So far NO ONE has guessed who the vandal is. So the prize pack will now include an AngryFaic keychain.

The Flash Portal front page has been bearded by someone here on NG!

To make things fun, everyone gets ONE GUESS each at who the vandal is. The first to post the right name (without having posted previously) will receive a t-shirt of their choice and some stickers from the store. GO!

At 4/3/08 11:37 PM, jewdudewtf wrote:

At 4/2/08 08:57 PM, Some-Stupid-Idiot wrote: Our bar seems to be going up on Alexa. What is with that 2-month spike for Ebaums though?

What's with the sudden increase and decrease for ebaum's?

After Ebaums got bought, they did a promotion over the holidays where I think they gave out something like $1500 per day to whoever was first to find a prize hidden amongst the content each day. As a result, tons of people were scouring the site looking for money.

Castle Crashing the Beard was featured on the FOXNews.com show, Point Click and Go!

Sorry once again for another lame April Fools' Day. We really do have GREAT ideas that we discuss throughout the year, but when the time comes, we never want to commit the time it would take to pull them off. I remember last year I was DETERMINED that "next year Castle Crashers will be done and I'll commit some real effort to a good prank!" Alas, a year later I'm still working on CC and April Fools' still sucked. Maybe next year, right?

In the meantime, everyone (in the top 2000 active users from last month) can go vote on their favorites for Best of March! Log in to your account options page and you will see a link if you're eligible.

Be sure to check out the Metal Gear Collab thread for a chance to participate in an epic collab and win some crazy prizes!

Also remember that Pico Day is April 30th!

AND go watch all the movies on the front page; there's a lot of good stuff up there right now!

At 4/1/08 04:05 PM, Preternatural wrote: So who made that banner? Was it Stamper or you, Tom?

I did. If Stamper did something for April Fools, people wouldn't have been complaining.

At 4/1/08 12:25 PM, salemburns wrote: shoulda put corn in it

If it disappoints one less person, ok.

I figured if I wasn't gonna do shit for April Fools Day, I might as well do shit.

At 3/26/08 12:23 AM, BlueHippo wrote: So, should we expect to see his face-level-icon by... oh... let's say, Wednesday? I'll give Stamper a couple days to stare him down before he draws a caricature :3

Jeff (JohnnyUtah) draws the caricatures. :)

It might be a while before we get that stuff going... Especially the staff page!

If you have iTunes, you can now download a free iPod version of Metal Gear Awesome 2! Here's what to do:

1) Go to the iTunes store.
2) Search for "Newgrounds"
3) Click the Newgrounds podcast in the results.
4) Download MGA2 and enjoy!

You can also choose to subscribe to the Podcast, so that future releases will download automatically.

In other community news, deadlock32 has been working as a Flash developer for Ty, the Beanie Babies guys! He wanted me to put the word out that they are looking for Flash game programmers. Applicants should be proficient in AS2 and/or AS3. If you have any object oriented programming and SVN experience that is also a plus. Benefits include health insurance, life insurance, vacation, paid holidays and 401k. If you're interested, resumes and portfolios can be sent to chicagogamedev AT gmail.com

In Behemoth news, we've launched a Castle Crashers Devblog and GU Comics posted a cute CC comic. Thanks, guys!

And now... Some BIG news that I've been putting off announcing. Ya know that job posting we made, looking for a PHP / MySQL pro? It wasn't because we're expanding... It's because ROSS IS LEAVING! For those of you who aren't familiar with Ross, he is the programming wizard behind the NG user system, the Flash Portal and a large portion of the redesign we launched last July. Ross had originally left NG at the end of 2001 and Liljim, once just a dandy NG user, took his place. Some time around July of 2006, we were ramping up to do the redesign and had the good fortune of Ross rejoining the team!

Ross lives in the NYC area nowadays, though, and working from home loses its charm after a while. Ross has accepted a position with Yahoo, where he can work locally and gain all sorts of new experience.

The news made us all real sad, but it's a great opportunity for Ross and we wish him the best of luck. Yahoo just gained one of the best programmers on the planet!

And yes, we found someone new. Rob will be starting this Monday!

Happy Easter everyone! Be sure to check the Easter Collection for Easter games and movies from past and present. I have probably missed a bunch of Easter-themed Flash this year, so don't hesitate to point out things I missed. The same goes for St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day!

Sorry for not having layout themes for any of these days, either; I promise we'll have our act together next year.

The most disturbing Easter movie of 2008 has to be Tom's Easter Orgy. I'm dying to see what Tooters comes up with next...

Has anyone enjoyed any under-the-radar submissions lately?

At 3/21/08 12:50 AM, SardonicSamurai wrote: Awww, don't worry so much Tom. You're all working very hard to make this game great, and it looks great! For future presentations, perhaps setting up a build and have someone practice the levels they plan on showing to people so they can give out a set amount of information you plan on giving. Dan seemed really confused as to what he could show. =/

We're always worried about showing too much... We want most of the game to be full of big surprises. I don't think there will be any more public appearances before the game is released, unless we don't release before Comic-Con. The mission is to not let that happen, though. :)

At 3/21/08 12:24 AM, ShirtTurtle wrote: http://www.gamespot.com/video/0/6186550/
videoplayerpop?rgroup=gdc08_live

I cringed when Dan got killed... Although he WAS skipping ahead and missing on a bunch of leveling up... But that level has still been made less ruthless in single player mode.

And I cringed again when he want to show them new War Machine stuff, but that build ended up with my crappy placeholder crosshairs for the cannonballs... Meant to have the final art in that build, whoops. :)

At 3/21/08 12:11 AM, SardonicSamurai wrote: 1) Will the full game cost 800 microsoft points? (I have 1100 I'm saving for when Castle Crashers is released)

The price isn't finalized, so don't quote me, but the likely price will be $10. Again, don't quote me.

2) How long is the story mode, as in, how long would it take an average player to level up and beat the game with all secrets, items, weapons, etc?

It's pretty long... Hours and stuff.

3) Will there be any form of demo release of the campaign or online mode before the game is released?

The only demo will be the first level demo that will be made available when the game is released!

I've been keeping the beard trimmed, otherwise it would be pretty long by now!

Today Microsoft set up a live streaming feed of the CC useability testing they're doing. We were able to sit around the conference room and watch a live feed of gameplay footage, while listening to the players verbalize their thought process. It was kinda surreal, since you get to see it from a different angle than watching people play it at Comic-Con. All the trials are done in single player mode, so it's just one person speaking out what they are thinking as they play it and figure everything out.

The feedback has been great and watching people play really helps to nail down parts that need to be smoothed out! I already made a bunch of adjustments to the first boss, even though I've watched people beat him a million times at Comic-Con... It's different to watch a single player go at it. :)

When we initially put together the Creative Commons feature, it was meant to allow artists to CHOOSE their categorization... But that never got done. It was intended to default to what it is currently - since that was how the Audio Portal originally explained things - that you are putting your music out there, royalty free, for people to use.

The redesign launched with the wrong default and the original plan was just to fix it when the change was made to allow authors to change their settings, but that never happened either, so on a whim recently the default was changed to what it was intended to be.

But we're seeing how this is a huge problem so I'll make sure it gets changed back to what it was, and we'll wait until the feature is launched and people can manage their own categorization.

The big question in the air right now has been that when Flash makes money, do they owe the AP authors money? Historically, no, they don't. It would be courteous of them to share money with the AP authors, but it was never made that way. We are working on something that will facilitate this sort of thing in the future, although it still can't account for all areas of potential revenue for a Flash game or movie.

The old license basically says people CAN'T use your music in their Flash games if they make any money, and that's a problem - because a lot of Flash is making money nowadays. The current description DOES let them use your music, but the vocal concern seems to be that it also allows ANYONE to use your music. I think the real problem is, there is no Creative Commons settings that say "You can use this for commercial Flash, but not commercial anything else." So part of me is tempted to say we should throw the whole thing out.

Derek Yu's PC game, Aquaria, won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2007 IGF and is now available for sale!

Be sure to check out Aquaria; the demo is a free download!

And in case you're feeling cynical, I did get a free copy but I would have plugged it anyway.

If you need music for your Pico Day submission, be sure to browse the Monthly Audio Contest, with a Pico Day theme! Musicians are also invited to compete in the audio contest, of course! Winners will receive $100 and a t-shirt!

Pico Day pre-loaders are still on the way. If you haven't been paying attention, Pico Day is on April 30th and your games and movies can include themes such as the Bots, Tankmen, or Dad 'n Me, as well as Pico, of course! The prizes are:

1st Place: $3,000
2nd Place: $2,000
3rd Place: $1,000
4th Place: $1,000
5th Place: $1,000
6th - 10th: $500

Keep an eye out for Luis to announce a Pico-themed art contest in the art forum!

BTW, the Metal Gear Awesome shirts from the store should be shipping next week! If you ordered recently, you might have to wait a little longer, but keep your fingers crossed. BTW, you should also buy a Badly Drawn Dawg or Madness shirt, to support guys like Krinkels and Splapp-me-do! They work hard, so you should buy hard.

I like to rouse the rabble.

Does everyone agree it's been a week or two, and not just today?

Is the entire site loading slow, or is just the Flash loading slow?

11. It's the only forum you will find with 100% valid, compliant HTML.

12. It has EASTER EGGS.

At 3/7/08 02:45 PM, Dew wrote: So Tom, is there something "Fun" that you're not telling us about that you might be doing this weekend? Come on you can tell us.

working.

The monthly voting for Best of February is complete. Here are the winners!

TOP 5 MOVIES

1. Metal Gear Awesome 2
2. Bambee
3. Madness Inundation
4. ScientLOLojyuuichi!!
5. Wii Are Sold Out

Krinkels has opted to pass his prize pack down the line, so $250, a t-shirt and an award certificate will go to:

6. Valhalla Knights 2

TOP 5 GAMES

1. SHIFT
2. Agnry Faic 2
3. Dress my Babe 6
4. The Unfair Platformer
5. Coil

RUNNER-UP MOVIES

7. Sprite TV 2
8. The Orange Flash Box
9. Anusboy
10. Weebl and Bob : Goo-lien
11. Awesomefield
12. Inward Singing
13. Sonic Shorts Volume 1
14. Hunt of the Shoopacabra
15. Egocaptured
16. Indie
17. : Conspire To Rewire :
18. Zelda: Heroic Rage 9
19. -Guitar-Zero-
20. Nintendo Power

RUNNER-UP GAMES

6. Newgrounds Pass 2
7. Wulfgar
8. Grid16
9. TwoThree
10. SuperTank
11. Zombie Survival Quiz
12. Balloon Invasion
13. Planet Cruncher
14. Even More Bloons
15. SimianLogic's Filler
16. - CoolioBeat 2 -
17. Undefined's Protector
18. Treasure Seas Inc
19. Genghis Khan
20. Goliath The Soothsayer

$100 and a t-shirt is randomly being given to... LockDown68!

Winners should PM Bob with the following info:

1. Whether you are splitting the award with co-authors, and how that split works.
2. Your name, for the check.
3. Your name, as you want it to appear on the certificate.
4. Your mailing address (be sure to include zip code, country, etc.)
5. Your t-shirt size (S, M, L, XL, 2XL)
6. Your t-shirt preference. Pick anything from the store and make sure we have your size in stock!

Don't forget that Pico Day is April 30th!

Oh and one last thing... Your homework assignment this weekend is to HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!

At 3/6/08 10:15 PM, people wrote: waaaaaaa

I'm just gonna change the slogan to:

FUCK OFF EVERYONE

the mod lounge has naked pictures of me and sherbert posted every week and all the mods vote on which is their favorte. so far the winner is halloween 2006. but luis is getting demodded.

At 3/6/08 02:59 PM, BlueHippo wrote: Hopefully they can just put this behind them, and move on, but who knows... those space lizards are an odd race.

Well fuck.

At 3/5/08 04:30 PM, Lambinvoker wrote: What defines a user as "active"? Is it just the users that are in the top 2,000 experience-ranked users or if for some reason they do not vote at all during that month, is the next person in line eligible to vote for the monthly winners?

If you deposited at least once in the past month, you are considered active. So you might rank as the 110,000th user, but if only 1,999 people ahead of you were active in the past month, then you make the cut.

At 3/6/08 02:13 AM, ZekeySpaceyLizard wrote: i am no t rite in the head rite now and am postin fsomthing that i am sure i will regret later but fuck you i will eat my toast how i want

you hear me god damnit???????? however the fuck I want.

fuck you and your fascist toast eating bullshyt

I'm sorry if I offended your toast eating sensibilities.

At 3/4/08 11:56 AM, BlueHippo wrote: Speaking of shirts, whatcha think of this one I made, tommy? :3

Ooh that's pretty! Hmmm

At 3/4/08 11:21 AM, Warrickneff wrote: Has the monthly participation declined in terms of people who vote?

I've forgotten once or twice, but it's been a while since I've seen a reminder.

I try to include a reminder every month, but usuallly it is more of a side note in a larger post.

The deadline for the monthly voting is March 7th! If you were one of the top 2,000 active users last month, you should be able to log-in to your "Account Options" page and find a big link to vote for the Best of February.

Winners will receive $250, a certificate and a t-shirt from the store! Maybe some lucky guys will snag the new BADLY DRAWN DAWG t-shirt, or the AWESOME or MADNESS shirts!

In other news... We are looking to hire a PHP / MySQL guru! This is a rare opportunity that doesn't come along often. You will be hard-pressed to find a job that will give you this level of influence over a top 500 website.

Our scope is ambitious, with a workload to match. If you think you have what it takes, send me your resume! Keep in mind, we are looking for high-level talent with proven experience and relocation to the Philadelphia area would be required.

If you know someone who fits the bill, send them to this page!