I haven't been on in a while, and I probably won't be on for a bit longer. After I've been into something for around three (3) months, give or take a month, my interest starts to wane; however, it eventually waxes again, generally in the same amount of time. There has been no "falling out" or anything negative in natrure. This has simply been due to my mental statel

S.F.B.

aaand... loving it.

I was afraid I was getting too busy with other things to get my Portal Security badge in a timely manner, but my patience paid off. This isn't really much of an update, but I just felt that now that I've reached Rank 4, it was time for that last newspost to go.

S.F.B.

I've only been on Newgrounds for two months, but it feels like longer than that. "What the hell is he doing here?!" has been a burning question in nobody's mind. I ended up having to remind myself why I joined up: to see what it takes to be a "good" animator, and frankly, I was never thinking about the whole thing the right way. Rather than rambling further, I'll cut to the chase in what I'm getting at... time to use the news section of my Newgrounds page for what it's really for.

1989.9.9: That is the day I had a practically allergic reaction to a disappointing (to put it kindly) Saturday morning cartoon: Captain N: The Game Master. Nintendo Power had given its readers the heads-up on when the show would premiere on NBC, and I certainly tuned in, full of hope. Highly misplaced hope as it turned out. The cheese factor may not have been as bad to take if a Japanese or Korean animation studio produced the show, instead of a French one (DIC). Well, as bad as that was, it probably turned out to be a good thing for me, because that was the genesis of a project in my mind that has become my life's work... the name of which I'm going to withhold for the time being.

Nineteen years later, I don't really have much to show for it, except for a few hundred pages of notes and even more notes in the form of text files, a character chart, and audio notes on microcassettes; however, nothing really in a production or art medium. This is because I can't draw, can't program, and until very recently, have been afraid of my own writing. Ideally, Mark-Cam Productions, my "company name," would actually be real enough to be able to delegate the heavy lifting to people that have real talent, but it's not so. All I really had going for me was and is the ability to dream up plot- and storylines, and, by bringing together already-established characters (it is a fan production, afterall) with some original characters of my own, pretty much creating a system where one plot device event begets another, to the point where the story ended up writing itself. So, what the hell does Captain Freakin' N have to do with it?

My original idea and intention was to "correct" that damn cartoon. By "correct," I mean run it through one of those crosscutting paper shredders, burn half of what's left, and send the remainder to a recycling center, never to be seen again. So as I started revamping it in my head, it got crazier and crazier: original characters began showing up, the scope of the good and the evil broadened, and as I got into other things later on (fantasy novels in 1990, anime in 1993, video games since 1982, not necessarily in that order), it began getting out of hand. I never actually... stopped its growth--of the story, that is--so two years ago I finally began "doing" something with it.

I began to actually look for artists who could and were willing to draw my characters manga style. Only now am I barely beginning to get some results in that department (as in concept art), but in the meantime, I finally concluded that this thing should be a webcomic... to swim amongst the tens of thousands of other webcomics, but what can you do? So, what the hell does Newgrounds have to do with it? It was just over two months ago when I was sitting on my bed, bored, and felt like looking up some video game humor on YouTube. This led to watching some Flash movies that were originally made for Newgrounds, which I surfed to, and found all you guys, doing tremendous things with your free time. Looking around this place, I was finally convinced that my little vaudville piece-of-crossover-hell project might actually be able to incorporate animation... the very thing that birthed it to start with.

I went and bought Adobe Flash CS3 once I began understanding what was going on. I may have been able to bend and twist the limits of Microsoft Word to create complicated flyers for my old college's anime club, but Flash CS3 was a different wildebeast entirely. I actually did bang something out of it to submit, and it didn't survive the second judgement phase (I think), but I at least wanted an attempt on my record (no, it was not meant as intentional blam bait, Mr. Fulp, sir). No regrets, however. Now... I've come across quite a few Newgrounds users that have been a part of it for years and are just jaded as hell. A lot of people here at "ground zero" I don't think fully appreciate what's happening here. Motion and "life" are being given to inanimate objects, as such, millions of times a day on this website, whether it's being done in "good" Flash movies, "bad" ones, or "spam," whether or not anyone agrees on how it should be done or moderated... it's at least given one person hope that his life's work could be what he wanted it to be all along!

Secret Final Boss, Level 8, Rank 3, Dark Aura
-----------------
I guess the postscript to all this should be what the project is shaped like at the moment. Prepare yourself... I'm up to one hundred and eight "main" characters. Eighty of them are taken from other things, but twenty-eight of them are original, or even better, based on real-life people. Once I get the true concept art commissioned and done for all of them, I can start putting together a nice Flash production that'll serve as a graphical and interactive directory for all of them. Only five characters have had their artwork workup done, unfortunately, so this is going to take... a while. In the meantime I'll still be patrolling the portal and making sure my whistle doesn't break.

Whether they were separated at birth, or merely total strangers bumping into each other in the condom aisle, they seem to have something in common. I just can't quite... place it, though. Something having to do with.... ... nope, it eludes me...

One Mr. fuckingf4Gg0t gave us this gem of a fake description for a spam submission this evening, which was called PS-LOL. It intrigues me to no end that more time and effort is put into making up the trojan description, or finding a real one to rip off, than into the Flash movie itself. It's yawn-a-riffic. I did vote on it, though.

"Okay, finally finished. My first Newgrounds submission. In celebration, here's a fun fact: 'Helmutlord Newgrounds' is an anagram of 'Well hung or modern stud'.

I made this in just under a month for a Uni assignment - and I reckon it's not too shabby for under a month. It's about a cardboard box because, well... I kind of panicked at the last minute when my teacher was interrogating me, and kind of made the whole thing up on the spot. I wouldn't get anything done if it weren't for my teachers.

Most of the sound effects and all of the dialogue was done by my friend Whimsical Goofball who you can find running around your local TF2 map at any time of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/us er/filmguru

For the Music I've used samples from everywhere, and bits and pieces from several movie soundtracks.

Here's the few I can credit in order of appearance:
Bearing the Burden - John Williams - Munich OST
Wedding Announcement - Alan Menken - The Little Mermaid OST
Penance - Ennio Morricone - The Mission OST
Encounter in London and Bomb Malfunctions - John Williams - Munich OST
Freedom Battle - Michael W. Smith - Freedom

I'm trying out a new really quick method of lip syncing. Let me know what you think.

EDIT: And cheers on being on the front of the page - it's a good feeling. Thanks to everyone who commented, and gave suggestions.

Based on the game, Counter-Strike: Source, this final episode in the series brings our stick characters to the map, de_dust2. This movie is animated at 25fps and performance may suffer for slower computers, so please adjust the quality accordingly.

Be sure to crank up the volume for a great experience. Movie is 6 minutes long, so get comfortable.

Production notes:
This is my biggest and most ambitious animation project to date and took me 5 months to produce. It has been a long 4 years since the last CS episode, DE_aztec. I'd like to thank everyone for their support all these years and I hope you enjoy this one!

If you like this movie and would like to keep a copy on your computer, you can download the .exe (flash standalone player) version over at my website - www.flash-deck.com. Fellow Flash animators might also be interested in reading up on how the movie was made, in an in-depth report of "The Making of: DE_dust2".

P.S. Do not upload my movies to Youtube or any other website, I will have them removed."
_______________

For the reader's convenience, I'm including in this newspost a second fake description of yet another spam submission. This one is credited to one by the username SpamSeculsion (not a typo) with the spammy Flash movie entitled (PS) Craxy Shiat:

"Hello my wonderful fans who have been eagerly waiting for a sequel to the cult hit, "The Lazer Collab".

Its been eight months and 28 days since the first collab, and now its time for a sequel.

Behold, The Lazer Collab Reloaded. This amazing installment has been in development hell for 3 months, mainly because of my real life problems and school. But ive gotten to this, and finally finished this.

The easter eggs are pretty hard to find. But theres a hint in the intro.

If there are any glitchs, bugs, frame errors, sound problems, contact me and let me know.

Any suggestions for the sequel? Tell me.

ENJOY THIS BEAST.
IMMA FIRING MAH LAZORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR BLLBALLLAFA

Alright this is a small flash, just for fun.

Please don't complain about the length... its a SHORT animation.
EMPHASIS on SHORT.
Props out to Daniel-M for the idea, and props to all my friends at Aura-core (My comrades in gaiety)

Be sure to review and rate.

My school had this 12 hour competition, where we had 12 hours to make a movie with a certain theme. I did this in one sitting within in like 9 hours. The theme was The Perfect Storm.

I made it loop on purpose just so you guys could have something to review about.

Thanks for front page tom, this really doesn't deserve it :3

Hi, this is amalloc of SamBakZa.

This one has different color than before.
If you didn't see this series before, I recommend that see the first episode ~ step3 first.
I wish you have a good time with this short animation.
The full title is "There She Is!! step4 - paradise"

There is one last episode left.
Thank you NG and all fans.

update:
I can't believe this. 4.71 - what is this number? (^^;;)
Honestly, I was afraid of that people dosn't like "step4" than before, because it's too serious.
I read the comments. Thank you all.
Please be with me until the end of series.

The animator, looking for a challenge, decides to make the stick figure harder to beat. Little does he know exactly how much power he is giving to the little guy. Long live The Chosen One!

Yup it's finally non-exclusive to atomfilms, so now it's on newgrounds. Hope you like it.
I don't understand why people ask what program I used.. I used Flash like everyone else! Specifically, Macromedia Flash Professional 8.
Here's some news: I'm in collaboration with flame862 making a game version of Animator vs. Animation.

It's been a long 16 months since I first uploaded episode 6. But now the wait is over.
For those who are wondering why it has taken so long, I won't lie to you, I just couldn't be bothered to work on it until a month ago. But part of me is happy that I could get the next episode completed.
Contrary to popular belief, this isn't the last episode in the series and I don't intend on waiting another 16 months to release episode 8. I apologise for keeping you all waiting that long, I am grateful to all those stayed patient.
Just a fair warning, this episode is quite long and has a lot more dialogue compared to the previous episodes in the series. I was trying to add more story to it rather than mindless violence, I promise there won't be quite as much next time. =B
But until then, enjoy the new episode of Super Mario bros Z!"

Actually, this one isn't so clever, as it's obvious to me and any Newgrounds regular that this was ripped from the description of Super Mario Bros. Z ep. 7. Of course, I voted on this one, too.

When responding, please be sure to articulate how you FEEL. There just isn't enough EXPRESSION these days. Oh, one more thing: only comments that exceed the "Characters remaining" limit will be accepted as valid.

Secret Final Boss (...well, I guess it's not such a secret now...)

(He's probably going to hate me for doing this, but I also want his account to still be here when he finally returns. I'm doing this while trying to disclose as little personal information as possible.)

Sprite animators tend to be much-maligned by some users on Newgrounds, but I'm not one of them. Khawner is a sprite animator that was just getting started, and I was liking what I was seeing. Without going into why (go see his last two newsposts), this up-and-coming NG member isn't even going to be able to practice animation of any kind until 2010, possibly. Some users have been getting on his case for flaking out on collabs, but as you'll find, it's not his fault. I implore this website's administrators to not delete his account if he really is unable to return to it by the end of the year, so that when he can come back on, he won't be back to Square One.

How is this any of my business? Newgrounds, a site promoting the growth of Flash animation as an art medium, has lost a potentially good animator, possibly for a long time. Now, what I'm about to say is not referring to Khawner's family, but parents in general, and I hope that some of the NG users that end up reading this are parents themselves:

I was extremely fortunate to have been raised by parents that understood the importance of creative outlets (they even let me write on the walls back when I was a toddler). They also did not have attitudes about school grades like, "Any grade below a 90 is an 'F' to us!" as in demanding straight-As, all As all the time, etc.. (Even though both my parents each have two bachelor's degrees AND a master's degree, they still weren't hardcore about my getting nothing but As.)

Unfortunately, several of my friends grew up with parents that had one or both of those issues, and more. In the case of one of my friends, his parents quit paying his college tuition... because he finished one course with a "B." I'm not exaggerating; I mean, once he got that "B," they started acting like he actually stole not just the money they paid for his tuition, but also every dime they spent raising him.

When there are crises and illnesses in families, you'd think that would make some parents simmer down and be a little easier on their kid, but the stress and emotional toil from whatever the ordeal sometimes just makes things worse. Before the Internet was everywhere, taking the kid's computer away as a form of punishment made a little (but very little) more sense, as it was more equivalent back then to taking away the video game console(s). Today, there's so many more things people actually need their computer for that not having access to one can be crippling.

What if the kid has a school assignment that couldn't be turned in handwritten, but printed out (as in typed)? No one has a typewriter anymore, and if the parents ended up taking away the only computer in the house, he's fucked. (Keep in mind I'm talking about jr. high and high school students, not college, except for my friend that I was talking about earlier.) What about research? A jr. high's or high school's library isn't the best source of information anymore, and if you're having to research something that takes several hours of searching, the kid's not going to have that kind of time doing it at their school's computer lab. Another thing about taking away the only computer in the house, which I'm pretty sure is the case in the incident that sparked this newspost... it's not only being taken away, but PUT away. Congratulations, you've now cut off--actually, punished!--the entire family, including yourself. You're really setting an example for the parents of the world to follow, bub. (There's a reason why I blocked comments to this post. I already know what some of you are going to say, and you're not stealing the stage or shooting the messenger on my watch, and I'm definitely not in the mood for counterpoints right now.)

For kids that are using their computers to start to establish themselves in the thing or things they have or believe they have a future in, having their computers taken away is not only counterproductive, but it can serve to further kids' feelings of resentment and alienation, if that's already a problem. Finally, parents, never lay down a punishment while you're angry. (If you get upset in the potential ensuing argument, that's a little different, but don't do something you're going to regret years later, or right then.)
----------------------------
You can tell this is a sore subject with me, for which I make no apologies. I mean, unless parents already know their kid is a true sociopath who's killed three people and a kitten, there is no rational excuse for hardcore negative reinforcement parenting.

Khawner will be back, but let's all hope it's sooner than later (and that his account will still be there for him), and that certain family members, if possible, come to their senses. If he ends up resenting my writing this post, I can live with that. I also hope he does not lose his desire for animating while he's gone. For those of you reading this that like sprite animation, and feel that it's unfair what transpired, keep him in your thoughts and prayers, like I'm doing. I probably went overboard here, but it can be easy to do that when you're trying to get a point across.

S.F.B.

Death619 is a friend indeed. Blam points are very hard to come by, and every night, he gives all of us the opportunity to carve another notch on the bedpost, so to speak. He's just trying to get us all promoted a little bit faster, that's all. Such a noble calling. Every night, maybe even twice a night, his posted tribute to Three Days Grace, which has no animation at all and is totally incongruous to Newgrounds' purpose, is just the thing users short on blam points need to get ahead! Every night he does this... he's better than Santa Claus AND the Tooth Fairy combined! For Death619, it's a labor of love, and he does it out of love for us, his fellow Newgrounds users, and our mothers! So, all of you on Newgrounds, get yourself to the flash portal and feel the love of Death619. He loves you because Jesus loves him... and his mother!

Found another blatant lie at the Portal! The following submission...

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
467738

...was another blatant piece of spam, and this one had an intriguing enough of false description to fool me (there, I said it) and no doubt many other users.

"Stuck for a word? Need something to make the public vote 5 before watching? Look no further than the random word generator!

How does it work? By analyising the frequency of pairs of letters in 45,402 different words it is possible to generate new words which, although don't have any meaning, are reasonably syntactically correct. Sometimes you may get a word which does already exist, but there should be plenty there that don't.

You can refresh the page for 20 new words, or, if you fancy, you can enter a couple of letters to influence how the generated words start.

Since the 5th November 2006, this site has generated 472,760 random words."

I'd love to know where n0ise found this one. If he made it up completely, then, seriously, he's pretty damn clever.

Secret Final Boss
[Think you've beaten the game? THINK AGAIN!]

I almost had my first Flash animation submitted, though I'm still early on the learning curve. I forgot that I was going to use one of NG's preloaders... right now, the thing just runs. It'll be a little longer, while I go look up somewhere how to add the preloader in. The final product, on a technical level, probably will be worse than Sidorio's last music video (though it's not just 10 or so repeated frames ad nauseum), but it'll be funnier.

S.F.B.