I've always been a big fan of Sprite Animation and happen to even be one myself. I noticed that back then, sprite animations on here used to be kinda prevalent, along with other sprite-based content. Of course, things have calmed down over time as more traditional forms of Flash content (and just traditional 2D animation in general) have become more prominent on the site. I was wondering what you guys think about sprite animation? Think it still has a place on the site?
At 4/26/22 08:50 PM, GameTrek wrote: Depending on where and who you worked with. Their was tons of ways in the 1980s to bring in a pen, inked, or pencil drawing into the computer under 256 colors and actually color it from there usually using a scanner. Even in the 1990's they did this with Earthworm Jim via actual video camera. That being said you could possible do this with a phone. Thanks to vector art you literally illustrate a character and then color it in, and have a pixel perfect or even vector of your character on screen ( depending on how much work you put into it ). You can even do this with Photoshop as with itself, or using the method from "Mugen" where you use selective colors in photoshop. Even fighting games in the past have used downgrading of colors to give it that multi-layers or 3d look rather then shading each area in at a time. Nowadays we even have 2d animation using 3d models, or they shoot the entire thing from a 2d perspective and soughta reveal it was in 3d.
I'm uh, not sure if we got off on the right foot here. I know what sprite animation is, I animate in the style myself. I was just kinda wondering what other peoples' thoughts on the medium were since things like SMBZ and Smash Kingdom used to be really big on the site back then. I was curious to know what people think about the style
I definitely think sprite animation has a place on Newgrounds. But I also do realize that the medium's current state is more calm than how it was back in the day. This post actually made me try and think more about why that is...
As a side-note: don't worry, I want to end this post on a high note!
Back to it...
I think the initial boom is due in part by Randy Solem, God rest his soul. I remember Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom as one of the coolest things. He was an early pioneer of sprite movies. There was even a bit on Attack of the Show, a cable TV program, where Solem was interviewed and talked about his sprite stuff. I can't listen to it now as I type this but I'm sure he provides more context:
Then I think a Pandora's Box opened up where people realized that you could use these pixel-art video-game graphics to make your own movies. There was also an element of novelty to it, something about having these fun video game sprites be in these weird, violent, and sometimes crude movies. I for one enjoyed them a lot. I remember rotting my brain after school with stuff like Power Star, Bowser's Kingdom, and even the countless "Super Mario Bros. Bloopers". Hell, some of the first animations I made were on a flash mario-movie-maker type game. You could probably guess what franchise I mostly consumed back in the day. Perhaps the novelty wore off on many after so long and thats why one may not see as many sprite movies as they did back then. SMBZ had a great impact too, and I still see it in a lot of the sprite series I see on the portal even today. I feel bad for the lull in popularity because a lot of that stuff is technically impressive! In the background these current guys may as well have perfected the art, we're talking sprite-sakuga!
I don't want to say there isn't a place anymore for the Mario, Smash, and etc. content these days. Though, 20 years from when this sprite movie stuff began is a long time, truth be told. These types of sprite movies can still be made, and I certainly won't think less of one for going through that route! I think it would be fun as hell. But, if the sprite medium does bounce back I think it be from more original content, which you do make, so my compliments.
I'd definitely welcome another boom of the medium with open arms, these movies have the potential to be awesome and hilarious.
I also remember Dorkly was a thing. They were funny. Do with this image what you will.
At 4/27/22 12:39 PM, RobC3 wrote: I definitely think sprite animation has a place on Newgrounds. But I also do realize that the medium's current state is more calm than how it was back in the day. This post actually made me try and think more about why that is...
As a side-note: don't worry, I want to end this post on a high note!
Back to it...
I think the initial boom is due in part by Randy Solem, God rest his soul. I remember Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom as one of the coolest things. He was an early pioneer of sprite movies. There was even a bit on Attack of the Show, a cable TV program, where Solem was interviewed and talked about his sprite stuff. I can't listen to it now as I type this but I'm sure he provides more context:
Then I think a Pandora's Box opened up where people realized that you could use these pixel-art video-game graphics to make your own movies. There was also an element of novelty to it, something about having these fun video game sprites be in these weird, violent, and sometimes crude movies. I for one enjoyed them a lot. I remember rotting my brain after school with stuff like Power Star, Bowser's Kingdom, and even the countless "Super Mario Bros. Bloopers". Hell, some of the first animations I made were on a flash mario-movie-maker type game. You could probably guess what franchise I mostly consumed back in the day. Perhaps the novelty wore off on many after so long and thats why one may not see as many sprite movies as they did back then. SMBZ had a great impact too, and I still see it in a lot of the sprite series I see on the portal even today. I feel bad for the lull in popularity because a lot of that stuff is technically impressive! In the background these current guys may as well have perfected the art, we're talking sprite-sakuga!
I don't want to say there isn't a place anymore for the Mario, Smash, and etc. content these days. Though, 20 years from when this sprite movie stuff began is a long time, truth be told. These types of sprite movies can still be made, and I certainly won't think less of one for going through that route! I think it would be fun as hell. But, if the sprite medium does bounce back I think it be from more original content, which you do make, so my compliments.
I'd definitely welcome another boom of the medium with open arms, these movies have the potential to be awesome and hilarious.
I also remember Dorkly was a thing. They were funny. Do with this image what you will.
Thanks man! It was kinda weird to notice just how subtle sprite animation became on this site since I feel like it was more or less kinda born here! Most sprite animators nowadays I see tend to hang out on YT so I figured I'd ask to see what the folks around here think about it. l always thought it just came down to the standards of animation getting higher over the years and whatnot. Good to know there's a place for sprite animation here even if it's not as prominent. I'll do my best to contribute to it!
Newgrounds is the original place I learned about Flash and sprite animation, so it's dear to me that sprite animations succeed on here. Sure, my stuff gets more attention on Youtube than it does here on Newgrounds. But when I make sprite animations, I think of Newgrounds first. Series like Super Mario Bros. Z (old series), Megaman X OLB, and Sonic's Quest for Power to name a few motivate me to continue to sprite animate!
oh god dorkly very dumb and bad parodies that suck pp i want to make a thing inaccurate parodies which is like that
A guy that has moved on from newgrounds to make real video games not just poorly made action script games made in a week or so
