Pico Day & Image Uploading Update

[TomFulp]

Thank you everyone who made it out for Pico Day and everyone who hung out for the live stream!

Pico Day at the office is the most magical time of year for me, words can't describe how cool people from NG are. It's like hanging out with 70+ best friends.

At the same time, I think a lot about the people who can't make it to events like this, and really hope to find more ways to spread that magic over the web. It was especially inspiring to see how much importance Funy-Mony placed on entertaining the web stream viewers. If you aren't following him, you should be!

Pegosho made some Pico Day Art that was so awesome, I sent it off to the printers yesterday so I can frame it in our new office when the time comes. I also made it the top of our Facebook and Twitter pages!

I'll be posting more Pico Day stuff in the coming days, still collecting my thoughts.

Image Uploading

Liljim just launched a big thumbnail update. You may have noticed all the Art Portal images were missing for a bit - they have been moved to be more consistent with where other images are stored.

This update involved the uploading of content thumbnails and user images. All uploads are now using the same system and include a cropping tool so you can refine your final image. Previously, we had different systems developed by different people at different times.

Also, we are now storing much larger images than what you see on the page layout. For example, we now recommend you upload content thumbnails that are at least 435 pixels wide by 280 pixels tall. Our system will create a 140x90 thumbnail for the existing layout, but will also have a much larger image available for things such as Twitter cards and other social media sites that don't recognize our 140x90 thumbnails because they are too small.

Here's an example of a thumbnail being represented on Twitter now.

Future NG redesigns / mobile apps will also be able to take advantage of these larger sizes.

If you experience any bugs related to image uploads, please message liljim with a report! Include your browser name and version, as well as your OS and version.

Ludum Dare 29

Ludum Dare 29 was this weekend, check out all these games people made!

[bigjonny13]

I REGRET MISSING PICO DAY SO MUCH AFTER SEEING EVERYONE WHO WENT!!!

[Nuy]

Sweet!

[JimmyTheCaterpillar]

I wasn't able to stick around, but at least I was able to upload my humble little drawing.

[Sequenced]

nerd parties ^_^

[artistunknown]

Ya know what, Funy-mony did a damn good job of keeping the stream entertaining, and he even made it feel like I was there at points, so I will follow him, to show my gratitude, plus he makes some cool stuff ;3

[MSGhero]

Not having thumbnails on twitter surprised me when the ng account posted links, but I see it wasn't intentional. More people click if there's a cool picture.

[ForNoReason]

At 4/29/14 05:12 PM, bigjonny13 wrote: I REGRET MISSING PICO DAY SO MUCH AFTER SEEING EVERYONE WHO WENT!!!

This... It makes me really want to organize another meet up in the southern regions.

[chris-the-stick]

yeah, this years pico day was good.

also the live-streaming was enjoyable as well, saw some nice cartoons, thanks to funy-mony.
nice day!

i was there!

[Rhunyc]

At 4/29/14 05:12 PM, bigjonny13 wrote: I REGRET MISSING PICO DAY SO MUCH AFTER SEEING EVERYONE WHO WENT!!!

NEXT YEAR JONNY. NEXT YEAR.

We can even hold hands if you want.

[Bit]

The stream was pretty fun. Definitely interesting to see all of the well-know Newgrounders in meatspace for a change. It made me wish I were there, partaking in the merriment and shenanigans!

[BoMToons]

Sad I couldn't make it this year. Looks like it was a blast. Happy B-day tomorrow Tom!

[MarshalBacon]

At 4/29/14 05:50 PM, MSGhero wrote: Not having thumbnails on twitter surprised me when the ng account posted links, but I see it wasn't intentional. More people click if there's a cool picture.

This one.

[Pegosho]

Wow, it's a big honor having my art featured in the official NG social networks sites. Thanks Tom! :)

[yetanotherjohn]

At 4/29/14 05:10 PM, TomFulp wrote: Future NG redesigns / mobile apps will also be able to take advantage of these larger sizes.

Got something in the works, Tom?

[VicariousE]

At 4/29/14 07:03 PM, yetanotherjohn wrote: Got something in the works, Tom?

Certainly there's a backlog of features and improvements, that need to be made to the site. I had no idea our thumbnails were too small to be seen by the other mainstream sites, so I'd say Tom and liljim are prioritizing what few resources they have, rather well.

Unfortunately, Tom and I didn't speak at length, so I never brought up the possibility of bringing in telecommuting NG members, qualified to tackle some of the sites' outstanding issues. But for the most part, it's all about the little guy getting his stuff out. In the military, the men on the ground come first, and NG is no different. The staff of NG are on the ground, not sitting in an office... well, they are in an office, but they're members of the site too, not just admins.

[tazard-falcon]

I don't use Newgrounds even close to as much as I want to, yet I'm still sad I missed Pico Day. I would have loved to be the one dude there that NO ONE has heard of in any way shape or form.

[Grub-Xer0]

I had a blast!

[deathink]

PICO DAY WAS AMAZING! I honestly can't express how great a time I had there. Thank you TOM!! <3 <3 <3

[bigjonny13]

At 4/29/14 06:33 PM, Rhunyc wrote: We can even hold hands if you want.

I'll HOLD you to it

[VicariousE]

At 4/29/14 09:04 PM, deathink wrote: PICO DAY WAS AMAZING! I honestly can't express how great a time I had there. Thank you TOM!! <3 <3 <3

Did you grab a stogie like Grub-Xer0? After talking to Stamper about smoking, I thought it better not to indulge. Dude, you're a hoot in real life, was a genuine pleasure to meet you... and to steady the ladder, but you were cool. Some of us were quite swizzled by that time in the party, and I pictured the bloodiest brainsplats I've seen in the Art Portal, should peril befall our drunken selves...

If you want a good and incident free party, invite smart people! I read about a guy who had a party, where something unpreventable happened, and set a sagebrush fire on a farm in Texas. The closest firetruck was 45 minutes away and the wind was starting to pick up. A neighbor had a broken dryer outside his house, one of attendees brought his truck over, ran a chain from the dryer to the hitch, and dragged it around the edges of the fire, smothering it.

[AnalogByNature]

It appears as if the audio section's image thumbnails were also affected. Not sure if I should go back and re-up all those album covers or not...

In any rate, Pico Day was a blast. Muny was a great host, and I enjoyed that he tried getting some commentary from the video contributors. That is a must for the following events, if you guys have more in the future. Would like to attend next year, if I can bring the wife.
Also, I hope Wade isn't mad at us/me, for making that song. The others from the group barely know NG regulars, and we don't think he has gigantism. Much love, NG. Thanks again for the wonderful evening!

[squidly]

I wish I could harass Thomas two times a year instead of one.

[ZJ]

Thanks for everything Tom! I had a great time! It was fun to finally see the NG office and be able to meet so many cool NG people IRL. I hope there's another party next year even if we have to have it somewhere else.

Also here's myself posing with Grub-Xer0 and GoryBlizzard. Notice the beer in my front pocket. Lol.

[GoryBlizzard]

Saturday will stay with me forever and I can't thank you enough for it. It was good to see everyone old and new again after a stressful few weeks.

One of the only downsides is that I have to continue to deal with real life now and tomorrow. That sucks--the end of every month is the worst for me.

Next year, I'll probably stay overnight as well.

I need another cigar.

[MindChamber]

I had a great time, thanks again for everything Tom.

hopefully I didnt make too much of a fool of myself there.

[Grub-Xer0]

At 4/29/14 10:07 PM, ZJ wrote:

Also here's myself posing with Grub-Xer0 and GoryBlizzard. Notice the beer in my front pocket. Lol.

Dude it was awesome as hell meeting you in person, wish we could've talked about wrestling more.

At 4/29/14 10:43 PM, GoryBlizzard wrote: Next year, I'll probably stay overnight as well.

I thought about staying overnight too, but I had already purchased the tickets for the train and bus back to NY, and didn't want them to go to waste. It also sucks that the guy didn't let me on lol, I ended up getting home at 2:30 a.m. on the dot

[Wegra]

At 4/29/14 05:12 PM, bigjonny13 wrote: I REGRET MISSING PICO DAY SO MUCH AFTER SEEING EVERYONE WHO WENT!!!

You and me both brotha

[GoryBlizzard]

At 4/29/14 11:04 PM, Grub-Xer0 wrote: I thought about staying overnight too, but I had already purchased the tickets for the train and bus back to NY, and didn't want them to go to waste. It also sucks that the guy didn't let me on lol, I ended up getting home at 2:30 a.m. on the dot

My bus was already full but it would've been nice if there were still empty seats left for you. It sucks that you had to wait at the terminal for another 2 hours for your bus to show up. More likely than not, I think I'll stay overnight next year, and also it's more likely that I'll have a better phone that can charge without any major issues.

[Zordragon]

I could not finish game I was working for pico day :(
lot of bug just show up

just love most of the animations this year!