Best of March 2014

[TomFulp]

Your votes are in and the Best of March have been determined!

Top Five Movies

• 

  Breaking Poke-bad

  by Bowz

  Walt and Jesse's final battle...

  Movie

  129,481 Views

  (Ages 13+)

• 

  Battleship Cathy

  by smbctheater

  Battleship Cathy is on a mission to find a romantic partner in a casual social setting!

  Movie

  62,901 Views

  (Ages 13+)

• Unpublished Submission

• Unpublished Submission

• 

  Nameless 7 Part 2

  by LazyMuffin

  The gang deals with bad news

  Movie

  24,668 Views

  (Everyone)

The top rated movie based on original content and winner of $250 is Battleship Cathy!

Top Five Games

• 

  A Ghostly Journey

  by TinSleeves

  Help a ghost find his way home! Possess the living, solve puzzles and avoid ghost hunters!

  Game

  101,781 Views

  (Everyone)

• 

  Dig To China

  by Octopodo

  A chunky tile busting mining upgrade game.

  Game

  450,959 Views

  (Everyone)

• 

  Epic Boss Fighter

  by EntertainmentForge

  Battle 10 Epic Bosses on this action packed game!

  Game

  166,792 Views

  (Everyone)

• 

  Ditto

  by Nitrome

  Navigate your way through this atmospheric puzzle platformer.

  Game

  32,617 Views

  (Everyone)

• 

  Earth Taken 2

  by SeethingSwarm

  A post-apocalyptic action-shooter in the midst of an alien invasion!

  Game

  115,890 Views

  (Ages 13+)

Runner-up Movies

6. Twitch Draws Pokemon
7. GTA 5 Has Multiplayer
8. Bomb Threat
9. guilty pleasure
10. Why Cops Give Tickets
11. FAKE
12. 'Photon Frogs'
13. Mario Seinfeld
14. X-Shorts : Wolverine
15. Internet Withdrawal
16. Merry Melony: Book 1 (pg
17. Funky Flood MMXIV
18. Minecraft: TNA Part 21
19. It's just a mask -TMNT tr
20. I Love You Mao Mao

Runner-up Games

6. Yakuza Rising
7. Forbidden Arms
8. Shybot
9. Gravity Den
10. Velocity Wings
11. Tinysasters 2
12. FamousPaintings Parodies4
13. FamousPaintings Parodies3
14. Dino Shift 2
15. Submachine 9: the Temple
16. Nunchuck Charlie
17. FatKidFallingDownStairs
18. Faint
19. Pretentious Game 4
20. The deal of the gods
21. Koan

Would have been cool to see Yakuza Rising break the top five, that was probably the closest runner-up in the Stencyl Jam.

The voter of the month and winner of $100 is trueamerican. Awesome, he's a supporter! Supporters get an all-around better NG experience and help fund the site and ongoing prizes.

Congrats to the winners!

After Pico Day I'm hoping to host another software-specific game jam, followed by a return to The Power of Three this summer. Back in 2009 we had a Power of Three competition where teams generally consisted of an artist, programmer and musician. Besides the great games that actually finished, a lot of lasting partnerships were formed and other games were made in the years since. It's time to reignite that spirit of collaboration, especially as we continue to improve the NG project system and feeds!

[Clatform]

Battleship Cathy was awesome. Also, hooray for more collaboration!!

[LucidShadowDreamer]

Power of Three sounds most interesting... :3

[PPKs]

Battleship Cathy was the best this month. Also, I thought it was based on original content?

[ZJ]

At 4/7/14 05:21 PM, PPKs wrote: Battleship Cathy was the best this month. Also, I thought it was based on original content?

Same here. The title is a riff on pop culture stuff, but I think it was pretty much original in its execution. Explanation @TomFulp?

[TomFulp]

At 4/7/14 05:21 PM, PPKs wrote: Battleship Cathy was the best this month. Also, I thought it was based on original content?

Doi doi doi! Yes it is, I updated the post! My brain fizzled there.

[Intrapath]

Good to see the winners of the month, but another Power of Three sounds VERY interesting... :)

[bumblebirds]

Ahh, we came in 10th with Velocity Wings! Pretty good I'd say :)
Congratulations to the winners.

[kazumazkan]

it was hard for me to choose but i really liked battleship cathy and the happy collab

[Blue-SilverDragon]

congrats to the monthly winners.

[PleasantPeasant]

Why does a stupid pokemon video have to win? How many pathetic basement dwellers does this site have?

[WiiFittoToreinaa]

At 4/7/14 06:31 PM, NuclearInfected wrote: Why does a stupid pokemon video have to win? How many pathetic basement dwellers does this site have?

A lot.

[ODYARF]

good stuff, good stuff!

congrats all around, excellent works!

[JRob]

Twitch Draws Pokemon ranked higher than Fake? And Fake wasn't in the top five?

What the fuck guys?

[JRob]

At 4/8/14 01:32 AM, Elitistinen wrote: You know, anything with Pokemon is ranked pretty high.

This is just NG...

It's not the fact that it's Pokémon that's bugging me - it's the fact that it's one of the endless amounts of shitty parody videos that plague this site.

And we have another fucking Game Grumps fan animation on the front page.

[VicariousE]

At 4/8/14 01:44 AM, JRob wrote:

At 4/8/14 01:32 AM, Elitistinen wrote: You know, anything with Pokemon is ranked pretty high.

This is just NG...

It's not the fact that it's Pokémon that's bugging me - it's the fact that it's one of the endless amounts of shitty parody videos that plague this site.

And we have another fucking Game Grumps fan animation on the front page.

Kids are really boring and predicable these days |: At least the Mario/Sonic stuff has abated... slightly.

Congrats to the winners, and to trueamerican for winning the voting pool! I wish more old timers could support NG.

[Oh-Sama]

At 4/7/14 05:11 PM, TomFulp wrote: Your votes are in and the Best of March have been determined!

Ha! Awesome :D
Thanks to all people who have supported the Happy Collab by all means :)
Congrats to other winners and best wishes to the rest :)

[Cyberdevil]

Congrats to the winners! And woah, Happy Collab's in the list! I wasn't expecting that! :D Nice.

At 4/8/14 01:32 AM, Elitistinen wrote: You know, anything with Pokemon is ranked pretty high.

This is just NG...

And not just NG. :/

[TinSleeves]

Thanks for voting everyone!
Really awesome to be voted #1 game, especially with the other amazing games in the running :)

[fizzd]

Congrats to the winners!

I have a question though. Our game Rhythm Doctor was originally uploaded as a demo in 2013 and got featured on the front page for a while (thanks for that!! Newgrounds has accounted for five times as much views as my personal site hehe).

The thing is it wasn't a completed game; I'm doing the whole update the game as it's being developed thing (the Minecraft model sort of). So the version now is a little different from the one last year, and it will continue to be updated with new levels until the game is complete. I really like this model though it's kind of different from most of the flash games here.

BUT Newgrounds still recognises it as a really old game, so you have to go digging for it to find it, which means exposure now is hard to come by even though it is still updated. Cause you have to change the default sorting to 'All-Time'. Don't get me wrong though I love that Newgrounds continuously features new content. It's the only way we got noticed here in the first place. Kongregate for example just keeps the same games on the front page and, well, I got 1000 views there and 75,000 views here ;)

Question is, should I resubmit it as a completed game in order to get seen again once the it has been updated enough? Or will that be counted as a double submission?

[Whirlguy]

Congrats everyone! And there's another PO3 coming up? Cool! All this makes me feel like a room without a roof. Better clap along.

At 4/8/14 01:44 AM, JRob wrote: It's not the fact that it's Pokémon that's bugging me - it's the fact that it's one of the endless amounts of shitty parody videos that plague this site.

And we have another fucking Game Grumps fan animation on the front page.

Meh, they're not all horrible. Pokemon and Gamegrumps animations are usually of great quality, though they fail to add anything new and exciting to the website. And the classic portal only shows characters from animation series which are at least 5 years old. It makes me feel like we're stuck in time. New and original characters such as those from the Balgar animations deserve more exposure instead. Just my 2 cents.

[Whirlguy]

Also, this needs some love.

• 

  Mental

  by Fernsalini

  an abusive nurse gets her comeuppance

  Movie

  20,470 Views

  (Ages 13+)

[TomFulp]

At 4/8/14 01:32 AM, Elitistinen wrote: You know, anything with Pokemon is ranked pretty high.

This is just NG...

This is just the internet...

[TomFulp]

At 4/8/14 09:40 AM, fizzd wrote: The thing is it wasn't a completed game; I'm doing the whole update the game as it's being developed thing (the Minecraft model sort of). So the version now is a little different from the one last year, and it will continue to be updated with new levels until the game is complete. I really like this model though it's kind of different from most of the flash games here.

This has been one of the tough areas to address, because we do need to keep shining a light on incoming submissions, while so much amazing stuff gets gradually buried.

One thing I could do is give it another run on the front page since it has had a lot of updates - so let me know when you would like to give that a shot!

Another thing is that our upcoming feeds update will notify fans when a game is updated, so for existing fans you will have more ways to keep them in the loop. There is also the front page news option - do you have access to post news to the front page when you make a blog post? That is a good way to update the general community.

I'd also like to bring the whole Throwback Thursday thing to Newgrounds, it will likely just start off as a weekly news post that highlights some classics from that day in NG history. I think I'd like the entire front page to become a showcase of classics every Thursday, but that will require getting a programmer involved so we could see how the news post goes first.

[TheEnkian]

Power of Three sounds like a great collab to try out, I always work in teams of three anyway so it's perfect for me.

[JRob]

At 4/8/14 09:53 AM, Whirlguy wrote:

At 4/8/14 01:44 AM, JRob wrote: It's not the fact that it's Pokémon that's bugging me - it's the fact that it's one of the endless amounts of shitty parody videos that plague this site.

And we have another fucking Game Grumps fan animation on the front page.

Meh, they're not all horrible. Pokemon and Gamegrumps animations are usually of great quality, though they fail to add anything new and exciting to the website.

Some have quality in terms of animation, but they have an infinitesimally small or completely nonexistent amount of creativity. The parody videos are basically just an animated version of what you might see the shitty tumblr users of the fandoms point out (ex. "omg theres liek too many zubats in dark cave" animated). An at least decent parody has to have at least some creativity - stuff like the Seinfeld-styled Mario parody and such.

As for the Game Grumps animated, I wouldn't mind them as much if they were uploaded elsewhere instead of here, like on their YouTube channel.

And the classic portal only shows characters from animation series which are at least 5 years old. It makes me feel like we're stuck in time. New and original characters such as those from the Balgar animations deserve more exposure instead. Just my 2 cents.

We have new series with original characters that don't seem to be getting quite as much attention - "Unfortunate Girl," "Romanticide," or Warlord-of-Noodles' current series:

• 

  Little Bunny Foo Foo: No Evil 008

  by Warlord-of-Noodles

  someimes the field mice deserve it.

  Movie

  245,384 Views

  (Everyone)

Bottom line, this site needs to put more emphasis on creative and original content, but no one seems to care about originality/creativity anymore. I think the lines from the Buckethead song, Funbus, "Happy being sold mediocrity; Failure only happens from originality," fits very well here.

[fizzd]

At 4/8/14 10:37 AM, TomFulp wrote:

At 4/8/14 09:40 AM, fizzd wrote: The thing is it wasn't a completed game; I'm doing the whole update the game as it's being developed thing (the Minecraft model sort of). So the version now is a little different from the one last year, and it will continue to be updated with new levels until the game is complete. I really like this model though it's kind of different from most of the flash games here.

This has been one of the tough areas to address, because we do need to keep shining a light on incoming submissions, while so much amazing stuff gets gradually buried.

One thing I could do is give it another run on the front page since it has had a lot of updates - so let me know when you would like to give that a shot!

Thanks for the frontpage offer, that is too kind of you. But if it's not too much, could I ask for a front page a few months down the line in September instead, please? It has a bit more content than it did a year and half ago when it was front paged, but I want to add a lot more (basically an entire second half of the game) to make sure it is really worth being on your front page a second time round.

At 4/8/14 10:37 AM, TomFulp wrote: Another thing is that our upcoming feeds update will notify fans when a game is updated, so for existing fans you will have more ways to keep them in the loop. There is also the front page news option - do you have access to post news to the front page when you make a blog post? That is a good way to update the general community.

Ah I have an option to make a news post, I'm not sure if it goes to the front page though, or at least there isn't a checkbox for it in the editor. Notifying fans when something is updated is a brilliant idea!

At 4/8/14 10:37 AM, TomFulp wrote: I'd also like to bring the whole Throwback Thursday thing to Newgrounds, it will likely just start off as a weekly news post that highlights some classics from that day in NG history. I think I'd like the entire front page to become a showcase of classics every Thursday, but that will require getting a programmer involved so we could see how the news post goes first.

Throwback Thursdays sounds like a cool compromise. I personally feel though that newsposts would be adequate enough to highlight old material for those who would be interested. When I go to Kong and see Burrito Bison Revenge and Learn To Fly STILL there on the front page two years down the road, it gives the impression that nothing has changed. I dunno, maybe most of their visits are from new users who have never visited the site before, who knows, but I feel the current NG structure is really effective for getting discovered as a new dev/artist, and I say that being one of those new developers, who thanks to the exposure at Newgrounds, had our game go on to win the IGF Student Showcase this year!

Here's how NG helped us: When I was wrapping up the demo I put it on FGL hoping to get it sponsored. No one liked it, or rather, no one wanted to sponsor a 'demo'. I gave up looking for a sponsor, and put it on Kong, it did terribly there and was soon buried, at most getting 5 to 10 plays and really vicious ratings.

But Newgrounds was different. It passed the vetting stage, was front paged, and absolutely shot up in popularity. It was crazy, and this is how many people discovered our game, making LPs and tweeting and starting this whole wave which culminated in us getting notified that we won the Student IGFs! And we would be flying to the US where we had never set foot in before, and we had a great time and we talked to press and got to know real indie people there, and are now working with someone we met at GDC to port our game to mobile (although we haven't found a web sponsor yet heh, would NG consider? :P). And to think it was all started at Newgrounds. This is why I love your system and you guys. :) And this is also why I think anything that detracts from active content-creators being exposed would be a Bad Thing.

I'm just a small-time dev of course, and you probably have your reasons for Throwbacks beyond spotlighting those who do the Minecraft thing, I just feel strongly about the model you've built!

[Whirlguy]

At 4/8/14 04:40 PM, JRob wrote: Some have quality in terms of animation, but they have an infinitesimally small or completely nonexistent amount of creativity. The parody videos are basically just an animated version of what you might see the shitty tumblr users of the fandoms point out (ex. "omg theres liek too many zubats in dark cave" animated). An at least decent parody has to have at least some creativity - stuff like the Seinfeld-styled Mario parody and such.

As for the Game Grumps animated, I wouldn't mind them as much if they were uploaded elsewhere instead of here, like on their YouTube channel.

Both are welcome in my opinion. I guess the Gamegrumps animations take very little planning, but they can still be original in terms of how they are being animated. If you were to distribute 1 of their audio snippets over 10 different animators, they would all come up with something different. At least, that's what I assume... The same could be said for jokes, I think. Everyone will tell a joke differently, and some do it more compellingly than others. These animations are different yet the same; kind of like how standup comedy is always different but still emphasizes on similar stereotypes.

We have new series with original characters that don't seem to be getting quite as much attention - "Unfortunate Girl," "Romanticide," or Warlord-of-Noodles' current series:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/621259

Yeah, love those animations by Warlord-of-Noodles', great characters! The others are great too. Know of any light-hearted or humorous series that should be in the spotlights? Or maybe something more action-packed? Sexual-Lobster and LazyMuffin have some pretty likable original characters, and they still actively create new content.

Bottom line, this site needs to put more emphasis on creative and original content, but no one seems to care about originality/creativity anymore. I think the lines from the Buckethead song, Funbus, "Happy being sold mediocrity; Failure only happens from originality," fits very well here.

Parodies have - and will always be popular. I don't think anyone rejects originality per se, it just needs more hype.

[Viper]

Congrats to the winners!

At 4/7/14 05:11 PM, TomFulp wrote: After Pico Day I'm hoping to host another software-specific game jam, followed by a return to The Power of Three this summer. Back in 2009 we had a Power of Three competition where teams generally consisted of an artist, programmer and musician. Besides the great games that actually finished, a lot of lasting partnerships were formed and other games were made in the years since. It's time to reignite that spirit of collaboration, especially as we continue to improve the NG project system and feeds!

Oooo really looking forward to this.
I'd join but I doubt anyone wants my suckish music. That and what I use to record audio is my webcam mic since I don't have any actual recording stuff ._. And the quality of that isn't exactly the best......

[Wiesi]

I'd be down for Power of Three!