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:
- 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)
- 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)
- 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!