The Ponies

The Ponies
Game logo
Creator(s)	Aeast667
Programming	Ebunix, Michiel, Oju, Lassesp2142
Art	Neutron, Thorsummoner, Aeast667
Music	Makazi
Date published	TBD
Type of game	Life Simulator, Strategy
Platform/engine	Windows; Mac and Linux (TBD)
Based on	The Sims (original), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

The Ponies is an upcoming My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and The Sims inspired non-profit, life simulator fan game.

In The Ponies, the player will be able to create and control their very own pony characters, plus they will have the power to customize the world around them - including the places that their ponies will live and even the places they can visit.

After the player has created their pony or ponies, they can move them into a property in one of the game's neighborhoods. From here, they will be tasked with keeping everypony happy by maintaining all 8 of their needs, while also maintaining a budget to cover the living costs, which is done by assigning anypony a job. This will challenge the player to keep their pony or ponies motivated to perform various tasks, and to build skills and relationships for them, so they can work up the career ladder and keep good work performance, which in turn provides a good salary. The player can direct any controllable pony in the household to perform several different tasks, which involves the pony interacting with various objects and characters in their environment - all of which have some sort of outcome.

Development

The Ponies is being developed for Windows, Mac, and Linux using the Unity3D game engine. Though this game is designed to represent several aspects of the original The Sims game, all work is 100% original. The programming language used is C#. Occasionally, the game's developers will share progress updates on their YouTube channel.

Gameplay

(Note: The Ponies is in early development, so gameplay features are subject to change).

The player will be able to create their own pony characters, using the in-game Create a Pony tool. This will allow them to give their pony a name, assign personality traits, and customize the pony's interests, as well as choose if the pony will be of the Earth, Pegasus, Unicorn, or Alicorn type. Then, they can further customize the pony, including the body type, head type, eye style, outfits and accessories, all body colors, and even the flank mark. Currently planned is an in-game simplistic image editor, which will allow the player to create a custom flank mark without only having the option to import an image or choose a pre-made one. The player is not limited to one household, and each household can hold a minimum of 1 pony, and a maximum of 8 ponies.

After the household is finished, it can be moved into one of the game's neighborhoods, all of which are inspired by the design of the show's various towns. Every household has a starting amount of $20,000. From here, the player can choose which property to move the household into (as long as they can afford it), which can either be an empty property or a house. Households cannot be moved into commercially-zoned properties. Typically, when a household is first moved in, they will be in a starter home with barely any furniture. With the remaining funds after the move-in, the player can furnish the home to give their pony or ponies more things to use. In order to earn more money to pay for bills, food, etc., the player must give one or more ponies a job that will generate a good enough income to cover the expenses. Maintaining a job requires showing up to work happy, and to build the required skills to get promoted.

Ponies have 8 needs, all of which contribute in some level to their overall mood. The player must direct them to interact with certain objects or characters that will satisfy these needs. Over time, their needs will deplete, and will need to be maintained often (some more than others). When ponies are in a very low mood, they will refuse to perform certain tasks such as building skills, and may become more aggressive socially.