Right, so, I have in fact been working on the Pony Creator app, albeit very slowly. But I've made a Tumblr post about some of the updates if anyone wants to check it out: [link]

So I might as well start talking about this. Here are some things to keep in mind.

1) The app version will not be the exact same as the online version. The online version will probably have at least a couple things the app version won't; the app version will definitely have some oft requested features that the online version doesn't.
2) The app will cost 99¢.
3) I still don't plan on updating the online version with any of the new features the app will have. I figure if you guys are going to spend some money, you deserve something special for it.

Note: Everything to follow is still tentative and subject to change at this point.

What the app may not have:
1) As many hairstyles as the online version. I won't be putting hairstyles in unless I can get permission from the artists to include them. Unfortunately, this means I may not be able to include hairstyles from the MLP cartoon in the app. I'm actually trying to contact someone at The Hub to see if I can keep them, but without their explicit permission I won't include them. I'm sorry; I know this is a big loss, but I'm hopeful some of the new features will make up for it.
2) Fully customizable posing. There will definitely at the very least be some predefined poses available, but fully customizable posing will depend on whether or not I can figure out a good way to implement it on a tiny touch screen, and whether or not I can improve the admittedly buggy skeleton.

New features the app will (probably) have:
1) Some new hairstyles to make up for the ones I have to remove.
2) The ability to turn the pony's head so that it's facing 3/4s view, front, or backwards. Meaning the pony is looking backwards, not that you can see the back of the head. All these view will be facing the user.
3) More accessories.
4) More options for posing the wings and tail--again, this is dependent on whether or not I can do customizable posing, but either way it will still be incorporated into the poses.
5) A way to quickly and easily save ponies for future editing that is easier to handle than the ponycode.
6) A scene editor that will let you put multiple ponies together a scene.

Finally, there will be ponycode compatibility between both versions of the game. Now, this doesn't mean that you can make a pony in the online version using a hairstyle the app version doesn't have and the hairstyle will magically appear. BUT, if you've already created a pony and want to import it (even if you have to pick out new hair), or if you make a pony in the app and want to use the hairstyles/posing features of the online version, you will be able to do that!

Additionally, because it is a pay app with a built-in way to deliver updates to the users, there's a good possibility I'll release more content and functionality as I go. Because I have lots of ideas, but I don't want to make you guys wait too long for the first version!

Is that still a thing people want? Because I'm thinking about doing it.

I'd make a poll but my premium membership ran out.

Edit: *Caerdwyn gave me a premium membership so I could have my poll! Thank you so much!

So I know most people following me are doing so because of the Pony Creator, but MLP is only one of the fandoms I'm tangentially involved in, and I'd like to talk about another: Portal

Here's the short version: I collect pins. I have MLP pins, Homestuck pins, X-Men pins, Harry Potter pins, video game pins, etc. My ideal goal is to have pins representing most of my fandoms.

However! There are no Portal pins, which is sad because I like Portal a lot. So, inspired by the fan made MLP pins, I thought, "Maybe I should make my own Portal pins!"

What I've learned is that it's only cost efficient to buy pins like that in bulk. What I'm trying to figure out is if I created a set of Portal pins, would anyone else want them too, and be willing to pay for them? I really just want to cover the manufacturing cost, which would only be a few dollars per pin if I order enough bulk designs.

Click here to see 10 pin concepts I've come up with. The concepts aren't finalized yet, but that's roughly what I want to do. The pins would probably be about 1 inch long, made with soft enamel.

If you think this is something you might be interested in, please comment here or on the pin designs. Expressing interest isn't a commitment to buy anything! I'm just trying to figure out if this is worth pursing.

Also, if you know a good place with a lot of video game aficionados to spread the word, please do! I would be very appreciative.

Someone seems to be trying to (ineptly) hack into my account. So if anything weird happens, well, it's probably not me.

I'm thinking it's about time to try my hand at another Flash game. The only thing is, I'm not sure what to do next. Yes, yes, I know I could do a dragon creator or something like that, but I don't really want to. I've done as much as I want to with animal creator games at this point. Every challenge I had set before myself has been conquered; I have felled that particular behemoth, and reaped what spoils I could from its cooling body. It sits as a trophy on my wall. Yes, it's time to move on to fresh challenges.

Just wish I had any idea what those were. So, what would you guys like to see?

EDIT: Guys, I want to make something besides a creator game. I don't care if it's robots or aliens or whatever, they're still creator games.

EDIT AGAIN: People are still posting here every once in a while, so let me add another clarification: I will not consider any games that are based on copyrighted properties. Yes, that includes My Little Pony.

I was so surprised  when I got up this morning, guys. I thought dA had glitched out for a minute there.

But thanks to everyone who faved the Pony Creator, or helped spread the word! When I first uploaded the beta, I had no idea it would ever get so big. It's  been a heck of a year, that's for sure.

If someone is selling art from my game? I definitely want to know about that. If someone is breaking the rules I explicitly defined in the description? I want to know that too.

But if someone just wants to pretend they drew an image from the game? And they're not making any kind of profit? Please, just do what I do: roll your eyes and move on. Seriously, check the description. I don't actually say people have to give me credit when they upload images, because that would be impossible to police and it's not worth anyone's effort.

To reiterate: If I specifically disallow something in the description (points adoptables, for-profit images, hosting the game elsewhere, etc.), then feel free to point that out to the person in question or to bring it to my attention. If I don't specifically disallow something in the description, just assume that's because it wasn't worth my time, and consequently isn't worth yours.

Someone got me a three month subscription! Why do you have to be Anon, donator? I want to say thank you!

Also, someone I know only as canterlot created a sweet script to pull all the ponycodes out of the Ponycode Compilation Post, so now I can finally organize them! I'll let you know when it's done.

Thanks to both of you!

Hey guys! I'm going to try this out, because I don't know a better place to put it. Comment on this page to share your ponycodes! Please label them, and I'll periodically go through the comments and update this entry with all the codes.

If your code isn't labeled, I won't add it, because I won't know what it is.

I'll kick things off with the mane six + Big Mac:

Apple Jack: 2S2S000000FEA100FEB19E0040110BF00UN1837000100000I0FAFE73FF7FFF0H107F3FCC004CB2
Fluttershy: 2S2S000010F5FE82FFC49D0030100BB96UN1837000000000G0FEA1C3FF7FFF0G117F3FCC004CB2
Twilight Sparkle: 2S2S000100CE9CEFFEE4D40010164007CUN1837000000000P1320072FE00AE0N117F3FCC004CB2
Rarity: 2S2S000100E0E8FEFFC49D005010091FEUN1837000000000L05F22BAFF7FFF0K107F3FCC004CB2
Pinkie Pie: 2S2S000000FEB0CDFED6BA0020100CBE5UN1837000000000J0FE268FFF7FFF0I117F3FCC004CB2
Rainbow Dash: 2S2S0000207ADAFFFFC49D00001C6006FUN1837000000000O07F3FCCFF7FFF0M107F3FCC004CB2
Big Macintosh: 3L1P1L5000CE3C41FEF49E0270000A01BUI1837000100001U0FEB921FF7FFF1Q107F3FCC004CB2

I will ignore any questions posted here. That's not what this post is for.

Copying and pasting a snippet from my Tumblr. Check the original post for the full thing, and the rest of the Tumblr for a peek at what the heck has taken me so long. But for now, here's the relevant part:

"So here it is folks. I've been wrong every other time I've tried to do this, but I'm giving it another go: The planned release date for the Pony Creator Full Version will be Saturday, August 20. That's just under three months since I uploaded the Beta version, which I did in six weeks. Will the new features be worth all that time? I have no idea. I'm just looking forward to being done."

Caveat: This date is tentative, and everyone who yells at me for not meeting it delays the actual release date by 24 hours. You have been warned.

---

UPDATE: Yeah, so that didn't happen. But the good news is I just have to test a few things and export the game, and it'll be ready to release. I'll do that as soon as I wake up, because I want to be conscious when people start playing with it.

I replied to a comment with a bunch of links from my Tumblr, and I thought I'd share them here in case anyone isn't following the Tumblr, but is curious about how progress on the full version is coming.

Body patterns - zebra and pinto
Posing demo video
New manes Flash demo
Updated list of new features
Frequently Asked Questions

Hope that's helpful for some people.

For anyone who wants to keep on top of how progress on the next version of the Pony Creator is going, I'm going to try uploading progress shots and blubs to my Tumblr: [link]

It's an experiment, since I don't really use Tumblr, and I don't think anyone knows I'm there. So if you do check it out, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know, either here or there. I probably won't keep it up if I don't think anyone's watching.

EDIT: If you have any specific questions about the game, you can drop me an ask at the Tumblr (you don't need a Tumblr account to ask questions). If you ask anything here, I probably won't get to it.

Wow, I am blown away you guys! I never thought the Pony Creator would get this kind of response. I'm being serious when I say I can't keep up. It went from, "Nice, a couple comments for me to reply to," to, "Ooh, more comments!" to, "Wow, these are coming in almost faster than I can answer them," to, "OH MY GOD." Seriously, I'm stunned.

I'm glad everyone's enjoying the Creator, and playing with all the different options. *fortheloveofpizza just sent me like 17 more mane and tail designs this morning, and I have even more deviants saying they want to contribute, so the next version is going to be amazing!

Since this is my journal and I can ramble if I want, I'll say that while I'm proud of everything I did in the Creator, what I'm most proud of and what I hope you're all getting a lot of usage out of are the body options: the height and weight and buffness sliders. Not everybody looks the same, so not everypony should look the same, and I really wanted to give people the best chance to express themselves as fully as they can. I pleased that for so many of you that seems to be the case.

Yes, I'm aware I'm waxing a bit poetic about a Flash game based on a kids' show. But it's my first major Flash game ever, and I think that's worth something!

So pony on, bronies! I hope you have fun.

For the people who follow me for the fics, I'm honestly really sorry guys. I'm planning to get back to fic-ing once I'm done with Flashing, but my writing was unfocused and I needed to concentrate on something else for a while.

So! I haven't been posting much lately because I'm currently experiencing a dearth of good fic ideas. So I am opening myself up to any requests people might have. I can't guarantee I'll deliver on everything, but I'll try!

A few guidelines:


• OCs are fine, as long as you give me enough information about them to write a story.

• Shorter stories have a better chance of being written over epic plots. My time is unfortunately limited.

• I've lurked in a lot of fandoms over the last decade, so you don't have to limit your requests to the kind of stuff already in my gallery. Give it a try, and I might know your fandom already!

     ○ Note: I really don't watch anime. Sorry.

• I don't write sex, guys. Sexy, sure, but let's keep it within dA's arbitrary, not-all-that-well-enforced rules.



On a completely unrelated note, I am now closer to the one year anniversary of my last journal entry than to its original posting. This is apropos of nothing, but I already did the math in my head so I'm recording the observation for posterity.

Apparently I was tagged, and have to write 10 things about myself.  Which is kinda vague, but all right.  Ten random things.

1. I'm finally out on my own and living like a grownup, and it sucks.  Seriously.

2. It only took about a week in the corporate world for me to want to go back and hide in academia forever.

3. If I'm going to wear a costume, I'm going to make it myself, and not being able to sew a lick isn't going to stop me.

4. Not relying on help from anyone when I'm moving or putting together heavy furniture is a source of pride for me.

5. My senior level creative writing class gave me a ton of tools for critical reading, and as a result made it much more difficult for me to simply enjoy stories.

6. I've dreamt up a lot of fanfic stories over the years, but I never wrote them down because I recognized the stories I wanted to write were the kind of stories I'd never read if someone else did them.

7. I went back and read some stuff I wrote 5-6 years ago, and while it wasn't perfect, the dialogue was pretty much as good as what I do now.  Which scares me, because shouldn't I have improved?

8. Some people get songs stuck in their head.  I get Ellen Degeneres imitating an annoying cell phone ring in one of her stand-up routines stuck in my head.

9. I wish I could draw.  I have so many ideas that can only really be communicated visually.

10. I love my cats, but if they don't stop tearing up every single thing I own, we're going to have to rethink this arrangement.

And I don't know ten people, so I'm not tagging anyone.

I saw Scott Pilgrim!  And then, because I was curious, I went and read all six volumes of the comic.  My conclusion: the comics tell a vastly superior story, not surprising given the amount of they they could afford to spend on it, but the movie was quite enjoyable as well.  Although I have to say, both Wallace and Roxie bugged me.  Not in a full "These are bad characters" kind of way, more of a "I like them, but I wish they hadn't portrayed this particular thing that particular way."  This was a problem with Roxie much more so than Wallace.  I like the comic version of both of them much better.

Also, I'm in a bad place with my writing again.  I'm back to where I have numerous ideas for stories, but I don't write any of them down.  I spent six years there and I don't want to go back, but I'm seriously lacking in motivation right now.  Le sigh.

Choice is done, and I'm finding it completely impossible to objectively go through and assess it's weaknesses and strengths.  It's garnered not an incredibly impressive number of comments, but a fairly consistent number, with some regular readers and some not-so-regular ones.  I know it's a flawed story just because I didn't have anyone to critique it for me.  I wish I could have done more with it.

And with that, I'm more or less done with the HTTYD fandom.  I liked writing for it, but I did a lot of stuff over a very short period of time.  I feel like I've contributed about all I can and if I keep on like this, I'll just start rehashing old ideas.

The problem is I don't have anything to move on to.  I want to keep writing now that I've finally started after years of not being able to finish anything, but I'm not a big participant in any other fandoms right now.  So seriously, what the crap should I do?

I hope I can finish "Choice."  It's a lot harder to write than I thought it was going to be.  It's not that I don't know where to go, because I plotted it all out before I started, but I underestimated how emotional grueling it was going to turn out, and an emotionally grueling story translates to an emotionally draining writing experience.

I uploaded my stories to Fanfiction.net.  It took all of a couple hours to regret doing that.  Jesus Christ.