There are certain things that happen around here on Newgrounds where when I see it happen, it makes me really happy. I figure if it makes me happy, it probably makes other people happy and that’s great for the overall health of NG. I want everyone to keep these in mind when creating and sharing stuff here!
It’s really cool with games and animation use music from the Audio Portal.
It totally makes my day when the games and animation on NG feature music from the Audio Portal. When this happens, it lifts up several people on the site with something that might have otherwise only lifted up one person. I often find great music and new musicians when this happens, as well.
From an administrative standpoint, it also makes our lives easier. We’re under tremendous pressure to keep unlicensed music off the site and with proposals like the EU’s Article 13, the liabilities continue to grow and it puts the whole site at risk. When I see Audio Portal entries credited on the page, I can rest a little easier knowing you know what’s up.
Which brings me to this important reminder: Don’t use unlicensed commercial music in your projects! Here is a list of royalty-free resources. Please always credit your musician.
It’s exciting to imagine more art featuring music in the commentary space.
This hasn’t been done much yet but ever since our art publishing update this year, when you paste the URL of an Audio entry in your commentary space on its own line, it will become a fancy link that includes the option to play the song in-page. Example here:
I love to imagine more artists doing this. It is cool to listen to music while looking at art, especially when it’s music the artist feels compliments their work. It also has the added benefit of introducing people to new music while they’re enjoying art, so they’re twice as enriched.
I’m filled with joy when I see fan art of other people’s original content.
When you make fan art of original content here on NG, you are giving the artist tremendous motivation to keep going; you might be making their day, their week or even their year. You’re also introducing them to new fans! I like to feature fan art like this on the front page so this could help your odds there, too.
Similar to audio, you can paste the URL of a movie on its own line and it will become a fancy link with a thumbnail. If you’ve made fan art for a particular animation on NG, it would be great to link it in your commentary so people can go watch it.
It’s super fulfilling to see people collaborate.
When I play a game and see the artist and programmer met on Newgrounds, it makes me feel really good about NG’s place in the world. Seeing this sort of successful collaboration inspires and motivates a lot of people here. The Gato Roboto team is a great recent example.
Never hesitate to reach out to people around here for collaboration! To be realistic, you do need to bring something to the table; it works best when you can fulfill a key role in a project. Look for people around the same level as you and you can grow together, becoming friends for life.
Weaknesses I’d like to Improve...
I like to see Newgrounds as a big party and it frustrates me when I see people who would be a good fit but haven’t joined in. Sometimes it’s a lack of awareness and sometimes it’s a conscious choice because something about NG has turned them off.
One example is when people make fan art of characters that have deep roots on NG, only to not share the art on NG. I’ll see some great Salad Fingers art on Twitter that would totally make the front page of NG, IF those artists uploaded it here. I nudge people sometimes but I get self conscious about doing it so it would be great to see MORE people nudging their artist friends on NG’s behalf.
We also host a lot of great indie game fan art and I like featuring indie game fan art on the front page. It would fill my happiness bucket to see more game devs respond to fan art here, too. I could nudge more devs but I don’t want to put on too much pressure. I think everyone would gain from more high profile artist and developer engagement with fans, though.
I feel like Newgrounds is more in-tune with independent game devs, animators, artists and musicians than any other platform and more people could be taking advantage of that, especially with all the crossover potential between mediums. Madness is a popular series that has penetrated every portal, with animation, games, music and fan art. There’s a Madness game coming to Steam and I bet you it will do really well.
@ShotOne is a game that isn’t even releasing on Newgrounds but they’re making good use of NG as a platform to blog and share game art. Down the road they could post animated movies or music from the soundtrack and they’ll be around to engage any fan art that rolls in, like this piece:
Thanks for reading my thoughts on this; I hope they help to keep pushing NG in a positive direction where we all get to enjoy even more cool stuff.
As usual, your paid support makes a big difference around here, too! It’s just $3 per month and helps make the whole site better.
