Wall Updates, Pico Day & Pixel Day

[TomFulp]

The Wall of Honor was launched last week and @liljim just updated it to emphasize the TOTAL active supporters above the monthly and annual breakdown.

I've been emphasizing goals based on monthly supporters because a large monthly base is good for having predictable revenue, however I don't want to downplay being an annual supporter either so from now on I'll try to focus on milestones for total active supporters.

The exciting news is that we have 906 active supporters and we could hit 1,000 by the end of January with your help!

The supporter system does more than just help with expenses; it reveals an amazing community of people who truly care about the future of Newgrounds.

After years of bad news, there's a renewed sense of hope and wonder of what could be. Our over-dependence on advertising has always been a limiting factor but support from the community is virtually limitless. We're gonna hit 1,000 supporters and we won't stop there; with more support we can change the face of web animation and gaming, bringing musicians, voice actors, writers and artists along as we do it.

Current supporter perks include ad-free browsing, the ability to change your username, animated forum signatures, a supporter badge, inclusion on the Wall of Honor and some secret content. All for $2.99 per month or $25 per year!

If you want to help us hit 1,000 active supporters, become a supporter today!

Pixel Day

Pixel Day is this Saturday!

You can celebrate by uploading your own original pixel art, pixel animation, pixel game or chiptune on the 23rd. Tag your entry with "pixelday" to enter. The top entry in each category will win $100! See the event page for more details.

Also imagine how big the prizes could be if we had 100,000 supporters... I know I do.

Animation Festivals

If you are in the Berkeley area, I'll be in town March 3-6th for the GLAS Animation Festival, organized by @elementalbadger and featuring two screenings of classic Newgrounds animation curated by @wh347. We previously screened these in LA and the Ottawa Animation Festival. It isn't definite but another screening may be happening at the Northwest Animation Festival in Portland, Oregon this May.

PICO DAY!!!

Also in May is Pico Day, May 7th to be exact!

Pico Day is a celebration of all things Newgrounds and everyone is invited to create fan works of their favorite things from NG.

BONUS: The $2,100 prize pool will be DOUBLED if we hit 1,500 active supporters by March 16th.

See the Pico Day hub for more info.

Side note: I'm increasingly confident the Pico Day party at the office this year will be the greatest one yet unless I just jinxed it.

[Oakwood]

Woohoo! Steady as she goes!

[Viper]

At 1/20/16 12:21 PM, TomFulp wrote: Also in May is Pico Day, May 7th to be exact!

Pico Day is a celebration of all things Newgrounds and everyone is invited to create fan works of their favorite things from NG.

Side note: I'm increasingly confident the Pico Day party at the office this year will be the greatest one yet unless I just jinxed it.

Is it being streamed at the same place as last time? I was having serious problems with Twitch when I tried streaming it. To the point where I said fuck it and left. I missed about 90% of everything that happened.

[TomFulp]

At 1/20/16 12:34 PM, Viper wrote: Is it being streamed at the same place as last time? I was having serious problems with Twitch when I tried streaming it. To the point where I said fuck it and left. I missed about 90% of everything that happened.

We can't stream on YouTube because they cut the stream as soon as it picks up the audio from an animated that has been content ID'd by a network on YouTube... Twitch is still most likely. Suggestions for other good ones?

[TomFulp]

At 1/20/16 12:37 PM, Sekhem wrote: FINE, TOM

EXCELLENT

[MSGhero]

I just realized how close the 23rd is from today ughhhh. I'm so busy the next couple days and not all the art is done.

Then again, I'm awful with game jam deadlines no matter when they are, so I'm not surprised

[LucidShadowDreamer]

It's good to hear some good news. I hope we'll continue to hear better and better news as time goes on :3
I'm skipping pixel day, due to work overload (ugh, school). But I'll definitely make something for Pico Day later on this year :D

[HenrikSahlin]

Man I can't wait for pixel day! Hope I reach the top 3 with my game! :) Also since I love pixel art and chiptunes this will be a weekend full of gorgeous games, beutiful art and nice chiptunes.

Absolutely extraordinary!

[IvanAlmighty]

Sweet, I can't wait for Pico Day this year! Hoping to one up my previous submission with something good. I'll definitely try to make the full weekend this time around, really looking forward to meeting everyone.

[TomFulp]

I was gonna note another tiny supporter perk but decided my post was already too long. We use Google Analytics to monitor traffic stats on NG but today we removed calls to Google Analytics for Supporters, so they shouldn't be hitting any third party services while browsing NG now, with the exception of any stuff called from SWF / HTML5 game files.

[Graeme]

At 1/20/16 12:21 PM, TomFulp wrote: I've been emphasizing goals based on monthly supporters because a large monthly base is good for having predictable revenue, however I don't want to downplay being an annual supporter either so from now on I'll try to focus on milestones for total active supporters.

This is a good idea! I thought it was strange that you were focussing so much on monthly. A little clarification of the supporter breakdown really helps show where the money is coming from.

I think you should do more do advertise the monthly milestone that appears on the supporter signup page.
Like, maybe include it on the Wall of Honour as well? If you want to be really showy about it (don't be shy!) you could have it listed on the FP, right under the calendar events. It would be a nice visual to help people understand what we're working towards!

A stretch goal list that on the relevant pages that shows where the money will go might also encourage people?
- $1000 covers x cost
- $2000 allows us to ____
- $3000 and we get a special holiday skin from SomeGuy1000
- $4000 results in an increase prize pool for Pico Day
>$4000 exclusive, sponsored movies + games

On another note, @Butzbo really nailed that gif! He is becoming one of my favourite animators on the site :)

[ScepterDPinoy]

I'm very hyped for Pixel day to see some awesome submissions for those who love video games as an art form!

I wonder what Pixels movie Tom Fulp prefers when it comes to Pixel Day? The short film made by Patrick Jeans in 2010 or The film inspired by Patrick Jeans work in 2015?

For Pico Day: I'm just going to make a fan art tribute to either DrunkMagikoopa (a user and my personal childhood favorite from Newgrounds back then) and (or) the childhood I remember when I went to Newgrounds during the early 2000's (Idk if I discovered Newgrounds in 2003 by accident but that's just of how I believe).

[Malachy]

At 1/20/16 12:21 PM, TomFulp wrote: I've been emphasizing goals based on monthly supporters because a large monthly base is good for having predictable revenue, however I don't want to downplay being an annual supporter either so from now on I'll try to focus on milestones for total active supporters.

The exciting news is that we have 906 active supporters and we could hit 1,000 by the end of January with your help!

That's nearly as many people that live in my hometown! Congrats! I'm sure as the year moves on and you keep up with the message you'll easily attain your goals! NG is a special place.

Current supporter perks include ad-free browsing, the ability to change your username, animated forum signatures, a supporter badge, inclusion on the Wall of Honor and some secret content. All for $2.99 per month or $25 per year!

You could reduce your leftover store inventory by sending out free shirts/tankmen/stickers to people on their supporter anniversary. hint hint nudge nudge

PICO DAY!!!

Also in May is Pico Day, May 7th to be exact!

Oh man I am happy to hear this. Work is going to be busy april 30th but I may be able to sneak away for a long weekend for May 7th!

Side note: I'm increasingly confident the Pico Day party at the office this year will be the greatest one yet unless I just jinxed it.

Last year was huge. It was one of the best things I did all year. I can't wait to visit again. I hope if you move offices you're able to host Pico day and game jams. Maybe with what you save in mortgage and utilities on the current office you can rent out a swanky ballroom and make a big gala out of it. Fuck, make it like a pretentious museum event...but for web toon fart jokes!

[TomFulp]

At 1/20/16 02:41 PM, Noodle wrote: I think you should do more do advertise the monthly milestone that appears on the supporter signup page.
Like, maybe include it on the Wall of Honour as well? If you want to be really showy about it (don't be shy!) you could have it listed on the FP, right under the calendar events. It would be a nice visual to help people understand what we're working towards!

I would like to try something on the front page and I wonder about even pushing daily goals too. At the moment we're trying to de-clutter the front page with the next big update, so we gotta prioritize and try and keep everything clean as we figure this out. Ultimately it might be best to replace the top right promo banner (the small box to the right of the 728x90 ad) with the monthly / daily status if it could look good there.

[TomFulp]

At 1/20/16 02:46 PM, ScepterDPinoy wrote: I wonder what Pixels movie Tom Fulp prefers when it comes to Pixel Day? The short film made by Patrick Jeans in 2010 or The film inspired by Patrick Jeans work in 2015?

I haven't seen the 2015 Pixels but I like the short film that inspired it. I have a feeling if I saw the 2015 movie I would still prefer the short film, although I don't want to completely dismiss it. It's so en vogue right now to hate on Adam Sandler that I don't even know if I've talked to anyone who actually SAW the film, maybe it's actually kinda fun to watch with the kids WHO KNOWS...

[Bit]

At 1/20/16 02:37 PM, TomFulp wrote: I was gonna note another tiny supporter perk but decided my post was already too long. We use Google Analytics to monitor traffic stats on NG but today we removed calls to Google Analytics for Supporters, so they shouldn't be hitting any third party services while browsing NG now, with the exception of any stuff called from SWF / HTML5 game files.

This is my favorite supporter perk. I hate when my browsing history is sent to Google because I know that they don't just keep that information to themselves. They sell it to third parties. It's the same reason why I don't use Facebook or Twitter. I'm glad to be slightly more off of Google's radar as a supporter.

There's still a call to ajax.googleapis.com according to NoScript, however.

[liljim]

At 1/20/16 03:13 PM, Bit wrote: There's still a call to ajax.googleapis.com according to NoScript, however.

That'll be the jQuery library.

[Radaketor]

Sweet, nice to see the number of supporters are growing larger and larger, i'm looking forward to the Pico Day stream, let's just hope Twitch doesn't act like a bitch like always.

Questions, what's the difference between annual and a yearly subscriber and what's this (pic bellow)? Do subscribers get to have one of their submissions linked on the Wall of Fame?

[liljim]

At 1/20/16 03:20 PM, Radaketor wrote: Questions, what's the difference between annual and a yearly subscriber and what's this (pic bellow)? Do subscribers get to have one of their submissions linked on the Wall of Fame?

Bought the badge as a one off / bought the badge and set to automatically renew next year.

And yeah:

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/post/goto/25734072

[squidly]

At 1/20/16 12:36 PM, TomFulp wrote: We can't stream on YouTube because they cut the stream as soon as it picks up the audio from an animated that has been content ID'd by a network on YouTube... Twitch is still most likely. Suggestions for other good ones?

Twitch has gotten a lot better since last year, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

[XwaynecoltX]

Everything is looking good cant wait to see more come thru the portal and community.

~X~

[Manderby]

Congratulations Newgrounds, this looks promising!

You are right, Tom, there are those of us who truely care about Newgrounds. :)

I am hyped that the supporter financing model actually really seem to take off!

[ZJ]

Jolly good show Tom! Glad to see my dollars are being used wisely by the website!

Also, how's your game coming along? I wanna see more of the piggy bank guy in your sig.

[Neoslayre]

At 1/20/16 06:17 PM, XwaynecoltX wrote: Everything is looking good cant wait to see more come thru the portal and community.

~X~

Agreed!

[Blordow]

I just went to check out for supporter, but it's going to cost me 40 smackeroons cause of the exchange rate, I really want to help out but it might not be for another couple of weeks til I can afford it.

Double-ing the prize pool for pico day would be phenomenal progress! FUCK

[Butzbo]

Reeeally cool to see the wall catching momentum and the good response on it!, on a sidenote I agree with @Noodle on the possibility of showing potential proyects/features as stretch goals, it could also help to make it clearer for newcommers who are just getting to know the site and its recurrent events.

/On a sidenote, it would be awesome to have a unique Newgrounds 'equivalent' of a Like icon.

[MysticSkillz]

Looking forward to Pico Day!

[Viper]

At 1/20/16 12:36 PM, TomFulp wrote: We can't stream on YouTube because they cut the stream as soon as it picks up the audio from an animated that has been content ID'd by a network on YouTube... Twitch is still most likely. Suggestions for other good ones?

Well that sucks. Guess I'll just try to tune in on Twitch and hope everything works.

[Fantishow]

Ya fuckin jinxed it dude.

[LauriJ]

Well, this'll gonna be interesting...