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SplatterDash
came out to NG and I said "oh hi"
Musician (freelance, FNF, game)
Making music that people enjoy, hoping to get better every day :D
PFP: @/Bleak-Creep on NG

Joined on 5/6/18

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SplatterDash's News

Posted by SplatterDash - October 27th, 2024


So as we're all aware at this point, Twitter's kaput. I already left Twitter a year and a half ago due to my mental health not being that hot, but it seems like everyone else, namely people that make cool content like art and music and whatnot, is getting the same idea and jumping ship.

Where they're going is Bluesky, which I'm sure is also very familiar in the eyes of the general public.

For a good portion, I've debated on whether or not I should create an account on there. One of the concerns I have, and from seeing a thread here on NG about Bluesky I can tell this isn't just me thinking this, is that it will eventually become like Twitter. When I say that, I don't mean Elon's gonna buy it or that it's gonna follow the footsteps of features that Twitter's doing; rather, I'm talking about the community and the commonplace drama that caused me to leave Twitter in the first place. However, I do realize the current community is not that and it's really nice - in fact, when I talked with friends, they told me that I should worry about that community and enjoy it now before it becomes the community I'm worried about later on, to where I can ditch the Bluesky account.

Let me also make it clear that I'm going to be far more active here than on Bluesky if I do make that leap. But my question is, should I make that leap?

I wanted to pop the question in here just to get some thoughts about the platform and see if anyone seeing this have thoughts they want to share. Because honestly, I know a little about the platform, but not the most. So, I'm open to thoughts - should I make a Bluesky account in addition to my NG and YT accounts?


5

Posted by SplatterDash - August 25th, 2024


So there was this video that was published waaay back in the early days of YouTube that I used to watch semi-frequently when I was younger, but would come back and see every so often afterwards. On a hunch today, I wanted to go back and listen to it once just because. And that's what I did, I went to go back and watch it...


...only to discover this thing turned twelve years old today.


I didn't even know today was its birthday, I just wanted to listen to something a little nostalgic today! There must've been something operating well above me to tell me to go listen to this today. Ah well, I might as well pass it along to you all so that you can celebrate the times of 12 years ago, when YouTube was a different place, the world only knew Corona as a drink, and Terry Crews and Isaiah Mustafah were all the rave.


Shameless not-sponsored plug, check out the mashup here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Q9sFsa8cQ


Posted by SplatterDash - August 18th, 2024


Heyo!


I've been out and about recently, but after a hot second, I finally got to uploading the Expo 3 soundtrack! Plus, I'm also helping with judging for a mod jam that's going to wrap up submissions soon, for those interested!


Expo 3's OST Release

For those unaware, Expo 3 was an FNF mod direct that I was asked to hop on and co-organize with a couple of friends, and in terms of my main thing, that was with the music side. Not everything from the broadcast is being released, and that's because a good portion of it wasn't supposed to really be songs meant to be released, such as the theme played during the interview segments.


For those things that are released, you'll notice all of them except for One Last Time all have downloads turned off, but you can still embed them and use them in GD. You can't download them because those versions were also provided on a CD album that was sent to the participants of the teams in Expo 3's mod jam, "Fresh From The 80s". To keep those versions special, I don't think it's right to allow downloads for those four tracks, and the only official copies outside of NG are on those CDs.


Speaking of which - a HUGE thank you to Turtle Pals Tapes for helping to sponsor the mod jam! You might recognize them from last year's Art-Inspired Music competition as they also provided CDs for the winners of that competition, but they've also officially released the soundtracks for "The Amazing Digital Circus", "Buckshot Roulette", "Postal Redux", and even NG projects such as "Spooky Month", "Hands Up", and "Madness: Project Nexus". You can pick up a bunch of soundtracks in CD, vinyl, and yes - even cassette tape formats! They did a fantastic job with the CDs for the Jam participants, and if you want to get your hands on some high-quality products, or even if you want to release an album with them, check them out here!


FNF: Retro Mod Jam

For those looking for a mod jam to hop into, I'm helping a friend of mine with judging for the 2024 FNF: Retro Mod Jam! I'll be looking at the music for the jam, and I'm excited to hop out of a judging break and give some feedback to the participants. For details on how to join, as well as the CASH PRIZES being offered, you can take a look here: https://itch.io/jam/fnf-retro-jam-2024


3

Posted by SplatterDash - July 12th, 2024


Alright so, with things now winding down on matters involving the hunt I wanted to do like I usually do and reflect on things. Since the hunt has also taken so long, and I didn't wanna do much talking until the results were out, there's stuff that's been happening as well that I wanna share!


NGTH 2024 Reflection

@The-Great-One and I hosted the Newgrounds Treasure Hunt again, with some differences in comparison to last year's hunt. Our aim was to fix a few problems on this year's iteration, and while some of those problems were fixed, others still need work. And most of this year's issues, I'll be completely honest, are issues I have to work with on my own, especially since I guarantee if I don't then they'll carry over to other projects.


This year, we had around 250 qualifying entries over all four portals, which is impressive in all honesty. I expected lesser numbers this year given that the amount of entries that can qualify were much more limited than last year's, but I honestly think the amount of cool and creative stuff was far more interesting than the pools we had last year (with no disrespect to any of the entries from last year!). The portal that once again dominated the entries this year was the art portal, clocking in at around 170 qualified entries - a landslide amount compared to the other portals!


That said, not everything that was different this year worked. For example, we had technical difficulties with our Google form, which I was already impartial to since it's outside of NG (the workaround to make sure people weren't submitting more than two entries per portal was the Google account login, which I wasn't too thrilled about). We at least had hope because upon research, we found there's a way to implement scripts on Google forms, so we implemented a script that would determine whether a link you were submitted had already been submitted - a kind of copy protection, if you will.


It would've been nice if the script turned on.


Despite the research I did, that script didn't want to properly function on the form. And it's a much harder case than just "press a button", since apparently some scripts ask for permissions from Google accounts, and I wasn't too hot about that so I tried to avoid it as much as possible. But it would never tell me when the script was turned on or working, even though it was working in tests.


The only benefit it had was ease of just "copy the cells on the Google sheet to this Google sheet", but when compared to what the sheet had in terms of costs, I don't know if I wanna go about that method. I'm going to take a look at another method for submitting entries with next year's hunt - although the ideal is to have the submission process here on NG in a similar manner as the submission process for monthly voting or the Art Secret Santa, I don't want to bank on that being a thing because I know the programmers behind NG are working on more important things involving the entire site. It'll be a trial and error kinda process, since the system I want to use would ideally be easy to submit but also easy for us to manage on the backend.


Speaking of the backend: that technical difficulty, in all honesty, made up about 30% of why the results took as long as they did. The other 70% was because of, I'll just say it, a problem I have with time management.


I refuse to pretend time management has always been my strong suit, but this year it was especially more prevalent. The issue was that I wasn't utilizing my time well between all of my commitments - both here and IRL. Especially online, my style has been kinda freeflowing, an "I'll get to it when I'm in the right mindset" style. It's perfect for making things that have good quality, but it leaves timeliness with said work to suffer, and that especially came into play here. I have no doubt that if this issue continues then it'll bleed into other projects, so I want to take some time to basically focus on that and get some plans going on how to fix that.


I take full blame of why the results were out as late as they were - TGO was working with things he couldn't help, and I could've helped and stepped up and I didn't. Before the next hunt, and with other projects as well, the focus for me is time management.


Overall however, I think the hunt was once again a success despite its problems. There were a ton of great works that were showcased, and a bunch of people that asked, like the judges did, "how did these not get recognized or awarded?". That to me is a good indicator that what I'm doing is helping. Is it the best, no, but it's still a learning experience on how to get this the best it can be.


I want to end by giving a MAJOR shout and thank you to the judges for this year's hunt - @LexRodent and @YendorNG on animation, @TharosTheDragon and @FutureCopLGF on games, @Xinxinix and @Template88 on art, and @Cyberdevil assisting me on audio. All of the judges did a really great job - Tharos actually provided a tip that helped on a goal of mine from last year, which tackled the judging system - and I can't thank them enough for the help and time going through the entries and looking for the best of the gems! And of course, a thank you to my partner in crime TGO for being an incredible person to work with on these hunts. In fact, I think he's probably one of the best impacts on the current NG community, especially between this, The Interviewer and The Tank Tribune that he's working on!


The Everything Else

In the time that the Treasure Hunt's been going on, there's been a few things that have happened with me that I'll talk briefly about.


Back in April an FNF mod called FNF: 3D released, and I worked on both the code and some of the music for that! I'm a little hesitant to pop up my music from the soundtrack here, but I did pop it up on my YouTube since that's by far more expendable than Newgrounds. You can check it out there!


After that happened, I worked with @Mkv8 on a mod celebrating Alfie's third anniversary! It's a simple one-shot, but I made the main remix for it and you can find that here:


One other song I really want to bring attention to, despite it not being for any project, is this one. I wanna mention it because it was a joy to make, and honestly I want to explore making more personal music and not just making FNF music (despite how fun that can be).


I'm looking forward this year to more of my songs from other projects releasing, and possibly getting a few more personal songs out as well. There's an idea that's been forming in my head about a new EP that I wanted to experiment with, so I'll give it a shot and see what that yields this year as well.


Final Thoughts: The Animation Department

I wanted to close this newspost out on something that also happened during the hunt. I'm sure the whole thing that Pete Docter announced with Pixar is old news, but long story short: Pixar is moving away from autobiographical tales and instead making films that can be marketed to everyone. I don't think this change is meant to be apparent, as Inside Out 2 seems to be going generally against this, but needless to say, this change hasn't resonated well with the general artist conglomerate. And despite the fact that I will never be able to pick up the pen and animate, I too am an artist at heart in the same way these animators are artists at heart. That must explain then why I'm against that statement too.


Lemme start with saying: this honestly doesn't sound like Pete Docter speaking from his heart, this sounds like Disney muppeteering Pete Docter to say this stuff. If you really think about it, does this sound like the director who brought you classics like Up and Soul, or does it sounds like the company that decided that the mediocre, bland, mushy pop-enfused worthless film that we know as Wish deserved the title of being the 100th Anniversary film? Does it sound like a director who knows how to create ideas and tell us interesting lessons in genius and risky ways, or does it sound like the company that would easily greenlight ten more straight-to-Disney+ Star Wars spinoffs because burying the franchise into the core of the Earth isn't enough for them?


Now, I could talk about how the Pixar statement is anti-art and what being an artist really means, but I think everyone's done a good job of bringing up that point. Instead, I want to connect what's said here to another problem that's going on, even today.


Recently, there's been a whole talk against animation being called a "genre", and even further stereotyping of the "genre" of animation being just something to entertain kids before moving onto the "grown-up" live-action "genre". And it doesn't take someone in the film industry to tell you that animation never was, never is, and never will be a "genre" - it's a medium, a form of expressing the same concepts that live action can express. I mean that honestly - we've had pieces of film before that are animated yet are for adults (like South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, which is turning 25 this year!) or for adults as equally as for kids (think the Disney Renaissance films for these); on the other hand, we've had pieces of film before that are live action yet are for kids (Sesame Street, Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood, Lazy Town, Mary Poppins) or for kids as equally as for adults (ET, Back To The Future, Indiana Jones - honestly, a lot of the Spielberg classics fall under that category!). If we were to put this in a perspective we're all aware of, it's like calling texting and speaking a "language" of communication, when in reality they're methods of communication - you can talk in plenty of languages on both methods! No, what determines what audience a film works with is the story and ideas being communicated as well as how they're communicated.


I bring this whole thing up for two reasons, but let me start by connecting it to the Pixar statement. It seems like people are underestimating the potential of animation, and really of film in general, and both the "genre" statements and the removal of autobiographical elements are two key elements of that misunderstanding. The potential of animation is exactly the same as the potential of live-action, and the choice of what medium to use to communicate a director's message should fall as a purposeful choice from the director of the film. In fact, the beauty of what makes films connect with audiences is that they take risks that are calculated and clear (possibly resulting in what we consider as "suspension of disbelief"), all to help artists communicate a clear vision and message - the purpose of art. How do you expect directors, animators and anyone else working on these projects to have clear visions and messages if the environments and people they create are unfamiliar to them? This problem plagues both live-action and animation, but to see it flaunted here is robbing a story of a heart and turning it from the equivalent of a beautiful sculpture to the equivalent of a residential house - lifeless, drab, and caring more for its functionality rather than having a soul. You can tear a residential house down with little to no lasting consequence; tearing a statue down is destroying the voice it holds.


The second reason pertains to the animation industry as it stands today. I've heard a bunch about what general animators are going through today, and assuming all of it's true, that sucks. It sucks knowing that an animator's voice is ultimately worthless because the stock markets say it so, when that's far from the truth. Give a person value and they'll pour their heart and soul into their passion, and that's exactly true for artists as well. Audiences realize when animators and project members have passion and soul behind their work and aren't doing it for a paycheck - even cheap films, like Hoodwinked, aren't considered lazy because they go the extra mile with their ideas and have clear passion. Yet it sucks that passionate animators are being driven out or told their passion means nothing next to a film or franchise's monetary or marketable value.


If I had a choice? I have plenty of things that I would love to make with passion and bring on some of these animators for. I know this is gonna sound stupid, but there's one FNF mod that I'm desperate to get going on the story for because it's so interesting to me - without giving too much away, it's a story that can very well benefit from the visual storytelling and meanings behind actions, movements and vision. It's a story that has passion, wants to take risks, and wants to be methodical and interesting. There's another that I've already started that isn't as deep, but has something meaningful to say and can also hugely benefit from visual storytelling instead of just straight-up dialogue throughout the whole thing. And if I had the cash, I would pay the animators for such projects so that they can pour their hearts into it without worrying if they're going to make it to the next paycheck. Heck, why stop at FNF projects - I would happily pour ideas of passion and even risk into films that could benefit from the talents and souls animators can pour into their projects.


It sucks that in reality, I can't do anything except use my voice to help these people out. And while it helps, that's not what they really need.


I hope that not only can the animation industry find its footing again and give these people a chance to pour their souls into films again, but that this idea Disney has - because let's be honest, this truly isn't a Pixar idea - can die. Animation is a medium to express the same thoughts, feelings, entertainment, passion and craft as the medium of live-action. And a film in either medium is only the same as a residential house without a soul - a voice from its directors, animators, musicians, and everyone else contributing to the project.


Anyways that's my little TED talk of the night


8

Posted by SplatterDash - May 1st, 2024


Before I start with what I want to say about the title - for those that are waiting on Treasure Hunt things, don't worry! TGO and I have been extremely busy following the submission period, alongside some technical difficulties that required us to put more time in than we budgeted before. I'll explain more as the results go out, but know that we haven't forgotten and results are still coming - if all goes well, hopefully this month. Thanks for your patience!


As much as I want to unfortunately not talk about this, it sounds like I have no choice given the stuff I recently learned of.


About two and a half weeks ago, I decided to scroll through Funkipedia out of curiosity and stumbled across the page for Vs. Eteled: Reincarnate. When I found the page, I found that not only had the mod been leaked some time after I left, but despite the fact that my departure was made known to the team well in advance of the leak, some jerk on the team decided to leak the two songs I made for the soundtrack alongside everyone else's.


And let me make this clear: by "some time after I left", I mean that I left the team back on February 1st 2023, and this leak happened on June 11 of the same year. So clearly, the no-life jerkoff who decided to leak my stuff had not just no regard for everyone else's work, but also no regard or care for my own works that I pulled out of the mod well before things went down with the team. That, mixed with my credit in the official cancelled build showcase, is what unfortunately leads me to say officially that I was part of Eteled: Reincarnate. And before you ask - it was hands down the worst mod experience I ever had, not because of the team, but because of the constant deadlines and the only sense of joy I had working on the mod being within the first month or two when I joined (June 2022), especially since drama started soon after I joined. And we didn't even push a single product.


I hope this justifies why I'm doing this when I say: For the integrity of my own works, my songs from the Eteled Reincarnate OST will remain as lost media.


I will not give either of the two songs out for any projects, and they will not be released either officially or unofficially. I will be taking action against those who upload the music on their platforms, so consider this your warning with regards to that. On top of this, one of the songs will remain uncredited since I would like to stay as far away from this project as I can. If you also have information on who leaked the soundtrack or where the source of the leak is, please let me know so I can take appropriate action to protect my work. Otherwise, my work is to be scrapped and unused from this point onwards.


There is, however, one thing I will say. I will only take credit for one of the songs I made for one reason - the instrumental of it is uploaded here on NG already, under a different name and removing all WDY references, as I had set with the director of the mod upon my departure (I also took this opportunity to remaster it a little and add some additional effects). I uploaded it shortly after departing the team because it was something I was proud of, and still am proud of to this day, even just as an instrumental. However, I ask that it stays separated from the WDY franchise, and if you do wish to view it then don't view it as a song from WDY but instead as its own thing. And no, I don't know how or why it got attributed to someone else in the song's credits.


Thank you for understanding. I ask this is upheld out of respect, and for the love of all things, please don't leak others' work, unless you wanna tell the world that you have a microscopic particular organ.


Tags:

2

Posted by SplatterDash - March 22nd, 2024


NG TREASURE HUNT: SWASHBUCKLER’S LOG

Day 5-7: Low Supplies, High Morale (March 20-22)


Ahoy!

For those wondering where the logs have gone, it's been a mixture of a couple of things occurring:

  1. IRL stuff has been getting a little in the way, and that's where a good portion of my focus needs to go to;
  2. We're actually running low on things to showcase here in the logs, particularly in the games.


Yep, the tagline today isn't just a joke - we're starting to run low on things to show here, particularly with our game submissions, which is so far the portal with the least amount of entries. In fact, one of the highlights for today's log was found within the past 24 hours.


I don't wanna leave portals out of the log highlights, so if you didn't submit a game and want a further chance at some of the cash prizes, don't be afraid to look around the portals you didn't submit for - not just games, but also animation, art and audio! You can absolutely submit for more than one portal, and that in turn can get you a better chance at some of the cash being offered.


All of this is to say that while you absolutely don't have to, feel free to keep looking around and submit for portals you didn't submit, or if you have an extra slot in one of the portals, feel free to fill it! We have time, and there's plenty of gems that can use some discovery.


HIGHLIGHTS

This section will showcase some of the works that have been accepted into the NG Treasure Hunt, with due credit to their creators. Note that this is not an indication of their placement or ranking in the hunt. If you're seeing this and aren't familiar with the Treasure Hunt or what's going on (or what's in it for you!), you can find info on that here!


Animation

For Hatsune Miku's birthday last year, @PannoCatto did this short but funny animation.


@boymylife created a really well animated PSA for his college last year that deals with... well, I won't spoil it here, but you should go check it out - it's short but enjoyable!


Speaking of enjoyable, @AzureChuck created this animation that has a funny premise and an extremely charming ending too.


@studioshowoff created this fun animation that plays like a reality TV show, but it's funny and has a cool animation style to boot!


Games

@FeverDev created a turn-based RPG with both first- and third-person perspectives about a human looking to unravel the mystery behind their prison tower.


For another game about fending off enemies, @DevGio created a defense game where you fight off viruses that are all looking to destroy the computer at the center.


@Jamal-Creates made a shoot-em-up game that's all about survival against a collection of monsters. Simple, but with a cool pixel artstyle and a lot of fun to see how long you can survive!


If you're looking for another shoot-em-up gem, @tazergames created this simple but engaging game with one premise: travel through rooms and shoot up your enemies.


Art

A lot of artists here on Newgrounds are commissioned, and a bunch of them also post their work here on the site - such as this commission that @funktoonmix made of Meowscles!


Neco car. @Za1ntdoesart . Neco car. Bottom text.


@AppleStixTime created an animated piece of art of Stich that feels like something right out of the movie or TV series!


@JamesTDG also created this really cool piece of pixel art, for all of you monster truck fans out there!


Audio

If you're looking for an epic showdown, @Arponax 's track from the Boss Battle competition last year combines Electro and Rock to give you just that.


Reviving a work from 2015 and publishing it last year is @Mawnz , who made this fun and enjoyable Chiptune song that feels like a retro adventure!


In the same Chiptune genre, @SkittleWaffle made a chiptune song during Jamuary that's enjoyable and peppy!


@scavengercrab created a relaxing but fun Synthwave track, which is the perfect way to end of today's highlights section.


ON THE HORIZON

For those who applied to be judges, we worked some things out and we're finally able to get back to you guys on that, so keep an eye out on your inboxes. A huge apology for the delay!


We're about 10 days away from the deadline - as a reminder, the end of the submission period is Sunday, March 31 at 11:59 pm EST!


<- Next Log | Previous Log ->


Tags:

2

Posted by SplatterDash - March 20th, 2024


NG TREASURE HUNT: SWASHBUCKLER’S LOG

Day 4: Twisted, Scary Fun (March 19)


Ahoy!

Things have been a little unpredictable so far on the seas - it seems like our form isn’t working as much as it should, and as a matter of fact it is indeed allowing people to submit things that were submitted by someone else. While I work on fixing the issue, if you’re one of the people that submitted something, I should have the time to notify you soon after this log is posted, with things getting settled behind the scenes.


Speaking of which - thank you for your patience as we settle some details behind the scenes! Things have been quiet mainly for that reason, but we intend to keep as much to schedule as we can.


HIGHLIGHTS

This section will showcase some of the works that have been accepted into the NG Treasure Hunt, with due credit to their creators. Note that this is not an indication of their placement or ranking in the hunt. If you're seeing this and aren't familiar with the Treasure Hunt or what's going on (or what's in it for you!), you can find info on that here!


Animation

A comedy without dialogue is no easy feat, but @PlusOneGhost managed to pull it off with this futuristic joyride showing how two robots can’t quite get the job done.


For something a little more twisted and similar to an analog VHS video, check out this animation from @Algojuker and his concrete friend!


Short but honestly really funny, this gem animated by @logdogdraws shows just how Skeletor might defeat He-Man… without a crucial bit of knowledge.


@Ducksen , @fredoku and @JennyGlynn teamed up to give us an asdfmovie-styled animation featuring some pretty unusual jobs with a funny cast!


Games

@succojones , @OwlBag and @StufflingDX ‘s game is extremely simple: touch the bugs. That’s i- HEY! No crushing them.


This twist on billiards, done by @Spebby , @Flodotelito and @nomlan , is a ghoulishly fun experience that’ll give new life to the age-old game.


Don’t let the style of @Default and @chiptami ‘s game throw you off - this gem is a fun and unique experience where having a bomb or few (hundred) can get you through the icy wonderland!


@CrudeWax , @Dahakka , @markokop and @MissEmilieVA brought us a unique retro paranormal hunting game from the eyes of a local police department.


Art

@ohmepeepee created a pretty cool graphic piece that’s worth checking out!


It’s a bird… it’s a plane - oh no wait, it’s a UFO, drawn by @prismvisual doing its usual routine. No need to panic, it’s just a UFO.


@Jessxjess ‘s piece is a twisted but fun image of a character on the hunt.


And of course, it’d be hard not to talk about twisted fun without one of the icons of the weird and abstract, given a nice drawing by @FlakyMC !

newgrounds.com/art/view/flakymc/ina


Audio

@xaevtheworld made a fun song that’s easy to jam out to on an energetic afternoon!


With the subject of twisted fun, it’s no secret that @XHarrier36 ‘s remix of @DJDUBMUSIC ‘s song is a killer!


Oh, and speaking of secrets - did you hear the ones that @Whirlguy ‘s keeping?


To finish things off, enjoy this crazy fun and insanely distorted gem from @somanylynx .

newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1259767


ON THE HORIZON

As a reminder, make sure all gems you submit follow the rules outlined here - while we are still fixing our form from all of the bugs (read: “might not have known to deploy the script” - it’s my first time working with Google App Scripts, so apologies with that!), it won’t be able to detect the submission date or awards that the entry has - so far, those are the two biggest rules that are causing found gems to be DQ’d.


If your gem was DQ’d, you’ll receive a heads up from me about that. If you’re also curious about whether or not a gem you found was DQ’d, don’t be afraid to ask!


<- Next Log | Previous Log ->


Tags:

9

Posted by SplatterDash - March 18th, 2024


NG TREASURE HUNT: SWASHBUCKLER’S LOG

Day 3: Monsters, Collaborations, and Creativity Galore! (March 18)


Ahoy!

I’m sure you’ve noticed that there’s two logs that were published today - one for yesterday, and one for today. As mentioned in the previous log, my hope is to make a log for every single day instead of combining some logs like last year. What that means is that as long as there is a good flow of entries, then there will be seventeen logs to showcase some of the cool and interesting works that are submitted for this year’s hunt!


If you want to view the logs from previous days, you’re able to do so in two ways: 1) by going to the bottom, where you’ll always see links to move to the next and previous logs, and 2) using the tag “ngth2024” when searching for Blogs.


My hope is to also give a little theme to these logs, as you’ve probably noticed by the taglines appearing with each of them. We’ll see how this goes, but for now, let’s not wait any longer and see the highlights for today!


HIGHLIGHTS

This section will showcase some of the works that have been accepted into the NG Treasure Hunt, with due credit to their creators. Note that this is not an indication of their placement or ranking in the hunt. If you're seeing this and aren't familiar with the Treasure Hunt or what's going on (or what's in it for you!), you can find info on that here!


Animation

Last log, we included a student project by SirPoToo. This log, we’re going to start with another project - the one this time comes from @Gridlock500s , and it’s both a touching and enjoyable animation to watch!


@MongoPangolin and @HorseFolder created this animation just in time for Halloween last year. It feels like something out of Animaniacs!


@KimolGuess turned a test of a rig they had of Bowser into a pretty fun short animation, and it’s worth checking out!


Lastly, for those looking for something creepy and similar to an analog VHS in a pixel artstyle, @RBako has you covered with this pretty cool animation!


Games

For Christmas last year, @BroquiGames delivered a traditional Flappy Bird game… but with a little bit of a heavier twist than usual!


Quite a few demos for full games are shown here on Newgrounds, and this particular demo from @RyanSilberman is a charming take on Frogger with their own unique twists as you progress throughout the game.


@KillerRabbit222 created this unique pixel Run-n-Gun last year, where survival and collecting Pirate Ducks are of the fittest!


One of my personal favorites so far is a game from @DrDevGuy - it’s a simple, one-button puzzle that has a good artstyle and a unique premise!


Art

Starting things off today is a unique take on the Sonic characters - @RahksArt envisioned the main quad of characters as characters in an D&D-esque universe!


With as much creativity, @STREETVISIONZ created an album full of unique car design models, both in lavish and enjoyable ways!


Speaking of albums - while I’ve seen a lot of uses for that Art Portal update I’ve been gushing about in every log, one thing I haven’t seen too much of - but would be really interesting to see more of! - is art trades. This gem showcases one such trade between @dogmuth-behedog and @Lt-Abdelhak - and both of their pieces look really good!


Another cool piece, or pieces I should say, come from @SpicyMarsh. They created a 3D, low-poly pixel model with a few poses that are fun to look at and enjoy!


Audio

While I’ve been a music person here on Newgrounds for almost six years, I’ve never seen an album where a label clashes with another one in a battle, so to speak. However, this gem from @Desx74 proves that it can happen and it can make a really cool, energetic result!


Speaking of collaborations, @Thingerthing collaborated with a friend to make a trippy but enjoyable experimental-accoustic gem.


@SPIRALi created a really enjoyable Glitch-Hop track that’s full of energy and creativity throughout!


For last year’s Newgrounds Underdog Audio Competition, @X3LL3N brought everything they could for the final round, and it turned out an enjoyable and creative take on the Dance genre!


ON THE HORIZON

As a reminder, make sure all gems you submit follow the rules outlined here - while we are still fixing our form from all of the bugs (read: “might not have known to deploy the script” - it’s my first time working with Google App Scripts, so apologies with that!), it won’t be able to detect the submission date or awards that the entry has - so far, those are the two biggest rules that are causing found gems to be DQ’d.


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Posted by SplatterDash - March 18th, 2024


NG TREASURE HUNT: SWASHBUCKLER’S LOG

Day 2: The Waves Of Energy (March 17)


Ahoy!

The first couple of days of entries went really well! Pretty much everything that has been submitted before now has been vetted, and those that had entries that violated the rules were notified. It seems like our automated method has a few hiccups in determining which entries were already submitted, so we’re going to look into that today.


In the meantime, there’s a couple of things I want to mention:

  1. Be sure to look at the credit details, as that will be where you find the date an entry was published and if it got any awards - two rules we outlined in the forum post! Portal awards include, however are not limited to: frontpage, daily/weekly/monthly feature, and anything else that shows in addition to the tags. For reference, here are the awards on another NG entry, Killgar's Kode - HOW TO SURVIVE ANYTHING:iu_1177125_6873099.png
  2. We didn’t expect for an uptick in this for this year’s hunt, so we didn’t explicitly mention it before now, but please do not submit your own entries. The point of a treasure hunt is to find hidden things, and the point of the NGTH is to find cool stuff from other creators. While your own things can be gems to others, providing your own work as gems is kinda like bringing your own eggs to an Easter egg hunt - it defeats the purpose of going out there and looking for cool things, especially considering there are a bunch of other competitions that will happen this year on NG that you can submit your own stuff for!

HIGHLIGHTS

This section will showcase some of the works that have been accepted into the NG Treasure Hunt, with due credit to their creators. Note that this is not an indication of their placement or ranking in the hunt. If you're seeing this and aren't familiar with the Treasure Hunt or what's going on (or what's in it for you!), you can find info on that here!


Animation

There are a bunch of animators that like giving their own spin to content from others, and one of the groups that get this treatment frequently is a group known as OneyPlays. @TerrorGeneric combined one such clip with their own animation from a show that one of the members currently produces, Smiling Friends.


Some animators also like making animatics synced up to music, which is the case with this animation from @DerpyJackArts . Here, they use the style and characters of Cult of the Lamb to make an interesting animatic!


Other animators utilize Newgrounds to post things from their school projects, which includes this project from @SirPoToo . It'll be interesting to see the full version sometime down the line!


And then, of course, are the animators who do their craft for fun and for leisure, which is the case with this simple looping animation from the team of @CherryCursor , @Corstonado , @Paul , and @SHADOWFOX2 .


Games

A game with an incredibly interesting concept, @Mantis1 and @muddasheep give a prison breakout puzzle with a twist - your main perception is from one of 9 cameras placed in every room, cameras that can only tilt but never move.


@weazeltech created a tower defense game that has a cool artstyle and an enjoyable experience overall!


There's been a recent craze with the online IO games - slitherio, aggario, you name it. @ClayLoam took a crack at it here on Newgrounds, creating an RPG-like environment that you can play in alone or online!


@Fe26 created a short but pretty memorable experience, with a 3D platformer that you navigate through as a rolling, somewhat unpredictable marble.


Art

Starting things off is a pretty cool fanart piece from @Darent-Z , who made art of a character from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom known as Purah.


From the OC side of things, @Mirtile created an art piece with four of their characters that look like they're having a blast!


Speaking of OCs, @Freshlylemon published an entire album of doodles and artwork for one of their newest OCs. All of this was made possible through the art portal update, which was talked about a bit in the previous log!


If you're looking for something twistedly fun and really well created (I almost was convinced this was hand drawn actually!), this art piece by @Serafin-corpse is sure to fit the bill.


Audio

On the ambient but ethereal side of things, @Kallen took their spin on the title track from Rain World: Downpour.


If you're looking for something a bit nostalgic, especially something in the category of Trance music, then this gem from @Euphoric-Danique is worth a listen!


An interesting infusion of modern hip-hop and lofi, this gem from @Safrann is a really interesting and calming listen.


@Rombit 's take on an industrial song is also incredibly interesting and definitely changes textures the more you listen to from it.


—--

ON THE HORIZON

We will start letting those who were curious about judging know about further details with regards to that, so if you requested to judge, keep an eye on your inboxes!


(EDITOR'S NOTE: You may notice this is for day 2, but being published a day late. Have no fear - there is another log coming later today for you to view, and that one is of course for day 3! Unlike last year, each day should have its own log, unless things get really slow with submissions.)


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Posted by SplatterDash - March 16th, 2024


NG TREASURE HUNT: SWASHBUCKLER’S LOG

Day 1: Sails Away! (March 16, 2024)


Ahoy everyone!

For those who don't know, I'm SplatterDash, and I'm one of the people heading the second recent Treasure Hunt alongside my amazing partner-in-sailing, @The-Great-One . We're excited to host this event once again, and in keeping with tradition similar to last year, each day of the hunt you can find a log with some highlights of things we've received, as well as some light updates with the hunt, here on my news page (because we're not here to clog the NG News section of the BBS)! With the submission process becoming more streamlined (with a few bugs, but nothing that'll set us back too far thankfully!), that means TGO and I will have more time to focus on other elements of the hunt, such as these logs and judging.


Speaking of judging - yesterday I received a flurry of people looking to judge, so a HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who applied! We'll start reaching out to judges within the next day to get things settled and also include details so that you know what to expect as a judge. We're looking forward to what'll happen this year, as things have already been busy across the board - below is just a taste of some of the things we've gotten!


HIGHLIGHTS

This section will showcase some of the works that have been accepted into the NG Treasure Hunt, with due credit to their creators. Note that this is not an indication of their placement or ranking in the hunt. If you're seeing this and aren't familiar with the Treasure Hunt or what's going on (or what's in it for you!), you can find info on that here!


Animation

There's been a ton of animations coming in of all types, which also includes music videos and animations synced to the background music. One such gem was made by @Zalay , who created this video using a retro 90s animated style.


In classic Newgrounds fashion, @Octavyan played off of the classic Spider-Man and Elsa meme and turns it into a funny, modern adventure when they run into an unexpected visitor (or two)!


Similar to Friendly Neighborhood, there's been plenty of animated series here on NG, some of which go on to become shown on national and international televisions and streaming services. One such underground series, started last year by @Nicotoon and @MimiScappini , takes place in an animal mental asylum and is a great setup for the later episodes to come!


Another series, created by @NewgroundMediaGroup , released a trailer last year. For those who are into the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game series, this trailer is worth a viewing!


Games

While we haven't had too many games found so far, the ones we got are pretty good. There's even a good collection of multiplayer games, both local and multiplayer - including this local multiplayer lasertag-style game from @UnevenPrankster (with shoutouts to @Ugasisvelta for beta testing!).


Another local multiplayer game comes from @BestLeatherEver and @venoMantis , with this one being a Touhou-inspired bullet hell competition. Grab a friend and battle it out!


Of course, the singleplayer environment has even more going on. In this unique gem from @FreakyDAYZ , jump around this retro platformer and collect items to move along!


Lastly, this game from @saadisaadi1 and @MasterCannoli is a platformer where you can manipulate the items in the stage as you get stronger - and the way to get stronger is to be around candles!


Art

In a similar fashion to last year, the portal with the most found gems so far is the Art Portal - there's actually so much that at the time of writing this, I was able to plan out four and a half logs worth of gems! And there's no lack in quality with these artworks - to get us started, @aw0 created an album cover for a Bandcamp album, and it looks fantastic!


All kinds of art are submitted to the hunt - and I do mean all kinds! One prime example is this self portrait from @digitalpops , which is haunting and stunning to look at!


Original characters aren't the only thing you can find in the art portal - there's a lot of fanart for other characters, both on and outside of Newgrounds. For those who are fans of LEGO: Monkie Kid, check out this fanart from @Missis-Maple394 of one of the show's characters, Chang'e!


Late last year, Newgrounds rolled out a new feature for the Art Portal - multi-image support. This was huge in enabling artists to create comics, galleries and much more, and a few of the found gems used this feature. In addition to being another original character, one of these gems comes from @Waterina , who created both a color and B&W version of a character named Goth Annie from League of Legends. You can view both on one submission thanks to the feature rollout!


Audio

Starting off with a chill but refined quality, this found gem from @Tyhond is perfect for a peppy, but not overly energized, cafe in the early afternoon.


If you're looking for something more energetic, this gem from @Rici-Ellipsis is perfect for listening and getting pumped to!


On the shorter but sweeter side of things, @KatdotBrush created this short loop that sounds perfect for a video game of a bygone retro era. I'm also hoping they enjoy Newgrounds - it's always good to see new faces!


We've had a few remixes show up as gems too, which are always nice to hear. Take a listen to this upbeat bounce-y remix of Ebimayo's "Goodworld", with the remix done by @EXT4NT !


ON THE HORIZON

Like last year, my hope is to do one log for every day of the submission phase. With the automation of submissions occurring (although it's not 100%), it gives TGO and I more time to pick out some unique entries for showcasing here.


On the subject of submissions - we've had to disqualify a bunch of gems, some of which fell through the cracks of our form, but others that went against the rules and our form can't detect it (such as the date when entries were published). I will clarify a little more tomorrow, but make sure that you look at the rules and check to see that your gem fits within them. If your entry did get disqualified, have no fear - you'll hear from me and be able to resubmit new entries to replace the disqualified ones.


On one final note, if you want to modify your entries, you can message TGO or I at any point in the submission phase with clarification as to what entry you're replacing and what you're replacing it with. Once it's hand-vetted by TGO or myself and cleared, we can make that change happen!


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