Every day since the middle of December, the sun rises a little earlier and sets a little later. I can feel the extra minutes of solar power invigorating me and replenishing my energy nacelles.

Please take a sec and vote for Chibi Knight as "peoples' choice" at FGS. If it wins, I'm taking my daughter (who was the voice of Chibi Knight) out for a banana split. http://www.flashgamingsummit.com/award s.html

I was really surprised to find out that Chibi Knight has been nominated for a couple "Best of 2010" awards. So I'm assigning everyone who likes my stuff to go vote and help me win the praises and accolades I DESERVE :-P

1. "The Mochis" - peoples' choice: http://www.flashgamingsummit.com/award s.html
Click the big blue arrow button that says "vote for the peoples' choice award"

2. Jay is Games Best Adventure Game: http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2010/act ion-adventure/
This one can be voted on once a day I think so put it in your scheduling program or something.

In honor of Chibi Knight's nominations, check out these huge fan-art posters Jouste made. Renaenae was super kind and printed them for me. My wife then found a great deal on some giant frames! These will go up on my office wall once I get around to painting. (Meatboy pictured to show scale)

ARE YOU A FLASH ARTIST?

DO YOU NEED A JOB?

COME WORK HERE: http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/12 25561

Fairly good pay ($15 per hour) and consistent work. Learn while you earn!

At my day job, www.woogiworld.com, my right hand artist just gave his 2 weeks notice (today) and this right when we've had a huge influx of projects. I need some artists to pick up his slack and make sure we hit our deadlines on some big time stuff. If you turn out to be a good team member, this could give you employment for years to come.

I love being a member of the NG community where I know there are vast pools of talent just laying around reading front page posts....join meeeee on the light side of children's educational flash games :-P

FYI: I'm doing a short yoga routine every morning, eating right, trying to get some sun every day, and trying to keep a healthy balance between work and relaxation, I'm also working out 3 or 4 times a week and playing basketball with some church friends on Saturdays. I'm also over my flu, which helps a lot. Thanks for all the advice and help with the blue funk of my last post <3

Do you ever get a feeling of emptiness around this time of year?

I feel what equates to writer's block in relation to many things I want to accomplish, I know what needs to be done, but can't seem to bring myself to get in gear.

I want to exercise, but can't get off the couch.

All I want to do is eat terribly unhealthy food and desserts even though that's all I've been doing over the holidays.

I find it extremely frustrating that it gets dark outside before the end of my work day.

I finally watched the last season of Lost.

I have a nagging dry cough that sometimes brings up disgusting chunks of flem, and other times is so relentless it makes me feel like I'm having a brain aneurysm.

On an intellectual level I know I have many things to be happy about, but I'm just not feeling it emotionally.

Newgrounds, can you get me out of my nasty emo funk?

Play the game here! http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/

553864

Brother Nephi's Ultra-funtastic Point and Click Adventure Chapter 2

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Official Walkthrough

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Hints

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1. Hot Dog Salesman - Lemuel ate all of his toppings, he's looking for something special to offer, namely "MUSHROOM PASTE." How could you combine some items in your inventory to make MUSHROOM PASTE?

2. Camel - Rumor has it that this camel is afraid of felines.

3. Girl by the Well (Camille) - She's obsessed with falling in love. What romantic item might she be interested in?

4. Hippie/Dreidel guy in the bar - He's the owner of the camel parked in front of the bar. He's so much of an animal lover that he wrote a strangely romantic poem for his camel. Defeat him at a game of dreidel and he'll turn the poem over to you. Word on the street is that he's under investigation for animal smuggling.

5. Dreidle Game - The camel guy is a cheater, so maybe you can even the odds by preventing his evil table slamming.

6. Under-cover cop - He's staking out the bar to try and capture an animal smuggler...

7. Bartender - A stoic figure who runs the "Red Yamaka." He won't say much, but you might be able to get one of the pretzels on his bar counter.

8. Hobo - This guy is always up for a trade...as long as that trade involves food. Try out any edible items you find on him to get something special in return.

9. Jacob (Kid by the kitty) - He seems harmless enough, though he's mighty interested in whatever's sparkling on the cat's collar that's stuck in the tree.

10. Kitty - A cat in a tree. It's likely that Jacob had something to do with getting him stuck up there. What might get a cat's attention enough to lure him off the branch?

11. Pirahna plant - This fella grew from a strange block with seemingly radioactive soil. No wonder he's so vicious! If you can get rid of the plant, that soil might be the perfect incubator to grow something special.

12. Mud Pit - What an inconvenience! You need something to lay across it sturdy enough to get Nephi's "large-in-stature" body to the other side. Some people say that the attic of the Red Yamaka has a bunch of junk that might do for somethin like this.

13. Laban's Guard - This character thinks he's so funny with his shadow puppet act. Fortunately his achilles heel is his penchant for wine drinking...you might want to try out something "X-tra strength" on him.

14. Laban - Your uncle is drunk in an alleyway...he's stolen your stuff, and tried to kill you and your brothers...we think you know what to do...

15. Turbo-Anti-Korihor 2000 (laser security system) - I wouldn't touch it, but maybe you're carrying something reflective you could stick in the beams...

16. Bloody Clothes - Zoram, Laban's personal assistant, won't let you into Laban's house with bloody armor on. It seems like there was a bunch of water around here somewhere where you could wash those clothes off...

17. Plates Choosing Game - Only one set of plates is going to be useful to you and your family in maintaining a history of your ancestors!

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Video (This contains spoilers, only watch it if you're REALLY stuck!)

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What's up Home Skillets?

Brother Nephi's Adventure is coming out this Wednesday, I hope you're all amped as much as I am.

FYI, if you have an Android phone you'll be able to buy a mobile version of the game too!

Here's a little trailer for it (listen with headphones if you've got em):

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Hey do you guys remember this game?

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
321942

It was my first ever "sponsored" game. I was so blown away when I contacted Tom about increasing the old NG file-size limit and he offered to sponsor it.

We (me on art and saxmaestro on code) started working on a sequel almost immediately afterward, but then got pulled into various other projects and life in-general. Occasionally we'd go back and tool on the game, but it was mostly completely relegated to "back burner" status. Fast-forward 4.5 years and we've come back to it with renewed vigor. We've been busting our buns finishing it off for the last few weeks and it's turning out wonderfully.

The game is about 10 times bigger than the original in gameplay (and file size lol). The graphics are all updated and it's full of nice mini-games, cut-scenes, and humor. There will end up being around 400 voice acted lines in total so you can count on lots of entertaining dialogue branches to go through as you help "Nephi" solve puzzles and complete his ultimate goal. Here are some highlights about the game:

- 16 NPCs to help you on your quest
- 11 areas to explore
- Completely custom soundtrack
- 400 + fully voice-acted lines of dialogue
- Lucas-arts-esque Point and Click Gameplay and Humor
- Mini-games
- In-game animated shorts
- Animated cutscenes
- An engaging set of puzzles to solve

We've got big plans for this since it's one of the most polished and BIG games we've ever made. Keep an eye out for it in the coming weeks :-D

Madness: Premeditation was a bit of an experiment for me. It's been a while since I've tried to do something "new" in flash and building this game was really rewarding because of the hurdles I had to overcome to make the game work properly.

The original concept was quite a bit different from the end result:
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/36 e322a09404ef4656b121c96997db71

As you can see, it was going to be more of a step by step process where you had a choice of what to do every 5 seconds or so, then could watch the replay and see all your planning play out in full-speed. Seeing the "replay" was always a key part of the idea since a lot of the pleasure, I think, of the Madness series is just sitting back and watching the slaughter unfold.

Another big inspiration were all those "gun-fu" movies like "Equilibrium" where the main dude has obviously planned with precision how he'll kill everyone.

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In the end, after some discussion with Luis, we decided to simplify the concept from the "choice every 3 seconds" down to distinct phases divided up by action type, so basically: 1. Run the level 2. Aim your guns and 3. Watch it unfold. This, not only made the game simpler to "pick up and play" it also narrowed the scope down to something we could finish in the limited amount of time we had.

My first hurdle was deciding how to show the player's path after having already run it:
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/86 a3ae1c5f6c527eae1a1bfb218fdb47

One of my concerns was trying to reduce the amount of data I was storing to pull off the replay since I wanted it to be share-able in small data packets. I decided to drop a "node" every few frames at the player's x and y position and then use the drawing API to connect the nodes and approximate the path the player followed through the level.

Originally you could only shoot from one of those evenly-spaced nodes:
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/37 74ffac903ea31035b59048ca83e073

Luis suggested I allow the player to place nodes anywhere along the line and I agreed that would be a lot better...but implementing that was another hurdle...

How can you calculate the x position of a variable line given a specific y position (and vice-versa)?

Eventually I remembered my Algebra class and used the point slope formula. I know this is a simple concept for most coders, but when I figured out how to make my move-able node "snap" to my arbitrarily-created line, it was a moment of triumph for me. Here's how it's done for those who might be wondering:

========NERDGASM=======

My line was already broken up into segments since I was dropping nodes at specific intervals, so I could always start with 2 points:
(x1,y1) and (x2,y2)

From these 2 points you can calc the "slope" of the line. ie: rise/run:
m = y1-y2/x1-x2;

Since I know the user's x mouse position, I can automatically center my node there:
finalx = this._xmouse;

Point slope formula is:
y2 - y1 = m(x2 - x1);

To calc the final y position, solve the equation for y2 using one of the line's end-points and your _xmouse to substitute:
finaly = (m*(finalx-x1))+y1;

Then just place the node at the final calculated points:
node._x=finalx;
node._y=finaly;

Now wherever you move your mouse, it will "snap" to the created line. (In the final game I also threw in some logic to calculate the X position based on the _ymouse to make moving along the line smoother when the slope was steep).

=====END NERDGASM========

This is just 1 example of the many hurdles and new thought paths I had to take to get the game where it is now...getting the player's hands to move correctly and maintain the correct gun for Left and Right, laser-sight aiming, restricting 2 handed weapon aiming, removing nodes once they're placed, and saving/loading saved data with the NG API were other learning experiences along the path to getting the game released.

I didn't do it alone, a lot of the best gameplay ideas came from friends, like Luis,Coaly, and Jacksmack who helped refine how the path is displayed to indicate time passage (thick to thin, light to dark) and also displaying the time-stamp as you scroll along the line to allow more exact planning.

Many others have since given great suggestions, like having a timeline to scrub along to make node-placement more exact (and so you don't get inaccurate placement when lines intersect), allowing more sandbox control like level-design and placing your own enemies, projecting enemy paths the same way your own path is projected, restricting node placement based on gun recoil/re-loading, melee attacks, slow motion/bullet time, and throwing your gun when it's out of bullets...maybe in a sequel?!

I know there are still a few bugs, but I'm very happy with this game mainly because I learned so much when addressing the little hiccups that arose in trying to do things I hadn't done before. Sometimes it's easy to stick to the stuff you've been successful with, but when you stretch your skills with something fresh it can really help revive your love for the medium.

GOOD LUCK!

P.S.
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/1b 2e605e26a3059793aea1dc8fb57a23

Originally the game was going to star Sanford and Deimos from Madness Combat 9...with Deimos being the "ghost" or "spirit" (because he died) who planned the level and then Sanford would use Deimos' post-mortal intel to execute the level with deadly accuracy. Someone told us it was too convoluted though, so we stuck with Hank...though on level 2's background Luis snuck in Jouste's poster of Sanford and Deimos :)

I didn't train at all for the Tour De Tahoe this year...I'm feelin' the effects today...

Can someone stop by and massage my everything?

72 miles around Lake Tahoe was beautiful though.

P.S. Madness day something on its way!

We should move madness day to march...

I have an idea for it...we'll see if I can pull it together in time.

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