Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

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Just to keep everyone updated, all the judges have finished their reviews and scores, and we're waiting on Ekublai, the final judge, who should be done soon.

Sooo stay tuned!

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var slide:Boolean = false;
var gravity:Number = 0;
var death:Boolean = false;
var jump:Number = 0;
var color:uint = 0xff0000; // red

var player:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
var coin:MovieClip = new MovieClip(); 

function init():void {

}

function drawPlayer():void {
player.graphics.clear();
}

addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,Loop);

function Loop(e:Event):void {

}

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We're gonna do this old school brah.

No on-stage movieclips. Someone should be able to copy/paste the end result in flash or whatever IDE he wants and play a game. So that means drawing your graphics!

var slide:Boolean = false;
var gravity:Number = 0;
var death:Boolean = false;
var jump:Number = 0;
var color:uint = 0xff0000; // red

var player:MovieClip = new MovieClip();

addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,Loop);

function Loop(e:Event):void {

}

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Let's make things interesting

var slide:Boolean = false;
var gravity:Number = 0;
var death:Boolean = false;
var jump:Number = 0;
var color:uint = 0xff0000; // red

while (true) {
break;
}

addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,Loop);

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This is crazy. Absolutely insane!

But fine

var slide:Boolean = false;
var gravity:Number = 0;

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The game looks interesting and Ian's code looks clean enough.

One caveat however: you might have to do something about the game being 12 mb.

Games that are close to 10 mb already have a hard time getting sponsored unless the size is absolutely necessary, like if it's a huge RPG or something.

Now you can still get away with 10 mb. Games that are over 10 mb however almost never get sponsored. Most websites have a limit at 10 mb for uploading games, so this will severely hinder the game's distribution, which is the most important factor for the sponsor.

If you're hell bent on making this even larger, you could always port the game to mobile using the existing code and just go without a sponsor, using the flash version as an ad for the mobile version. But even then, having your game spread more would be more beneficial to you.

Just thought I'd let you know. Good luck finding a programmer!

(If you haven't already, you could also post the same thread on FGL.com to garner more interest)

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Relevant article:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ColmLarkin/20091008/3257/You_
Should_Be_Making_A_Premium_Flash_Game.php

At 11/6/12 06:40 AM, Risus wrote: I know MochiCoins no longer runs, is there anything similar that people have had success with?

There's Gamersafe, Kongregate's own mtx system and Armorgame's own mtx system. Some developers choose to build their own system or directly accept paypal. You can have several methods of payment.

I've heard that the microtransactions model is up to 10x or even 100x more profitable for a developer than traditional ad-based revenue streams. Thanks.

That's true for the top end games. That is, with the ad-based/sponsorship model, below average games may get from $0 to $500, average games may get from $500 to $3000 and good to great to amazing games may get anywhere from $5k to $100k. (Note that the best 1% of games get that mystical upper limit)

With a mictro-transaction model, there is no limit. Most successful game I've heard of was Fantastic Contraption, which ended up making 7 figures, (that's basically a million dollars) after a few years. The more people love your game, the more money you'll make. With that said, it does have a big risk.

The risk is that the average, below average, above average, good and great games may end up getting nothing or very little, and only the really great or mindblowingly amazing games make that much money. So you could spend several months working on a huge game only to not make that much after all.

And the worst mistake you can do is develop a flash game, then stick mtx on it at the end and try to sell stuff. An mtx game has to be made from the ground up as an mtx game. It's a completely different market, and needs a completely different game. It's a game you want players to invest time in. A game that players will need to be going back to for days or weeks. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense for them to pay for anything.

That's my 2 cents on the whole thing.

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Here's your problem:

_xscale == -100;

== is for checking equality. For example if(myVar == 1)

whereas

= is for assigning a value. For example myVar = 1

so you want instead to do

_xscale = -100;

With that said, your character will now flip once, and won't flip back. So you'd want to add a _xscale = 100; when you press right again.

Also, to use code tags, do:

<code0>
</code0>

but removing the 0.

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At 11/4/12 10:29 AM, PSvils wrote: btw, has anyone here programmed with D? D is a pretty rad language, it's like C++, but more modern (at least that's how I like to think of it :) ). Starting to learn SDL2 and OpenGL using D, though sadly because my graphics card sucks balls, I'm starting to learn good ol' OpenGL2.x instead of 3.x stuff :( Oh well! :D

P.

D sounds pretty awesome P. :D

Also the whole issue that some functions may not work on specific graphics cards, and that some implementations may fail on certain systems and configurations is a really scary thought. It makes you really appreciate the simplicity of programming a flash game and how frikking easy it is to put something on screen.

At 11/4/12 11:00 AM, egg82 wrote: or the easiest solution (my opinion) - remove one jelly and increase the size of the second.

Increasing the size may not be that easy. Because the way I assemble this thing is I loop through and place the particles in a circle, and then place joints where they are now. So increasing the number of particles means I have to dissemble and re-assemble it.

I could post the source if you wanna take a crack at it. Although you might be more interested in the Lua source, because it's simpler and the algorithm is more readable (cuz I did a lot of ugly rushed hacks in the flash one).

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At 11/4/12 02:27 PM, egg82 wrote:

At 11/4/12 02:12 PM, Animator1mike wrote: I don't think you guys understand his question.

I understand his question, but again:
sound is not part of animation. It is part of programming. Do not mix animation with programming, it will only result in a disastrous mess.

I really don't agree that sound belongs solely in the code section.

As you said, flash is an animation IDE, it was originally made for animations and actionscript was made to make simple actions. So with that in mind, an animator should be able to make his movie, adding in the sounds and whatever effects he wants without touching a line of code. Like, I don't think ToonBoom forces animators to code anything. Stuff is expected to built it for animator's convenience. Whether or not that's convenient or useful for developers is another issue.

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Untitled by Roxxar

Despite out what you think about your story, it actually isn't that bad at all.

I felt the part where the officer's heart exploded..and a diary popped out, to be a bit surreal and wasn't really done well. Like, no one even cared that someone died, and he just read the diary and didn't look twice at his partner's corpse.

And I don't think I really got the symbolism at the end. But overall, I felt your story was well written, and if you hadn't gotten confused about the word limit, perhaps you would have created something even more impressive.

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Obscured by DeftAndEvil

Short and intense! I really really like how you delayed declaring how he was blind, in fact I wish you had delayed it even more. Perhaps making him do stuff that would be out of the ordinary for normal people and finally when we realize he's blind it all makes and sense and clicks like that.

I'm assuming it was on purpose, but the way you shifted from "I saw" and "I felt" really hit home how his vision was coming and going.

I feel this is really good as like, the beginning of an awesome story though. If you had more time I think this could have been way awesomer.

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Heads up! Reviews ahead!

Also there are massive spoilers for most of the stories below, so if you're planning on reading any. DON'T READ AHEAD.

Dakota by zXzFIRELORDzXz:

It's pretty short, and it really feels more like a script than a story. At the end you even say "and the next scene shows.." you should never really say anything like that unless you're writing a play or a script of some sort, because it really takes away from the immersion of the experience.

Like I don't want to be reminded that I'm reading a story, I want to FEEL like I'm there with the characters.
I also really feel everything was a bit forced. Like you never really leave anything up to the reader to think about or ponder. Like the time when she mysteriously finds herself killing people, and JUST as I began to wonder you offered the explanation in the same sentence.

It does remind me of the stuff I used to write when I first started writing creative fiction, sooo just keep writing! You'll get better.

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Petite Mort by Celx-Requin:

I think it's a nice story. And I even learned some new vocabulary! I noticed a few things though. You had some minor grammatical errors that would have been cleared with some more profreading, but what ticked me a bit was the way you pause in sentences. For example:

a feeling so overwhelming that while he proceeded to eat it made him nauseous. [I feel there should be a comma after "eat"]

Surely they would think he was insane, and suicidal he thought. [the comma should be removed and put after suicidal]

I also didn't really connect with the protagonist. I think if you had given him a name, and sort of made it more personal it would have made the story more engaging.

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Forsaken hopes: The City of the Dead by nbomb:

It wasn't a bad story, but I think it's pretty short. Everything also happens too quickly. Taking the time to describe a scene before jumping in it is really important to get the reader to feel like he's there. Like how a lot of writers could describe a single moment in hundreds of words. Describe what the zombie looked like, describe how it smelled, describe how you FELT as you saw it etc..

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White Doves by jennaskook

My first reaction was that this was too short, but after reading it, I think it's just the right length! I really like how poetic this story is. And I can't help but think that it's all a metaphor for something greater, although I can't put my finger on it. It's rather well written though, so kudos on that! (And I really would like to know how it's supposed to be interpreted :P)

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The House that Belongs to Him by HiryuGouki

First of all, I really wish you would have just posted your story in the forum thread like everyone else, but moving on.

Ok so I read both parts of the story (and since wattpad apparently doesn't let you copy stories, I couldn't tell how many words the entire story was). It could be just me, but the way you address the reader directly really only serves to break the immersion and remind me that I'm just reading a story.

I also feel it's one of those stories that would have been better as a movie. Like, the plot itself is interesting and everything, and it's not badly written, but you never really flesh out the beauty of writing. I mean at one point you even say "You had to be there to see it" , well, the whole point of writing (in my humble opinion) is to emulate this experience as if I was there! I also felt it got pretty reptitive halfway in, seeing aparitions, then seeing freaky pictures, and repeat.

The good though is that it at least piqued my curiosity to want to know what happens in the end.

Another thing that annoyed me was the scene when her eye was cut out. Now I can understand not really dwelling on the description of the eye being cut out, because it's hard to imagine how it would feel like, but the way she reacts afterwards really isn't realistic at all. She just falls down and jokes about her missing eyeball. If you were writing a comedy this might be fitting, but for a horror story I don't think it works.

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

Untitled by depes7448

Well, you did it. You had me holding my hand over my mouth towards the end. The story is really well written and definitely really interesting. I think the thing that got me the most was her inability to do anything. How all she could do was sit and watch her gruesome awful end approach. It was really horrible feeling that she couldn't even speak or scream. Very nice story!

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Untitled by RapeMuffin

Despite this being one of the longest stories, I didn't really feel it was that long at all. In fact I was actually half-expecting him to make it out, reach his car and continue the story! I really like the pacing of this story, and how you build tension. My heart actually started beating quicker at that final bit! I also really like how you told the two timelines of the story in parallel until they matched up, and it was really nice reading about the state of a room, like those nylons on the bed, and then seeing how they came to be in the first place.

The only useful critique I can make here is that, I was comparing the tension I was feeling as Edward was moving through the house before and after I knew what could have been lurking up there, and before I knew, things were a lot more tense and interesting. Perhaps that's simply due to that, when you leave the reader in the dark, he'll start to wonder and eventually his mind will reach exciting places, and maybe the author's explanation would be always be hard pressed to live up to that. I don't know, all I know is that the more mystery there is, the more curious I am.

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Untitled by starwarsjunkie

Maaan, this story really made me sad. Like, man, it makes me yearn for a cliche ending where a hero, against all odds, rights all wrongs and saves all the people of the universe.

I really liked this story, and perhaps I'm a bit biased because of my love for these epic fantasies, but I really do like how creative it is. I especially liked the part where it could read his mind, the mind being the narrator's voice. Kinda broke the fourth wall in a really awesome way that only writing can do.

Overall, awesome. And now I'll be waiting for the alternate ending for when he saves everyone and everything lives in eternal happiness :D

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Long live the Klan by Labraxadores

There's a lot of grammatical errors here and there and "lotsa" is not a word. It was slightly interesting, but I felt the story was cut too short.

What I *did* really like about the story however, was how you put the ending at the very beginning, but how at the start it seems like just some poetic jargon, but is actually a perfectly reasonable ending to the story. I felt that was well played. But aside from that, you need to work on your main story telling more.

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Ornithophobia by Zombie445

I think that ending just blew my mind. I really admire how this story managed to deliver "scary" without relying on much gore or any of the conventional scare tactics. I really love how the story itself escalated, going from a casual day at school, do a slightly disturbing story about birds, to a complete post-apocylyptic scenario to science fiction and finally, swiftly delivering closure.

While character development is pretty hard for a short story contest, I really liked the characters and felt they were pretty life-like. Especially the ever-optimistic Liam, and seeing how he reacts in the dire situation.

Awesome story.

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At 11/4/12 11:32 AM, ScrumTurd wrote: I saw some code a few years back which calculated tangents very simply.
It was a 2D platformer with curved slopes, just like the fancy pants adventure series.
There was an empty movieclip on either side of the main character which drop until they hit test point the ground.
Then the angle between the 2 points is calculated with simple trig and applied to the character rotation.

Not sure if that's the kind of thing you're looking for but it worked beautifully.

This ^

You don't even need to have an empty movieclip. Just create a point on either side of the player, and move it one pixel down, and check for collision, keep doing that until it hits something, then all you need to do is to get the angle between the two points.

I remember seeing a tutorial that talked about that but I can't find it now, but that was basically the gist of it.

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At 11/3/12 06:49 PM, Sandremss128 wrote: As for actionscript silly for prototyping? Man in actionscript you can make something visual and interactive like you never can in most other languages. Just displaying an animation would require complex spritesheet crap in C++. Prototyping is about finding out if something works with crappy throw-away code and if you can do it faster in actionscript you should.

Yes yes, you're completely right on that accord. What I'm saying is like, Actionscript, Lua, Python etc.. are all languages people use to protoype stuff before implementing them in something like C++ or C#. And I just found it silly cuz it took me 1 hour to do it in Lua and 5 hours in flash. Even though I had already gotten it to work I really just wanted to try it in flash.

But I think the main reason I had little trouble in Lua is because the Love framework I'm using has box2d tightly integrated into it.

At 11/4/12 01:53 AM, egg82 wrote:

At 11/3/12 07:31 AM, 4urentertainment wrote: It's also not very stable. I also wanted it so that jellies could merge together if they were pushed onto each other.

why aren't you able to do so?

I should rephrase, I haven't figured out how to do that yet. I'm thinking I may have to do some more trickery like when two jelly's are pushed against each other hard enough I remove them, place one big jelly, and try to place the in the same place. Or simply just add joints where the jelly's touched.

Actually the more I program, and read about other programmers, the more I realize how this trickery is an integral part of the job. Sandremss, as you pointed out, it's usually never about how you did it, but about whether the end result is good enough.

Also similarly, I've started to realize that solving a problem usually doesn't suffice. Like when I first learned programming, my main question was always "How can I solve this problem?", but now it's more like "what's the most efficient way to solve this problem?" because no one will care if you made an awesome lighting system if it makes the game barely playable due to lag.

And I think this is actually something general to engineering than specifically programming. It doesn't matter if you figure out how to get clean water to Africa, or if you manage to create the smallest and most powerful processor in the world, if it costs millions of dollars to implement that water project or produce that processor.

It sounds kind of cheesy but, you could say engineering is like parkour of the mind. Like how parkour is all about getting from point A to point B inthe fastest and most efficient way, so too is engineering about solving problems in the fastest and most efficient way.

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Now that you're all thoroughly impressed, it's time to confess.

http://www.4urentertainment.org/storage/ExposedJelly.html

I just used box2d and applied a force on every segment perpendicular to its angle so they're all always pushing outwards.

It's also not very stable. I also wanted it so that jellies could merge together if they were pushed onto each other.

I wanted to do this in Joe, so I decided to prototype it in flash before implementing it in the engine, then I realized that was silly because people prototype their stuff in something like Lua, which I'm using for the engine, before doing it in C++. The flash version ended up taking longer due to there being weird behavior in box2d.

As for game ideas, come on, it's jelly, LOOK AT HOW MUCH FUN IT IS.

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YOU JELLY?

www.4urentertainment.org/storage/Jelly.html

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At 11/1/12 05:47 PM, 4urentertainment wrote: The bar quality has risen a lot. And it's mostly due to there being a lot of average/above average games. Those used to sell for decent amounts between $1k to $3k, but since there's a much greater supply now and demand hasn't really increased, their value has gone down.

The top quality games still seem to be making a lot of money though, arguably more than ever. So trying to make higher quality games would be the way to go.

Just to add onto what I said: FGL's statistics for October just came out, and it says that one game was sold between $50 000 and $110 000

(They don't give out exact number so as not to impose on developer's or sponsor's privacy I think)

So yeah, there's a lot more money in the flash industry than ever, it's just shifted towards the top tier games.

So the trend I see here is one that's starting to follow that of the Apple appstore and pretty much the mobile and and download markets, where, from what I hear, it's all about a hit or miss. You either make a good, average, below average or above average game, and in all those cases you won't really make much. Or you make a really top quality game and make a fortune.

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At 11/1/12 03:33 PM, mrpwnzer wrote:

At 11/1/12 09:56 AM, 4urentertainment wrote: So I just bought the DLC, and installed it, I'm on my NG+ and I haven't gotten yet to the part where I can see the new stuff. There's a problem though. I bought the DLC from the US store but my game is UK, so I'm not sure if it's going to work..

Without giving away any spoilers, how do I know if the DLC worked?

Do you know how to start it?

I'm supposed to see this crystal golem after the hydra right? If I see him then does that mean the DLC works?

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The bar quality has risen a lot. And it's mostly due to there being a lot of average/above average games. Those used to sell for decent amounts between $1k to $3k, but since there's a much greater supply now and demand hasn't really increased, their value has gone down.

The top quality games still seem to be making a lot of money though, arguably more than ever. So trying to make higher quality games would be the way to go.

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At 11/1/12 10:49 AM, Ragnarokia wrote:

At 11/1/12 12:06 AM, SkuhPlew wrote: I would love for some of you guys to get the recognition your hardwork deserves

I am sure you would get it the recognition it deserves with your pathetic content.

Give him the benefit doubt. He didn't link his youtube channel, for all we know, he may have the most popular gaming channel on youtube.

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So I just bought the DLC, and installed it, I'm on my NG+ and I haven't gotten yet to the part where I can see the new stuff. There's a problem though. I bought the DLC from the US store but my game is UK, so I'm not sure if it's going to work..

Without giving away any spoilers, how do I know if the DLC worked?

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Welp! I just submitted my story. It's really annoying cuz the story itself doesn't really have any interesting plot or whatnot, but halfway in there I kept getting really good ideas. But meh, maybe next time!

Anyway, even though I'm not officially a judge, I'll be going through, reading all the stories and reviewing them. Sooo keep an eye out for that!

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Kitty

(Part 2/2)

Its tail almost crumbled into ashes as it left its body. The being transformed before me. I couldn't even tell what it was anymore. The skin had already melted off, muscles and tendons were now a gooey soup covering a gruesome mess of malformed bone. It looked very strange. I remember how I could not see a head or a face, but I could see a body with 6 slimy projections.

The smell was atrocious. It was very strong, climbing up my nose, wreaking havoc. I could not take it anymore, I started to throw up. Thick, digested substances mixed with blood. I took one last look at the heaping mess of feline in my fireplace. That was when the lights went out.

That was when I started to run.

I had always been afraid of the dark.

End.

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Kitty (Word count: 1630)

(Part 1/2)

*Crick crick*

I walked up the street on my way home. It was exactly 7:02 PM. I remember that very clearly because I stopped to check my watch exactly 3 times.

*Crick crick snap*

That was always the worst time of the day. It was simply horrible. I stopped in my track. Breathing heavily, I watched as the sky above me echoed my thoughts. The clouds were all wearing a dark shade of grey, as if pining over the lost beauty of the morning. The sad part was that this wasn't even the worst sight of the night. I looked back over the horizon and all I could see was a drowning sun. All that remained was an ugly indigo mess tinted with fading strokes of crimson. Unfortunately, that was not the worst sight either. I continued to walk.

*Crick snap snap crick*

I am a happy person though, and I like to focus on the positive things in life. I simply adored that sound! The autumn leaves crackled under my feet as I progressed through my short trek. My joy was to be short-lived however, as I came close to the edge of the green and yellow leaves.

I hesitated for a second, but then I bent down to pick up a leaf. I now wonder how different my life would have been had I simply moved on. It crumbled between my fingers as dust settled on my hand. These crispy leaves had always been oddly dusty. I let the pieces trickle down into my pocket.

It felt ravishing! I wasn't just a spectator anymore. I could not alter the depressed sky nor the wry horizon, but I had changed the course of history for this tiny leaf. Had I not been there and then, things would have been very different for its life.

I now wonder whether it was worth it.

Just as I was about to leave, I heard a cat bellowing. There were usually a lot of cats in the block, so this was nothing too out of place. I even used to wonder if there was a stereotypical cat-lady who went around feeding the cats, until I actually met the lady.

This was a strange cry however. It was long and low pitched. I turned my head to see two cats. The larger one was mostly yellow, and was either striped with brown fur or was really dirty. The other cat was smaller, grey and was furiously licking all around the other cat's face and neck. The yellow cat just kept bellowing.

Normally that sight would have elicited a "How cute!" response before disappearing into the depths of my mind along with all the other menial tasks of the day. It was only when the cat looked at me was I finally met with the most horrible sight I had ever seen.

The cat's face was asymmetrical. It looked at me with one eye. The other eye was not there. It seemed to have been gruesomely torn out. To the point that I could see a very deep grove in its face, stemming from its eye socket down to its cheek. It didn't seem natural. It was dark and orange. The kind of orange that would follow after the bright red blood gushed out and dried off.

Just like that dreadful sunset.

Had the other eye not been there for reference, I wouldn't have even been able to tell where the other eye was supposed to be. I cringed as I began to imagine how this could have happened. This was no accident. It seemed like someone had dug through this poor creature's face with a knife, several times. There was no skin left there, only orange grooves.
It was such a strange sight. The cat stood transfixed, staring at me with that one eye and bellowing. It was a very strange sound. I couldn't get my eyes off of that skin groove. It was strange because it didn't seem like the cat was in pain, nor was the expression it held one seeking pity or compassion. It was more like a look of anger. It was a very irate cat. A cat that wasn't moving. A one eyed cat that was glaring at me.

I decided to look away. I turned and shot for my house. I suddenly noticed that it was now completely dark save for the one working light post in my street. I had been so mesmerized by the cat's gruesome face that I never noticed when the sun finally perished. I walked briskly, trying to escape this gloomy scene as fast as possible. My house was my beacon. Yes, I would be safe there.

I had always been irrationally afraid of the dark, especially pitch black darkness. It always seemed silly, until I actually found myself in a completely dark room or area. My heart would start beating gravely, and I wouldn't know why. Pretty soon I would find myself running, and I wouldn't know why.

I arrived at my doorstep, quickly fishing out my keys. I entered, basking in the golden aura of my home. I took a deep breath. It was such a jarring sight. My light parquet floor reflecting the rich golden light of my apartment, only a few inches away from the dark gloomy gravel of the other side.

I had always taken great care to keep my house in the happiest mood as I possibly could. I would never exit without leaving all the lights on. I also regularly kept air fresheners inside. This was my own personal beautiful haven, unadulterated by the outside world.

I took off my shoes and my jacket. I put my shoes neatly to the side of the door and my jacket on the coat hanger, as I always did. It always peeved me to no end when guests came over and placed their shoes haphazardly all over the place. Thankfully that didn't happen very often.

I went straight over to my living room, fitting snugly on my reddish couch. It was such a bright shade of red. It was usually an odd topic for conversation with people, but I didn't care. Red was my favorite color.

I gazed at the beautiful sight ahead. In lieu of a TV stood a traditional fireplace. I loved watching it sometimes. I picked up a novel to read. I cannot remember which novel, because I never got a chance to peer inside.

It took me a very long time to notice, probably because it stood so still, seemingly not breathing at all, but there it was, standing a few feet away from the fireplace. I could not see its face, nor could I determine if it had the same shade of yellow, but I was certain it was the same one eyed cat.

I felt my heart skip a beat. I began to freak out. How could it have made it into my house?? What possible vermin has this creature dragged into my home? I did not want to touch it. I did not want to see it. I did not want it here.

I closed my eyes. The cat was gone! From my sight at least. That was good enough for the moment. That was good enough for me. I took a few deep breaths. They were exactly 3.

I opened my eyes to behold, the cat was gone! It worked! I actually willed the cat away! This was amazing. I smiled visibly, stretching my cheek muscles. It felt good, great even. I wasn't dreaming, I was sure of that. I was perfectly lucid. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, although this was certainly more phenomenal.

I turned my head back to my fireplace, and that, that was the worst sight of the evening.

I tried to shut my eyes, shut them tight, but they wouldn't budge. My eyes widened, and my mouth went dry. I felt my body twitching, paralyzed.

The cat didn't magically disappear, it just jumped into the fire.

It was twitching, violently shaking, silently enduring what I could only imagine as horrendous agony. I remember this scene very clearly. I even remember being zoomed in on the burning flesh, although I am sure I was still sitting on the couch. I could not see or smell anything else.

I caught glimpses of its face. A horrible, deformed face, with no eyes. It was surreal because its body appeared to be shrinking. It's body turned jet black. Its legs gave away, and the cat collapsed. That was when the screaming began. Ear-shattering shrieking. I couldn't tell it if was the cat or if it was me, because the cat no longer had a mouth.
It was this sound that snapped me out. I instantly jumped to my feet, lunging for the fire. I could not watch this, but I could not escape either. Delving into the fire, I attempted to pull it out by its tail. Fortunately I grabbed its tail, but that was all that came out.

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At 10/30/12 06:07 PM, RapeMuffin wrote: Wow - you remember that? I'm glad you liked it!

Are you working on a submission for this contest, or are you going to be too wrapped up in running it this time around?

I am actually working on a story which I'll try to submit tonight. It's a bit rushed, and I haven't written anything creative since the last MWC, so hopefully it'll get me back in the game even if it's not perfect.

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This is the coolest fucking thing I've ever seen:

https://flutterapp.com/

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At 10/29/12 02:01 AM, RapeMuffin wrote: I haven't submitted to an MWC in a long while, but I've enjoying popping into the Writing Forum from time-to-time to read through some contests and work-in-processes.

Anyway, I just submitted my entry - so I hope you guys will check it out and enjoy :)

Also, now that I've submitted, I can finally go read the other stories :D

Oooh, I'm excited you're in!

Last time I read a horror story you wrote I was scared shitless. It was one about this hacker and his girlfriend that turns out to be a robot..or does she? It was such a mindfuck.

Anyway I'm excited.

but also very scared

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At 10/28/12 06:01 PM, Travis wrote: What makes Newgrounds what it is, is complete control by Tom, so we can have a special place that isn't a shithole like Youtube.

We need complete control, plain and simple.

Why do we need complete control?

Actually, let me rephrase. Why does Tom need complete control? He may not always be able to make the best decisions for Newgrounds, just like how anyone else may not always be able to make the best decision for the company.

It doesn't matter if you have complete control over the company if you can't do much because of budget restrictions. And then you're forced to do stuff to cater to advertisers so they give you money. Which no one wants.

This isn't as black and white as you make it out to be. We're both arguing without really knowing much about the details of what such a deal entails.

Reading Tom's post again carefully, it seems to be that the investors actually don't get any control over the company. All they need is to be paid their money back plus profit, and if the company doesn't generate enough profit, then they'd have to sell Newgrounds or go public.

Let's read the two choices Tom put up again:

1) Keep being NG no matter what the cost. Yeah you are a big disappointment but we believe in you.

2) Take VC money. Spend the next five years being AMAZING, sponsor every game developer and every artist and rule the entire internet. IT MIGHT WORK, NG might become so successful the investors will get rich and back off, and it will be such a success it can just keep being a success forever.

So it's a risk, but that's what the indie spirit is all about. It's all about taking risks, and it's why NG is where it is today. By taking risks and being innovative, as opposed to the generic-corporate mindset of sticking to what works and milking it until it's dry.

Tom even said it himself that he believes he could turn NG into a billion dollar company if he had the funding right now.

See the way I see it is that, the worst case scenario that everyone keeps implying is that NG becomes this bad, generic place like Youtube or whatever. But no one stops to think, what's the other alternative if NG keeps trying to work like this?

The absolute worst thing is if it just tumbles down into the dark corners of the internet, and be remembered as nothing more than a relic of the old age of the internet. And then it would just be a reminder of all the unfulfilled dreams and goals that Tom could have achieved. Sure NG would still be around, but who care about it then if Newgrounds stopped being what makes Newgrounds special?

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At 10/28/12 11:23 AM, Travis wrote: 1. As you are all aware, Newgrounds is now taking $25 supporter donations. This tells us that, the site is not making a great amount of money, i.e. IT IS NOT GETTING TONS OF TRAFFIC LIKE IT USED TO.

Sounds like a pretty good reason to take VC.

2. Going off of reason 1, if an investor puts a big amount of VC into the site, then they get to shape how the site forms so traffic gets raised.

3. Censorship, censorship... If a certain investor was to give NG money and didn't like all of the adult shit we have on here, then they could pressure Tom to start censoring it because it's no longer his call and if that investor thinks it would increase traffic, then they have influence.

Again, just because we get some investors doesn't mean Tom and co lose all control of Newgrounds.

We don't need venture capital on Newgrounds. We need users (particularly leeching BBS users) to donate some money to a place that they fill A LOT of their free time with, and this supporter donation is an amazing way to do it.

I remember either Tom or Wade said that, since the BBS users are like a pretty tiny fraction NG's userbase, it was far more important to get the people who visit the site just for the games and movies to donate.

Users can only donate so much. I mean, don't tell me you're not excited to see what Newgrounds can build with hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of dollars in budget. Can you imagine all the features NG can create? Can you imagine how NG can transform the industry?

And if the price to pay for that is less porn on the website, then I think that's a pretty cheap price to pay.

Again, just because a lot of the time sites that sell out get ruined doesn't mean it has to be the case here.

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At 10/27/12 02:03 PM, Spretznaz wrote: Maybe you should actually read the thread. If most users had said for Tom to take the money, he would have done it. The entire purpose of the thread was for him to find the general opinion of the userbase on VC and then follow through with it. Hence why NG remains private.

Did you read the thread? Tom was counting the number of users that voted for taking the money or not, and you can see he stopped counting after page 4 presumably because everyone kept saying he should take the money.

Most users did vote for taking the money. Just because they did so doesn't mean Tom has to follow through, and it doesn't mean that the majority were right either. That *was* the original purpose of the thread but as you can see, NG remains private contrary to the general opinion of the userbase.

I still think taking money would be very beneficial to Newgrounds at this point. You mentioned in the thread how sites that sell out end up being money hungry vacuums. The trick is they wouldn't be selling the website outright. They would just be getting investors which would *not* have the authority (as far as I understand) to illicit any jarring changes in Newgrounds.