2D Pixel AI Town - After the story, MLP 2D game Dev blog
content from creator: mamamia
Last updated
content from creator: mamamia
Last updated
Game Name: Canterlot High wrap up
Greetings! I'm a fan of the G4 MLP series, and lately, I've been curious about the story of the first Equestria Girls movie—specifically, how the human Sunset Shimmer dealt with the aftermath of destroying the school. The movie leaves the details of her redemption rather vague. By the second movie, she’s on good terms with her friends, hosting slumber parties and bonding like close mates. While she still struggles with self-doubt, she’s seen as a genuinely reformed person. But such a transformation surely took tremendous effort, slowly earning back trust and proving herself day by day. I want to explore that challenging journey: to slip into Sunset’s shoes and recreate those slice-of-life moments where she faces her peers and faculty, striving to mend the damage she caused. I want to experience her struggles firsthand and convey the weight of her redemption.
With the goal of recreating that experience in mind, we move to the next step. Any artistic creation needs a medium—whether it’s paint on canvas, words on paper, or code on a screen—the medium shapes how the art is expressed and interpreted. It’s not just a vessel; it’s an integral part of the experience! For this slice-of-life journey, I could write some fanfic, create pixel art, or even make an animation. But why not combine all three? That’s where games come in—a powerful medium that blends visuals, storytelling, and interactivity to create truly immersive experiences. Unlike static art forms, games let players shape the story, making each experience personal and dynamic. And that’s exactly what we’re doing today!
I was invited to try out the new 2D game creation function of the RPGGO platform, to test its might. And here is what I feel about the product: it’s an easy-to-use, no-coding-required, word-to-game, beginner-friendly creation tool. Here's a screenshot of the final game I made on the platform. I built 8 characters in total. And now I am going to show you how I made it.
You need to make the game using the 1D creation tool. We have enough tutorials about that. But just in case, here's a minimalist guide to 1D game creation.
The worldviewSome generic worldview loosely based on the MLP EQG, you can add specific time like "right after Sunet destroyed the school", but I'm lazy, so let's just leave it as it is. Basically, I'm making a sandbox where I can recreate a period of time from the show, and play the role of one specific character.
CharactersDue to the nature of this game, I need to make all the main characters appear in the EQG movie, which includes the Mane Six, some support characters, and some bystanders to enrich the narrative. Make the character realize I am Sunset, remember what I did, and most importantly, who I am, who they are talking to. In this case, Sunset Shimmer.
The not-so-important part when creating a 2D game in the RPGGO platform as you can see.
The most delicate part, selected participants will appear in your game, and Opening Lines will determine their response style. In Lore Details, you can add some secret lore only known by the assigned character to add some flavor to your game. I need to address some common understanding with the NPCs, like who I am and who they are interacting with. After that, you can add some Recent Ongoing of the Character to further enrich the interactive experience.
I've made it open-sourced so you can see how I built from the template market.
The story takes place on the second day after the Fall Formal incident, so I chose a summer terrain with a moderate mix of trees, water, and buildings. You can regenerate the basic terrain as many times as you need to get the perfect starting map. By "base map," I mean the layout of the map—the arrangement of roads, placement of water, and overall weather. These are the core elements of the map that can’t be changed once it’s launched, so feel free to reroll until everything looks just right. Sub-elements, like buildings, characters, and decorative props, can be rearranged, so there's no need to worry too much about those.
Above is the finished map, basically a recreation of the MLP EQG worldview and all the buildings in it. We have in the center, Canterlot high school, and other famous locations that appeared in the movies. Everfree Forest, Crystal Prep Academy, Sugarcube Corner, and so on, I feel compelled to exemplify the reason for doing so, you see, it is because I've found out, that characters you've created and put into the map, could detect the map and choose to spend their time there! Isn't it fascinating! Like they are alive with flesh and bones and feelings! Something about AI is just so exhilarating sometimes, and I wish this feeling, this wonderful sensation, could continue to amaze us.
Well, enough rambling! Essentially, you’re creating a sandbox where your characters can have fun interactions, much like The Sims or Animal Crossing. The goal is to provide a familiar backdrop for your characters to spend time together or to recreate scenes from the original story. So, aligning your building design with their cognition is key. Try to recreate the town they live in—it’s the best approach, hands down. And don’t forget to tag or label your buildings so the characters can recognize them clearly.
Now, this world is alive with inhabitants and an interactive environment—everything relevant, all thanks to you! You’re now ready to launch your magnum opus to the public, save for some minor tweaking and adjustments to the map. Play as Sunset, relive that slice of life where she reflects on her past mistakes and makes amends. The original goal of this game is successfully conveyed, despite a few tiny imperfections—after all, no one is perfect. Now, I invite you to create your own games on RPGGO as well.
Because some IPs may be finished and wrapped up, run and done from the corporate point of view, but here, the show goes on, forever and ever—all by your hands!
The first thing I did was test the accuracy of their character creation. Can I create a pixelated 2D character that truly captures the essence of the original Equestria Girls story? I decided to start with Rainbow Dash!
Not too shabby, right? The colors are spot on, the walking animations are fluid, and all I had to do was type in a few simple descriptions. Since the game calls for the Mane Six and some side characters, and the platform’s character creation is both accurate and easy to use, I’ll just follow the same steps I used for Rainbow Dash. Let’s bring the rest of the characters to life and place them on the map!
