So, we've been working on the EVolution game for, like, 2 years now. My part is done, which was to draw and animate the sprites and characters. The very talented Gravey designed the music for the game a long time ago, and Tanat0s has been working on the programming for pretty much the last year, and is (so I'm told) almost finished a custom level designer, expected to be out sometime this week.

What I want to do is use the new Project Management Preview feature to my advantage, so that I can select individuals to design a whole bunch of sample levels for me. We can also discuss additional level features and junk, if enough people think they're needed. So! Who wants in?

My Skype is EVanimations, so is my OoVoO.

People who are interested MUST comment on this post or PM me, otherwise I won't know who you are and I won't be able to give you a link to the preview.

Pictured: the level designers for Eras 6, 12, and 1, top-down.

A time machine with unlimited uses and unlimited power, just like in EVolution...

The first thing I would do is go back in time 10 years and submit all the flashes on Newgrounds that I have out right now.

Flashes from 2002 were of significantly lower quality than they are today. If something very popular from 2002 were submitted into the portal today, it would be doomed to obscurity. They were mostly vector-based and animated using a later edition of Macromedia Flash.

For example, Marshmellow Madness (2002) might have gotten into the Portal History back in the day, but it would probably get something like daily 3rd or below if it were submitted in 2012. Metal Slug Stick (2002) would have been blammed if it were submitted today, no question.

If I submitted the flashes I have right now 10 years ago, I WOULD BE UNSTOPPABLE. WITH MY SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUE, I WOULD BECOME A LEGEND, NAY, A GOD!!!!!

And hell, I guess if I were REALLY evil, I could beat some of the more popular flash artists to the punch.

Excuse me while I make my finishing touches to the device.

Anyway, while I do that, I guess occupy yourselves with telling me what you all would do first thing if you had a time machine. We're going on the Multiverse theory... changes you make in the past will not affect our current universe, but will instead branch off into an alternate universe. The act of traveling into the future will create an alternate universe in which you were absent until the point you traveled to.

Also, this is my photo manipulation class project.

EDIT 2-20-12: I posted my new flash and it got front page and daily feature! SWEEEEEEET. I'll make an extended post when i can submit one to front page again.

EDIT 2-15-2012: Okay, finished the intermediate animation. Now on to the lip-syncing. We're getting close, you guys! I'm going to try to submit it on wednesday, AT THE EARLIEST. Also my series finally has a wikia page! Check it out!

I love the Newgrounds redesign. It's so...sexy. And functional. Everything is so much easier to use and learn how to use. Not so keen on the new backdrops though...it feels a little too specialized.

Here's my highly efficient animation process in case anyone wants some pointers:

1. Dialogue and Important Sounds: Okay this isn't really a part of the animation, but it's the first thing you should do. Import the sounds and dialogue into your flash and spread them out so it sounds good. This also includes music.

2. Basic Animation: The first steps of animating any movie for me is composing the shots and laying out the pieces of the characters into extreme poses, working with the dialogue, sounds, and music. This includes camera movement and large 'tweens as well. By the time you're done this it should look like a slide show of your movie with voice-overs.

3. Intermediate Animation: After I finish the basic animation I work on adding frame-by-frame animation between the extreme poses I laid out before. I also work on smaller tweens and facial animation. This should help the characters' movements look much less jerky and half-assed. By now it should look like a respectable animation but the characters look kind of slack-jawed while they talk. We'll fix that.

4. Lip-Syncing Animation: Depending on how lazy you are, lip-syncing could be the most laborious, time-consuming thing ever or the easiest and fastest part of this whole process. The way I see it there are two ways to do it:
a. go through the animation frame-by-frame and add specific mouth shapes to each sound they make, the longer process (which is what I prefer)
b. make a universal movie clip of the character's lips flapping in a 'watermelon watermelon watermelon' pattern. This is what I call the "Industrial Foamy" approach.

If you chose A, good for you. You're awesome and you care about your work. If you chose B, you're lazy scum.

Hope you enjoyed this small tutorial, you beginners!

Nothing will change, except for the fact that I will be getting school credit for making Flash episodes of EVolution, and that they'll come more frequently. JUST AS SOON AS I GET FLASH ON MY COMPUTER HRGHHGRHGLHGGRHGRLLGRHGHK

Anyways, that's the big news. Smaller news...uh, let's see here...

a. My hiatus. I've been in the Art Institute of Philadelphia for more than half a year now so this contributes to my...

b. ...up-until-recently lack of progress with my personal flash projects. However, this should be solved with the addition of a new member to my family...

c. ...my beautiful new HP laptop. I no longer have to share! With ANYONE. Not my family, or roommates, it's ALL MINE. BWAHAHAHAHAHA! However, there is a slight issue with this, which is that fact that...

d. ...I don't have any Adobe programs on this computer. My dad lost all the software for them. I don't have the funds to buy the latest CS5 version, and I don't trust torrents (ever since one broke my computer for 2 months, 3 summers ago now) So, in the meantime, when I'm not busy with college work, I'm...

e. ...Playing Minecraft. Or, well, I used to. Now I don't do it so much anymore, I suddenly ran out of things to do and it just started to wear on me. I'm still involved in the community however, and I made a texture pack using GIMP, if you're interested.

f. Also, the EVolution game has now entered the level-design stage! TWO YEARS OF HARD WORK WILL PAY OFF SOON... YOU WILL BE VINDICATED, GRAVEY AND TANAT0S!

SIIIIIIIGH........ Right then. I'll get to work on EVolution, episode 3 as soon as I get Flash on this computer.

EDIT: FINALLY made some progress! I downloaded the Adobe Flash trial version while I wait to get the full one. Plus the rough animation slides need to be done by February 13th. Seems easy.

EDIT: Take a look at a super-special sneak preview of what the next episode holds!

This is just an idea right now, but I am considering making a RTS game...I have no idea what it will be called yet. It's still in the early conception phases, but I think it's a very interesting concept.

If I do decide to go through with this I want collaborators...you know, for programming, audio, storytelling, the whatnot. I would do the design and animation.

Anyway, the game is set in an alternate realm where science, religion, and magic are all tangible ways of practice, but are at constant odds. The three factions constantly duke it out for supremacy, and each would be balanced and have unique gameplay and strategies.

The Scientific Faction would be dedicated to technological advancement and research. Their units would be centered completely around vehicles, machines, firearms, chemicals, basically fighting the way we would in this situation. Aesthetic influences would be based on modern technology, minimalistic, functional, metal and plastic. I guess how the upgrade system would work, for example you upgrade a factory and said factory starts cranking out better units at a greater cost.

The Magical Faction would be dedicated to wizardry, hocus-pocus and alchemy. Their units would be centered around druids and wizards, crystals, enchantments and potions, and mythical creatures like centaurs and ogres. Aesthetic influences would be Celtic or Anglo-Saxxon designs, patterns, mostly stone, wood, and crystal. The upgrade system would work by unlocking greater potions or spells, then upgrading individual units at a greater cost.

The Religious Faction would be basically a bunch of zealous monks and warriors who put all their faith in their deities to battle for them while they pray. Only the deities are actually real and can be summoned into this realm from another. Their units would be centered around 'godly' abilities like smiting and cursing. Aesthetic influences would be Greek or Classical designs, marble structures, gold-clad warriors with halos. The upgrade system would work by unlocking greater prayers and blessing an area containing a number of units, and these would be the most powerful upgrades. The catch is that you can accidentally bless units from the other faction if they're in the area, and that is usually a very bad thing.

I'd like to know what you guys think, offer feedback/criticism.

If you'd like to participate in this project, PM me!

EDIT: oh yeah, and i forgot to mention the soundtrack, each faction would have at least 3 background songs in a loop, and they would be dominantly classical.

for Science i'm thinking something like this: Science soundtrack?

for Magic i'm thinking something like this: Magic soundtrack?

for Religion i'm thinking something like this: Religion soundtrack?

But let me tell you about my former roommates first.

I recently switched dorms because I couldn't live with these people. When I came to the Art Institute of Philadelphia, I was expecting to meet people who are like me.

These three assholes were every stereotype of a douchebag there is. Jersey Shore douchebag. Ghetto douchebag. Meathead douchebag. Every one of them represented a kind of person I tried to avoid in high school. The apartment was absolutely disgusting and in complete disrepair.

Mikey, the Jersey Shore douchebag, was actually the most tolerable of the three. He was actually pretty nice, but incredibly full of himself. He thankfully spent very little time at the room, probably out with his fellow ego-maniacal friends. Still, though, he's the spitting image of Paulie-B. Orange skin, spiked hair and all.

Tom was the most ghetto, wiggerest scum I have had the displeasure of meeting. I could never sleep at night because he would be up until early in the morning taking drugs with his deadbeat friends and blasting horrible music at full volume. He spent 2 years in jail because of unlicensed gun possession, and as soon as he got out he got the gun he got arrested for carrying tattooed on his chest. Yeah. That ghetto.

Anton, the Meathead douchebag, was by far the worst. During the first month he wouldn't clean up after himself in the one bathroom the four of us shared. There would be shit and cum in the toilet and ashes of weed in the shower. He was my ROOM roommate, as in we slept in the same room on separate bunk beds. Actually, I only really lived with him for the first month and a half, because he broke his bed while he was trying to nail some short ugly chick. At 2:30 in the morning. While I was less than 10 feet away from him.

This weekend I was spending time with my girlfriend, and while we were watching a movie I got a text from Anton saying he was going to beat my ass when I got back because I accidentally forgot to leave his laptop back at the dorm room. That is a severe overreaction right there. Btw, he didn't beat my ass because he was passed out when I got back and had no memory of the occurrence.

I would have posted their numbers here so you guys could fuck with them if you wanted, but i unfriended them on facebook and deleted them as contacts before the idea occurred to me. Damn.

Anyway, that is the story of my horrible roommates. I'd like to hear some of your stories, people of the interwebs.

This is Anton and Tom btw. Just look at how dumb they are.

Im leaving to move in to the Art Institute of Philadelphia in about 15 minutes. This is going to be fun, but im going to miss everyone back in Baltimore :(

Especially you, Gracie, Brian, and Maura. Love youse guys! <3

And hey, if you're at the school and if you're a fan of my work, find me and we can chat!

Living on my own while balancing schoolwork, personal projects, relationships, and Minecraft is definitely going to be a challenge, but hopefully I can manage.

<EDIT 7-11-11>
I have officially started college today at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. I just had my first class and it was fun. I'm majoring in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics, and I can be found near those two big shiny skyscrapers that look like more modern Chrysler buildings.

If you're interested in talking to me about my flashes we can chat...IF YOU CAN FIND ME!!! NYAHAHAHA!
Also you will be able to contact me over skype, oovoo, and minecraft, once i set those things up :I

Also I don't have any internet connections in my dorm yet, so for now I'm just using the annex computer labs, and it reminds me more of a depressing public library than my mancave back home. I NEED A LAPTOP OR SOMETHING SO I CAN WORK... >:(

And speaking of which, up to this point I hadn't touched a computer in 5 days because I've been so busy getting settled into my new dorm.

Well, that's about all i can think of to put in this post. WHATEVER. GOODBYE INTERNET PEEPS, I LOVES YOU ALL!!! Except for you, furries, trolls, weeaboos, neo-nazis, kkk, religious extremists, other intolerant/depraved groups existing out there. In fact, I pretty much hate all of you unless you're a friend or fan of me. In which case, WE CAN ALL BE FRIENDS!!!

yeah sorry this took so long.

LINKY

In other news, the EVolution game is coming along. It is coming. Along. I don't know when it will be done, but it is coming along and looks great so far.

Also:
LIKE ME ON FACEBOOK
WATCH ME ON DEVIANTART
SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON YOUTUBE

I think this time from now on i'll keep track of what ive done and milestones ive reached on this newspage so you guys dont have to bug me.

PROGRESS LOG

9:28am 5-7-11: Scripting for episode 3 started.

10:01pm 5-8-11: Scripting for episode 3 completed after several hours of procrastination.

8:34pm 5-14-11: VO's are finished after much scheduling with friends and many delays.

12:21pm 5-20-11: Finished incorporating the audio into the flash, also finished animating a certain action sequence that i couldn't get out of my head.

11:49am 6-6-11: Has it really been 2 weeks since i last updated? oh well, 2 weeks, 5 days, all the same. Well, shit, i guess im 2 weeks into the future. Started working on the base animation about 5 days ago (time jumps, whatever) and am about halfway done.
Also: bad news about the game: we had to scrap what we had so far for complicated reasons and we're starting the programming over. Good news comes out of that though! You may see the game sooner than later, you see: instead of submitting the whole damn thing at once I'm going to submit 3 of the 12 levels at a time, every month. Check back to this page regularly, its coming, i promise.

yeah. I've been really busy with college preparation lately, so this is taking a little longer than i would have liked it to. I think it should be done sometime in early April.

check out the first episode here:
EVolution-ep 1

Also, once in a while I create a little, minor effect that just blows my mind and makes me really excited for some reason... in this case it's this sweet little homemade "warp space" effect. I'm no genius with aftereffects, so i made 10 individual images in photoshop and rolled them together in flash.

you can check it out here:
sweet warp space effect

In other news, the EVolution game is coming along. It is coming. Along. I don't know when it will be done, but it is coming along and looks great so far.

LIKE ME ON FACEBOOK
WATCH ME ON DEVIANTART
SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON YOUTUBE

EDIT 3-28-2011: check out my GF's profile because she's awesome. Triggershock

The first official episode of EVolution, a series based on my older video, Beauty is Humanity. This is the follow-up to the prologue.

Brian Albertson, an early 21st-century everyman, and Meredith the Beetcropper, a medieval peasant, are abducted by a strange little man from the future for no apparent reason at all other than the fact that he needs company.

WOW, so this was a hassle. the original draft was corrupted in a computer crash, resulting in this newer, more awesome version.

Also, progress is already being made on the next installment of EVolution, seen below.

Expect my EVolution game out soon, coded by Tanat0s, and with custom music by Gravey

LIKE ME ON FACEBOOK
WATCH ME ON DEVIANTART
SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE

my favorite review i got on EVolution-abduction:

datbadger 2-13-11 score:2

liek wtf is this man lik seriusly?????1111 i can0t bel1eve suchk crap gotten onto nogrounds like omg this isnt even qality poduct cuz srsly u shudda workeded hardr on dis thin most scifi movies are lik 2 hours and 57 seconds long and this bullcrap is lik e 2 minutes and the gaphix are so not real i was excpting 1980p 3D hifi HDD deluxes liek mahd ads huose has cuz my parenteds got divorced sinc one of dem smoekd so much crack and dey were mad and stuff so ya man wut the hell. i like colors though... :3D

should be the next dotdotdot. :D