Communism would work great, if the leaders of the country in question always knew what was best for the people.

But all it takes is one poll that didn't predict the future correctly and you end up with a car for every citizen but no food.

Communism is also subject to bonheaded mistakes. I remember reading about some guy who was in charge of agriculture in Russia, he ordered a bunch of corn seed from abroad in order to address a food shortage in the country. He even made it illegal to grow grain, since you can grow more corn on an acre of land or whatever.

People who knew what they were talking about kept saying, "You can't grow corn in Siberia! It's too damn cold!"

You know what he said?

"The corn will learn to grow."

Yay, communism.

At 2/18/08 12:05 PM, Drakim wrote: Wait what? The meat was called back because of animal abuse? What the fuck is wrong with the meat if the animals were killed in a gruesome fashion? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for working against animal abuse, and I think such a corporation should not get away with something like this, but what good can come out of calling the meat back?

Nah, I read the article. The beef wasn't recalled BECAUSE the slaughterhouse was under investigation for animal cruelty. The meat was recalled because it was made from cows that were really sick when they were slaughtered, and the slaughterhouse didn't have its vet to examine the cows first to find out what they were sick with or whether it was contagious to humans.

They're supposed to do that before they process sick cows into food.

Good article. Good call. Bad quote.

At 2/18/08 10:57 AM, gradenator wrote: Great stuff. Only dumb thing is that there is no windows version. Is there a reason why?

The reason they keep giving when people ask is, they're not gonna do a windows version unless they can do it RIGHT. Supposedly they're planning to do one, some day, but they refuse to start working on it until they know what they're doing. So who knows when or if we'll see a windows version.

Everyone else seems really pissed off that I even mentioned it. Is there a reason? I figured Unity would compliment Flash pretty well on Newgrounds by allowing 3D content alongside the 2D games. Sorry if I offended everybody.

Okay, so I started getting into game design with Flash, but I decided I'm going to need to use Unity for my next project. Is there any chance we could get a Unity portal here on Newgrounds?

Unity is a web browser plugin kinda like Flash, except it's made for 3D games.

Here's some examples of Unity content:

When Orcs Attack, a surprisingly good turret defense game.
Tropical Paradise, a pretty 3D tech test, but not quite optimized.

(Note that you'll need to download the Unity player plugin in order to view these Unity documents.)

Unity hasn't yet achieved the penetration Flash Player has, but I think it's only a matter of time. The development environment costs about the same as Flash CS3, but it's only availible for Mac at this point, so if you don't already own a mac, you'd need to buy one. I think that's the main thing scaring a lot of developers away from Unity, the fact that there's no WIndows version.

What do you guys think? Would a Unity portal be good for Newgrounds or bad for Newgrounds?

Oh wow, I had no idea. I'm looking at the NG MAG upload page right now. Huh. Guess it's good I posted here first. I'd have probably gone nuts trying to figure out why my website no werk. :P

So, let's see. NG blog... I can only do one front-page post per month... I think I'll develop it a bit more before I burn my one shot this month.

Thanks, guys. :D

After my halloween game flopped, mostly due to under-developed gameplay, I decided I'd better get some advanced comments & criticisms from everyone throughout the development process of my next game.

You can see my first technology test here. Right now it's just a static composite of graphics, but it shows off the normal-mapping technique I plan on using.

I'd like to post an Alpha as soon as I get these objects moving around, so I can get some perspective on how fast it runs on different players' computers.

But since I've never posted an Alpha before, I need to know more about how the system works. Will I be able to edit the SWF and the description after I submit it? I'd like to avoid cluttering the NG Alphas page with 20 nearly identical updates, but I'd also like to get a significant ammount of feedback as soon as possible, and continue to update all throughout the development process.

How soon should I post the first screenshots? Is it okay to start before I have a playable demo? How often can I update once I've submitted my first Alpha, and can I edit the previous submission or do I need post a new Alpha every time?

I'd just post an Alpha and FIND OUT the answers firsthand, but the whole point is to avoid cluttering the NG Alphas area with worthless crap, if I can help it.

Thanks in advance.

Pimpage Enclosed:

At 5/10/07 06:04 PM, Denvish wrote: You can test your preloader offline, by pressing CTRL+ENTER twice. While in that mode, you can use the View>Download Settings to simulate download speeds ranging from 14.4 kbps modem, up to a T1 line.

Whenever I try this, the whole screen is white, no matter what, until it finishes downloading. The text box does not appear until the Download Simulation is 100% complete. I can't get trace events to fire, either.

This seems consistant with a number of SWFs I used to see with white backgrounds during loading, followed by a 100% loading bar suddenly appearing. You used to see a lot of these right after Flash 9 came out, but not so much anymore.

Is this thread maybe describing how it used to work in an early beta or something, and not how it works now?

THANK GOD. I was starting to worry Halloween had been Pinked to death.

At 8/29/07 09:17 AM, TomFulp wrote:: It makes me wonder, where do people go who would have watched the sprite movie or the sexy looking movie if one had been there? Do they just leave the site because they didn't find something that appealed to them? Or do they just look elsewhere on the site? I really need to get more into analytics. What I really want, though, is a general shift in the web browsing public. People need to stop looking for sexy and/or familiar and take a lot more interest in discovering new things. We already have a lot of great users here on NG who love to look under rocks and see what's crawling underneath, I just want MORE of that. There's so much awesome stuff on the site that is just slipping by every day.

Critics, fans, and end-users have been making this statement about popular culture since the dawn of time. I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can do about it. It's just human nature. I suggest you stick to 2 or 3 crowd-pleasers and a slew of underdogs each day. Ideally stuff that has been pushed off the Portal page.

But don't feel like it's your responsibility to somehow make the masses have better taste. You can't do it, it won't work. All you can do is hand out exposure to the movies you feel deserve it. If one or two cheap shots per day helps further this goal by boosting overall front-page attendance, well, that's your call.

Well, at first I was annoyed by the ads. As you say, they are visually distracting, and having them around a movie or game absolutely murders its aesthetics.

But since they're only used on the latest and greatest movies and games, and then only for a couple days, I guess I can live with them if the revenue it brings in leads to positive changes all around the site.

It just better be worth it. I loved the black background and this feels like a step backwards.

Thanks for keeping us informed, and good luck with this "skinning" venture.

At 8/16/07 03:01 AM, numbers wrote:

At 8/15/07 02:29 AM, sandypaw wrote: You have to draw them? just submit a motion tween going up and down and it'll probably get 3+

ahahhahha that was the most funniest insult I'd heard all day!

Yeah, it's funny. But sadly, it's true. At any point during Clock Day you could glance at the left side of the screen, and observe a weird paralell dimmension, where 90% of the entires are blue, and the other 10% are all green.

Whew. :) Barely finished in time!

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/39 4904

This is where I'd normally tell everyone to click on the link and watch it... maybe post a review... that kind of thing. But after seeing the sheer ridiculous volume of submissions today, I can't honestly expect anyone to give a damn.

I mean, forget blamming, protecting, or organizing these things. Just WATCHING all the content submitted today would take 2 weeks!

I did the best I could, and I think my movie's kinda decent for a clock movie, but I don't expect it to stand out. There's just... there's just too many.

Thanks for the info, Rudy.

Lol @ sandypaw. True, there's a lot of crappy clock out there, but I'd like toTRY and make mine one of the semi-decent ones. :)

If anyone knows where I can get a look at that FLA containing all the characters, I'd sure appreciate it. Also, if there's a list of the Spekonia settings for some of the key characters. My goal is to come as close as possible to whatever the "good" clock cartoons use.

In fact, a link to whatever the official CC website or forum is, would probably do the trick.

Thanks. :D

And to all the CC-haters out there...
I apologize for the role I'm about to play
in your least favorite holiday!

Clock day kinda snuck up on me. All of a sudden there's all these clocks taring me in the face! Well, what the heck. I should be able to crap out a Clock Crew movie in less than 24 hours.

Is there a lst of resources on this? Existing SWFs, what voice emulator to use for which characters, that sort of thing? I can flub it and probably get by, but I'd like to do it the official way, if there is one.

Thanks! :)

Woah! Thanks, Tom. :)

At 7/20/07 08:46 AM, Fr0z3nb14d3 wrote: Tell me if I missed any.

Uuuuuuummmm... *squints* He holding?

Looking good. :) Maybe a little soft around the edges. Have you tried using the Pencil tool to do your line work, then just coloring it with the brush tool?

At 7/19/07 10:22 PM, Nuke15 wrote: Also, this forum could really use an edit button for those of us who think of something to add immediately after posting.

Man, I'd trade my ability to view my reviews with responses for an edit post function. Oh wait.

At 7/19/07 08:18 PM, KupaMan wrote: Why is there nine million reposts of that same Gunstar Heroes picture?

Because I uploaded it, asked for feedback, got no feedback, noticed a mistake anyway, fixed it, re-uploaded it, etc.

I'm pretty sure it's 100% done now, though.

Updated to properly use the colors of the original sprite.

If you'd like to delete the old one, it's on page 12.

Thanks. :D

Yeah, okay. I'll use this version, then. Thanks.

Looks like a lot of great entries are gonna get disqualified for not following that rule. Oh well, mine's kosher now. :D

Wait, one more tweak... I think this is probably as good as it gets while staying true to the original pallete:

Now what? Do I just post this version in the contest thread saying "Please delete the old one?"

Whoops, I just noticed the color rule. Here's the fixed version to accommodate the rules:

Frankly, I liked it better before. I realize Capcom is staying true to their old palletes, but think about it. The only reason that works in Capcom's case is because the game they're copying the sprites from had dedicated character palletes to begin with. If they tried to convert the original Ryu sprite from the original Street Fighter 2, they would be running into the same problems I am.

I can't deny that JohnnyUtah got some incredible results while staying true to a 4-color pallete, though, so I guess I'll just have to suck it up.

Fixed the sleave on the right arm and the hilight on the hair shine. Guess I shouldn't have posted to the main contest thread until after I'd had a full night's sleep to look for mistakes.

Does anyone know if it's possible to update my entry in the main thread? If so, how should I go about doing it?

At 7/18/07 09:12 PM, Nuke15 wrote: Do you like this one, or the other one better?

And what do you think of the dog tags?

I love the dog tags. You might want to consider adding a darker line edge to her eyebrows... make it so they match the outline on her hair. I know the original sprite has extremely bright eyebrows, but sometimes color is more important at the smaller scale, while line weight becomes more important at the higher resolutions.

Juggling these changes in format while maintaining the style and feel of the original sprite, and of course, good surface, seems to be what this contest is all about.

This is my tribute to one of my favorite games ever. I'm sure there are probably lots of glaring cloth and anatomy flaws here and there, so point 'em out as you notice 'em. I'm amazed it turned out as well as it did, given my relative inexperience with cloth. I probably had no business attempting something this ambitious, but, well... a part of me has wanted to draw somehting like this for years. :)

I'm particularly pleased with how the boots truned out. :)

Thanks in advance for any criticism, constructive or otherwise.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I think I need to come up with a better concept. Mine looks shiny, but it's way too forgettable.

I'm not saying she's a prude or anything, or that she can't take a joke, I'm just saying the first wave of submissions was really, REALLY awful. Look at page 1 of this thread. mspaint scat, all the way.

Who finds that funny? Seriously. What's the joke? Can you explain the humor to me? "Ha! Poop exists! And I drew some! lol!" It's not funny. It's pointless. The only way it works is as a sarcastic response to the contest, and I think we can probably do without the sarcastic submissions and just focus on the ones that are actually celebrating their union.

*Sigh.* God, I sound like my mother when I show her Bonus Stage or something. Maybe I'm the one who's out of touch, here...

Dunno... it could go either way... on the one hand, Tom started NG and a lot of his early works and the works of his favorite artists set the trend of tastelessness, violence, and ass-fucking. So you'd think he'd be cool with it.

On the other hand, he's grown and matured a lot since then. He has a wife now. The stakes are higher. You don't fuck around with a dude's family. Not publicly. It's just mean.

Besides which, we don't know how Mrs. Fulp herself will react to all this. I could see Tom shaking his head and laughing it off, but April getting totally offended by some of these. I suppose a lot hinges on how comfortable she is with Newgrounds and the tasteless insanity it represents.

It's really not our place to speculate, though. I trust that the admins are vigilantly axeing the pointlessly offensive crap. It would be nice if we were conceientious enough to monitor ourselves, but at the end of the day it's nice to know that the judges will always be there to shoot down the worst of what we have to offer.

Of course, it's equally possible that Mrs. Fulp will look at all the deleted scat pics back from the dead in the [talk] thread and laugh her ass off, but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way.

Oh ya one more thing, DemitriousDoom, see if you can copy their hairstyles a little bit better. It'll help it look like them a lot. Just basically make Tom's hair a little longer in the back and more curly, and make April's hair fan out and curl a bit more at bottom. Right now she looks more like a hastily drawn Sonic the Hedgehog.