Horse Crazy

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by J. A. Whye, Jul 16, 2011.

  1. J. A. Whye

    J. A. Whye Well-Known Member

    Sep 26, 2010
    45
    0
    6
    Game Dev (tools & tutorials)
    Alaska
    I'm working on a game/app that's aimed at horse crazy girls (okay, boys too, but most horse crazy kids are girls).

    I started it June 28th and will upload it to the App Store on July 29 -- because if I wait any later I'll lose the app name. Did I plan to do the app in a month? No, but other projects ran long and that's what happened. Argh! :)

    Just got the first draft of the artwork from the artist and am putting it into the game foundation this weekend.

    If you'd like to follow along with the development I'm blogging about it here:
    http://gamedevnation.com/category/horse-crazy/

    I'm not sure it makes sense to duplicate posts here and there, but here's a look at the sketches I got back today (the colored one will be the icon):

    [​IMG]

    The app will be universal so will be good for the iPad, too.

    I'm pretty sure that when this is released we will rule the world of 6-11 year old girls! :)

    Jay
     
  2. AOR

    AOR Well-Known Member

    Jun 27, 2011
    207
    0
    0
    Independent game developer
    San Francisco
    Those horses look nice, man! My girlfriend has wanted to make a horse game ever since she herself was one of those "Crazy horse kids" that you mentioned haha! She loves loves loves horses and she actually did illustration/animation work for an online horse game for like five years. We're bringing all that horse drawing experience she's accumulated to iOS soon so it's nice that we won't be alone on there and will have some friendly competition :)

    Art's already done, gameplay mechanics are ready etc. but our horse game is on the backburner for now because we take turns with our games. It's my turn right now but hers is coming up after my game idea is released September/October-ish.

    I hope everything goes amazing with your project. I really didn't mean to hijack your forum topic and start blathering on about our stuff, it's just great to see another team doing something to try to fill in that void of horse games currently on iOS. I think fans of horses deserve better than what is currently being offered, so let's do our best to give it to them! :D
     
  3. J. A. Whye

    J. A. Whye Well-Known Member

    Sep 26, 2010
    45
    0
    6
    Game Dev (tools & tutorials)
    Alaska
    My 15-yo daughter is a horse crazy girl that never "outgrew" it, so she's kind of the inspiration for this. Plus, you're right -- there's nothing good on the app store for horse crazy people. Or if there is, it's hidden really well. I was kind of surprised (and pleased) when I discovered what looked to be a gaping hole.

    It'll be fun to see what you guys come out with, although I'm hoping you get so busy it's *always* pushed to the back burner! ;)

    Jay
     
  4. AOR

    AOR Well-Known Member

    Jun 27, 2011
    207
    0
    0
    Independent game developer
    San Francisco
    Haha by the time we get around to finishing up where we left off on our game you'll have already cornered the market on iOS! :)

    As for what we're gonna come out with, there isn't all that much you can do with horse games, really. It is a pretty limited subgenre where you can either go the arcade-y route and have people tap on their crazy costumed horse to win races full of zany obstacles you avoid or go the sim route where you take care of your horses either to show them off or to keep them pristine and at their peak condition for competitions.

    We're doing some stuff with our game that will hopefully combine the usual horse sim tropes with an entertaining arcade-y twist. It's based on an oooold flash game my girlfriend did years ago haha. We'll update the graphics and try to keep it simple and fun :D

    Let me know when your game is out. I'll buy it and leave a review!
     
  5. J. A. Whye

    J. A. Whye Well-Known Member

    Sep 26, 2010
    45
    0
    6
    Game Dev (tools & tutorials)
    Alaska
    The artist is sending over the final artwork this weekend so I'm busy chopping and resizing.

    [​IMG]

    Can we get it done in time? Well, we already dropped back to Plan B in order to get this done by next Friday, and I even have a Plan C *and* Plan D up my sleeve just in case. :)

    But that's what updates are for, right? ;)

    Jay
     
  6. J. A. Whye

    J. A. Whye Well-Known Member

    Sep 26, 2010
    45
    0
    6
    Game Dev (tools & tutorials)
    Alaska
    Three days left and I decided to drop back to Plan C, but I think that's where we'll be able to stop. And the first update should be a doozy. :)

    Quick question: do you think the button font in the picture below is too stylized for kids? I'm not a fan of "fancy" fonts but this one really fits the feel of the app -- but I don't want kids to be lost.

    What do you think?

    Thanks.

    Jay

    [​IMG]
     
  7. randomisthehero

    randomisthehero Well-Known Member

    Aug 31, 2010
    117
    0
    16
    Florida
    @J. A. Whye,font looks good to me.i really like it.



    @J. A. Whye or AOR(or anyone who reads this),I too love horses,if any of you guys would like to hear out an idea for a horse based game then I'd love to share it.if I knew how to code then I'd do it myself but sadly i don't.
     

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