Well... it's May. The Random Select Collab is now five months or so overdue. I don't think there's much of a point in keeping things quiet and unsaid. We're way past that.
The fact is that the RSC, as well as all of our other projects, are at the point in which heavy involvement by CE-Rap is required. For pretty much all of them, We've been at a full stop for the last several months. We had enough of a window to collab on my section of the RSC, but that was about it. The problem is that CE-Rap never really recovered from Hurricane Sandy. Things continue to be shitty for him. The result is that our house now looks abandoned - faded paint, piled-up newspapers, waist-high grass, the whole nine yards. Quite honestly, I'm surprised that people even check this page anymore.
But... there is now some real hope for the future. No bullshit.
Sometime in June/July, CE-Rap will finally be getting out of New York. He's moving out. No more hurricanes. No more headaches associated with living day-by-day. He'll be touching down someplace more condusive to our continued joint venture - MY PLACE.
Yep. You read that right. We're gonna be roomies.
And THAT is when we will make up for all of the lost time over these last couple of years. We've got long-term plans, but the short-term is pretty much US PUTTING IN WORK. We've already got several projects just needing that... little... push. ...and then the dam will break and there will come a FLOOD of new content. Those of you who have graciously shown so much patience will see this old house turn into party central real damn quick.
First on the list will be the Random Select Collab. After all this much wait, that's gotta be priority one. After that, we got multiple tracks we can follow covering multiple genres and formats. Exiles may be gone, but I think everybody will appreciate the glut of quality material that will be taking its place.
In the meantime, I've decided that no matter what happens, I'm NOT going to be skunked for 2014. To that end, I've decided to go ahead and fast-track a new "skirmish" sprite mini-series. Whatever it ends up being, it will center around the action. Shorter, condensed, rapid-fire. They may not be the full-length fights of the Exiles and they likely won't have the complex storylines and art production, but they won't take eight months to produce, either.
The drought is nearly over. Hang in there, folks - storms a-comin'...
R1665
Age 41, Male
Kentucky, USA
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Hope on the horizon
Posted by R1665 - May 21st, 2014
Comments
Yeah. Only a few of us are trying to keep sprites a thing.
It's good to see that there's sprite making out there. :)
And good to hear that the collab is still running.
awesome bro hope you guys become the next big thing because i still watch exiles eveytime i get off work and its better everytime may the gods bless your work
Oh no!!! Ur back!! More competition now. Well, Heartless, seems like you've got a game that needs steppin up. Mystic, hopefully u will continue ur awesome work and Tech, u know the drill. Lol. I need to finally produce my work also. It seems like the 'animator clan' is back and running. I hope to see new faces. Its good to know that you kept us all updated R1665. Im happy for u both. I have a great feeling we might make something big from this. Watcha!!
-MrIlls
Now that’s what I like to hear! That’s cool R1665 that you guys are making moves!
I’m also glad that Rap is safe as well! I’m looking forward to the collaboration and what ever project you got going R1665. Let’s get the hardcore sprite team back in the game and show them how to rock! XD
@HeartlessKarma I agree!
@IIIs10 Thanks man, I have one soon to come.
I still think you should focus all of your effort on VG exiles or some equivalent series. Build up momentum with it, make your own webpage, and use advertisements to generate revenue so that eventually it can be a decent source of income or even full time job. You guys have the skills to do it - but it requires exceptionally high quality animation, art, and especially story.
The collab things are ok, but they don't build up momentum. They aren't cliffhangers; people wont be waiting eagerly for the next one to come out. Stick with an addictive series and you'll have people frequently checking your page.
Alvin Earthworm could have pulled it off, he definitely had the talent and the huge fan base. You guys have the talent, and would need to develop the fan base. I would be curious what your thoughts on the idea are.
While it is true that we will need to focus on a "bread and butter" series, a problem arises when the episodes arrive months in-between. Even at full speed, this stuff takes time.
The advantage of collabs and such is that they can be generated quickly. They may not build momentum, but they will give the viewers something to see fairly regularly. Of course, any new viewers picked up is a bonus, also. Momentum isn't just something to be built - it has to be maintained.
Alvin-Earthworm did have talent and a fan base, but he was only one man and he had some personality quirks working against him. I also would not want the same fan base he "enjoyed" during his prime. That's just asking for trouble. I like to think that the stuff we do appeals to more mature demographics.
R1665
You would get my and other 'mildly addicted' viewers attention with new episodes every few months. You could also complinent it with a blog, or something to give viewers more reason to check up semi-frequently.
Alvin-Earthworm I would guess could make a comfortable living by setting up a website with semi-frequent updates. He gets tons and tons of responses with extremely little input. I think you guys would be on par with him, with some work. I haven't followed earthworm closely enough to understand why he didn't go after it... didn't have the passion for the flash work? you guys certainly do. Anyways, hard to predict this stuff, not sure how many 'clicks' you need to make a decent amount of money, but I wouldn't be surprised if you could do it.
True, you'd have to deal with the psycho fans, not sure of a way around it. Flash art tends to appeal to young people, and with that comes immaturity. Not sure if your more mature genre (vs super smash bros z) would bring in a different crow, although you almost want the psycho young kids who get obsessed and click click click.
I don't follow newgrounds as much as i used to... and that is because I just don't find the types of clips (like vg exiles) that I find entertaining. Probably there is a lot of good stuff I just haven't come across.... it has been a few years since vg exiles was at its stride.
But anyways, if anyone can do it, you guys can do it!
Trying to make a living through website ad revenue is difficult enough for the heavy-hitters out there. The guys who put out videos every couple of days with millions of views each MIGHT have a shot at some kind of modest income from it, but we're nowhere near the vicinity of that. A-E could be called the most popular sprite animator in history, and even he had nowhere near those numbers.
...plus let's not forget how sites like YouTube (and very soon Twitch) are making life harder and harder for content creators. (Google abandoned their "Don't be Evil" motto long ago.)
While it is true that this format appeals mostly to young people, there are degrees of "young". A-E kept getting harassed by the kind of "young" that wants to see Sonic and Mario do cool things and don't give any kind of crap about anything else - the kind of young that would frequent 4chan and have an undeveloped social sensibility. So when A-E couldn't give them what they wanted at the rate they wanted, they grew impertinent as kids do. Many turned to trolling to get under his skin.
...and Alvin has skin like tissue paper. Plus, he did himself no favors by mixing his business with pleasure.
We CAN do it, certainly. However, I feel that we would do ourselves no favors by assuming the best-case scenario as the future.
R1665
How many times have we heard something like this before...
Entirely too many, I admit.
R1665
OH MAN! I'm so glad to hear that CE-Rap is OK! I've been sending him notes on DA and E-mails but haven't heard from him for about half a year, I've got to admit that I was getting worried. I'm so happy that you made this post, it really sets my mind at ease.
At the same time, I'm sorry to hear that things are shitty... but it sounds like it's gonna be great when he makes it out to your place to get away from all that trouble!!
It's about time!
Geez, I havent checked back here in like half a year and this collab hasnt come out yet!
Well, that's just wonderful! I'm happy that things are gettin' back on track with you and Rap.
While I'm here, I have a question about the VGE series. Yeah, I know it's over and all, but one thing's been bothering me since Ep. 2 (I believe. I haven't watched them in a while). Who were the Acolytes? We know that one of them was Gambit (and he got "Caged"), but that leaves an undetermined number of other dimension-hopping madmen (or women). I was hoping that would have been elaborated on as the series went on, but then it was cancelled. Just figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
I had a whole roster of planned characters, both Exile and Acolyte. The reason I won't be revealing who they were is that I plan on using many of them in other productions.
Gambit was really the only "madman" of the Acolytes. His motivation was in killing people. For others, it would have been money, love, revenge, freedom, anything one could find in the multiverse. These weren't supervillians out to take over the multiverse. Each had more realistic and "smaller" aspirations.
In the same way that the Exiles weren't exactly heroes, the Acolytes weren't exactly villains. All shades of gray.
R1665
Hey man, been a while, how's it going? I'm glad to see that CE-Rap and you will be roomies! Things are on the upswing now! Best of luck, can't wait to see what you guys will churn out together.
All the best to you guys!
Ans it's now September, still no news, is everything alright?
It's... complicated.
But it's not bad.
R1665
I can assume as is usually the case with best laid plans on tha web, life has gotten in the way a bit. Might be time for another weather forecast, so to peak.
-Rota
I seen it on DA so... Happy Birthday R1665!
where are things standing nowadays?
Hey you probably don't remember me but i am a big fan and i just wanted to say thanks for using Jin Saotome in sentinel destruction and im really looking forward to your new work and CE-rap as well
I'm curious on how close the storm is coming; are you and Rap getting along fine? Will we see something before end of the year or everything will have to fall into 2015? Anything...?
Hope all is well.
There were some... complications. However, we're back to work now.
Probably not gonna be anything MAJOR for 2014, but we got some serious stuff in the pipeline for early 2015.
More details soon.
R1665
I hear ya good sir. I was worried we might lose another (Top) sprite animator here. Not much of us left!
It's not as exciting if Sebz, Tech and I are the only ones holding down the fort. We don't see any work from the crew. Hope all works out man! I really miss those cool movies from you!
HeartlessKarma
That's some crazy dedication right there.
I feel like the sprite scene around here has been in a drought.