We had a great time at PAX this weekend and there were soooo many great games! So many in fact that I'll try to write about a bunch, while including links to their stuff on NG when possible so you can be fans of them here too.

Rogue Legacy - a genealogical Rogue-"Lite" game where death is permanent but you can pass your belongings to your heirs, who come with their own random traits. The castle is randomized each time. It's by Cellar Door Games, who go by Rete here on NG and you may know them for some of these awesome games:

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  My First Quantum Translocator

  by CellarDoorGames

  Help Quantum Translocator guy test out his first Quantum Translocator.

  Game

  668,999 Views

  (Everyone)

• 

  Bullet Audyssey

  by CellarDoorGames

  Bullet Audyssey is a rhythm-based shoot 'em up where you mustSurvive the Beat.

  Game

  476,612 Views

  (Everyone)

• 

  Don't Shit Your Pants

  by CellarDoorGames

  A survival horror game.

  Game

  1,444,079 Views

  (Ages 17+)

Sokobond - an ultra clever puzzle game that teaches you about chemistry. It's by Draknek, who has another awesome puzzler here on NG:

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  These Robotic Hearts of Mine

  by Draknek

  A narrative-driven puzzle game: fiendish puzzles and heart-wrenching story.

  Game

  278,002 Views

  (Everyone)

Crypt of the NecroDancer - I was excited to see Jouste hanging out when I approached this booth, he's been doing some of the art such as the title screen and their promo banner. I was then excited to learn that the developer goes by grubbygames on Newgrounds and has an NG award certificate up on his wall! He made these:

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  IncrediBots

  by grubbygames

  Build custom robots in your browser with IncrediBots!

  Game

  1,103,031 Views

  (Everyone)

• 

  IncrediBots 2

  by grubbygames

  Sequel to the hit game IncrediBots! All new features like zero gravity and mouse dragging!

  Game

  339,937 Views

  (Everyone)

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a rhythm dungeon crawler where you can use a DDR pad to move and fight. It was really damn cool and anyone with a DDR pad needs to be playing it! You can play without one too. The music is by dannyBstyle from here on NG! He made the music in games like these:

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  Meat Boy

  by Bluebaby

  Extremely challenging! Best ending ever! Must Play!

  Game

  4,366,248 Views

  (Ages 13+)

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  Canabalt

  by AdamAtomic

  Run as far as you can. Press X, C, or Space to jump.

  Game

  1,696,525 Views

  (Everyone)

• 

  Binding of Isaac DEMO

  by Bluebaby

  Binding of Isaac is a randomly generated action RPG shooter with heavy Rogue-like elements

  Game

  3,841,205 Views

  (Ages 17+)

Speaking of Meat Boy, I met Tommy aka Tommunism for the first time ever! He's been on NG since the beginning and programmed Super Meat Boy with Edmund. They were featured in Indie Game the Movie if you ever saw that, so now he's all famous but still the man I fell in love with.

Escape Goat 2 - A puzzle platformer where you think your way through a dungeon. By MagicalTimeBean, who made my favorite HTML5 game on NG:

• Unpublished Submission

TowerFall - Super fun four player action that is worth buying an Ouya for, although I believe a PC version is on the way. The developer, MattMakesGames, has a game on NG that was published through AdultSwim:

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  Give Up, Robot

  by AdultSwim

  Swing your plucky robot through maddening levels in this acid-soaked platformer

  Game

  315,371 Views

  (Everyone)

Wasteland Kings - A roguelike about mutants fighting for the throne in a post-apocalyptic world. Cool top down run and gun action, I found out the right mouse button did something after playing so now I need to play again now. The developers, Vlambeer, had a game previously published on NG by the Boredcom account:

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  Radical Fishing

  by Vlambeer

  Grab your fishing hook...and your gun!

  Game

  210,500 Views

  (Everyone)

I had wanted to sponsor that one at the time but the budget doesn't always work out. When I miss out on sponsoring something and the dev becomes a superstar, I kick myself really hard.

SpeedRunners - Another really addictive four player game where you race through platforming levels. Players who fall behind to the edge of the screen are out of the race! I was totally amped to meet I-smel at the booth, I had no idea he'd be at PAX. He's part of Tinybuild, the guys who are publishing Speedrunners on Steam. You can play the original Flash version here on NG, another one I had wanted to sponsor at the time:

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  Speedrunner

  by doubledutchgames

  Use your grappling hook and walljumping skills to dismantle the bomb in time!

  Game

  63,168 Views

  (Everyone)

Samurai Gunn - So many fun four player games this year! You have a few shots from a gun, a multidirectional sword, and not much time to kill the other players as many times as possible.

Aztez is a mix of turn-based strategy and beat'em-up, with the beat'em-up on display at PAX. I had recently talked to the developer, Ben Ruiz about combo systems so it was cool to meet him face to face!

Major Magnet is an iOS game I love and the developers were showing off the upcoming Major Magnet Arcade!

The Stanley Parable had a clever PAX-tailored build that amused lots of people. I talked to the writer, who happens to be CakeBread here on NG! He made front page in 2006 with this:

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  Snakes on a Plane-TRAILER

  by CakeBread

  At first, there was only a plane. And then, there were snakes...ON the plane!

  Movie

  383,175 Views

  (Ages 17+)

Owlboy is a beautiful looking platforming with some cool dynamics between Owlboy and the people who tag along with him. It was developed on the XNA platform (as was Rogue Legacy) although both games are coming to PC vs XBLIG. Makes you wonder what would have happened if Microsoft had stuck by this platform longer and done more with helping players discover the GOOD games vs the Minecraft clones.

Papers, Please will really suck you into its world. You are a border agent who must evaluate paperwork before allowing individuals to cross into your territory. Each day the paperwork gets more complicated and you are faced with difficult decisions while trying to keep your family fed.

I didn't get a chance to play Contrast but I talked to the developer at a Sony party and he was cool, so here's a plug for that too - it has a great shadow mechanic!

Conversely, I didn't meet the developer of DiveKick but I played it at the Sony party and that was cool, so here's a plug for that.

I hung out a whole bunch with Brad from LoneWolfGame.com, who is the first person since high school who I've talked to about the Wax Trax Black Box compilation. Check out his game, an upcoming brawler!

I got to try the Oculus Rift, including Hawken on the new 1080p model, although I was more impressed with a sim that had me walking through the jungle at 720 and a framerate that might not even have been 30fps. I read an interview with John Carmack and it sounds like 8k resolution and 90fps is the ideal... Years away but it's gonna be awesome getting there.

I also talked to the guy at the Omni booth, located next to the STEM booth, both exciting technologies that work well together. Omni is pretty straightforward (it's like a 360 treadmill) but this video might explain STEM best.

There were so many great games that I didn't get to play so sorry for not covering them. Also sorry to anyone I missed, I'm sort of rushing to do this brain dump while it's still fresh.

Here's an interview with me by Arcademia!

The Behemoth booth of course was AWESOME. It was our biggest booth yet. I filmed that before the show opened, here's a pic from during the show. BRAIN DUMP COMPLETE!

Wow, a lot of cool stuff here. It's good to see Matt Thorson's still making great games--TowerFall looks awesome.

Man I wish I could have been there. Looked like a lot of fun and looks like I got some catching up to do. That said great update!

Lotta NG people there, sounds like it was fun.

I should move to seattle, dota 2 international and pax right after...

oh man dat interview

At 9/5/13 05:44 PM, TheMajormel wrote: oh man dat interview

Tom is slowly starting to get bald.

That's quite an account you've written Tom! It's one of your many endearing qualities: giving credit where credit is due. If all indie game developers shared your concepts of brotherhood and comradery, EA and Nintendo wouldn't stand a chance! I look forward to checking out the games/projects on your list, I haven't seen yet.

Behemoth is a separate entity than Newgrounds. How have things been going with them both? I'm not asking for a pie chart or anything, just wondering if profits are okay and safely defraying operating costs....

If I didn't live half a world away, I'd have love to have gone. Glad it was a good show though Tom, it's nice to see how far the Behemoth have come over the years.

Did you by any chance get to check out Pokemon X and Y?

At 9/5/13 05:49 PM, VicariousE wrote: That's quite an account you've written Tom! It's one of your many endearing qualities: giving credit where credit is due. If all indie game developers shared your concepts of brotherhood and comradery, EA and Nintendo wouldn't stand a chance! I look forward to checking out the games/projects on your list, I haven't seen yet.

Behemoth is a separate entity than Newgrounds. How have things been going with them both? I'm not asking for a pie chart or anything, just wondering if profits are okay and safely defraying operating costs....

Behemoth is gangbusters and I'm excited about the stuff we'll be showing at future conventions. Newgrounds is getting its house in order. The past few years have been difficult and it sucks that so much time and energy is consumed by "rightsizing" what was already a small company. The future potential for NG is still endless and we're gonna be more agile and have a stronger foundation than ever. I'm sure more hills and valleys are ahead.

Unrelated note - did you notice while I was away, Goldfish fixed the script that made the site hang every night at midnight? Between that and the judgment list, it's been a good week!

At 9/5/13 05:53 PM, VoidForce wrote: Did you by any chance get to check out Pokemon X and Y?

Nope, I barely spent any time around the "big" company booths... The energy around that stuff just isn't the same as hanging with other devs and talking about the cool stuff we're all making. That said, Wonderful 101 was really fun looking, so much of the Wii U stuff has this shiny 60fps beauty, it makes me tempted to get one to play with the kids.

At 9/5/13 06:02 PM, TomFulp wrote: Nope, I barely spent any time around the "big" company booths... The energy around that stuff just isn't the same as hanging with other devs and talking about the cool stuff we're all making. That said, Wonderful 101 was really fun looking, so much of the Wii U stuff has this shiny 60fps beauty, it makes me tempted to get one to play with the kids.

Fair enough. I can see the indie scene having a lot more interaction between fans and developers as well as developers and developers. If I ever do invest in a WIi U, I'll probably be getting that, I enjoy my Super Sentai and it seems to be in the same style as those shows.

Gah, I really hope I can afford to next year or so.

At 9/5/13 05:59 PM, TomFulp wrote: Unrelated note - did you notice while I was away, Goldfish fixed the script that made the site hang every night at midnight? Between that and the judgment list, it's been a good week!

I wasn't sure till you mentioned it! The hang was only for a minute out of 24 hrs., but it sure helps! Still not crazy about the lack of bandwidth, especially for streaming videos, but as you say, you're moving in the right direction!

Guess the only thing I could do to help, is to renew my Supporter Upgrade, but I'd still like to help the game developers here with sponsorship... I'd much rather do that through Newgrounds, and leave the administration/choices to you.

The guy in front looks a bit like me.

At 9/5/13 06:13 PM, Twotailz wrote:

Nope, I barely spent any time around the "big" company booths... The energy around that stuff just isn't the same as hanging with other devs and talking about the cool stuff we're all making.

That's funny, because I'm sure X and Y is a lot cooler than what you're all making atm.

Maybe true but the devs aren't hanging out at the Nintendo booth so we wouldn't be able to talk to them about it anyway. It's just nice when you can meet the people making the games and talk to them about the games they are making.

Did you hear about the dickwolves fiasco?

Tom hinted in his interview that he wants NG to be like PennyArcade.

You know what this means guys?

Pico Day is going to become a convention. Pico Con. You heard it here first.

At 9/5/13 06:52 PM, CrazyRock wrote: @TomFulp, what is your favorite Tom Fulp related fact?

I DONT GET THIS JOKE

At 9/5/13 06:27 PM, VicariousE wrote: I wasn't sure till you mentioned it! The hang was only for a minute out of 24 hrs., but it sure helps! Still not crazy about the lack of bandwidth, especially for streaming videos, but as you say, you're moving in the right direction!

Are you on Verizon? I'm working hard as hell to fix this, but we might be at the mercy of contracts until August of next year.

Had a great time hanging with you at PAX Tom! Looking forward to the next one!

At 9/5/13 08:14 PM, BrenTheMan wrote:

At 9/5/13 06:27 PM, VicariousE wrote: I wasn't sure till you mentioned it! The hang was only for a minute out of 24 hrs., but it sure helps! Still not crazy about the lack of bandwidth, especially for streaming videos, but as you say, you're moving in the right direction!

Are you on Verizon? I'm working hard as hell to fix this, but we might be at the mercy of contracts until August of next year.

Thanks man, it just sucks you got caught up in the middle of Netflix and Cogent, and whatever tactics Verizon's doing to beef up RedBox, while Netflix gets all the money.... I have no clue, but the speed limitation isn't a big issue with me, and hopefully won't be with any new viewers/members. I think I was getting 2 kb/s when I joined up...

At 9/5/13 09:20 PM, lonewolfgame wrote: Had a great time hanging with you at PAX Tom! Looking forward to the next one!

Oh and thanks for the plug!!!! Hope you got to enjoy the new build!

I really want to get speedrunners. I love grappling hook mechanisms in games

At 9/5/13 05:20 PM, TomFulp wrote:

I hung out a whole bunch with Brad from LoneWolfGame.com, who is the first person since high school who I've talked to about the Wax Trax Black Box compilation. Check out his game, an upcoming brawler!

The link to the Wax Trax Black Box is broken, here is a good one:

Wax Trax Black Box

Love Trent Reznor's Supernaut rendition! Good times, looking forward to the concert out here in LA in November!

Never stop trying to surmounte it Tom!

At 9/5/13 06:56 PM, deathink wrote: Did you hear about the dickwolves fiasco?

I've been reading a book called Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life and it has a passage that, I feel, applies to how that situation has escalated:

I would like to suggest that when our heads are filled with judgments and analysis that others are bad, greedy, irresponsible, lying, cheating, polluting the environment, valuing profit more than life, or behaving in other was they shouldn't, very few of them will be interested in our needs. If we want to protect the environment, and we go to a corporate executive with the attitude, "You know, you are really a killer of the planet, you have no right to abuse the land in this way," we have severely impaired our chances of getting our needs met. It is a rare human being who can maintain focus on our needs when we are expressing them through images of their wrongness. Of course, we may be successful in using such judgments to intimidate people into meeting our needs. If they feel so frightened, guilty or ashamed that they change their behavior, we may come to believe that it is possible to "win" by telling people what's wrong with them.

With a broader perspective, however, we realize that each time our needs are met in this way, we not only lose, but we have contributed very tangibly to violence on the planet. We may have solved one problem, but we will have created another one. The more people hear blame and judgment, the more defensive and aggressive they become and the less they will care about our needs in the future. So even if our present need is met in the sense that people do what we want, we will pay for it later.

It's a good book, I recommend it!

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a rhythm dungeon crawler where you can use a DDR pad to move and fight. It was really damn cool and anyone with a DDR pad needs to be playing it! You can play without one too.

@TomFulp, EXTREMELY happy you got to see/play it! I actually did all the voices for Cadence, the main character. Isn't it a blast? I'll tell the rest of the team about your mention of the game; they'll be ecstatic! :)

At 9/5/13 06:56 PM, deathink wrote: Did you hear about the dickwolves fiasco?

Fuck Penny Arcade, I just checked their Alexia score and the Newgrounds tank just rolls right over 'em.

In fairness, a buddy of mine sent me a year's subscription to Wired magazine, but I doubt I'll see this article in print next month, whilst upon the porcelain throne. Point is, NG only ever made fun of celebrities, seals and satirized matter floating in the toilet of the mass-media. Tom's got more integrity in his left nipple, than the owner of that website has in his whole body :|

In further fairness, I didn't even read the whole article, but it seems to me, whoever runs a thing, their personality, hopes and dreams, do get trickled down (like a golden shower of inspiration and direction) to the staff, advertisers, the mods, as well as the rank and file members, like this guy!

I wish I could've been there.

more PAX-pics?

It sounds like you had an amazing time this year. I'm moving out to Seattle on the 13th of this month to join HouseOGames, just a bit too late to meet up with you though. Andrew said he stopped by the booth and talked with you though, so that's pretty cool. Great write-up on everything you got a chance to see, I can't wait for the next big conference.