NG TREASURE HUNT 2023: SWASHBUCKLER'S LOG

Day 1 - February 3, 2023

Heyo everyone!

In the spirit of the competition and in inspiration from looking back at previous hunts, I want to do a log of sorts that highlights entries from throughout the competition. The whole point of the NG Treasure Hunt, after all, is to give recognition to works from across the site that didn't get a chance to be seen or given that recognition. However, instead of doing subcategories like in previous years, for each day in the submission period I'll highlight a good few pieces from each portal, alongside a short blurb about them. Afterwards, if there's any updates or news with the hunt, they'll be placed underneath the features. If there's anything else that y'all want me to do with this log, like tell a pirate joke or a good memory, feel free to tell me!

For future reference: all logs will be tagged with "ngth2023", so you can use that to look back on previous or future logs!

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

The entries from our movies and animation portal are vast and have a lot of really good things going on. For example, check out this smoothly animated fight sequence from @shamalama !

While the fights happen outside, @NylonLyon animated their response in 2016 to an interesting question: what if some characters from Undertale played the most offensive game known to mankind?

Animators and Adobe users alike know the pain that comes with After Effects, but @Boritoz109 put that to animation earlier last year (in a seamless loop nonetheless!)

One of the unique things about NG, for those who are unaware or new, is the ability to run Flash files using Ruffle, an open-source Flash emulator built right into your browser, or the NG Player for games. Despite Flash ending service in 2020, animators like @cacko are still making animations using Flash and uploading them here, such as this entry from 2021!

(sidenote: the Flash Forward Jam is also happening now until March 26, so if you wanna work with Flash for a game or movie with a menu/interactive elements, now might be the perfect time to do so! More info here.)

An animation with a unique style, @10000Hawks made an animation capturing a rock moshpit - with the few bumps in the road that come with it!

Games

We've also gotten a fair share of unique games so far in the hunt. For instance, check out @tonyfinale 's hybrid of Minesweeper and Picross from last year!

Returning back to Flash emulation, this entry that @krangGAMES made in 2012 is still able to run today thanks to the NG Player. Go in and try this simple game for yourself!

A member with a couple of other entries found by users in the hunt, @targaciej 's "Hook" is a simple puzzle game that does everything it can with a simple idea, making for a fun and puzzling experience.

For those that are into bullet hell games, @SkyFire2008 has you covered with an entry named "TD2S". Customize your weapon and survive against enemies that chase, shoot and break apart into many pieces!

Art

By far the portal with the most submissions currently, this was just shy of 100 individual pieces submitted at the end of the day, and it's now sitting at 125 pieces! And it's not hard to see why - there's a lot of really good entries coming from here too. Starting things off, check out this animated pixel art entry created by @DeadkatNG last year!

As with the other portals, we've had names that show up multiple times as multiple gems of theirs are discovered. One such individual, @GastricAsian , received a frontpage yesterday but is getting a lot of attention and traction in the hunt.

Another recurring name on the Art Portal, one of the entries created by @deathink is a really cool tribute to Newgrounds!

One other big theme throughout some hunt entries has been commissioned works that artists showcase here on NG. One such work is @ryve 's commission from two years ago for a deathcore band:

Possibly my personal favorite so far is this 2017 fractal work from @zybor , which is incredible to look at! There's all kinds of styles utilized here on NG, and it's really cool to see a lot of them here in one place!

Audio

We've had entries that go across the wide range of the genre spectrum. Kicking things off with audio, check out @jukelames87 's 2014 hip-hop song, "Walk On".

Some of our entries come from the soundtracks of games published here on NG or beyond. One of them was created by @Olimac31 , who wrote this song from the OST of a game called "Purki's Adventure" two years ago.

Songwriters are not the only people having fun here in the hunt - we've gotten a few voice acting pieces and even a podcast piece in the running! Voice actors have been placing up skits here on the Audio Portal, and, in the case of this entry created by @JennyGlynn , even voice demos!

We've also seen songs from personal albums or EPs during the hunt, such as this entry from @noo-dll 's Bandcamp album, Moonside Vol. 2.

To round things off, we head over to another game's OST, where @Jumbs cooked music for a game called Wizardchess (available on Steam!) just a few months ago.

ACROSS THE HORIZON

As I know it's been an issue: I've taken the time to work the kinks out and get a public spreadsheet of all the works that have been accepted. Since the hunt will accept entries that haven't already been accepted before, this will be perfect for you to take a look and figure out if what you want to submit has already been found. These lists, separated by portal for convenience, will be automatically updated as I add each entry in the spreadsheet for the judges. They include the authors, name, link and genre for you to double-check. Feel free to take a look!

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

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