general, or you just want to talk with like minded fans, come check out our Discord.

It has been our primary location for Ashes of Equestria. We post regular updates and announcements there, so if you want to stay informed or chat with fellow fans, please come join it!

Twitter/X

We’re also on Twitter/X. Follow us there to keep up to date on any new announcements, or sneak peaks of our development for Wave 6 and beyond.

BlueSky

Finally, we are also on BlueSky Account for those who prefer alternative social media sites. It’s still relatively new but we will keep it as updated as the rest of our social media platforms.

Hello Stable Dwellers! This is your Overmare speaking. The planets are aligned, and many radroaches have been thoroughly eradicated, so we can finally announce that Dev Build 1 is available today!

Wait, Dev Build 1? What happened to Wave 6? Our previous blog post goes over this in more detail, but the short version is that we decided we needed to change our release plans. Wave 5.5 came out almost exactly 6 years ago, and that’s too long between releases no matter how you slice it. Hence, the introduction of Development Builds: smaller, rougher builds of the game that you can play in between our bigger, more polished Wave releases. Wave 6 is still on its way – but here’s a snapshot to play in the meantime.

So after all that, what’s actually in our first development build release?

Wave 6 Development Build 1

For Development Build 1 you will find the following features:

• An all-new Wave 6 Map with biomes to explore and secrets to find.
• Foliage systems that bring the Wasteland to life.
• New variety of village houses with interiors, made using an in-house (pun intended) house creation tool.
• Our very first, very short quest that gives you something more than murder to accomplish.
• Refactors of existing systems lay the groundwork for exciting future updates (try throwing a grenade at a raider!).
• Numerous old bugs were fixed and new ones added.
• Upgraded to Unity 2022.3 and FMOD 2.01.07.

Other smaller features and changes in this build include:

• AP regeneration based on a curve.
• A work-in-progress strain system that lets you push your magic beyond ordinary limits. Magic now uses AP. Hold down Z to keep casting spells when out of AP at the cost of maximum AP.
• Hold TAB to activate your Pipbuck light.
• Pressing G will throw an equipped grenade. You can hold G to cook the grenade. Be careful though, once the time runs out the held grenade will explode.
• Magic effect colour now based on eye colour.
• Improved Pipbuck lighting.
• The character creator has a shiny new background.

For the full breakdown of features, known bugs and issues please check the readme file in the game client, which you can download in the link below.

Without further ado…

                                  \/ \/

Ashes of Equestria - Wave 6 Development Build 1 >>DOWNLOAD HERE<<

                                  /\ /\

Phew! That’s kind of a lot, right? Well, this is our first release since 2019, so this Dev Build inherits a lot of work intended for Wave 6. Much of this is very important backend work to lay the foundation for the full game. And a lot of it has been difficult to show off until now. There’s not much point in showing off a dialogue system without a quest system to make use of it, and you can’t have a quest system without functional NPCs, and so on.

There’s a lot of work that goes into the ability to put even a simple quest in the game, and issues can often arise during its development. Because of the new quest and dialogue system, part of our development included the creation of a new map for Wave 6 that you will see in this development build. Designed with these quests in mind, and also to show off the work that our Design team are capable of making for our upcoming planned main map rework that we mentioned in our previous blog posts. To be clear, this map will not be used for future waves, however many of its assets, created or otherwise will be repurposed and its quests will move over as well.

In large part, that’s why we’re a little late on this Dev Build release.

In preparation for the first Dev Build release, we wanted to tackle many long standing issues and performance problems, in addition to encountering new bugs that didn’t show up in Unity Editor such as duplicating quest items that we had to resolve as well. Dev Builds were never expected to be bug-free, but this is our first release in a while, and it needed to be playable.

The good news is Dev Builds are already doing their job – helping us find bugs we didn’t even know we had, and getting content to you faster. That said, we still expect to encounter and find new bugs and issues even after the first Dev Build release – which is where you come in!

Please use the feedback form, linked here and in the menu itself, to report back any bugs you find! You can also report bugs and provide feedback on our Community Discord.

Don’t expect future Dev Builds to have quite so many changes! Speaking of which…

Development Build 2 - What to Expect

Firstly, we’re still working on Wave 6. As we outlined before, our plan was to make a new detailed map to allow the player to enjoy a selection of quests to build upon in later waves, along other improvements in general to help improve the overall expereince of Ashes of Equestria.

So what’s the status of that? You might have noticed that Dev Build 1 already has this new Wave 6 map and a working quest. This means, as you might expect, that we’re pretty close to our goal – but we still have a little way to go. The map is in pretty good shape, but there are areas that still remain unfinished and additional detailing is still ongoing. Current enemy and item placement is temporary, and needs revising. We have a number of additional quests in the works, and ideally we’d like for these quests to have full voice acting (another backend system we’re in the middle of building). In addition there are a number of other minor quality of life features we would like to implement that will be revealed in due course.

Dev Build 2 should see progress in these highlighted areas. Which ones, and how much? We’ll probably find out at the same time you do! This is a new way of releasing content for us, and we’re still working out the details. Dev Build 2 will be out in around two months – but if we slip that date by a couple weeks, please don’t worry.

We also have several systems in the works that will gradually be integrated into the game over the coming months – including a long-overdue movement refactor our Lead Programmer, Ansis, showed off at the Littlepip's Little Party Presentation.

All this takes time, however. Which brings us onto our final topic:

Recruitment

Development of a game of our scope takes time and talent, and we are always on the lookout for new members to join our ranks at Overmare Studios. This increases the amount of time we can put into Ashes, and decreases the amount of time our community will have to wait for each Wave, and by extension, the game.

Who are we looking for? Right now, we’re looking to fill all roles. That includes:

• Programmers
• 2D Concept Artists
• 3D Modellers
• 3D Animators
• Environment Designers
• Audio Engineers
• Script Writers
• Voice Actors
• QA Testers

We have features to add! Bugs to squash! Factions to concept! A whole map to build! Quests to write! NPCs to bring to life! Pony toilets to texture! Follow the link below to…

Click here to Apply Now!

And if none of those disciplines quite fit you, but you still feel you have something to bring to the project, please reach out to us too. Maybe you’re not a concept artist, but you know your way around UI. Maybe you’re a video editor who’d like to make devlogs for our youtube channel. Maybe some other, third thing we haven’t thought of yet! Our departments are guidelines, and many of us work across several of them.

For more details feel free to message us via our Community Discord.. More information on specific roles can be found on the application form.

Final Notes

We hope you enjoy what we have made so far and look forward to the future builds to come. If you have feedback and thoughts on what's been discussed in this blog post, you can check out the following social media platforms:

Discord

If you still have questions in regards to applying to The Overmare Studios, about Wave 6, the project in general, or you just want to talk with like minded fans, come check out our Discord.

It has been our primary location for Ashes of Equestria. We post regular updates and announcements there, so if you want to stay informed or chat with fellow fans, please come join it!

Twitter/X

We’re also on Twitter/X. Follow us there to keep up to date on any new announcements, or sneak peaks of our development for Wave 6 and beyond.

BlueSky

Finally, we are also on BlueSky Account for those who prefer alternative social media sites. It’s still relatively new but we will keep it as updated as the rest of our social media platforms.

Hello, Stable Dwellers!

We’re nearly halfway through 2025. Lots of work has been going on behind the scenes, but so has a lot of conversation about the current and future development of Ashes of Equestria. So today we’re updating the community on some important changes and plans in regards to the release of Wave 6 and future waves.

Previous Waves

For most of Ashes’ development, we have followed a Wave based release cadence, where each wave included new content, improvements, and gameplay changes that came as we continued to expand the game. However, as you may have noticed, the time between Wave releases has lengthened considerably, with Wave 5.5 having released back in July 2019. A proper, finished build of Wave 6 to the same scale as previous releases has been a whole different beast to tackle.

With more work still to be done for Wave 6, and with our aspirations for Wave 7 and onwards still coming together, we realised we had to change our methods in order to improve development speed, get the necessary feedback from players, and allow you, the Overmare Community, to actually experience what we have been working on.

So what are our plans going forward?

Wave 6 - New “Development Builds”

Our previous plans for releasing the full Wave 6 and future Waves, which will showcase our evolving vision for Ashes of Equestria as major features arrive, are still going ahead. These will continue to be our main releases, and we aim to have Wave 6 release in 2026.

However, we will also be releasing something else in between...

Starting this year, we will now also be making what we are calling “Development Builds” of Wave 6 available for public download.

These Development Builds provide work-in-progress snapshots of the current state of development that show off various additions and changes towards a full release. They will be nowhere near polished nor complete. As such, expect unfinished content, missing assets/features, bugs, and performance issues. There may also be existing things we may intentionally leave out of these builds, like certain story elements, content for future waves, or particularly broken or unstable mechanics we may be unable to correct in time for each release.

Playtesting and Feedback

We’re still discussing how player-driven QA will factor in, but whether you want to aid us during development by playing the game, or just simply want to see this particular slice of Ashes in its current state, these builds are for you! Or, if you’d rather wait for the intended Wave 6 experience but still want to keep up with development, don’t worry – we still plan to release our usual sneak peeks, progress reports, blog posts, and eventually, Wave 6 itself.

What to expect going forward

So when can you expect to see the first release of Wave 6 Development builds? Soon! For our first release, we want to make sure some key features are included, and the game can be properly playable. We’re currently aiming to release the first Development Build in about a month.

We expect to put out a Development Build every 2 to 3 months as we continue to work on the game. Ensuring more consistent releases and increasing transparency about development through them has become our top priority.

As a reminder, our vision on what Wave 6 will contain has not changed. As we’ve mentioned previously, the final version of Wave 6 will feature a new, smaller (yet still sizable) test map non-canon to the full game, but including several fully voiced quests along with other additions, improvements, and fixes over the framework established in Wave 5.5. This level, which will also be the focus of the Development Builds, serves the studio as a platform to get our core RPG systems tested and working.

You can read more about it in our previous blog post here:

https://theovermare.com/ashes-of-equestria-wave-6-update-recruitment/

Recruitment

Development of a game of our scope takes time and talent, and we are always on the lookout for new members to join our ranks at Overmare Studios. This increases the amount of time we can put into Ashes, and decreases the amount of time our community will have to wait for each Wave, and by extension, the game.

For more details feel free to message us via Discord. More information can be found on: Overmare Application Form

You can apply for any of the open roles, but in particular we are looking for the following talents:

Environment Design

Do you have experience with map making or terrain shaping tools in Unity, Unreal, or with map editors in other games like Far Cry or ARMA 3? We want to hear from you.

An Environment Artist's role is to help craft and design various terrains and locations from the macro level (terrain and layout), to the micro (clutter detailing of a house or a Point of Interest). In doing so, you help create the type of world and story we're telling.

Do note while we prefer applicants with Unity engine experience, we do take into account other map level experience, and one must have a desire to learn to use Unity.

3D Modeller

Modellers are tasked with creating all 3D models. Texture artists are tasked with adding visual detail to all of those models. Not all modellers must be texture artists, nor must all texture artists be modellers, but the requirements for each are largely the same. Applicants do not have to know all of these things, but we prefer if they can:

• Make detailed, but optimized, low-poly models
• Create semi-realistic textures
• Bake normal maps using high-poly models (i.e., sculpted or otherwise modeled)
• Create metallic and roughness maps

The programs and tools you choose do not matter so long as you can export models in FBX format. Please note, applicants MUST have an online accessible gallery to show off their work, such as a DeviantArt account, a Social Media page, or even a Google Drive folder.

2D Concept Artists

We are actively looking for artists who know how to design and draw a variety of entities, man-made objects, or organic objects, in a clearly readable style. The ability to use multiple art styles is a plus.

You should have a firm grasp of perspective, detailing, color, and the use of a digital art program (e.g., Photoshop, Clip Studio, or SAI). Traditional artists must own a scanner. Please note, applicants MUST have an online accessible gallery to show off their work, such as a DeviantArt account, a Social Media page, or even a Google Drive folder.

Audio/SFX Team

A good chunk of the  wasteland's immersion lies in its soundscape. This includes everything from creature noises to teapot collisions, dialogue stabs, to the wind whipping through the wasteland.

The role of an Audio/SFX member could include (dependent on the specific applicant):

• Editing voice and dialogue assets
• Field recording
• Sound effect creation
• Implementation with FMOD Studio
• Engine implementation with Unity, C# and FMOD Studio

Must-haves for an SFX member:

• Ability to create multiple revisions of an asset from critiques and feedback
• Passion and/or talent for sound and audio for video games
• Access to a DAW, and be competent in the chosen tool

Nice things for an applicant to have:

• Experience in audio middleware (especially FMOD)
• Experience in making videos games (doesn’t have to be audio related)
• Experience in audio for video games
• Audio related experience outside of video games

Final Notes

We hope these changes to releases allow us to focus on our development of Ashes while allowing you guys to have an early chance to play what we have been working on and plan to do over time.

If you still have questions or thoughts on what's been discussed in this blog post, you can check out the following social media platforms:

Discord

If you still have questions in regards to applying to The Overmare Studios, about Wave 6, the project in general, or you just want to talk with like minded fans, come check out our Discord.

It has been our primary location for Ashes of Equestria. We post regular updates and announcements there, so if you want to stay informed or chat with fellow fans, please come join it!

Twitter/X

We’re also on Twitter/X. Follow us there to keep up to date on any new announcements, or sneak peaks of our development for Wave 6 and beyond.

BlueSky

Finally, we are also on BlueSky Account for those who prefer alternative social media sites. It’s still relatively new but we will keep it as updated as the rest of our social media platforms.

Hello! This is J38UK; the 2D/3D Lead for Overmare Studios. We know it's been a while since we’ve written up a blog post, however we are at the stage in development where we can talk more about what you can expect to see in Wave 6 of Ashes of Equestria, our goals for this wave and our plans for future waves. So let's get stuck in shall we?

Wave 6 Changes

When last we spoke of Wave 6 there were plans to continue revamping and overhauling our map alongside our quest and dialogue systems. However, multiple Unity version updates, notable technical debt and other factors have left our map pretty broken. In addition, a review in the story and various quests made us realize our map would not meet our standards going forward. However, to completely make a new map would take some time and likely delay Wave 6 even more.

Thus the decision was two fold; Work started on making a new map layout that fit our main story and quests more, encouraging better flow of map exploration, both on a concept stage and also within Unity itself.

At the same time, the rest of the team focused on a new smaller map for Wave 6. The Wave 6 map incorporates some of the aesthetics, look and tone we have planned for the new main map in a more condensed form, while showing off a few quests and NPCs you can interact and talk to. The plan is for much of the work done for this Wave 6 map to be reused in the new main map proper.

A lot of progress has been made so far for Wave 6 in terms of development, asset creation and map design. However, much more still needs to be done in fleshing out the rest of the terrain, as well as detailing of locations and Points of Interests, plus bug testing and other features.

What will Wave 6 be when completed? A smaller but detailed map that allows you to enjoy a selection of quests you can expect to see in the new map main in later waves, alongside other improvements to the game in general that we hope will improve the overall experience of Ashes of Equestria. We hope to go into more detail about Wave 6 and its features as development continues.

We need your help! (Aka Recruitment)

Of course, map making and level detailing takes a lot of work, and we need extra help to get us through the finish line and beyond. So who are we looking for? Primarily we are looking for Environment Artists, 3D Modellers and 2D Concept Artists, but other departments are also open for applicants.

For more details or to apply go to: Overmare Application Form

Environment Design

Do you have experience with map making or terrain shaping tools in Unity, Unreal, or with map editors in other games like Far Cry or ARMA 3? We want to hear from you.

An Environment Artist's role is to help craft and design various terrains and locations from the macro level (terrain and layout), to the micro (clutter detailing of a house or a Point of Interest). In doing so, you help create the type of world and story we're telling.

Do note while we prefer applicants with Unity engine experience, we do take into account other map level experience, and one must have a desire to learn to use Unity.

3D Modeller

Modellers are tasked with creating all 3D models. Texture artists are tasked with adding visual detail to all of those models. Not all modellers must be texture artists, nor must all texture artists be modellers, but the requirements for each are largely the same. Applicants do not have to know all of these things, but we prefer if they can:

• Make detailed, but optimized, low-poly models
• Create semi-realistic textures
• Bake normal maps using high-poly models (i.e., sculpted or otherwise modeled)
• Create metallic and roughness maps

The programs and tools you choose do not matter so long as you can export models in FBX format. Please note, applicants MUST have an online accessible gallery to show off their work, such as a DeviantArt account, a Social Media page, or even a Google Drive folder.

2D Concept Artists

We are actively looking for artists who know how to design and draw a variety of entities, man-made objects, or organic objects, in a clearly readable style. The ability to use multiple art styles is a plus.

You should have a firm grasp of perspective, detailing, color, and the use of a digital art program (e.g., Photoshop, Clip Studio, or SAI). Traditional artists must own a scanner. Please note, applicants MUST have an online accessible gallery to show off their work, such as a DeviantArt account, a Social Media page, or even a Google Drive folder.

Final Comments and Social Media

We hope this blog post helps illuminate some of what's been going on over at Overmare Studios and the work that's been done to make Ashes. If you still have questions or thoughts on what's been discussed in this blog post, you can check out the following social media platforms:

Discord

If you still have questions in regards to applying to The Overmare Studios, about Wave 6, the project in general, or you just want to talk with like minded fans, come check out our Discord.

It has been our primary location for Ashes of Equestria. We post regular updates and announcements there, so if you want to stay informed or chat with fellow fans, please come join it!

Twitter/X

We’re also on Twitter/X. Follow us there to keep up to date on any new announcements, or sneak peaks of our development for Wave 6 and beyond.

BlueSky

We also opened a BlueSky Account for those who prefer alternative social media sites. It’s still relatively new but we will keep it as updated as the rest of our social media platforms.

Stable Dwellers, this is your Overmare speaking.

Specifically, Overmare Phoenix (she/her) here, one of the team leads on Script. I’m so happy to be writing this blog post today and updating everyone on our progress.

What Do We Do?

Script handles Ashes’ narrative design--the writing, including but not limited to quests, dialogue, notes and terminals. Beyond what the Player will see on release, we work on flowcharts describing quest structures, technical documentation of when to switch out dialogue files, continuous pages of meeting notes, and other nuts-and-bolts writing.

Script’s really been kicked in high gear since 2020, when designing quests for implementation began. This took the form of all three writers at the time making side quests one month, then we would take the next month to review and rewrite all those quests. From this, we got so much experience--from using our dialogue systems to working hand-in-hand with Design and configuring the overall tone of Ashes of Equestria.

The completion of general side quests have slowed now with the prioritization of the main questline and side quests specifically designed for Wave 6. While I cannot share any details at the moment (perhaps in a later blog post), you can rest easy knowing Ashes has an amazing storyline planned for our main questline. In the meantime, Wave 6 will debut Script’s involvement in Ashes and introduce some key ideas we’ll be wrestling with in the main quests.

The Process

To describe the process we go through as narrative designers creating content for Ashes, imagine a mini TV writer’s room, where ideas are thrown around, perfected, and implemented. Writers gather in our designated Discord voice chat multiple times a week, usually with new thoughts and notes regarding last meeting’s topics. The frequency of meetings is necessary for group-written content, with spells of individual writing having less meetings occur.

As mentioned in our Programming Lead Ansis’ recent blog post, we’ve recently upgraded the software we write dialogue in. Chatmapper was great, but didn’t interact with Unity as smoothly as our new system that’s integrated entirely. Visual Scripting in Unity encourages us to create the quest in working order, with writers inputting the necessary variables and programming as they write the quest’s dialogue, rather than leaving it until later. It also allows for more complex, varied dialogue structures and keeps dialogue graphs in more manageable chunks.

Here’s what Visual Scripting actually looks like, with some examples from a Wave 6 quest!

And, hey, how do you keep sane with all these nodes and variables?

Script is recruiting! We are also looking for more programmers, designers, artists, modelers, animators, audio engineers, and testers. If you want to help out please consider joining us. You can apply here.

If you have any questions regarding today’s blog post or how to join the project, or just want to chat, feel free to join our Discord community: TOmS Community Discord

Our Discord community is the best place to keep up to date with the latest news in the development of Ashes and to meet fellow fans of both the project and the fandom at large, though we are also active on our Twitter account here: Overmare Studio Twitter

Hello and welcome to another blog post. I am Erwin, Design lead and QA lead of The Overmare Studios.

As part of our more frequent blog posts, I’m going to talk a bit about level design today.

We’re currently working on making Stable 2. This project started out with the great ambition to make the entire Equestrian wasteland. We’ve since toned it down significantly and decided to do only Ponyville as explained in this blog post. This meant cutting all other planned areas of Equestria but also Stable 2, because it wasn’t deemed important enough to spend our resources on. Stable 2 wasn’t important enough because Littlepip only spends a little bit of time in Stable 2 at the start of the story. We didn’t have much more planned than having it be the starting/tutorial area. This is why you’ve never seen more of Stable 2 beyond our initial demo video. To make a full Stable 2 we need assets and that requires a good deal of work.

Since then we have decided to make Stable 2 after all. Our current wave’s focus is on getting quests working. A later wave will have Stable 2 once it’s completed. Our script team has been hard at work and has decided to use Stable 2 for more than just the first part of the game. The fact that we’re now making Stable 2 has also given our Design Team the opportunity to better refine our design process with a more isolated level.

The level design process

Generally 3D levels start with a process called whiteboxing. Whiteboxing is creating the very basic shape of the level by using primitive shapes. This will allow the level designer to block out the level and test the size and gameplay before moving on to creating the required assets. The next step is to create placeholder assets to get a better idea of what the final asset should look like and to better identify the assets when testing gameplay.

Ponyville has not been made using this process and we only started using this process in our last wave. You can see a few greyboxes in wave 5.5 (like the Town Hall.)

Stable 2’s creation has been using this process from the start. We’ve so far whiteboxed a layout and are currently in the process of modifying this layout until it suits our needs. We will then proceed to use placeholder assets and whatever finished assets we have to give an impression of the final product. We will then gradually replace the placeholders with assets as they are completed and finish the level.

Here are some screenshots of Stable 2 in various stages of development. These are all heavily work in progress and will likely significantly change until they are completed.

Recruitment

We can really use more help, especially in the 3D department. We are also looking for more programmers, designers, artists, modellers, animators, audio engineers, and testers. If you want to help out please consider joining us. You can apply here.

If you have any questions regarding today’s blog post, how to join the project or other questions in general, feel free to join our Discord community: TOmS Community Discord

Our Discord community is the best place to keep up to date with the latest news in the development of Ashes and to meet fellow fans of both the project and the fandom at large. We are also active on our Twitter account here: Overmare Studio Twitter

Greetings everyone, we’ve just passed the middle of 2020, and despite all that’s been going on, we’re still churning away here at Overmare Studios! Today, we wanted to give you a sneak peek and some updates on our progress.

As a note, everything we’re showing is still a work in progress and subject to change.

Unity 2019.4

Since the release of Wave 5.5, one of Programming’s primary goals was to upgrade Unity versions. We’ve been using Unity 5.6.3f1, which is all the way back from 2017, which in development years is quite a while. This has meant we’ve been missing out on potential bug fixes, performance improvements, and new features available to the engine.

Well, we finally bit the bullet and upgraded, initially to 2018 builds to the latest stable version:  2019.4. However, it wasn’t a smooth ride, as it meant plenty of thing breaking or requiring overhauls. So we want to thank the work of our Programming and QA team for getting us to where we are now.

Quests & NPC’s

So far, Ashes has been an open map, free for you to explore, roam the town of Ponyville, and kill any enemies you encountered. In the next wave, we plan to finally add the building blocks for quests and NPC’s. Our Script team is hard at work cranking those creative juices to flesh out the world and the stories told in this town.

This creates interesting challenges, for in the original fanfic Littlepip does not stick around the town very long, while getting a frying pan in the face to the realities of Equestrian life. In our adaptation, we are introducing a brand new story that fleshes out what happened to Ponyville, and the faction war between various raider clans that's been raging for control, with Littlepip suddenly drawn in to the conflict and ultimately deciding the fate of the town itself.

We’re still keeping wraps on the specific details for now but we feel you’ll like what we have come up with.

Course, you can’t have a giant quest if you don’t have people to talk to. Our programmers are working on our NPC system and dialogue, so you’ll find plenty of people to chat or work with (or kill them for their sweet hat).

Ponyville Improvements

Work continues on Ponyville map and its surrounding areas to make the town more fleshed out and detailed. It’s a mixture of whiteboxing to plan out improvements to regions of the map by our designers, and our 2D and 3D teams working out the concepts and 3d models to eventually be used in the game. Below you can see a few snippets of the work currently being done.

Research has also gone into improving our vegetation and terrain maps to make the surrounding hills and eventual forests more interesting to look at and explore via third party software. While not set in stone, initial results are promising.

Assorted Notes

Here are a few other things to take note of:

• Grenade usage has been changed to now have a dedicated Throw Grenade button, including the ability to cook the grenade.
• Mines are being worked on, with potential variants, making the map more deadly if you don’t have your wits on you.
• Save and Load currently being worked on, allowing you to finally save your progress, and that custom pony you’re constantly having to remake.
• Overhaul on how skills and VATS works.

That’s all for now. We still have more features we’d like to talk about, and much more work to do, but that’ll do in the meantime. As always, let us know what you think, and check out our Community Discord for future updates.

Cheers    • ↄ • /)c •

Social Media

Discord

Our Discord community continues to grow and be the best place to discuss Ashes of Equestria or anything else. We post regular updates and announcements there. So if you want to stay informed or chat with fellow fans please come join us.

Twitter

Do you prefer the word from the bird? We also have a twitter where we also post any updates and announcements. And also bad memes. Come follow us here!

Facebook

Yep, we have a Facebook page too. If you prefer to follow us there you can!

Hello everyone! We hope everyone is staying safe in this turbulent time and staying home. Despite what is going on, Overmare Studios continues to work diligently on the next wave of Ashes of Equestria. It will be a busy time for us. We want to provide you with our best, but we need all the help we can get.

We'd like to again highlight that we're still open to recruiting new developers. If you think you have the time, drive, and skills needed to help us build Ashes of Equestria, head over to our application page, where you'll find full information for all relevant departments. If you have any questions, feel free to ask us on our public Discord server. It can be accessed through the invitation in this link.

Still interested? Then keep reading! You'll find details on what every department is looking for below.

3D Team

The 3D Department is looking for animators, modellers, and texture artists.

Requirements for Animators

Animators create all the physical animations in the movements of 3D characters, objects, items, and creatures. An animator’s creative freedom is sometimes very expansive, but other times very restricted. They must know the following:

• How to use a 3D modeling program like Maya, Blender, or any similar programs
• How to rig given models (e.g., organic and mechanical; everything from weapons, to environment models, to NPCs)
• How to create an IK rig for creatures and other complex models
• How to create naturalistic skeletal animations based on given concepts and instructions
• How to export animations with models as a single FBX

The focus for animators this ongoing wave will be fleshing out interactions and movements in ponies. This includes idle animations, environmental interactions, interactions between other ponies and creatures, and facial expressions.

Requirements for Modellers and Texture Artists

Modellers are tasked with creating all 3D models. Texture artists are tasked with adding visual detail to all of those models. Not all modellers must be texture artists, nor must all texture artists be modellers, but the requirements for each are largely the same. Applicants do not have to know all of these things, but we prefer if they can:

• Make detailed, but optimized, low-poly models
• Create semi-realistic textures
• Bake normal maps using high-poly models (i.e., sculpted or otherwise modeled)
• Create metallic and roughness maps

Knowing how to make organic models is a huge plus, but not required. There is already a hefty amount of industrial content in the project.

The programs and tools you choose do not matter. If you can export models in FBX format and textures in PNG, you have nothing to worry about. Just make sure the quality checks out on both. Using programs like Substance Designer or Substance Painter is encouraged, but making textures manually by painting them yourself is also allowed.

2D Team

We are actively looking for artists who know how to design and draw a variety of entities, man-made objects, or organic objects, in a clearly readable style. The ability to use multiple art styles is a plus.

You should have a firm grasp of perspective, detailing, color, and the use of a digital art program (e.g., Photoshop, Clip Studio, or SAI). Traditional artists must own a scanner.

Main Goals as an Artist

As artists within 2D, our jobs are to create the visual look and tone of the world, entities, and objects in Ashes of Equestria. Our work is listed as follows:

Concepts

• Object Concepts
• Architecture
• Landscape Concepts
• NPC Profiles

Poster/Billboards/Iconography

• Advertisements
• Propaganda
• Urban Destruction (Graffiti)
• Icons/Logos
• Branding

Concept Work

Our main bulk of work, concepting, is how we design the look and feel of everything. Think weapons, buildings, or even specific characters. They’re like basic blueprints to create models for the game, usually with a lot of perspectives to showcase the relevant features. And we’ll collaborate with the Design Team to make sure it’s all functional for 3D.

Certain items only require a Style Guide (i.e., a design to be left to 3D’s interpretation). This usually applies for landscape or character profiles, which showcase the looks of a place or character.

Just like with 3D, 2D's current focus is Ponyville. Much of our work right now will be architecture, signs, and objects needed to fill the town.

Poster/Billboards/Iconography

Not everything we concept is handled by 3D. We also do billboards, advertisements, propaganda posters, and more! We’ll make almost anything to flesh out Equestria. Even your local post office sign!

These elements create a real, living world of the wastelands. With these assignments, traditional painting methods or vector work helps. So too will knowledge of various art styles. Understanding the real counterparts of art forms in the context of their time periods helps define the tone and themes we’re creating.

Programming Team

At the Programming team, we are looking for new applicants under the following categories:

Unity/C# Programmer      

The game is made in Unity. If you know your way around it, and want to help us get the next wave out sooner, this one's for you. In return, we can offer experience working in a large team on a large project.  

Python Programmer      

We have some Python scripts for Blender, Discord, and Mercurial that could use some active maintenance and improvements. Proficieny with Debian and the command line are required.

Script Team

It is often said that RPG's live and die upon their stories. Video game writing is a unique, pioneer field ripe with constant discovery. At our current stage of development, it could be argued our writers have Overmare's most important jobs.

Script members are charged with writing many things, primarily the storylines and objectives of our quests. Other tasks include character dialogue for all NPC's and companions, any scripted cutscenes or other scripted game events, banter and vocal stabs spoken by enemies or NPCs, and general plot or quest descriptions. Quests will be formally recorded in dedicated "Quest Documents" in their final stage of development, so there will also be a marginal degree of technical writing.

It is often the writers with the greatest potential who house the greatest doubts. Any and all should apply.

Required Skills & Traits:

• Good storytelling ability, plain and simple. Because writing cannot be put into a box, this is hard to define. But rest assured, for we are prepared to properly evaluate any submitted pieces. (We prefer strong dialogue skills in particular.)
• Native-level fluency of English, even if you are not a native speaker.
• Fair understanding of the Fallout and Fallout: Equestria universes.
• An intuitive feel for grammar and spelling. In-depth knowledge of grammar is largely a plus, but not a necessity.
• A skill for honestly and healthily meditating on criticism, particularly with one's writing.
• An open mind and easy ability to admit when one is incorrect.
• Good group work skills and online social skills.
• Responsiveness to online messages.
• An ability to get work done effectively and efficiently when necessary.

Optional Skills & Traits:

• Literature analysis.
• Grammarian-level grammar knowledge (again, small, but helpful.)
• A philosophical mind which naturally questions others, the self, and the world; good critical thinking skills.
• A heavy interest in an academic area such as history, sociology, chemistry, physics, math, philosophy, or engineering.
• Any interest in languages, even if it is so simple as the way they sound.
• Talent for game design or narrative design.
• General computer skills and a willingness to add to them. (You’d learn simple programs and maybe some ultra basic programming.)
• Knowledge of poetry or similar forms of interpretative, short works.

Do not be deterred by any of our criteria.

Writers come in various shapes and sorts. Much like the craft itself, they cannot be put into a box. We again encourage all to apply. Overmare is extremely selective of the writers it chooses because game writing is better done with a few writers than a lot, as is seen by the developers of games like Fallout: New Vegas. We can only accept so many to the Script Team.

But again, do not be deterred. Apply regardless of your skill level. We'd love to see anyone's work.

Design Team

Do you like random, floating objects? Confusingly empty spaces? Stairs more translucent than windows?

Neither do we. None of these things belong in our game.

If you agree, you might do well to join our Design Team. You’d tackle problems like these almost daily.

As a designer, you will be asked to:

• Flesh out new areas by adding fitting objects or buildings
• Decorate the map with small, but impactful details
• Determine the placement of enemies and items
• Adjust terrain
• Import 3D assets into Unity
• Fix mistakes (e.g. floating objects, translucent stairs, etc.)

Our designers must already have some experience with game development and know how to use Unity. They need to have a lot of time on their hands and an eye for detail. They need to be people who ask questions, but can work independently.

If you’re lacking in skills, but are driven to devote yourself to this work and learn, please apply. We’re willing to teach if you’re willing to use what you’ve been taught.

Quality Assurance Team

Quality Assurance is a very vital part of the project. Without it, we’d have regressions. We’d be moving backwards instead of forwards. It is therefore super important to have a large and active team of QA members who are ready on a weekly basis to sniff out any mistakes.

As a QA member it is your responsibility to ensure we don’t end up like another Bethesda game littered with bugs. When we’re ready to release a wave, issues need to either be fixed or at least reported.

As a QA member you not only need to find and report bugs but also test any change made to the game and make sure they’ve been done properly.

To some QA may seem like a small way to help out if you’re lacking in other skill departments but QA truly towers above every other department and needs to be ready to say: “No! That’s not good enough. Do it again.”

QA needs to critically analyse changes made to the game and creatively try to break them. If you can’t break it with a simple hammer, get a sledgehammer!

QA members need to:

-Test new builds and make sure nothing got horribly broken

-Test completed tasks and make sure they are working properly

-Find bugs and create tasks to fix them

-Provide feedback on any identified issues such as balance, look and feel of the game

-Be able to read and understand written instructions

Any kind of prior QA experience is welcomed but not required. QA members need to be able to spend time on the project on a weekly basis.

SFX Team

These three little letters carry a lot of weight. The 'nuts and bolts' of the wasteland's immersion lies in its soundscape. This includes everything from creature noises to teapot collisions, dialogue stabs, to the wind whipping through the wasteland.

The role of an SFX member could include (dependent on the specific applicant):

• Editing voice and dialogue assets
• Field recording
• Sound effect creation
• Implementation with FMOD Studio
• Engine implementation with Unity, C# and FMOD Studio

Must-haves for an SFX member:

• Ability to create multiple revisions of an asset from critiques and feedback
• Passion and/or talent for sound and audio for video games
• Access to a DAW, and be competent in the chosen tool

Nice things for an applicant to have:

• Experience in audio middleware (especially FMOD)
• Experience in making videos games (doesn’t have to be audio related)
• Experience in audio for video games
• Audio related experience outside of video games

To apply, an applicant must have a portfolio, showreel, or links to the appropriate media that demonstrates their ability. Direct any questions to James Kelly (James#2301) via Discord.

Final Notes

Forum Removal

The forums have been removed because we have nobody to moderate them.

Discord

Our Discord community server continues to grow. It's now the best place to discuss Ashes of Equestria. We post regular updates and announcements there, so if you want to stay informed or chat with fellow fans, please come join it!

Twitter

Do you prefer the word from the bird? We also post updates and announcements on Twitter! (And also bad memes.) Come follow us by clicking here!

Facebook

Yep, we have a Facebook page too. If you prefer to follow us there, you can!

VK

We also want to let you know Overmare is also on VK so if you want to be kept up to date there, Click here!

Hello everyone, it’s been almost a year since we last announced our changed plans for our project and our work towards the next wave. Well, the time has come as we’re happy to announce the release of Wave 5.5 available to download now!

Wave 5.5

As mentioned in our previous update blog post, this new Wave release was focused primarily on fixing various glitches, performance problems and the mountain of bugs that have plagued us over the years. While we hope you’ll have a more stable experience with this new release, it’s still early alpha days, and as such you should expect potential performance issues among other things.

But this build isn’t just about fixing stuff, we also took the time to add some extra content for you to play around with. This includes:

• Ponyville map has gone through bug fixing and improvements, new grey-box/model assets used to populate the map.
• Starting zone is now in Sweet Apple Acres and the old item platform was removed. Items and weaponry are now placed across the town, so you'll need to explore to find the good stuff.
• A new achievement system to track your progress as well as fun little objectives to complete.
• New weapon (Zebra Assault Rifle) added to the lineup, as well as new edible consumables like food and drinks. Magic has also been changed so that you have to find magic scrolls for new spells dotted across the map. Your Pipbuck will now also give you more stats and information in regards to these new items.
• Male pony raiders have been added and old enemies like Radroaches and Bloatsprites return. In addition Raiders and Protectiponies have regained the ability to speak again.
• Visual enhancements like improved pony eyes and horn magic effects.
• New character customization options such as horns, body paint and height.
• Console command access, allowing the usage of a few cheats we use internally for testing, and some shenanigans.
• Fixes and improvements to music and audio.
• And more

So check out the game today!

Ashes of Equestria - Wave 5.5 DOWNLOAD

Ashes of Equestria - itch.io

For a list of controls, recommended requirements and known issues please read the attached readme file. We hope you’ll enjoy the improvements and extra additions as we continue to lay the groundwork for even bigger things next wave.

Wave 5 vs Wave 5.5

Wave 5.5 combat

Future Wave Tease

With Wave 5.5 almost completed, the team will be/has been transitioning onto Wave 6 and beyond. While we can’t go into detail about all our plans for the next wave we can mention a few things to keep you guys in the loop.

First, our programming team will be spending some time upgrading our game from Unity 5.6.3f1 to 2018.4. While this will be a lengthy process we feel this will help solve a lot of issues we’ve seen plaguing our game as well as open new functionalities we couldn’t work on for all departments in our current version.

Second, work continues to rework and revamp our Ponyville map to make it look as good as it should be. Part of this includes using new software to help us with asset generation that is still in the testing phase but wields some potential benefits.

Of course, the town itself isn’t just some abandoned husk. Ponyville is home to many unsavory folks, and you may find yourself thrust into a conflict that depends entirely on your actions as part of our quest system and tell the various stories of its residents.

We have more planned but alas we can’t say anymore. Tune in to future blog posts as work progresses and we have more to reveal.

Recruitment Call

We here at Overmare Studios are still open for applications for new members to join our ranks. All our teams are accepting new members but if you can contribute in the following department in particular please apply.

• Design Team: Level Design
• 3D: 3D modellers and 3D Animators
• Script: Script writers for dialogue, quests and general flavour text.
• 2D: Concept Artists for landscape, architecture, character design and layout design. Graphic Design artists may also apply for UI, Logo and Poster design work.
• QA: We can always use more testers. If you have a bunch of spare time and are able to regularly help us test feel free to apply.

Apply to join our team here!

If you have further questions regarding applications feel free to reach out on our community Discord.

Final Notes

Bronycon 2019

One big event for us at Overmare Studios was us attending Bronycon just in the last month. It's tragic this was going to be the last Bronycon so it made sense for a bunch of us to actually attend, and for some of us meet each other for the first time. We had an amazing time, the amount of people, the sheer passion for the fandom, and of course, the huge amount of pony plushies.

In addition to that however, thanks to the efforts of one of our developers we were also able to do an impromptu demo at the Arcade Hall on the third and fourth day of the con. Expanding to two laptops so more people could play not just our game, but also Horse Game as well who had their upcoming build to show off too.

We want to thank all those who came over to play the game, give us their feedback and just chat with us about the development. That feedback helped us fix a lot of bugs and make changes to this wave to make it a more enjoyable experience.

Czequestria 2019

Bronycon may be over, but the pony cons will continue. That is why we were at Czequestria in Prague (23rd-25th August) where we hosted a panel with a few developers from Overmare Studios talking about the latest developments of Ashes of Equestria. The whole panel was also being live-streamed to Czequestria's Twitch channel so people who couldn't attend were also able to watch. Don't worry if you missed it however, as an archive of the panel will be available in the near future.

Not only that, but we were also at Vendor's Hall 2 showing off the latest build of the game for people to play. We hope those who attended had fun and shared their experiences online.

Czequestria Website

Social Media

Discord

Our Discord community continues to grow and is the best place to discuss Ashes of Equestria. We post regular updates and announcements there too. So if you want to stay informed or chat with fellow fans please come join us.

Pony.Games

Speaking of Discord, we'd be remiss if we also didn't promote a new Discord channel where you can chat with other fellow Pony game devs, discuss various game development topics, or potentially find jobs within the pony game projects. Check it out at chat.pony.games.

Twitter

Do you prefer the word from the bird? We also have a twitter where we also post any updates and announcements. And also bad memes. Come follow us here!

Facebook

Yep, we have a Facebook group too. If you prefer to follow us there you can! Come follow us here!

Vkontakte (VK)

For our Russian Ashes fans we are also on VK as well. If you prefer to keep up to date on there then feel free to follow us here!

DeviantArt Group

Like to see all the art we produce in one location? So do we! Come check out DeviantArt group where you can see all our published works including concept art, posters, 3d models and more. Check it out at here!.

Welcome Wastelanders to the first blog post from the audio team! We’ve been quite busy over the past months and want to show you what we’re doing. This first one is going to be about the technology we’re using and how we’re trying to make the best auditory experience for you, the player!

So, if you’re ready, head on down below!

Challenges In Game Audio

Audio in games is very different from producing audio for a static medium (TV, movies, music, etc); we’re not just exporting a piece of audio, sending it to a producer and seeing it get uploaded soon after, No, audio in games is dynamic in nature and has to react to player input. This means that we need to construct quite a bit of clever coding as well as some good sound design from the engineers.

Unity does come with its own built-in solution but limitations in its features and design make it difficult to work with on a large project.

(Similarly, the music team had this same sentiment, spurring on the creation of Sequence Music Engine, the adaptive music system they use in our game. Check their blog post out here: https://theovermare.com/blog/2014/12/ingame-adaptive-music/)

There are two industry standards professional sound designers are expected to work with: Wwise and FMOD. Now, there’s always a debate on which of these is better but, for the Overmare, we’ve chosen FMOD. FMOD has arguably the best UI (that’s quick to learn), an audio engine that’s been powering games for over a decade and a host of other features that make it perfectly suited for our project. For us, it was the obvious choice and meant we could get audio into the game with lightning efficiency.

This may look daunting at first but if you’re familiar with DAWs (digital audio workstation) then this won’t be too different for you.

The Event

An event is like the upgrade to an audio file. Rather than one piece of audio, you can string together multiple audio files and define when they should all be played. Have a look at this image of an ambiance event!

There is a long piece of audio at the top, which is the basic ambiance, but also lots of other ones scattered below, giving further variation. These bits of audio aren’t triggered every time, meaning this loop will sound unique to the player as they explore the space, and won’t break immersion.

At the top of the image, you can see four knobs. These are parameters and allow for more control of the event when being played. This is a huge advantage compared to Unity’s internal mixer, as now you can have the audio react to player input. For instance, this event has a parameter called ‘Day/Night’. As you can guess from the name, when the parameter’s value is changed, the event will transition to a nighttime sound.

This kind of idea can be applied to create an ambiance that transitions between different states of the game (combat, exploration, dialogue), different locations or conditions of the player (health, fatigue, drugs).

But this works for more than just ambiance; every event can do this and means you have a deep toolbox when it comes to shaping and deploying sound.

The Mixer

The FMOD mixer works very similarly to one in a static DAW like ProTools, Logic Pro, Reaper or even Audacity.

The event (or channel in a DAW) gets routed to a group. These can be chained together to make a hierarchy before going to the master bus (the output).

However, when we dig into FMOD’s mixer we see a specific dynamic tool called ‘Snapshots’. Snapshots allow you to save the volume, panning and reverb levels of the mixer and then transition between these levels during gameplay.

This is commonly used to create a technique called ‘Dynamic Mixing’. In music -or any other static media- the person mixing knows what’s coming next and can then make that sound great. In games, however, the person mixing doesn’t know what the player will do so has to make the audio react to all situations, so maybe you set up snapshots for fighting, exploring, listening to the radio or when you’re in dialogue etc.

The Profiler

Something every game developer wants to know is how their game is performing; without this information, you’re just asking for a sloppy game that no one can run.

Luckily, Unity and FMOD have something called the ‘Profiler’. Both of these let you see things like CPU and memory usage, but FMOD’s focuses in on the audio side of things, giving you levels and voices (number of events playing) -among a few other things.

This also ties in with the things we just checked out: we can see what snapshots are active, what the parameters on an event are doing or why -and most importantly- you’ve got a bug.

This feature is also powerful for the fact you can record your gameplay sessions. This can be done so you can look back at changes you’ve made, or check out how the game sounds in different situations.

But the recording doesn’t have to be from the game you’re playing: it can be someone else’s. Let’s say you want your mix to be thoroughly tested; you could ask a person on QA to play the game, connect to their session and then record the audio -getting all the juicy info you need to optimize or improve the mix.

The Sandbox

The last feature is possibly the coolest FMOD has to offer: the sandbox. This is a test environment for all the audio in the project. Normally, you’d have to play the game in order to mix things; with FMOD, that’s not needed and you can mix safely from the app -no being shot at or having to run around trying to trigger a sound.

And this idea -not having to be in the game- is kind of why FMOD -and audio middleware in general- is so useful: you don’t have to touch the game or code before getting the perfect audio.

To give an example, all of the sounds from the game had to be moved over to FMOD, meaning we had to construct a new mix, and the new changes give the chance for bugs to crop up.

If we had just thrown everything into the game, and mixed along the way, the end result could be a horrible mangle of sounds. But having all the audio in its own, dedicated environment, where it can be perfected, means we can mess around with the SFX without ruining the game for everyone else on the team!!

Anyway, we’re going to wrap up this first blog post in the hopes you enjoyed it! The next one will be about the ‘What’ we’re doing, rather than the ‘How’ we’re doing it.

Hello everyone, we have some general news about the project and some information about the next demo, as well as another call for recruitment.

The Current Situation

First of all, let's update you on what has been going on since the last blog post. Over the past year, the project has undergone some major changes in management and development. We have reviewed the project and the team as a whole and have addressed some issues that occurred over time.

In the process, we concluded that we need to revise our focus and make significant changes in order to make the best game we can with the resources and tools we have. The team is now largely under new management and we have made some changes to the project that we want to share with you today.

We have decided to reduce the current scope of the project to encompass only Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville; this means we're currently no longer planning to adapt the full story of Fallout Equestria. This was of course a difficult decision, but we believe this step is necessary. Focusing all our efforts entirely on Ponyville will allow us to create the type of game we wanted in a reasonable time frame. Any plans to continue the project after this new goal will be decided on once this Ponyville demo is complete.

Wave 5.5

The current goal for the next demo is to focus on polishing and bug fixing, but also laying down the groundwork for future waves. Aside from polishing, examples of changes in this wave include introducing male ponies for enemies and as an option in the character creator, adding radroaches and bloatsprites back into the wild, AI being reworked, and the Ponyville map being further worked on. We have also added and improved various sound effects throughout the game.

We plan to update you on further work that has been done to this wave as we progress. We thank you for your continued support you have given us. If you have additional questions or feedback, please write a comment or message us on Discord. If you want to help contribute to the project then please continue reading below.

Recruitment Call

We are actively recruiting talent for various teams. If you're interested in helping out, feel free to send in an application. Also please feel free to share this with anyone you know who is skilled and may be interested in helping as well.

The most urgent positions we're looking for right now are level designers to work on the map, as well as 2D artists and 3D modelers specialized in architecture and other level art. We’re also now looking for more QA Testers to help polish the game.
For a detailed list, see below:

• Design
  • Level Designer
    • You will use the Unity editor and other tools to place assets and shape Ponyville into a place that's fun for the player to explore.
  • Game Designer
    • You will balance weapons, spells, and enemies, work on the overall user experience, and do whatever else it takes to make this a game that's fun to play.
• 3D Art
  • 3D Modeler
    • 3D modelers especially with skill in creation of buildings and structures for the map. Any software is accepted as long as it can handle FBX model files and PNGs for textures.
  • 3D Animator
    • Animations done both for mechanical things like weapons, and character animations for the player and NPCs as well.
    • We also need people who are able to rig mechanical and organic models.
  • Texture Artist
    • People who can create Albedo, Normal, Roughness, Metalness and Ambient Occlusion maps. You are allowed to draw or bake either of them but should be able to bake normal maps from high-poly models.
• 2D Art
  • Concept Artist
    • Create concept sketches and model sheets of various objects and other things for the 3D team to realize.
  • Illustrator / Graphic Designer
    • Looking for illustrators as well as people with skill in graphic design to create posters, billboards and graffiti to flesh out the environment and atmosphere of the game. This can also include packaging design and illustration for some ingame props as well as icons for various things to use in the menu or on the pip buck.
• Programming
  • Unity/C# Programmer
    • The game is made in Unity. If you know your way around it, and want to help us get the next wave out sooner, this one's for you. In return, we can offer experience working in a large team on a large project.
  • Java Programmer
    • We are using Jenkins to make builds of the game, and we could use some help with some bug fixes in it, and improvements to our productivity. Have a look at Jenkins' source code to see if you have what it takes.
• Quality Assurance
  • Tester
    • You get to tell our programmers what they're doing wrong. Your job will be to thoroughly play test builds of the game to find bugs and ensure features are implemented as intended, and to ensure nothing breaks while using the features as they aren't intended. You will need to be around a lot, as the game is built several times per week and changes must be tested in a timely manner.
• Audio
  If you have no experience, training can be provided for you to become a field recorder with options to continue being trained until you have learned all the skills listed below
  • Studio / Field Recorder
    • There are many sounds needed to for this game but they have to come from somewhere.
      You will go out and record the sounds of our world so we can edit them into the world of Fallout: Equestria.
  • Sound Designer
    • Once we have the raw sounds, a sound designer has to edit them to either improve quality or to create a sound that doesn’t exist in the real world. This role may require you to synthesize sounds as well as use the recordings provided by the rest of the team.
  • Technical Sound Designer
    • This role is the bridge between the sounds and the game engine. You would have access to the FMOD project and be expected to: add the sounds to the project, test the sounds for correct playback in the world and add the events into the game engine. This is not a role that can be taught from zero experience and for us to train you, you will have to be a competent sound designer or have other programming experience.

Final notes

Discord

We've mentioned this one before, but we do also have a community Discord server, where you can chat about the game or anything else and hang out with us. You'll also be notified about streams and updates here easily. Feel free to join over here.

Streams

We have been doing weekly livestreams (on a more or less regular schedule), where a few of our members stream their work process together. You can join us generally on Sundays. We'll also announce on Twitter and our community Discord when we go live.

One of the things we mentioned in a previous hardcore post was the Legendary enemies, and many of you probably assumed that we shamelessly stole were inspired by that idea from Fallout 4. Well, you were right, sort of, as always we did add our own twist onto the idea.

Legendary enemies are special variants of normal enemies that can spawn in specific locations or within enemy groups. Whether or not a legendary enemy spawns in each encounter is determined by chance based on the difficulty of the game and the amount of hardcore modules enabled. Certain scripted encounters/locations might have legendary spawns that are guaranteed.

Chance of spawn:

• Difficulty - 1% per difficulty level (Highest = 5%)
• Chance increases per each Hardcore module enabled (up to max of 95%):
• HTS - 5%
• Diseases & Temp - 15%
• Ammo, Chem and Med Weight - 5%
• No Fast Travel - 10%
• Companion Death - 15%
• Blind Mode - 20%
• Iron Man - 25%

Legendary enemies are always between 3-10 levels above the player’s current level. This level is randomly chosen when the enemy is spawned. Legendary enemies will always spawn with either one legendary weapon, one piece of legendary armor, or a weapon with a legendary attachment. Specific enemy classes might have higher chances of dropping items from certain pools than normal.

Legendary equipment is spread among several “pools” of items, such as Armor, Attachments, Low-end Weapons, Standard, and Prime Picks. When determining what legendary equipment is spawned, first a pool is chosen (different pools might have differing chances), then a random piece of equipment from that pool, and finally a random compatible Legendary effect is applied on the selected item. When a piece of equipment is chosen from a legendary pool, that pool has a lowered chance of being chosen when the next legendary is being spawned, giving more variety. A specific weapon/legendary effect combo will only spawn once in a given playthrough (Meaning while you will be able to get the same type of weapon such as assault rifle multiple times, it will only ever spawn once with a specific legendary effect).

Pool chances and what they include:
20% - Armors - Armors
15% - Attachments - Attachments
20% - Low-end Weapons - Weapons of questionable usefulness (rake, shovel, lead pipe, etc)
40% - Standard - Everything not in other pools
5% - Prime Picks - Any heavy and explosive weapons

Note: Throwables cannot spawn as legendary items

List of Legendary Drops