Man.

It's been a hot minute since I did a lil update post or anything post on here, but things have been so busy that I haven't really stopped to do one of these in a bit. Because of that, there's a lot I wanna talk about, but I'll start off with saying this:

If you're someone who likes to harass others and basically bully them instead of putting your energy into worthwhile things, do me a favor and get off of my account, because those aren't the people I will interact with even in passing. This isn't just because of a specific event, this is just more of a general statement that I wanted to say. I don't like when other people are harassed, and I don't like to harass others, so if you do that stuff, don't expect me to be around you for long.

Okay, that said, lemme get into some stuff.

Reflecting on Expo 3

Back in October I teamed up with Bibirobo and Zennie, alongside a team of great artists and VAs, to showcase Funkin Expo 3. While my name has appeared in an FNF direct or two this was the first time I was involved in a Nintendo Direct-esque event of any community, let alone my first time in the organizer position. The broadcast aired on October 21st, and you can watch the broadcast here.

Doing music was of course an interesting thing, as I was not only creating a bunch of tracks for the broadcast but also some sound effects that were dotted throughout the show. In fact, all of the songs and sound effects in the main portion of the broadcast were created by me - some of these songs will find there way on here to NG, in one form or another, later on this year. The change in scenery was interesting and fun to work with as well, since all my work so far has been with mods and the occasional game here on NG (mostly with Tankmas).

From an organizer standpoint, I'll be the first to admit that while the product and production period weren't perfect, they were at least interesting. The main issue we ran into was time planning, and all of us are aware that it was prevalent in the final product. We had ambitious ideas but we didn't give ourselves enough time to do so, yes the things we did do I'm happy we got to do. If I had the chance to do it again, the extra time would definitely be the one thing I would give, but otherwise, I think the production had a few hiccups but went okay otherwise.

The one thing I did want to address, however, was the audience response, because it was atrocious. Honestly, I didn't care if people liked the event, but the response a lot of people had were targeting and harassing the mod teams and Expo team members for a few reasons, but one of them that got under my skin and I wanted to talk about was that the broadcast didn't have the "popular" genres - you know, the Ourple Guy's, the EXEs, the Imposters, the mods that are ripping off something or another.

The mods we chose for Expo, while they were slim pickings, were chosen because they were creative and stood out as being projects of passion, not for money or fame. And in my opinion, that scope was what got a really diverse roster of mods that did include mods based off of IPs - Spooky's, SCP, Ross V2 are just a few examples - but also included original ideas as well. Not to mention, all of them deserved their works to be shown and for people to see the cool stuff the community's working on. If we had shoved in one of those mods from the "popular" genres, yes it'd attract attention but it'd also be seen as pandering too.

All of this is to say that if you don't like Expo, there's nothing wrong with that - if you don't like what you're watching, you have the ability to change what you're watching, or even create what you want to watch if it isn't available. But going and harassing teams and people that spent multiple weeks putting trailers and footage together for the showcase - and this goes for any direct in general, both inside and outside of FNF - just because it wasn't what you wanted to see isn't acceptable.

Despite our plans for an additional showcase, after the response of Expo 3 and after the stuff about a particular someone who liked art of a specific nature (and art from Shadman), we ended up talking with the team and made a majority collective decision to retire Funkin Expo. While I did like the work I made, and I still connect with my co-organizer Zennie even today, with the retirement of Expo I don't find myself desiring to do anything more in terms of FNF directs/broadcasted events.

Of course, I do know of a bunch being made and have looked around at a few. One of 'em I heard about was Funkcon, which is kind of an E3 style event specifically for FNF, but I have no interest for now in making music or organizing for that. If Funkin Awards 3 were to happen sometime down the line, I wouldn't jump at the opportunity to do that. Even if it was to make something completely new, I wouldn't say yes to it, and it's for the same reason why I don't wanna ask Zennie about doing a new broadcast event, at least for now.

The market for these broadcasted events has grown within the past year or so, to the point where there's a lot of them that are happening. When a market like that is saturated so much, you have to do something unique to make yourself stand out and gain traction, which is kinda necessary for events that try to showcase what the community's doing. But I don't wanna sit there trying to do something unique - I wanna do my own thing and have fun doing so. That was the mindset Zennie and I even had planning Mini 2, which was the showcase planned for after Expo 3. But I'm not confident that it'll be that way for these events, at least not in their current state.

I don't wanna make it sound like I'm calling all of these events bad, because they're not bad by any means. But I do want to say that I don't wanna try an event that's trying to one-up another event - I wanna do something that's relaxed and creative without that "one-up" need, and while they're not impossible to find they aren't easy either. So I'm happy for the work I've done for Expo 3, but for now, I wanna take a rest from FNF broadcasted events.

Treasure Hunt 2024

@The-Great-One and I are getting things into swing for the 2024 NG Treasure Hunt! We're working on a few things based on last year's notes - automating the submission system is definitely one of them - but we're looking forward to how things go this year! I'm going to try again with the logs that I did last year, but with the new system, we're hoping to make that an easier thing to do than last year.

Speaking of things made easier - we've given a bit of a change to the judging system based on feedback. This is also a good time to note that both of us are looking for judges in the Game (looking for 1) and Animation (looking for 2) fields! In general, the qualifications we have for applying to be a judge is as follows:

• Must be on Newgrounds for a minimum of 3 years.
• Must have at least 10 reviews in the Portal they wish to judge in.
• Must have at least one submission in the Portal they wish to judge in that is 4 stars or higher and not part of a collaboration.

If you're interested, shoot me or TGO a DM here on NG! There is a vetting process involved, but we will explain it to you as you apply so that we can see what you can do.

Geometry Dash

Back in late 2021, I decided to leave the general GD community, and despite 2.2's release a couple of months ago, I don't have major plans to backtrack on that decision. Yes I still do play from time to time, but I don't intend on making it a regular thing or having it replace the music work I do.

That being said, there is something I noticed with 2.2, which is the changing of music and how good it'd be for things like the new platformer mode. While I don't intend to create levels with the new mode, what intrigues me is the music aspect of things, since it's a new environment that I'm willing to try out on the music side. I'm also familiar that some of my songs get used in underground GD levels, and as of writing I don't have a problem with this and will even admit that I've played a few of these levels. As long as integrity stays intact, I'm all for helping people out, which is what leads me to say this:

As always, if you're interested in music for something here on NG - be it a game, animation or FNF mod - you can feel free to talk to me, but if you're also interested in a song for a GD level, feel free to talk with me as well. I can't guarantee I'll say yes to everything, but I will guarantee that I will not be accepting cash payment for my work. Why? A few reasons:

1. I don't utilize a cash-related app like PayPal or Venmo (and every day I'm in the online community I find that to be a great thing)
2. Even if that's not my intent, I don't want to be the person who works with, say, a kid who steals their parents' money so they can have a unique song for a level in a four-dollar game (not saying it always happens, but it does)
3. I'm out here to do this for fun, not for money. I already have a job that can support my income, and as much as it would help me to make the music I make online for profit, my intent in doing this is to have fun and enjoy what I make.

That being said, I still do care about my works upholding their own integrity as well, so pretty soon I'll be rolling out a document outlining the rights of my songs in lieu of payment. The only thing that would have to happen before I go through with things for someone is that they agree to the document in writing (a NG or Discord DM would do). That's the only thing I would mandate, but otherwise the way the song works is up to the requestor. This document would also most likely find a place in my About Me, so that you can view it before requesting a song. But that'll go up in a few days!

I'm looking forward to another new environment, but I'm not leaving my works with FNF behind - I still have a few things I need to do, and I have no intent dropping the ball on those works either. I don't intend on leaving my collabs I'm in here on NG behind either, and in fact I think I wanna get into the Audio Triathlon when it opens back up for submissions in round 2. But this is something new I wanna try, as I did with Expo and Treasure Hunt, and I look forward to doing that!

So this has been something on my mind for a hot minute, and after seeing not only recent events but also everything I've been exposed to in the past two years, I have reason to believe that there's a somewhat common problem with online grooming and people not doing the right thing - namely, the perpetrators. I usually don't like butting into things like this, but given how much I've seen it happen and how it's still a problem, I think I wanna say a few words, not just for Newgrounds, but really for any person in any community who wants or needs to hear this. If you don't, I don't mind - at the very least, this serves to get my words off of my back, and because of that I'm satisfied with whatever happens to this. But here's my perspective about grooming, how to avoid doing it, and what to do if you've done it for some stupid reason.

Keep in mind before I begin - I am in no way a voice that replaces victims of grooming, as I never have been a victim and I hope that I, like you, never become a victim going forward. I don't want to speak on the behalf of those victims, but instead on my own knowledge and experiences as a bystander of several grooming callouts. That also means that this is in no way a Bible of grooming knowledge; in fact, I encourage you to do further research for more information if that's interesting to you. This is my way of helping those around me not do something stupid and giving some knowledge about the subject as well, because like School House Rock put it, "Knowledge is Power".

So in order for us to talk about how to not be groomers, it's probably best to define what is grooming from a general standpoint.

We'll use a few definitions. These definitions are from, in the order they appear, NSPCC (UK), RAINN, Metropolitan Police, and Bravehearts.

From these definitions, in general grooming is an act of sexual exploitation where an individual, regardless of age/gender/physical characteristics, builds a relationship with a minor or vulnerable adult to abuse them through acts of physical, mental or sexual means. Naturally, this means that there's a power dynamic at play - while it's impossible to generalize the motives for every groomer, it's easy to tell that there's usually a desire for power over an individual. I've seen only one individual where that wasn't the case.

Which leads me to the major thing that grooming practices - disrespect. By trying to manipulate an individual to perform sexual acts, or acts in general, it completely disrespects the victim and, naturally, can make them feel intimidated or afraid to tell someone what's going on. I feel that's why it's so hard to address the problem from the victim's side - it takes balls to bring what happened up to light, even if it's just to the everyman.

With that being said, how can we prevent ourselves from grooming others? Simple - in the same way grooming practices disrespect, practicing respect can help lead us to not groom or manipulate people.

This sounds a lot easier than it is in some cases. For some, respecting other people comes naturally; for others, not so much. To be specific, here's some tips and tricks relating to avoiding grooming practices:

• Everyone you talk to is a person. If you treat people like people, or in other words how you want to be treated (which I'm sure has been said a trillion times by now), then it'll make you less prone to abusing them, unless of course you'd be fine being abused as well.
• Respect boundaries. Every person has those things they're not comfortable with doing, so if they're not comfortable with doing something, it's okay. Forcing them to do something won't turn out good in the long run.
• Common sense. I get it's not so common nowadays, but it should go without saying that there's things you definitely shouldn't do, even in a relationship.

It all boils down to just practicing respect - a concept I know I've talked about on my now-defunct Twitter account, but still hold with to this day.

As I mentioned before, I've seen a bunch of groomers in the past couple of years, and it's unfortunate that I've seen a bunch of them. But with all of them, without fail, their rehab paths generally look like this:

The groomer's actions get revealed once someone else calls them out for their actions. They then usually make at least one apology, usually less than half-baked, and then either remain in the community or leave for less than a year, if not less than six months. Then, they try to enter back into the community while justifying themselves or, if possible, shift the negative attention to another topic.

That said, the amount of groomers who I've seen correctly go through the rehab process is exactly 0. The reason boils down to a simple word - accountability. I have failed to see a groomer be legitimately accountable for their actions, and instead, they choose to hurt others because of their carelessness.

So, in the event you do something as stupid as grooming (which I hope you don't ever choose to groom someone), what should you do?

1. Take a leave before the call out. People are still going to be angry no matter what, but waiting for someone to call you out is only going to make you look more selfish than if you own up to what you did and leave on your own terms.
2. If you make an apology, make it genuine. A genuine apology has three parts that are all genuine in their own right - the "I'm sorry", the ownership of the fault, and the plan to fix the problem. People may not accept it, but making it genuine shows at least some care.
3. Leave the online gig. The priority from here on is to focus on getting better - keeping yourself in the same environment you were called out in isn't going to help, it'll only hurt. Take yourself off of everything you can, including any alt accounts, and stay completely away from the previous environments you were in.
4. Take all the time you need. Focus, but don't rush the process - mental habits, especially one like this that's rooted in a larger issue like disrespect, takes multiple years to fix. How long it exactly takes depends on the person - while a recipe says it takes 10-15 minutes to bake a loaf of bread, in reality it's ready when it's ready. Any earlier and the bread starts hurting people; it's the same concept here.
5. Don't force "I'm better" on others. If - and that's a really large if - you choose to come back, let the people see what you've become. Saying you've done x, y and z isn't going to get people to trust you; show, not tell.

It's intentionally a long process for rehab because the issue, as mentioned before, is a larger issue than just "I had sex relations with someone, oops". It's disrespect that needs time to be fixed.

Again, I get that I have no true place to be saying this stuff, but I say it because I truly am tired of people not only failing to help themselves, but continuing to hurt others because they pulled actions that were ignorant of others. If a person wants to genuinely help themselves for the greater good, then I do wish them good luck with that because I believe every person has the capacity to help but the choice to hurt - and at the end of the day, I would absolutely prefer if people changed and redeemed themselves rather than take their own lives. But I can't keep pretending that so many of these groomers are changed people when they're clearly not. And again, this isn't just one person I'm talking about - it's a good handful of people who haven't proven they're no longer hungry for power.

That, by the way, is why I chose not to name anyone off here. As has been mentioned a time or two before, the cruelest kind of attention to give to someone isn't negative attention, but rather no attention, and that's what I intended to do here. They haven't told me they changed, so I don't believe I should give them what they want until they prove their change.

Even if there was some things that were disagreed upon here, I hope this brought some knowledge on grooming and my perspective with things. Again, I encourage you to also do your research if you want to learn more, and form your own opinions with things - this isn't the only perspective with this issue, and it shouldn't be the only perspective either.

Brief little tangent to start things off:

So at the tail end of May I deactivated my Twitter account since I noticed I was having a pretty bad mental state going on there and browsing for what felt like a large waste of time. Looking at what happened recently, and I do mean everything, not just the most recent stuff... yeah, I dodged a bullet with that LOL. Ah well, at the end of the day it gives me and a lot of others more incentive to use Newgrounds instead. I get NG isn't the perfect platform, but when you compare it to the other options it seems like it's one of the few things left standing with an honest and caring reputation, and I hope it stays that way since it works out really well.

I've been here for over five years at this point, and in my time I saw the Tumblr exodus, the Sponjibobbu anime copyright strike on YouTube, the Funkin'in, and a lot of other events bring people to NG. And honestly, knowing there's a lot of collabs in the works and being formed by members new and old - I'm actually a part of five collabs here on NG - it's showing that while a lot of different people are hopping in, NG's spirit of collaboration and community's still going pretty strong in my eyes. It's not perfect, but it's definitely something that some other sites can't really say they do too much, which is a neat little thing.

Alright, lemme get into the beef of things lol

Where I've Been

Long story short: I've been offline for a pretty long time due to things IRL, and now that I came back this month the time I'm putting online is going towards the projects I'm working on. I'm trying my best to balance everything, but there's a lot I have to work with - around ten FNF mod projects, of which I'm actively working on five of them at the time of writing (on various aspects, including story, coding, and of course music); a video game project which is just beginning development, of which I'm working on the story and alongside two others on the OST; an FNF-related non-mod project that I get to help organize and make music for; the aforementioned five NG collabs, which I'm really looking forward to working on/continuing; and being a judge for both the ADM and UAC, which I know has been a really rough start but I'm really looking forward to giving feedback for. (Sidenote: if you were someone I was supposed to judge in either of those two during the last round, you can still PM me for feedback on your track!)

Needless to say, it's a lot, but I enjoy that amount of work since it keeps me going and it gets me doing new things consistently. That being said, I think it's obvious that I need to pull back on joining any further projects until I clear my plate, so I'll be refusing to join additional projects until I can do that. It sucks because there's one I particularly want to head, and I know I need time to learn the skills necessary to set that up, but I'm finding it's better for myself if I monitor how much I'm putting on myself rather than trying to make everyone happy like I want to. If I'm on a project of yours, don't worry - unless I say so later down the line, I'm not going anywhere.

On the bright side, know that I'm putting my all into these projects I'm on because I want it to be the best representation of me. I don't wanna half-bake anything I do, so even if it's something I'm not familiar with I'm gonna give it my all, and even if it doesn't work I wanna learn from it. That's why I'm working a lot with people and on projects with others, since it's fun to work with people and it allows me to learn from it too!

Upcoming Stuff

Out of the projects I'm working on, there's a few I both can talk about and want to talk about, which I'll mention here.

Funkin In Time, which I've been working on with @JRetrioX and a great team of people, has been making really good progress so far! I won't talk too much about the general stuff since I don't wanna steal his thunder, but you'll start seeing the music I made for it come out soon enough. At least, some of it - there's a lot more that needs to wait a second for future updates, but I'm fine letting it wait since we wanna collectively put quality over quantity for the initial release! I'm also working with him on another project, which will come soon.

Back in May, I released a few tracks for a mod called Vs Alfie: Megamix. The two that I could release here were remixes of currently existing tracks, but the original song I did can be found on YouTube. I'm also working with the mod's creator, Mk, on a standalone game that might have some teased items later...? Not too sure about that, but stay tuned!

Vs Dami. That's it. That's the post.

There's some standalone tracks on their way as well. My song in the Sleepland Music Collab is complete and waiting for a release soon, so that'll most likely be the next thing that comes out here on NG. Plus, my song in another NG collab is also coming along well and miiiiiight be the cause of some nightmares when it comes out... and some broken arms.

Life ain't half bad for me. It's certainly been a roller coaster, but through it all I'm still here and I'll still be here. I'm happy with what I got going, and hopefully soon everyone can see what I've been cooking for a hot bit. But for now, I hope you all are doing great wherever you are too!

Heyo!

In the case you haven't seen the NGTH results, please check them out here! I wanna take a moment to congratulate both the creators and discoverers of every single gem that won the competition - there were a lot of entries and quite a few high-quality ones at that too!

I wanna take the time to reflect on the process that happened with the NGTH, as well as talk about the NGADM and a few other personal updates.

NGTH Reflection

The idea for the NGTH came to me back around November/December when I was looking back at the NG Wiki's History page. I saw that something that haunted Tom was that the last NGTH prior to this years' - which happened all the way back in October 2011 - never saw itself through to completion. I wanted to give back to NG and bring a smile to peoples' faces, and looking at the Treasure Hunt's concept from the posts linked in the Wiki gave me interest because it was a unique competition style that I hadn't seen around on any site too often. So I proposed to Tom that I could revive the hunt, and it was through him that I found out someone else had the same idea - my co-host for the competition, @The-Great-One .

It was then that we came together and planned a lot of things out, including the timeframe of the competition, paying the creators as well as the winners, and other such details. We couldn't cover everything, especially since this was the first time the competition had been launched in some time and it definitely needed a tuneup, but I think we covered enough to bring interest back into the competition. There's still plenty of things to look back upon, so I want to reflect upon it as myself and TGO look to host it again in the future.

My biggest thing I wanted to look at is how A-rated content is considered. When the fact that A-rated content wasn't applicable for trophies came up early in the submission phase - a fact I didn't know about as I don't dabble with A-rated content on the site too much - it was dismissed because there wasn't a piece of A-rated content that broke the precedent of winning a Treasure Hunt. That was changed this year with the winner of the game category, Shoku's Treasures. While quality is always the focus of these competitions, and I will not deny that Shoku's Treasures won fairly and with quality in mind, my worry is that the entry pool will become saturated with A-rated content because of this loophole, so I may consider placing a certain other measure for A-rated entries to make sure they're still hidden gems, but not overpowering the entry pool. My initial thought is a view threshold where A-rated entries have to have below a certain view count at the time of their submission to the hunt, but that is a very early thought that'll need some extra fleshing out.

Speaking of fleshing things out - the judges. Before talking about things with regards to judges, I want to give a huge thank you to all the judges who helped out - @Capim and @MrShoeShine7 on animation, @BrandyBuizel and TGO on games, @Xinxinix and @Template88 on art, and @ZaneLittle and @Cyberdevil on audio. All of them were capable judges that had good tastes, and I would be fine bringing a majority of them back if they showed interest in the next time. I would, however, like to start organizing the next judging pool sooner rather than later. I also need to work out the kinks of the judging system to not compromise integrity but also give judges as much freedom as possible - the system used this year had that aim, but I'm not sure if it provided a lot of freedom or if it restricted judges on some fronts. That'll play into the screening process that will happen for new judges, since again I would like to not compromise integrity for judge freedom.

One other major thing I want to look at is automating the process of submitting entries for the Treasure Hunt. It was a lot of work for me to see each person's entry, go to the spreadsheet, add their name, vet the entries that person submitted, and then add it and all its info to the appropriate lists. Needless to say, it was time-consuming and could definitely be smoothed out, either by a Google form or maybe bribing PsychoGoldfish to do something for the site like how the Art Secret Santa has it. Automating can also help me write logs every day, as I can easily go into the lists that the automated process spits out and spend more time looking at entries and figuring out which ones I can showcase that day - or heck, I can even ask for judge input with that as well!

Lastly, I want to consider timing for the next hunt. I think the two-week timeframe for submissions worked out well, but the timing for when the competition happens is gonna be a bit of an issue. In January and February next year, there's gonna be another Flash Forward jam, Pixel Day, most likely an NG Winter Festival, and a potentially big ENA day given that the release of Dream BBQ is coming up soon. It'll be busy, so hosting it during those two months isn't gonna be ideal. The thought Tom and I have is to move it towards September-October, that way a prize pool can also be raised for it without interfering with another competition. I also want to shorten the judging phase quite a bit - this year I was extremely lenient since I know the judges have lives outside of NG, but it led to the judging phase being three months long. I think it could be quicker, even with 300 entries in one of the categories, but I need to find that balance between timeliness and leniency to figure that out.

Overall though, I think the first revival of the NGTH went really well given everything that we had to consider. I'm incredibly thankful for TGO being my partner-in-crime, stepping up as a game judge, offering advice and helping on the organizational side of things and helping to update the spreadsheet during a portion of the submission phase. I'm absolutely down to host this alongside him next year, and hopefully we can fix the things we need to fix and find the balances we need to find, but I'd say that with all things considered we had a really good competition this year.

I'm also down to hear more thoughts with the hunt and how things went this year. While I have a list of things I want to look at, I also realize I might be leaving a few things out or need to look at additional things too. If there's anything you want me to look at, let me know! I'm going to talk soon with TGO and include Tom on the conversations for the next hunt, since the year's almost halfway out and next year will come sooner than we think!

NGADM Update

Originally, I was planning to take up the hosting torch this year for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match. Due to things happening on my end, mentally and with IRL things, I am no longer able to host. If there is anyone willing to do so in my absence, please let me know. If there are also individuals willing to become judges for the ADM, please reach out to me as well. Note that both potential judges and hosts are subject to being reviewed by audio moderators to ensure we choose someone based on quality.

As a heads up: the total commitment time for the ADM is usually from late June to October/November, both as a host and as a judge. Main responsibilities for hosting include determining the format of the competition, reaching out for promotional materials, creating materials for the judges, and so on, so hopping on board sooner rather than later will definitely help with that. Main responsibilities for judges include checking that each song qualifies, judging all works fairly, and assisting the organizer(s) with whatever is needed.

Personal Updates

As you may have heard, and might probably notice, I have removed my Twitter from my links and will be deactivating my account on there briefly. Given all that is happening on the platform, what and specifically who introduced and basically yelled at me to make an account (spoilers, they turned out to be a jerk), and that my mental health hasn't been the best while on that platform, I'm hopeful that this'll help me out a bit.

What it also means is that I'm downscaling once again back to NG in terms of my music and general audience. I have no qualms with it - I honestly consider NG to be one of if not the best of the platforms out there - but I know it'll be jarring for some. I'm not planning on going anywhere, and my other platforms are still accessible as well, but that'll be a bit of a heads up with that. A majority of my updates and communications will be through news posts like these here on NG, and I think I might share some music I enjoy occasionally as a pick-me-up. We'll see how that goes.

My mental health has otherwise been up and down, mostly for personal reasons I'm not comfortable with disclosing. I'm gonna keep my head up with everything going on and look out for myself, the way I always have and always will. I will be placing emphasis on prepping for IRL matters a little more now, but I will still be willing to work with others and create works here on NG and beyond. I can't wait to show what I got soon, because there's a ton of music that's coming up with projects and it'll be fun to show it all off!

NG TREASURE HUNT SWASHBUCKLER'S LOG

Day 14: February 17, 2023

Heyo!

I didn't expect things on my end to be busy, both with allergies and IRL work, but I don't want to leave this unfinished. No, this isn't the results page, as that'll come in due time; in alignment with the previous logs, I want to showcase some more works as we close off the submission period. All of us, including the judges, TGO and myself, have our work cut out for us with the amount of entries we have to go through - how much, you may ask? Well, here's the number of individual entries (not the overall amount of people who submitted!) per portal:

185 animation entries

+ 115 game entries

+ 272 art entries

+ 182 audio entries

-------------------------------

= 754 individual entries across all four portals!

While there has been a larger amount of entries in previous years, the fact that there's so many entries this year is an incredible comeback for the hunt. My hope is to be able to do this next year alongside @The-Great-One , but we'll see where time takes us!

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 those looking for how Madness would look like as an anime, @TarKade created an opening with this idea in 2021!

A dramatic short that has a pretty interesting message, @ChrittyEatsShit looks at a man on a balcony wanting to smoke a cigarette.

If you're familiar with "Among Us: The Incredible Story" from back during the 2020 Purple Imposter jam, creator @ChrisShwafer continued the series with other games as well, including in this gem from back in 2021!

@PokkeStein's comedy from 2021 swaps the roles between humans and monkeys in a pretty funny way!

A uni project from 2013, @Butzbo tried his hand at stop-motion for some animation practice!

Games

An interesting adventure game, @DaNeel 's journey is weird, interesting and even a bit funny!

@BlackthornProd 's two-player 2018 game is a journey throughout the mind and a great game to grab a friend and play with!

It is as silly concept, but @Akari21 's game from earlier this year pits you as a pigeon (with a cannon) against other enemies wanting to take your hatchlings.

This Flash game from @Berzee is a real-time strategy game where you can create a village and fight off bandits using the people you hire from resources!

Try your best to survive in @ImmanentDeath 's 2022 avoiding game!

Art

You miiight wanna be a bit careful with that saleswoman @Puapka hung around with back in 2021...

@jeneiakos98 payed tribute in 2017 to one of the greatest bounty hunters in the galaxy.

On the subject of tributes, @RodneyAmirebrahimi created this one back in 2020 for David Gilmour!

We've also seen quite a few art trades occur here on NG, with one example being this trade from @AphrosAnimation a couple of months ago!

This 2017 illustration from @yurgenburgen is an interesting little easter egg hunt for the eyes with the amount of detailed textures it uses.

Audio

One jewel that was found was @Quarl 's 2013 entry from their EP, Object vs. Person.

Created with the feel of an n64 game, @Bertn1991 created this cinematic track back in 2020!

newgrounds.com/audio/listen/908324

An interesting little jewel that was found was @Frequality 's theme they made for JonTron back in 2014. And yes, I did look it up because I didn't believe it, but it's apparently true! Sometimes, you'll never know where a place like Newgrounds might take you in the future.

One of the greats here on NG's Audio Portal is @Waterflame , who's known for making a lot of good songs, including the used-to-be backing track for the Newgrounds Podcast, -Gabberfly-. Even still, a lot of their older songs went under the radar, such as this one from 2012!

A trio that made an interesting Ska track is the trio of @TheThirdRates , @Spazkid , and @NolandNG !

At this point, the only thing that lies ahead is results. As to when they'll be announced?

We have no rush: the results will be announced when we're ready. We simply ask for your patience, as it can take up quite a bit of time to go through all nearly-800 entries and make sure we're giving honest and good scores. It might take a bit, but it'll be worth it in the end!

As I wrap up the log, I wanna take the time to thank @TomFulp . As much as TGO and myself had the idea, Tom was a great resource to understand how we should go about the hunt's revival this year and for helping to bring the prize pool together. Talking with him about this, and about things in general really, has been a warm and great experience and it honestly makes me glad that I've stuck with NG for nearly five years. So again, a huge thank you to Tom for making this possible!

And of course, TGO and I wanna thank all of you. If anything, I think we achieved our goal of bringing light to works that were overshadowed, missed or left out in the past ten years, not only because a lot of them finally got frontpages but because a lot of people pointed them out and found great works that were shared to others. I mentioned before how I hope TGO and myself can do this again next year, albeit with some changes to help us out on the backend of things, and it's honestly because of the things that happened this year and the strength that the revival had. Hopefully this can also encourage people to keep doing the things they love here on NG too, since it helps to show their works aren't being forgotten!

We're glad that this year's revival of the Treasure Hunt got a lot of recognition, and we're hopeful that hunts that occur in the future have a great turnout as well. Again, thank you all for your help with giving recognition and attention to the hidden gems of NG. We'll see you when the results are ready!

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NG TREASURE HUNT 2023 SWASHBUCKLER'S LOG

Day 8: February 10, 2023

Heyo!

Things over the past few days have been slow, which is expected around this point! If you haven't submitted anything for the hunt yet, no worries - you have until 11:59 pm EST February 17th to do so. In the meantime, because of the slower pace the highlights will be shortened quite a bit, so while the showcased entries will go in order I won't give them their own sections as they'll be a few of them. I think next time I'll go with less per post and then stock up on the entries so that we get a good mix of old and new, but for now let's go into the highlights!

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!

Starting off in animation, @koit created this neat Flash video back in 2013 for a tune that he made!

On a similar vein is @Mischa-head 's music video from last year, combining live action with Blender animation in a neat experimental style!

In the Game department, @rushinhaler created this interesting Flash-pixel-platformer back in 2018 that has a folk-ish feel to it.

@Tonycase created this piece of art back in 2013 to celebrate Pokemon X & Pokemon Y!

This house beat from @Nmantif in 2012 is a fun song to listen to and enjoy!

In the VA department, @theminutehour created a voice-acted story about two brothers that's funny and witty!

ACROSS THE HORIZON

We have one spot left open for animation judges for the hunt! Screening required - more info here.

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NG TREASURE HUNT 2023 SWASHBUCKLER'S LOG

Day 5-7: February 7-9, 2023

Heyo!

My apologies for being out these last couple of days, a mixture of work and feeling under the weather made me pass the logs by a bit. Now that I'm refreshed and ready to go into this, I want to make up for it by including three times the amount of highlights as a regular log. Get ready - there's a lot coming your way!

Before getting into the highlights, what happened the last couple of days?

• We're now at the halfway point in terms of the entry period! Just to remind you all, you have until 11:59 pm EST February 17th to submit, change or edit your entries to the hunt. After that, we'll begin the judging period! (NOTE: if you submit an entry that does not follow the rules and the deadline passes, you will not be able to submit a replacement at that time!)
• We crossed 500 individual entries across all four portals, and we also crossed 200 individual art entries. Looks like the hunt's set to be intense this time around!
• If you still want to donate to the cash pool for the competition, you also still have time - use the donation option on the Supporter page and PM TomFulp with a heads up that you are donating to the Treasure Hunt.

With that out of the way, let's get into things!

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

Starting things off is a personal animation of @OLThomas 's from last year.

For those into some quick and light humor, @amocoe looks at a disturbance happening in... New York probably, I mean them and San Francisco always are the most eventful in movies.

Into a good animated fight scene? @Tiacus-X 's 2021 work has you covered!

Tapping into our childhood memories of being afraid of the dark is @xdsebaxd 's 2017 animation.

Remember [insert item here] that you used to get DOOM running? @Fwughox definitely did!

An interesting experimental work, @SillySallyMan 's recent semester project shows what happens to a goose that's different from the rest.

We've had a couple of shots from Reanimated content show up in the hunt, such as this one from@VAdaPEGA !

@jerbjpg made a quick animation about how absolutely flawless Cyberpunk 2077 is.

@fidelako 's 2021 parody of the well-known Tankmas series has an... interesting twist, to say the least.

@parrygrip and @BooneBum , who you may recall as the people that made "Raining Tacos", published this work last year!

If you're looking for something longer and creative,@barfconvention 's 2021 work might be able to do it for ya!

A couple of friend make an interesting conversation in @RichChap's 2021 work.

Games

Take on a unique puzzle challenge with @DinonautGames 's work from last year!

For those who are into sudoku, you can also try your hand at this spin on a classic challenge from @sergesgames .

A bullet hell game with an interesting story, @starsidecosmos 's work from last month is an interesting play and challenge. There's even a copy of the game on Steam!

For those looking for a fresh take on Cookie Clicker, check out @truefire87c 's Flash game from 2015!

In the same vein, enjoy this multi-dimensional, chaoritc take on Pong by @Steventus !

Create the longest walks you can with @BenedictFogwell 's work from last month!

Collect the Pilites in this mobile-catered game created by @Scootakip and @CmFluffles !

An interesting take on the war-style games is the Flash rendition created by @FlappyB , @duquekarl , and @PIXELCHUNK in 2013!

I'd love to show off more games, but we've run out of interesting games that haven't gotten a front-page feature during the hunt.

Art

They say a picture's worth a thousand words - since we have a lot of art to showcase, I want to let the art speak for itself this time. All creators will of course be pinged so that you know whose is whose!

@99devilz

@jadendafinger

@Damare-Draws

@Default

@nek0ai

@Joifish

@NoOneAboard

@ArtDeepMind

@Wigmania

@Idarzikftw

@KiwizBeanz

@neonUFO

@EternalSavvy

@Cosmicmetal

@J-qb

Music

We also have a lot of music to showcase here. I think you're able to hear for yourself how great a lot of these works are, so take the time to listen to them and show your support towards their creators!

@littlbox

@NtGm889

@Ayrayen

@Sterrezo @RetrogradeEdm

While talking about RetrogradeEdm...

@Seth

@MrKoolTrix

@Djjaner @DjGoldwing

@megawolf77

@TheLivingTombstone

@Waterflame

@meganeko

I apologize again to the art and music entries, as there's a lot of you and I really do want to keep the tradition of a little info alongside each piece's link. While there's so many of you all, I'm happy to say that all the works here were really enjoyable to watch and listen to, and that in all honesty, you should go check them out! That's the point of a competition like this - it's to bring attention to works that haven't gotten that spotlight and deserve to.

ACROSS THE HORIZON

We have one spot left open for animation judges for the hunt! Screening required - more info here.

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NG TREASURE HUNT 2023 SWASHBUCKLER'S LOG

Day 4 - February 6, 2023

Heyo!

Hope you all are doing well! Things have gotten a little slower here on the crew's side of things, but we've still been keeping notes and moving along at a good pace. There's still plenty of time to submit something for the hunt if you haven't already, but keep in mind that a submission must have been published between January 1 2012 and February 3 2023. We've gotten a couple people finding entries that were submitted later than that, which per the rules we're not able to accept. You don't win a treasure hunt by making something specifically for the hunt because you'll never get to see the world that way!

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

Starting things off today is a parody animation of a clip from Blark and Son created by @Misterbongos just last month!

Created for Clock Day 2020, this animation by @k9 , @nyiddle , @OctopusClock, @PanacottaClock and @RobertClock is an interesting hodge-podge of stop-motion animation with an original script and a funny premise!

While the team worked against the aliens, @FlonchDulloon travelled to the top of the mountain to hear the most majestic sound known to man.

A few months later in 2020, @ThothyGoodneth created a rotoscope animation wondering what their cat sees and does. The backstory behind the animation, and the reason for its creation, are also worth a read!

Games

@dkdoot 's creation from last month is a fighting game with a different goal: fighting to keep a potentially worrisome conversation from happening!

Being (so far) the only visual novel entry, there's a lot hidden behind the outward simplicity of @ozuzo 's game from last month.

Hope you studied the dictionary: @KeithSwanger 's game puts your word test to the limit to save people stuck in a babbling loop!

For those who wondered "what would [insert person here] look like if they were in Pico's School?", you might now have your chance to answer that thanks to @Keeby10 , @Count-Cannoli , @CrystalClod , and @SodaMindReader 's 2021 dress-up game!

Art

A few months ago @ClumsyClown designed their own vibrant and neon-esque robot head!

@LetItMelo created this cool animated photo back in 2018 containing all of the current Links from every Legend of Zelda game to date!

While on the topic of video game art, check out this piece from @MegatonSlater from the game Yoshi's Island!

Last year, @Doofish performed an art trade with someone in this very cute entry!

While I am a bit of a sucker for art on canvases, this piece that @JimMiddletonArt created in 2019 is a very fitting tribute to Freddy Mercury. Hopefully the night that it was painted was where he was having such a good time, he was having a ball!

Audio

Last year @X3LL3N worked with a user named Astedroid on this release, which was released on Velocity Music!

While it's one of the shorter audio entries, @FLAVOUR-STAR 's cinematic creation sounds like something out of a pirate motion picture.

Looking to satisfy a dance/EDM hunger paing? @Outpact might have you covered with this release from 2015.

Just a year earlier, @wandschrank created a song for a game named Zos that sounds like something from a Mega Man title.

ACROSS THE HORIZON

At this time, we're currently figuring out who we will have as our second game judge, so screenings and applications for game judges are now closed. In the meantime, there is still an option available if you would like to be an animation judge! Screening required - more info here.

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NG TREASURE HUNT 2023 SWASHBUCKLER'S LOG

Day 3 - February 5, 2023

Heyo!

Hopefully everyone enjoyed their weekend! There isn't really too much I have to say before going into highlights, but I'm excited to see the things everyone is posting up. A lot of content has also gotten frontpaged, not just the content showcased here in these logs, and it makes me happy to know that things are getting the attention that they deserve! But of course, there's more to be found than what meets the eye on the surface, so let's get right into the highlights!

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

Starting this off with a comedic parody is @iKiwied 's 2020 animation, combining two games with the style of Paper Mario to give a unique spin on a regular dead body meeting!

Also in the same vein is an original comedy poking fun at a certain company's algorithmic practices. Coming to a hand-picked suggestion box near you is @Blordow 's animation from 2021!

Changing gears to experimental works, I've seen a user or two consider @NobeyOne to be "a modern PilotRedSun". Seeing works like this from last month certainly gives PRS vibes in the best way possible!

While on the subject of experimental posts, @rainlark created a short animation a few months ago (in the span of a week!) taking us from a noodle box to a bowl of steaming ramen.

In a hillarious combo of comedy and experimental, @MattBoo 's 2021 work follows a man in a dystopian future as he gets... a little too addicted to a new product hitting the shelves. I'd show you what it is, but it went missing earlier...

Games

A simple but teasing modernistic puzzle game, this work from @ejbarreto has you bringing the right amount of power to light bulbs through circuits you create and fluctuate. It's a math puzzle that's intriguing and interesting!

Depending on the route you take, @CE53 's 2022 RPG title would either be filled with a lot of content or filled with enough to get you by. Whatever you choose, it's an interesting adventure nonetheless!

Grab your friend, grab your sibling, or grab the hobo from down the street and enjoy a throwback to the 8-bit days in @jupitron 's co-op VS game from 2014!

The best way to describe this 2013 game from @IcyLime is like musical charades - listen to a shape or letter in all four directions and guess what that shape or letter is just from how it sounds!

Art

Art here on NG comes from a lot of places, and some of those places are from other larger works of media. This piece from @reptilesgeo was inspired by the recent Puss in Boots film!

On the subject of art inspired by media, check out this 2019 art from @ramzykamen inspired from the Marvel movie of the same name!

While a lot of art here on NG is digital, there are a good handful of pieces that are done beyond the screen. Such is the case with @Ookiee 's 2014 oil painting!

Others have also posted physical art here on NG, with one of the most unique being this 2020 creation by @Yarn . Yes - that is really a physical knitted/crocheted clock crew member!

One other piece that falls under this physical art section is a piece from last month by @darkroots77 . It actually takes a while to figure out this is physical, but if you're still not convinced it isn't digital their entire collection of art here is physical - acryllic paint on a canvas, mixtures on paper, the list goes on!

Audio

This first piece is a simple but really effective general rock piece that you can relax to or listen and enjoy. Check out this entry created around a year ago by @masterakuma99 !

If you're into songs that are similar to those from Virtual Riot, and that have a little more of a video game/EDM feel, @somanylynx and @DazukoMusic have you covered with this song from April 2022.

For those looking for pure video game music, something that would sound like it'd fit in games like the original Mortal Kombat, take a listen to @NemesisTheory's song from 2012.

@iTIC also has some the house genre cravings covered with this song from 2019:

As I know you've already seen, there's all kinds of people hanging around NG. That said, while this piece was posted by @Panteras in 2017, it's apparently the collective work of a metal band called Bad Blood! You never know who you might run into here on NG.

ACROSS THE HORIZON

We're still figuring out who we're gonna have for our three open judging spots, but if you want to get in on the action you still have a little bit of time left! Screening required - more info here.

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NG TREASURE HUNT 2023 SWASHBUCKLER'S LOG

Day 2 - February 4, 2023

Heyo!

Before going into today's log, I wanna help some of you guys out. As per the rules, entries to the hunt can't have a frontpage, visible trophy, or feature. What does that mean and where can you find it?

All three can be found in the "Credits & Info" box on the left side of the screen. As an example, this is what it looks like on one of today's highlights, @Nocity 's "The Illusory Wall".

You'll notice on other entries, under the tags, that you might see items like this (example from @TomFulp and co.'s "Castle Crashing The Beard HD", which you can find in the Legendary Games section of the front page!):

Other trophies include Review Crew picks (not shown), Monthly trophies, and a few others. Submissions that have any trophies like the ones shown BEFORE February 3, 2023 are not allowed to compete in the hunt. Take time to look and see if your entry has a trophy like this, and if it does then keep looking - there are lots of gems that don't have a single trophy, and THAT is what we're looking 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

We've had a lot of comedy works submitted for the hunt, but we've also had selections from series here on NG too. @AndraeToons , @Domations , and @Gray created something last year that was both in a (comedically unexpected!) episode from their series, The Benny and Frasier Show.

In the same comedy vein, we've also gotten parody comedies that poke fun at shows or entertainment out there. One example was created by @Voidbitz : his parody episode of the series Regular Show.

Also in the parody isle is a short but funny animation created by @JordanMLacroix in 2020 poking fun at a scene from Final Fantasy VII.

That's not saying that everything has been comedies - we've actually gotten a good handful of dramas too. One 2013 creation from @manuelberja , @ChampionAwar , and @YChang depicts an interesting story of a boy creating a doll for a friend of his.

We've also had interesting experimental works submitted too. The results of these works are interesting styles you don't see anywhere else, such as this 2018 work from @horizon-hugger !

Games

As mentioned before, Nocity's 2017 work in an interesting take using everything in sight - and everything out of sight - to focus on perception and illusion. It creates a one-of-a-kind puzzle that's interesting to figure out!

@Ferociter , whose game Tower of the Scorched Sea got frontpaged recently, created this gem in 2021 that is intriguing, to say the least. It slowly adds unique elements to this platformer game that make it interesting and fun to play as you progress forward with warm music and visuals!

As mentioned yesterday, many Flash games still work with Newgrounds thanks to both Ruffle and the NG Player. One such Flash game is @Vibe13 's 2014 work that combines the mechanics of bullet hell games with an aesthetic of Space Invaders, creating an interesting game that has an energetic atmosphere.

Another interesting game is this gem from @PastelGames . Created in 2014, it takes the mechanics of a mystery game and combines it with a gritty artstyle that makes it interesting to play.

Art

Starting things off, @MysteriousMantis 's pixel work from just a few months ago is interesting to look at and gives a unique style too!

While a lot of 2D art was found, there was also 3D art gems that were discovered too. @colorsCrimsonTears created this piece (or pieces) of 3D art last month, paying tribute to the Gameboy Advance.

We've also had comics showing up too. One of the most unique is part of @Familypants 's (short lived) 2014 series, Katie Khaos. Not only is it a comic with a unique style, but every frame has an animation too - allowing the art to really jump off the backgrounds!

Another interesting gem is from 2021 by @DemosoniGh . It's a unique artstyle using monotone pen shading in an interesting way that's different but special!

This 2020 gem from @WrongLeverCreations feels like something right out of Aardman Productions, the same animation company who brought you Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromet, and The Pirates! Band of Misfits. I honestly really enjoy it for having a similar style to those great works!

Audio

We've had a lot of interesting song gems discovered, with this one being a fun throwback to the 8-bit era from @SlushiePop !

While a lot of rich gems come from undiscovered or overlooked artists, sometimes gems can also come from the most well known artists too. One example comes from @Step and @Echo , two of the most well-known musicians here on Newgrounds, in this 2013 work.

Another great example comes from @Phonometrologist , whose works are pretty well-known across the audio portal today. This 2015 gem is an interesting and classical take on the idea of the love song!

In the VA department, @Flamadour told us last month about the benefits of enjoying coffee in a new, and certainly unique, way.

It's also interesting to see people's takes on others in their own style. @HJfod gave a shot on his take with NIGHTkilla's dubstep style!

ACROSS THE HORIZON

Yesterday, I brought out the spreadsheet of works that have already been accepted to the competition. As I know I've seen some people mention in the thread that they don't want their works submitted for the hunt, I've included a list next to them of users whose works are off limits. If you submit a work from that user, keep in mind you may be asked to change your submission. While it is good to find gems across the site, respecting each other is just as important here!

We're still on the hunt for judges in the games and animation portals! Screening required - more info here.

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