R1665: “I should probably start off by saying that NINE MONTHS after Hurricane Sandy, CE-RAP is FINALLY getting back on his feet. We have reliable communication now and it's only a matter of time before we get rolling again. Evidently, there are still THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of people still suffering the aftermath of that disaster and disaster relief is a "last in, first out" business model. If you don't live in New York and you think that everything should be rebuilt and fine by now, you'd be wrong.
CE-Rap: “For those nine months that followed the storm, I lived in a state sponsored shelter for Sandy victims, just trying to garner new funds so that I could leave it and find a new place to live. “
R1665: “Well, Rap finally has his own place, a decent computer, and the will to get moving as soon as he is able. That's the first thing that must be said. However, the reason for this particular news post is another subject .
In a move that confused some people who just happened to show up in that six-hour window, I made a news post in which I made what some might consider a startling revelation. It involved a professional separation from a then-unheard-from Rap. I deleted it because six hours after posting it, I got the "WOO HOO I'M FINALLY FREE!" message from him.
Nevertheless, I do feel now that I should just go ahead and drop the big news without further ado - The VG Exiles series is officially cancelled. Now, before you guys start building that guillotine, please allow me to explain why this was necessary and how this will ultimately turn out for the best.
When I first got into sprite animation and created the VG Exiles I had two goals:
1.) Get good at making sprite videos.
2.) Make a badass Stryker fight.
As of VGE3, I had officially accomplished everything I had set out to do. I never really had any long-term story planning other than "make fights with characters I like and then build a story around it to justify it". I don't plan that far ahead. I'm not that kind of guy.
The draw for the rest of the series would've been ‘characters you rarely see getting a chance to shine.’ That's all well and good, but it's very limited. It's just looking to the past and not the future. It's the future that interests us now.”
CE-Rap: “Now, to clarify, the VG Exiles was initially planned to be a reboot. The story we wanted to tell required us to create new canon. Things like the Acolyte betrayal and the ambush were going to be largely expanded upon because they would’ve been shown from the beginning, as opposed to having the characters talking about it as a past event. THAT led to a much larger plot, deeper character development, and so on."
R1665: “We rebooted the series (which some of you might remember me having mentioned in the past), and that reboot eventually led to ‘why don't we just make something new?’ We have the skill. We have the drive."
CE-Rap: “This direction was finalized last summer, and throughout the fall of 2012, all the preparations were falling into place… that is until Thunder cu-----*ahem* until Super Storm Sandy left me a fingernail away from homelessness. Communications were shot, my resources were lost, my tools were destroyed--EVERYTHING had to be put on hold. I shot a line to R1 every chance I got but we only talked 2-3 times in all that time. He tried to keep the dream alive for a time, even releasing a new FAILTALITY video under the moniker of our new group, RHINO REX STUDIOS---> where all of our new content will be released from. Since it’s release, communications fell apart again, and Riggie was losing hope that I’d ever be in a place to do the things we had planned---hence the awkward deleted post that some of you might not have even seen. In actuality, I moved out of that shelter about 3 weeks ago. The VERY DAY Riggie posted that he was ending everything—was the VERY DAY I contacted him, saying that I was finally free from the shelter."
R1665: “Awkward. Well, "Thomas Jane at the end of The Mist" moment aside, that post had to go. ”
CE-Rap: “I live in a pretty tiny and VERY modest apartment for the time being, with plans to move into a more adequate living space once enough time and money has been saved. That is slated to happen end of this year/early next year. In the meantime, Riggie gave me his old computer and bought a new monitor for it, allowing me the chance to get back in the game. And now that things are finally—FINALLY—settled down, I’m in a much better place to GET back in the game.
At long last, we have the resources to do the things we had been planning on for months. I’m a creature of evolution, and I’m all about challenging myself to be better in everything I do. I felt like if we were gonna go THIS hard, we need to go above and beyond what’s been done before. We need to use our own talents instead of rehashing the tools of others.”
R1665: “We now have the resources. Why not use those to take the craft to the next level? Anybody can take these existing characters and make them shine. Making NEW ones? THAT'S a challenge. THAT'S the next level. THAT'S what we want to do.”
CE-Rap: “And that’s what we’re GONNA do. Mind you, this isn’t some longwinded smug statement. This is US letting all of YOU know what’s been on both our minds for the past year and a half. You’d have known this sooner if the storm never happened.
VG Exiles--THE SERIES--is dead. An all new, all different, bigger, and better series has taken its place.More news on that front soon.”
R1665: “So, before you condemn me for letting go of a series you might have loved, stick around and see what we have in the pipeline now. We're betting that you'll be glad you did...”
CE-Rap: “Let me take a quick moment here to thank the handful of you that cared enough to leave messages for me here and on DA showing your support. The last few months have been one of the most grueling experiences of my life, and finally having the opportunity to move on from it is a welcome relief.”
-Rig and Rap
