So, what now?

tl:dr; The project is down, but not out.

Well, I guess this is where I have the heart to heart with you, and everyone else who is currently reading this site. I feel like this entire project has not been very open nor did we really want to draw too much attention to ourselves. This has worked in our favor in a lot of regards, however I think I owe an explanation to everyone who has taken an interest in this project and I should be as transparent as possible.

As you can probably tell, there's a pretty good reason we have not been updating lately. Maybe I've seen this coming for a while, but the team has gone through some internal strife and has completely dissolved as of a few days ago. The release of the game's source code was our lead programmer's letter of resignation, and to my knowledge the rest of the team has left to do other things. Which leaves just me and all of you, I suppose.

Granted, we've all had a great time on this project and I wouldn't trade a lot of the times I've had for the world. Midwestria and all the games of Board Game Online, especially. This experience surely was something, which is why I, personally, am not necessarily going to let this project just wither and die. However, I am going to miss the team dynamic we had going for the longest time.

RIP BossHorse Games

That was the internal name of our little development team, but I'm afraid it's no more.

So, now that I'm done with my nostalgia, it's time to discuss the future of this project. First order of business is to let everything simmer down and take some time off. I'm going to try an save as many assets as I can so that this project can fully continue at some later date, but that's going to take time.

We were going to attempt to make an appearance at the Cloudsdale Congress convention in March, but with the project as it is I'm afraid that cannot happen. I will probably still go (because cons are fun and I love the DC area), but I wont be there for the game.

After I've gathered all of our errant assets and some time has passed, I'm going to take some advice the team's been given in the past and make the game open source. This means that just about anyone and everyone will be able to contribute to the project meaningfully, without having the same kind of commitment we've previously required. But it's going to require a complete reconfiguration of how this project will proceed, and that takes some time. So, all I can ask is that you bear with me.

Any questions, comments, laments, or just words you want to say can still be sent to buddingfriendships@gmail.com.

And, in closing, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who's been a part of this project. Whether you contributed directly, saw us at a con and picked way more weeds than you needed to, or just check in the website enough to read this message - Thank you.

There's a good reason I refuse to drop this project.

Source Code and Our Fate

Due to a huge lack of activity on everyone's end, the project has pretty much died. So I figured I may as well release the source code for what we have done so far. Occasionally, I may play with it a little and add a couple new things here and there, but don't count anything coming out of it.

If anyone wants to play with it as well, feel free to do so. I might add any contributions into it. I really hope someone decides to pick up the project again and breath life back into it.

https://github.com/KillerJaguar/budding-friendships


You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?

...

I swear at one point we were working on more substantial things.

Midwestria Followup!

Thanks to everyone who saw our panel at 8:30 on Friday, and who tried our demo on Saturday in the gaming room!

We appreciate feedback, criticism and ideas, which is why letting as many people see the game as possible was so helpful for us. Also, it was a ton of fun meeting fans and bronies who are potentially interested in what we're doing.

It doesn't have to stop here, we're still totally interested in player suggestions. Just remember you can reach all of our team at buddingfriendships@gmail.com . If you prefer a forum format, there's a public forum we've created you'll be able to use, too.

The things that we could gather from those who played the game that seemed universally desired:

• Progression, or a marked way of knowing your accomplishments or achievements through the game
• Harvest Sprites, with a few interesting suggestions on how to incorporate them
• Character customization is always suggested, but it was one of the biggest things people requested when playing our game, so we'll take note of that
• Pets - especially unique and interesting pets like the "May the Best Pet Win" episode
• House upgrades and furniture - fortunately this is already planned!
• Dialogue speed - will definitely be revised

Also, I'd like to give my personal thanks to those who made the event fun and awesome, especially the vendors and those who spent a large amount of time in the gaming room, like myself!

Cheers from Budding Friendships!

Jaguar - Programmer        Jadke - Artist        TerminalHunter - Writer

Terminalhunter's Edit:

Jadke, what did I tell you about Valve time? It affords us the ability to be late if we want to. Posting early negates any benefits we get from declaring Valve time!

Heck, I was still trying to upload the video of our panel while you were making this post. You've jumped the gun, Jadke...

Hidden Fun Stuff!

Jadke followup Edit:

NEWLY ANNOUNCED: BUDDING FRIENDSHIPS EPISODE 3

Off to Midwestria!

Next stop, St. Charles!

We'll be sure to bring back plenty of pictures of the event, so check back here Tuesday* for a con update and our plans as we head into the future.

*Valve Time

Hey, Look, a Forum!

Hey there! There's a few issues with Blogger and custom domain names, so if you're reading this it probably means you were linked to our old URL (buddingfriendships.blogspot.com) instead of our new one (buddingfriendships.com).

While we're waiting for Blogger to fix itself in this regard, we've created a forum! The forum site was created mainly so we can release smaller updates from the rest of the development team. Bigger updates will still be posted here for all to see, but more of the minor, nuts-and-bolts updates will be put in the forum.

Head on over to forums.buddingfriendships.com to check it out!

We're going to start posting regular content updates and all sorts of other little goodies on the forums when we get back from Midwestria and really start tackling the bulk of the what's going to be in the game.

The Pre-Alpha phase is coming to a close, time to start rolling out content and features en masse.

Budding Friendships OST Released!

Hey everyone, I'm very pleased to announced that our entire OST is available for download now on Bandcamp! Have a sample of our 24-song, 1hr+ album right here!

Donations will help pay for transportation to Midwestria, and even the smallest amounts are immensely appreciated. If you're interested in hearing more from me, you can also follow my new Tumblr here!

On behalf of the entire team, thank you for your interest and support of our game!

--Senator Myth