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https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/them-s-fightin-herds#/story-
http://shoryuken.com/2015/09/21/from-ponies-to-something-more-mane6-talks-thems-fightin-herds-development-crowdfunding-and-more/Some of you may have heard of this story: a group of
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans called Mane6 wanted to make a fighting game based the popular TV series with the Fighter Maker 2K engine (same engine that was used for Tomoaki Sugeno's Vanguard Princess), but like some of these fan-made games, due to trademark laws Hasbro filed a cease-and-desist order against the devs. Despite Mane6's effort to get special permission from Hasbro to continue development of the game, the game ultimately had to be abandoned. It didn't end in complete despair, however. Lauren Faust, famed animator (who also enjoyed Fighting is Magic) whose resume includes working on The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Wonder Over Yonder, the Super Best Friends Forever shorts, Cat's Don't Dance, The Iron Giant, and of course, Friendship is Magic, decided to help Mane6 in creating new original characters and story for them. Following this was Lab Zero Games, after having been laid off by Reverge Labs and looking into IndieGoGo to continue Skullgirls' development (which went pretty well), included a stretch goal that would allow Mane6 use the engine that they use for their Skullgirls, and said stretch goal was met by a generous $2,500 donation. So, here we are, Mane6 took the remnants of My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic and reformed it into Them's Fightin' Herds, a fighting game about magical four-legged critters duking it out.
[youtube]youtu.be/WiTKQLgk8Xo[/youtube]
The story of Them's Fightin' Herds goes something like this: set in the land of Fœnum, where sentient hoofed animals built societies and cultures indigenous to their habitat. The land wasn't always like this as it was once overrun by carnivorous beasts that were banished into another realm, bringing a new of a peace for the herbivores. However it seems that the beasts are breaking free from their imprisonment and plan to terrorize Fœnum once. Their answer to stop the beasts' invasion, each race sends in their bravest and willing member to face their leader and seal the gateway to Fœnum for good. However, there's only one enchanted key that can get the job done, so each contender must battle it out to decide who can become the Key Keeper. Yes, it sounds pretty much like every fighting game out there, and the kind that makes me ask "Why aren't they joining forces to kick ass?" but who knows if the follow-through will be better.
According to Shoryuken, the game will be along the lines Skullgirls (which is a given since it uses that game's engine), Super Smash Bros., BlazBlue, and Darkstalkers. Them's Fightin' Herds looks like it's going to be a 3-button fighter with a fourth button being used for Magic attacks, but judging from the gameplay footage, it looks like there can be some very tactile, intricate, yet simplistic combo system going for it. Although two characters are being shown in their early development phase (Arizona and Velvet) though it looks like more is on the way with this concept art of some of the other characters shown above and on the IndieGoGo campaign. Mane6 also mentioned they're putting a lot of effort into the game's lobby system, so online play sounds like a sure thing. But here's the interesting thing about their lobby system: unlike your typical fighting game online lobby, in Thems Fightin' Herds you can explore the world of Fœnum a la 16-bit RPG games where you can interact (and goof off) with other players. Here's an idea of the game's visual lobby system.
[youtube]youtu.be/YFS6z1F_pmY[/youtube]
Of course, team at Mane6 needs a successful crowdfunding campaign for this happen. At the time of this post, the game is nearing 40% ($170, 095) of its funding goal. Other than getting the game funded for a Windows PC release, they also want to bring the game out to other operating systems and consoles, add other characters to the (so far a goat character is mentioned), more stages (both for the main game and the lobby), a full-fledged Story Mode, and much more. Details can be found in the IndieGoGo campaign page for Them's Fightin' Herds and on the Shoryuken article on it. Let's make this happen!