Flixel February, Wacom #2

[TomFulp]

Every year I observe that February is a really depressing month and I've been trying to find ways to make it less depressing. This year I'm gonna be pro-active and announce something NOW, since by the time February rolls along I'll probably be brain-caged by the SPECIAL OPS PROJECT I've been training for. Now we ALL have something to be excited about!

This February will hereby be known as FLIXEL FEBRUARY.

Flixel is a powerful framework that lets anyone create original and complex games with thousands of objects on screen in just a few hours. It was developed by Adam Atomic and you can learn more about it at Flixel.org.

When Flixel launched, we had a spur of the moment contest where the best Flixel game of the month won $250. Only one game was made that month, but things were just warming up. There is now a growing movement of Flixel developers!

You don't even have to own Flash to develop a game with Flixel, so if you have some programming skills you can make a game right now without paying a dime. In fact, you could MAKE A BUNCH OF DIMES because we're having a contest! Prizes:

1st - $1000
2nd - $750
3rd - $500
4th - $300
5th - $200

The catch, aka RULES:

To help fund the prizes, we're asking that participating games run our Flash Ads API on their loading screens. Our commission will make events like this more feasible as we continue to boost contributor revenue numbers.

Your game can spread to other sites with our ad API and keep making money, or you can site lock it to NG and sell sponsored versions to individual websites. You can also try other ad providers on other websites, but we ask that at least the version on Newgrounds uses our Flash Ads system.

If you are setting up Flash Ads in your Flixel game specifically and encountering issues, PM Mike and he will save the day!

You may not use commercial music in your game. Please choose something from the Audio Portal, or work with someone directly and use their music with permission.

You may not use commercial sprites in your game, while we're at it! Find an artist here on NG and team up!

Also, please include a MORE GAMES link that goes to either our Flixel collection or your user page here on NG. Whether you include that link on other websites is up to you, but it will help generate publicity for yourself and fellow Flixel developers here on NG.

Feel free to use our rev-split option to help out any of these charities or Child's Play!

To avoid anyone sitting on their games, you can submit a participating Flixel game AT ANY TIME between now and February 28th. I just figure most the games will culminate in February before the deadline.

Flixel creator Adam Atomic himself will participate in the judging to determine the best game!

Moving along, it's time for THE SECOND WACOM OF 2009.

I really like giving Wacom tablets to people who have gotten crotch-deep into NG. Today's winner is a good example of that.

RedHarvest has been visiting NG since he was in 5th grade, but it wasn't until 2009 that he started participating with Flash. In the past year, RH submitted several solo works, such as these:

• 
  ]TheBigRace[ by RedHarvest

  Click to view.

  Type

  Movie

  Rated

  Ages 13+

• 
  Closing In by RedHarvest

  Click to view.

  Type

  Movie

  Rated

  Ages 13+

• 
  ]CharlieComplains[ by RedHarvest

  Click to view.

  Type

  Movie

  Rated

  Everyone

He organized a great collab...

• 
  The Disney Collab by RedHarvest

  Click to view.

  Type

  Movie

  Rated

  Ages 17+

But also participated in many other collabs!

• 
  WH40K Collab by ForbidMetal

  Click to view.

  Type

  Movie

  Rated

  Ages 13+

• 
  The SuperHero Collab by Makeshift

  Click to view.

  Type

  Movie

  Rated

  Ages 17+

• 
  The 5 Hour Collab V by Nicholas-Deary

  Click to view.

  Type

  Movie

  Rated

  Ages 13+

He's teamed up with writers and voice actors...

• 
  Ralph's Request by RedHarvest

  Click to view.

  Type

  Movie

  Rated

  Ages 17+

And lastly, he participated in Madness Day!

• 
  Madness: Genesis by RedHarvest

  Click to view.

  Type

  Movie

  Rated

  Ages 13+

RedHarvest totally earned his tablet and is a great example of a MODEL NEWGROUNDS CITIZEN.

OVER AND OUT.

[Greg-SKA]

Congratulations! Oh yeah Hey Tom, My Wacom Pen broke, Where Do I go to Get a new One?

[ragneos]

At 12/2/09 04:15 PM, TomFulp wrote: You don't even have to own Flash to develop a game with Flixel, so if you have some programming skills you can make a game right now without paying a dime.

so, you don't need action script either?

[EJR]

Congrats RedHarvest!

Your flashes and art style are fantastic.

[RedHarvest]

monster trucks = rawr = optimus prime= thanks tom!

[TomFulp]

At 12/2/09 04:20 PM, Greg-SKA wrote: Congratulations! Oh yeah Hey Tom, My Wacom Pen broke, Where Do I go to Get a new One?

Amazon appears to have them!

[Sonucais]

Well deserved, congratulations RedHarvest!

[Mexifry]

RedHarvest is also Participating in Pixelmas Shorts 2. :)

[matt-likes-swords]

ActionScript 3 fffffffffffffffffffffff

[ZagmenO]

I've been meaning to watch that Disney collab. I'll bet it's funny!

[gustavrsh]

tom sorry about the off, but when is the Tank Awards?

These submissions are cool, thought

[RobHalford]

So with flixel, I wouldn't have to make custom classes and class files?

Sucks that it doesn't work that great in the IDE, though. Flex has a few quirks about it that require some reading up on.

[Makeshift]

Yay, RedHarvest. thanks for being in my Collab :3

[Jezuz]

Fun little programming story, considering we're talking about Flixel. Was working the other day, and this guy and his friend walks in. Fairly nerdy couple of guys, but they seem agreeable and like they're probably fun to be around. Ask them if they need help with anything, the say no, but I hang around anyhow as the store is winding down after a pretty rough day. We start talking, and come to find out he used to work at that very store, about 6 years ago.

We talk about what games are good now, and then he tells me what he does now: He's a programmer for Google. 'Oh so how is it working for the up and coming 'evil empire'' I ask. 'Evil? Alright let me run this down for you real quick. When I get into work, I sit down at my desk. My desk is about 2 feet off the ground, and my chair is a beanbag. At lunch, I go and eat Steak for free at the cafe, then after lunch I go and practice karate with my boss. I get to punch my boss, at lunch. Google isn't evil, Google is incredible.'

It was at that moment I realized all those times I thought 'Today I should learn some ActionScript!' or 'Today I should learn to do some C++!'... were all very, very stupid missed chances. Oh, and winning 1,000 dollars wouldn't be bad, either.

[ilikeblamingcrap]

That is mother fucking awesome. ALL OF IT. BTW is the PO3 event gonna be yearly? I'd like it to be because it's awesome.

[TomFulp]

At 12/2/09 04:29 PM, gustavrsh wrote: tom sorry about the off, but when is the Tank Awards?

I might announce nominees in January, but the first floor of the office might not be ready for events until April, so if I want to make an event of it here at the office, it might get pushed back until then. Unless we decide to announce the winners in March and showcase them at Boston PAX or something... It's all a big mystery right now.

[TomFulp]

At 12/2/09 04:34 PM, ilikeblamingcrap wrote: That is mother fucking awesome. ALL OF IT. BTW is the PO3 event gonna be yearly? I'd like it to be because it's awesome.

I intend for Po3 to be yearly because we are still wrapping up the megalithic system that was intended to launch during Po3 this fall... With that out of the way, the next Po3 should be fucktastical.

[ragneos]

seriously tom, do i need action script to use flixel? and if so is actionscript free?

[ilikeblamingcrap]

At 12/2/09 04:39 PM, TomFulp wrote:

At 12/2/09 04:34 PM, ilikeblamingcrap wrote: That is mother fucking awesome. ALL OF IT. BTW is the PO3 event gonna be yearly? I'd like it to be because it's awesome.

I intend for Po3 to be yearly because we are still wrapping up the megalithic system that was intended to launch during Po3 this fall... With that out of the way, the next Po3 should be fucktastical.

Fucktastical? I love you. Yearly? I love you more. Hopefully I'l have something to compeate next year.
<3 <3 <3 <3

[Rucklo]

At 12/2/09 04:15 PM, TomFulp wrote: The catch, aka RULES:
blah blah february waaah

i think somone forgot to mention something about that the music in the games preferably should be from the NG AP... :3

^________________^

amiriteyuosguise

[Nicholas-Deary]

RedHarvest!!!

[Yrtnej]

Gee, Tom, only five prizes? Don't you normally offer consolation prizes (AKA store money, etc)?

If you gave $20 store credit to everyone that participated, it might generate more people.

Just a thought.

[Jezuz]

At 12/2/09 04:35 PM, citricsquid wrote:

You'd be a shit programmer, seriously. To be good at programming you have to be passionate, you have to be willing to work 48 hours without stopping, you have to be fucking incredible at it and doing it for the money just doesn't work. Doing it for the money is a joke, don't bother.

If you don't want to program for programming, don't bother, you'll be awful at it. It's not a 9 - 5 job.

I didn't say I would be a good programmer, now did I? You're like a giant black plague of dick rolling across the plains of Newgrounds. Not literal dick, just, asshole dick. The kind you don't want to be around. Fuck I hate you :)

[TURDO]

That's great because I love flixel!
Somebody should make a game similar to Cave Story!!!

[TURDO]

At 12/2/09 04:41 PM, ragneos wrote:

is actionscript free?

...

[LetoVox]

Congratulations RedHarvest!!!!! I cannot think of anyone more deserving!

[Mexifry]

RedHarvest, now you can fix up your Pixelmas Part cause you could totally knock it out with a tablet now. hehe

[maxvm]

At 12/2/09 04:15 PM, TomFulp wrote: Every year I observe that February is a really depressing month and I've been trying to find ways to make it less depressing.

Okay...

RedHarvest has been visiting NG since he was in 5th grade, but it wasn't until 2009 that he started participating with Flash.

Hey, that's my story! Except I bought Flash in 2007. So, just the 5th grade part is the same.

[Eammy]

What? You have to be a Newgrounds obsessive to win a tablet?

Looks like there isn't much merit on personal achievement. Rather... it is how much of a loyal member you are. Newgrounds is so self-absorbed and ego-centric...

[TomFulp]

At 12/2/09 04:43 PM, Rucklo wrote: i think somone forgot to mention something about that the music in the games preferably should be from the NG AP... :3

By the power of my secret edit button, that is no longer true!

I included commercial sprites for good measure. Now I'm thinking I should start some threads for people who want to volunteer services and all that stuff.