@GnarpzART - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: What makes something interesting from your perspective?

I find a wide variety of things interesting—I can’t point to just one without being too vague.

Q: What do you love about Rage Against the Machine?

Most importantly, passion. Zack de la Rocha is insanely passionate about his message, which you can really feel in their music, and I love that.

Q: What would you say are some misconceptions about creating animation?

For animators, I think a lot of us forget to have fun and experiment in the process, instead focusing too much on getting the animation perfect. However, in my experience, having fun and experimenting often lead to better animation.

Q: How did you start creating animations, and why?

I’ve always loved drawing and creating stories, so it was only natural to combine my passions and animate my stories.

Q: How did it come to be that your process revolves so much around improvisation for your scriptwriting?

I started improvising weird stories as a kid. I don’t really know where it came from—I guess I just always had a passion for creating, along with a wild imagination.

Q: What are the differences between the types of animation you are interested in and those you are not? What common elements resonate with you, and which do not?

I like almost every kind of animation. What resonates with me isn’t so much the style but the story and execution. A great place to find variety in all three is Love, Death & Robots, a series I wholeheartedly recommend.

Q: What do you like to read, and what are some fantasy books that you enjoy and why?

I like to read long fantasy novels. Currently, I’m enjoying The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb. I love her writing because of her characters—she really makes you empathize and feel invested in them. Also, I obviously loved the Harry Potter books as a kid.

Q: How and why did you get interested in climbing?

One day, my friend and I just decided to try it, and because it was so fun, we’ve been climbing ever since.

Q: What are your opinions on food?

Love it.

Q: What do you like about banh mi sandwiches?

I can’t really put my finger on what makes them fantastic, but they’re amazing.

Q: How did you discover NG, and why did you join?

I had known about it for years and finally joined after I started animating to become part of a community filled with like-minded people.

Q: Animation resources you would recommend?

If you animate on an iPad, I’d highly recommend ToonSquid—it’s cheap, intuitive, and all-around great.

Q: What are your goals, and why do you think you have those goals?

I would love to do art for a living because I enjoy it, and it would allow me to focus fully on my passions. I also want to improve my art, especially drawing from imagination. Achieving those goals would give me freedom and happiness.

Q: If you were to create an inspirational quote, what would it be?

A positive mindset is everything. If you look for solutions and keep at it, eventually, you’ll find them.

@sebulant - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: What is the Internet about?

It’s about whatever you decide to do with it. For me, it’s about talking to my friends online, or looking at other peoples’ creations, like art or speedrunning history videos.

Q: How did you discover NG, and why did you join?

I discovered Newgrounds back in 2011 when my cousin showed me Moving Targets by Eddsworld. Then after that, the site had always been in the back of my mind. I probably visited once every couple years or so, but I never had any reason to stay.

I signed up for the first time in 2019 wanting to reupload some of my YouTube videos. After making my account I realised that the movie portal probably wasn’t the best fit for my content, so I never went through with it. I still made a blog post announcing my grand arrival though. I deleted my account shortly after being called a slur in the comments of that post lol.

Then in 2021 I made my second (and current) account so I could save my scores in FNF. The thought of posting art on Newgrounds didn’t really occur to me until I saw Bacun shilling the hell out of the site on Twitter. I’d gotten a pen tablet a few months prior to this and it went largely unused, so this looked like a good opportunity to get my money's worth.

Q: The story of your username: sebulant

I wish there was more to it, but it’s just a nickname someone called me for a couple weeks. I happened to need a new username at the same time, so it stuck. It really bugs me that I didn’t coin it, it feels like I stole it in some weird kinda way.

Q: What do you like about creating art and games, and what got you interested in them?

Creating stuff is just fun, especially when it involves drawing Pokemon or Psychonauts characters. Also seeing people engage with the stuff you make is great too, the amount of positive comments that Wanted! got was awesome.

I first got into art when I was around 5 years old and I’d seen a drawing my older sister did. It was simple but looked alright. Most importantly though, I thought to myself: “I could do that”, and I did. After this I just kept drawing more and more, at some point I was drawing full comics in my sketchbook every night. I stopped drawing consistently around 2014, but started again in 2020 after buying a new pen tablet on a whim.

Getting into game development was kind of an accident. I first learned to code through a Minecraft mod called ComputerCraft. I wanted to have a password lock on a door, so I looked up and watched a tutorial series on the basics of programming the computers. It was only after this I had learned a real language called Lua, and not some made up Minecraft one. After this revelation, I started programming simple console games in ComputerCraft, then Lua, then Python, and then finally going to university and making “actual” games in Unity.

Q: Your advice for artists and game developers

It’s tricky for me to give out advice because I still feel like I’m still at an intermediate level in both fields. If anything though, try not to get discouraged. It’s very easy to see someone else's work and think “damn, I could never do that”. This mindset is cringe and you shouldn’t see it as a competition. Looking at it as inspiration or a goal for you to eventually achieve, I find that helps me overcome this mindset quite a bit.

Even if you think your own work is bad compared to others, there’s still a good likelihood that someone else is gonna like what you do. If you’ve ever seen the “HoLy ShIt TwO cAkEs!!!” meme, basically just that.

Q: How did you create your Newgrounds Skin Swapper?

It is made using Javascript in Tampermonkey.

The whole concept came about because we were running the Pico Day 2023 site skin for a few months in a row. Normally I wouldn't have cared, but I saw someone point out a minor error with an outline in the art and it was driving me nuts. I also remembered seeing Ninjamuffin stream himself writing a Tampermonkey script that let you save blog post drafts. So, knowing you could use Tampermonkey to “mod” Newgrounds, I started work on a simple script that would change the background image. I was having fun though, so I kept slowly adding more and more features until we ended up with the full customisation suite we have today.

Q: How did you create BYLE?

BYLE was made using Unity and various other 3D art programs I don’t know/remember the name of. I worked on it alongside a team of 6 other of my friends from university, it was our final year project. I’m not exactly sure how long it took to develop, but I think it was around 9 months. We were lucky enough to get a spot at a game convention’s indie game section, and got lots of feedback from the public about game balance too.

Specifically, I worked on programming the character base and all the powerups. Also added an occasional bit of weapons and UI code too. I did pretty much all of the 2D art for the game, excluding the loading screen. None of that art was meant to be permanent, but it stuck because no one else could be bothered to change it.

We were all graded low 70 marks for the game, which is pretty good. Even after finishing uni, we kept working on the game to add more content and get it published on Steam.

Q: What do you think about Unreal Engine?

It’s a good engine, and there’s a reason why it’s industry standard. But fuck does it seem difficult to learn, even with prior knowledge of other engines. I have briefly used it before while I was at university, but I was only programming in it for 1 semester, and my grade at the end of it wasn’t fantastic (still passed). It’s been 3 years since then (I think) and I don’t remember any of it.

That being said, it is my current aim to learn it, but with it being such a difficult task I find it hard to stay motivated. Truthfully I would rather be investing more time into Godot and making games for Newgrounds.

Q: Your experiences with video editing?

Video editing is fun, and I still do it occasionally, but my passion for doing it has long since gone. I started doing it early 2016 after watching a tutorial on how to make Gabe the Dog song edits. The first one I uploaded was a Wii Shop Channel cover and it got thousands of views. None of this momentum carried over to the rest of the channel but it served as a great motivator to keep posting to the channel.

My channel slowly went from Gabe edits to just batshit memes that made no sense. Gabe edits were tedious to make, and shitty memes were way easier and more fun. In 2019 I burnt myself out by doing nothing but video editing for a solid week, resulting in my longest video ever. I never really recovered from this and by 2020 any motivation and will I had to make videos died. I tried to keep going, but with me just starting university I found myself not caring enough anymore.

The channel had a good run and I enjoyed doing it, but looking back most of those videos are really really bad. I deleted/re-edited some videos to purge some particularly edgy jokes not too long ago. The sense of humour I had when I was 14-18 is really embarrassing and not a good look for me now. Some of the more recent videos are still kinda funny though, both parts of “TOP 10 WORST ANIMALS” I think are my favourites.

- Tag Karma

One time I was out watching my friend spray paint some stuff around our village. He'd previously pasted his tag 'Sesh' onto various walls and bus stops, but wanted to try an actual illustration on a legal wall. As he was painting, we overheard some annoying kid in the nearby skatepark boasting to his friends that he was Sesh, not knowing that the actual Sesh was right behind him. We saw him try to recreate the tag and it was hilariously bad. We found the whole thing really funny, but there was a decent chance that kid had an older brother who would've beaten us up, so we didn't say anything LOL.

Moral of the story is don't steal other people's art because they will probably laugh at you.

Q: Why do you think other people try to steal other people's art?

It’s just attention seeking really.

I won’t lie, when I was 7 I traced over a bunch of Mario renders and showed it to my friends saying I drew it. Just like that kid who tried to steal my friends tag, I wanted people to think I was a really good artist and all the attention that came with that.

You could also make the argument that jealousy is another reason, but I think that is what drives people to create AI artwork instead. Prompters without any art experience get jealous of actual artists, so they claim AI art is making art “free for everyone” because “anyone can now do it”. Ignoring the fact you need to fork out serious cash for hardware/services to run AI software, anyone can still make art anyway, they just refuse to learn.

Q: Your favorite food and drinks

My Aspergers usually makes me a picky eater, so I don’t like most foods. That being said, you don’t wanna see me on a Shrove Tuesday, I will be devouring pancakes like my life depends on it.

@VergilMon - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: How would you describe your experiences with the internet?

A: As a person who grew up with the internet at a very young age, I would say that my experience were better compared to the friends that I've made. I am lucky to have learned early on to just stay away from things that would impact my experience/psychological health though sometimes, It still gets really bad.

Q: What is the origin of your username, VergilMon?

A: I really like the Devil May Cry franchise and the main antagonist Vergil and Pokemon so I decided to comebine the names together! like a Pocket Vergil!! :D

Q: How did you become interested in art?  

A: My interest started around when the pandemic happened. I didn't do well in school and the pandemic made it much harder. I became severely depressed and have had attempted (Luckily I was unsuccesful) and when all hope was lost I had found a video recommended to me on youtube about the foundations of drawing! I don't remember whoever it was from but they managed to get me to become infatuated and distracted enough to not think about my situation haha... They technically saved me.

Q: What advice would you give to someone learning to draw?

A: I would say try to do whatever you enjoy! because when you want to do something you enjoy but then lack the skills thereof, you will have that drive to want to get better! It was the same for me!  

Q: What qualities do you appreciate in art?

A: Definitely Creative and Unique composition that gets me to think. I really like to seek meaning and stories within the artpiece that people make and I feel like if it lacks that quality, they fail to stay in my memories.

Q: What media do you enjoy, and why? 

A: I really enjoy the visual side of media, Especially games, They are every kind of media combined into 1 cohesive and immersive world. They are the peak of humanity's creativity in my humble opinion. 

Q: How did you become interested in working out, and what have you learned from it?

A: Funny enough, I became interested in working out after I seperated with my Girlfriend. I became really self conscious of my looks and body so i went to get a gym membership and it evolved from there. I learned alot about how the muscles worked which also coincidentally helped with my knowledge of anatomy to draw them better aswell!

Q: What is the story behind you recently taking care of your bunny, for which you haven’t decided on a name yet?

A: I really like animals for a long time but have never been able to be responsible for them until recently, things aligned to be bunnies because of how the living conditions I saw of them in pet stores... It truly horrifies me on how they mistreat such innocent creatures, not just bunnies. I wish i can care for them all but unfortunately I'm just one person. I have still yet decided on the name as I am very indecisive... :C 

Q: What makes something funny, and what is your opinion on humor?

A: It doesn't take much to make me laugh lol I laugh at any joke people make if I like them haha.  

Q: What are your thoughts on fashion?

A: I'm not much of fashion person but I do like to dress up! people who can dress up nice are so cool.

Q: Why do you enjoy looking at scary things even though you’re squeamish?

A: I don't really know myself, Maybe there's just something in my brain that wants to see the forbidden >:3

- Laxatives story

I once drank a bottle of laxatives thinking It was an odd tasting milkshake and almost ended up dying from dehydration from you know what haha..... I was very stupid and young at the time when it happened! ;^;

Q: What would you say to people who have had similar experiences and feel embarrassed because of them? What would be the right mindset for trying to take something positive, as difficult as it can be, from those experiences?

A: Honestly, Embrace it. The faster you come to terms with it the better for you as it stops being a bad memory into becoming something to laugh about with friends. :D

Q: If you to make a catchphrase, what would be your catchphrase?

A: "Would you let me consume your memories?"

@whimsical-wife - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: Your experiences with the Internet

like most people in my generation, i grew up directly alongside the internet. really, it's hard to imagine life without it (which is a statement that might be horrifying to some of the older users here, i know!). I feel like without it, i'd be a substantially different person. It has helped foster my creativity by giving access to an endless library of talented and creative artists. its so easy to find someone to be inspired by on the internet! not to mention the endless amount of free resources that other artists post online.

not to mention all the generally fun stuff like games. i grew up on stuff like animal jam, transformice, club penguin, moshi monsters, vulpin adventure, dino run, really all the greats. they've definitely influenced my love of colorful critters! i still revisit these games from time to time.

i may not have ever made any friends without the internet, either. i see myself as a very shy, awkward person. i just dont know what to do in social situations, i freeze up and try to get thru interactions as quick as i can because i'm simply nervous. but its way easier to make friends on the internet, and i'm very grateful for that.

Q: The story of your username: whimsical-wife

before whimsical-wife, i had an account on newgrounds called cupheadswife (i was also on fer.al. i was a wave 3 beta tester, if any of yall recognize that username from there hiiii). it was a shitpost name that was chosen because i was super into cuphead at the time, and i thought the reactions i got from it was funny. a lot of people were reasonably horrified by it and some would almost beg me to tell them it was a joke. but after a while, i simply got sick of it. i didn't like feeling shackled to my own username, it made an impression but at what cost?

i had eventually deleted cupheadswife for a variety of reasons, but when i decided to come back i still wanted to incorporate wife into my username, especially as thats what most of my friends refer to me as. i didn't want to link my username to a franchise as i did with cupheadswife, and thought whimsical-wife had nice alliteration. i think the username change turned out very well, as i've been told it matches my artstyle.

Q: What is it about theme parks and rides that captivates you so much, and why do you think you rarely bring it up in conversations?

theme parks (and consequently the rides inside of them) are in my opinion some of the most immersive fantasy experiences you can have. sure, you can play a video game or read a book, but there's not really anything that is tangibly real in the same vein of going to a real theme park. i love animatronics, sets, effects and all that goodness. i tend to prefer older theme park content, as newer theme parks tend towards using screens instead of going the classic route of practical effects and animatronics because its cheaper. there's just something really special to me about the hard work put into making a ride or theme park immersive.

my favorite ride, and what i think is a great example of what i'm trying to describe here is disney world's dinosaur (formerly countdown to extinction.. and soon indiana jones, bleh!) it starts with a interesting story, and has a great start where you are teleported into the past. you're surrounded by lush foliage and get to see TONS of cool dinosaurs. i just think its really engaging and immersive. its not too long, not too short and there's never a lull in action. a shame that they're replacing it!

i never really bring it up because it feels niche. there's an obstacle of knowledge too, my friends know nothing about theme parks and im just not someone who often goes on rants about what i'm interested in (although i have done this occasionally!). I dont bring it up on newgrounds either, because i never feel urged to post about it on the bbs nor do i have any ideas for any theme park related fanart.

Q: How did you discover NG, and why did you join?

i was never really aware of newgrounds as an art site before fnf, which is embarrassing. in fact, i didnt really know afterwards either. i knew it had hosted flash games, but that was about it for what i knew. eventually i saw a video on youtube (although i dont remember what it was by now) where the creator had said they had a wonderful time being on newgrounds. i went to the site, not intending to join but i did so after a front paged animation had caught my eye (it was some cuphead fan animation). 

after i joined, i found the bbs and began to post. i chose to stick around when it felt for the first time that i was actually able to interact with and befriend people there. now, i just cant see myself being on a different site.

Q: What makes you interested in canceled theme park projects?

oftentimes, like with beastly kingdoms, what was going to happen is often more interesting than what actually happens. it feels like special knowledge, too. you get to learn about the history of the parks themselves and what lead them to canceling projects in the first place. for example, beastly kingdoms didn't happen because after a bad opening with euro disneyland, the people in charge had to choose between either dinoland usa or beastly kingdoms being built first. dinoland was chosen instead to create synergy with the movie dinosaur (if you even remember that). Beastly kingdom was supposed to be built later on, but kept being pushed back due to budget reasons. eventually universal studios built their own fantasy themed land and eliminated the need for disney to build their own. they settled on building pandora, the world of avatar in the space that was meant to be for beastly kingdoms.

its just fun to me! maybe it really started when my local theme park rethemed their kids zone, and i spent fruitless hours googling to find out what they did with the props. i cant be too sure though!

Q: How did you get interested in creating Cookie Run art?

at the time i was just BIG into cookie run. typically i draw art of whatever im currently interested in. it was cookie run at the time, then pokemon, then mouthwashing. cookie run has a lot of cute characters, which easily drew me in. my favorite of the bunch was (and still is) pure vanilla cookie, who was a kind ancient healer. i also snagged the username pure-vanilla-cookie on here.. thats right chumps, thats my account (i havent touched it in YEAAAARS)

Q: What is the difference between Newgrounds and deviantART?

my memories of deviantart are very foggy, but i'll try my best to do a decent job of illustrating the differences. first of all, newgrounds is a very personal website. its community is way more tight knit than deviantart's. secondly, the ratings system is superior than whatever DA has going on. If you're familiar on any level with DA, you know that a lot of fetish/adult content isnt kept behind lock and key because it slips under the radar. however newgrounds has a very good rating system, and even if someone fails to rate their works properly you can always report it under improper ratings. The rules for the art portal are very fleshed out. on topic of the art portal, the scouting system allows the portal to feel cleaner. it's also a good way to keep trolls and low effort posters off the scouted artists feed!

deviantart is also overrun with ai slop recently. they advertise you to "imagine with ai!" all over the site. I will never understand taglines like that, i have a brain. I CAN IMAGINE MYSELF. i saw someone selling ai generated adopts of a muscly tigerman riding a griffin for 15 dollars. scrolled down a little, only to see an entire gallery full of that. you think newgrounds' strict rules against ai would have artists flocking here, but i still see people bulk at the mention of using newgrounds. pearls before swine, i suppose. newgrounds is a site made by creatives, for creatives.

Q: What is a friend?

a friend is someone who always has your back, whether having your back constitutes standing up for you or telling you off when you're wrong. a friend is someone you make a constant choice to stick by despite it all, and someone who returns that very favor back to you. for me, friendship is something that requires a lot of forgiveness and grace for everyone involved. you forgive each others missteps, look past any mild annoyances, and don't expect your friends to be able to solve your problems and you will find something beautiful.

friends are very worth it, and thats coming from someone who spent a long time thinking having friends was simply a miserable affair. if you're lonely, keep your head up! you'll find the people who will love and understand you, even if they look completely different from you! drazah, yosos, doumierstar, silkcaesar, crockettdk, wvdb, sparkeybro, creeperforce24, emsdelaroz, vampfairyx if ur reading this i love y'all. i've dispatched a unicorn to your location to kiss your foreheads

Q: What do you think about art?

really, i just do not think i could live without art. i'm surrounded by it, and would be deeply uncomfortable if i wasnt. i've always been drawn to it. i don't know why, but i just need to create and there's no other option for me. 

art is amazing because it allows you to put the ideas in your head into something real. it helps you to communicate with other people through nonverbal means. you can immediately tell a lot about a person through their stylistic choices, and thats beautiful. society likes to devalue artists and creatives, but really without them there just wouldn't be society. ai will never be able to replace humanity in art and its frustrating to know there's people who just dont think that way.

i do believe you will always be able to find art you love. even if you have to look for a while, there will always be artists who have similar mindsets to you, that want to create similar things or send a similar message. or that just draw things you like!

Q: What is a collab?

collabs are a way for talented artists to find an opportunity to showcase their skills to an audience wider than what they would usually reach. early on, collabs were very helpful for growing my account. now that my account is somewhat bigger than it was, i find a lot of joy in creating more opportunities for artists to grow using the collabs i have hosted myself. it feels like im in a way giving back to the site. collabs are also a great way to meet other users on the site! i've made a good deal of friends and acquaintances simply from being in collabs. if you're an artist on this site and you havent joined any collabs yet, you need to!

i never would've gotten as into collabs as i have if i hadn't had the pleasure of co-hosting pokemon mystery meat with thetageist. despite it being a cancelled project now, it has a very high place in my heart and i suppose i have her to thank for allowing me to work on that project. 

Q: Your advice on creating

Firstly, you should create the kind of art you wish to see in the world, and not force your artistic vision to be squandered for numbers on social media. Second off, feedback from other creatives is very important! if you cant think of something for a project you're doing, run it by your friends! i've been stuck on my art before, and have received fantastic ideas from my friends. the art forum on the bbs is also a great resource if you're needing help! there's people like skoops who are very knowledgeable in the basics of art who are very willing to help you out as long as you're open to being helped. don't be afraid to be inspired by other artists, either! thats just how art gets made.

most importantly, never give up! don't stop creating whatever it is your passionate about just because you think your skill level isn't high enough. if you give up, that's where you artistic skill will stagnate. also don't be afraid to scrap projects! if you don't like how something is turning out, just redo it! don't get too attached to something that isn't pleasing to you just out of obligation.

@KornArt3 - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: What is the origin of KornArt3?

Originally my name was Mutation Korno and then at some point during 2021 I believe i wanted to make a new account and kind start brand new (one of the best moves i've done) and changed my name to just KornArt, it was gonna be KornoArt but KornArt rolls of the tongue better!! and 3 comes from my twitter @ ahaha

Q: How and why did you get interested in NG, and why did you create an account? What do you think about the platform?

I believe it was during a time a lot of artists I know from twitter were moving to different sites, and I decided to follow suite and newgrounds was one of them! The platform really is the best for artists, everyone here and their works are celebrated and all that it's really refreshing to look at! Granted I still don't know how to fully use this site but based on my experience i genuinely enjoy it here !

Q: How did you get interested in Sonic?

I can't remember aaaaah, but it was at such a young age I believe it was me seeing Sonic X on television that got me into Sonic and then my first game being Sonic Unleashed for the PS2, ever since that i would watch Sonic AMVS on youtube and learn stuff about the series from there ahaha

Q: When and how did you get interested in creating art, and how would you describe your process for learning how to create art?

I got interested in making art since i was a kid ahaha was passionate about it ever since but didn't make the move to digital until around 2016-2017 and then in 2020 was when I starting taking it a bit more seriously (in a passionate way if that makes sense) and now here I amm!

As for my process, really watching other artists and learning from them really helps along with keeping an open mind with experimenting stuff- you can't really improve if you stay in your comfort zone for too long

Q: What resources for learning and creating art would you recommend?

Aaaaah good question, for me personally I conditioned my timeline on my social media to where I get artworks/edits a lot and I would bookmark them and use it as reference whenever I work, I highly recommend it!! As for resources I think it's somewhat common knowledge BUT just incase you don't know, there's this site called quickposes where you can take part in quick challenges to draw gestures in a short time, that REALLY helps

Q: What are some common mistakes that artists make when learning about art, and what misconceptions about creating art / being an artist would you point out?

This doesn't go for everyone but I think some people care a lot about likes/numbers and all that but genuinely your relationship with art grows better when you start trying to have fun with creating stuff, if you don't feel passionate about it it's best to maybe take a break until you get a wave of inspiration

Q: What do you enjoy learning about Earth, its history, and its creatures?

Seeing how different or even violent this place used to be hahaha, like millions of years ago you had all these creatures that are extinct now that are just at each others throats at all times or the previous versions of different humans idk it's interesting to me

Q: When did you figure out you could make a snake face with your hands in less than a second?

A classmate taught me that in my younger days ahaha and ever since that I can just do it instantly, its muscle memory LOL

- Moral of the story

I don't know what made me tweet it but i remember one day during may i was like "Sega if u need sonic x shadow generations promo art hmu i gotchu" and then a month later i get a dm from one of the social media mangers of the sonic account to do a promo art for the newest game of my favourite character (Sonic x Shadow Generations) LMAO, moral of the story- make your goals clear to the world !

Q: Super awesome! What advice would you give to artists using social media?

Try not to focus on numbers too much! And importantly try to interact with the community when possible!

Q: Food and drinks that you like?

mmmm I really like chicken biriyani and mango juice!

Q: What are your experiences with going to the gym, and how would you describe your progress and the way it has boosted your mood?

It's been pretty nice! It's pretty slow but It is gradually, I'm starting to see my arms getting a bit bigger aha, after a nice gym workout it just makes you feel pretty active and good about yourself!

Q: Games and other media you enjoy, and why?

Outside of Sonic, I actually really love playing fortnite and tekken, and have also been playing marvel rivals a lot recently !! and also I love to indulge myself in Zelda as well, it has such interesting lore to me to learn/theorize about...

as for other media, I would be a fool to not mention some of my favourite animes like Dragon Ball, Jojo and Jujutsu Kaisen, All these animes had an influence with my artstyle ahaha and have such sick and iconic action scenes !

@Dem0n1x - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: The story of your username: Dem0n1x

1. The story about my username is quite funny:p

5-6 years ago my father made a google play account and named it "Dem0n79". When i was making my YouTube channel in 2019 i was thinking about the username and i just took "Dem0n" and added "1X" because, well, I thought it was cool i guess xD

Q: What is NG about?

2. I think NG is about art and people. It's not the most perspective platform, but I really like the vibe and history of the site. There are a lot of great things here that are not on any other sites. There are also a lot of nice and cushy people in my opinion:)

Q: How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

3. I discovered about NG because of Geometry Dash back in 2020. First time I was just listening and downloading music from the site. Over time, when I got my first laptop and FL Studio, I've started to gradually upload my first songs in the summer of 2021.

Back then and now I do not really actively keeping in touch with the NG community unfortunately, but I found many friends from this site and I still have awesome relations with them:p

Q: How would you describe Trance music?

4. Trance is a very deep musical genre in my opinion. Personally, for me it is a way to express my emotions and thoughts into something beautiful and something otherworldly. But why is this genre suitable for this? In my opinion, the repetitiveness and its rather fast pace do their job. This music penetrates your consciousness and heart slowly and carefully. I find it very pleasant and fun to write both with meaning and even without it. It is just the music of my soul :)

Q: What do you like about making music?

5. Earlier i was making music because of fun, now i make it because it helps me to not feel myself lonely and to make my life colourful and it is the only way to express my feelings, and i genuinely love it! Nowadays i have quite a little free time and all this time i spend alone... So the music really helps me with it!:D

Q: Your advice on creating music

6. If you like what you're doing, just keep going! If you do not like something or you're not sure about, you can ask someone who knows more about it! There are many different ways to express and show yourself in music and you shouldn't be afraid to experiment and show your songs to others!

Q: What have you learned about yourself making music?

7. The most important thing I realized about making music is that I want to connect my life with it. Music is a great tool for meeting other people and getting to know yourself as a person. Music really unites! Music is a wonderful source of inspiration and creativity. Music is life!

@Techno - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: You used to use the upstairs neighbor's computer to play stolen Newgrounds games uploaded to random sites. What were the games you liked playing, and why do you think you liked them?

I played anything I could get my hands on, but Pico vs. Bear stuck with me because it was the perfect amount of edginess for a kid at the time. It felt like a new, exciting world, and that really drew me in.

Q: You first found out about Newgrounds in the year 2000 at the age of 7. How do you feel being thrown into the early 2000s Internet Wild West has influenced you?

The early 2000s internet was chaotic and full of raw, creative energy. Newgrounds, KillFrog, and even games like Runescape played a big part in shaping my understanding of the internet. The wild west of it all definitely encouraged me to be creative, experiment, and not take things too seriously.

Q: How did you learn to animate in Flash, and where did you learn to use Flash? After that, when did you start making Flash games?

I first learned to animate in Flash from my friend Paul. We’d make short animations together, sometimes submitting them to Newgrounds, although they didn’t always get the best reception. To improve, I just started engaging more with the community and asking questions on the BBS.

Making small games with actionscript was my introduction to the world of game development. Being so young, I had no idea how to really write code back then, so it was just trial and error. None of the original projects from that time period are available online, but I can assure you they were horrible.

Q: What's the story of you creating your account in 2006 August 11th?

I had another account before this one, but I lost the username and password. Creating a new one in 2006 was my way of starting fresh.

Q: The story of your username: Techno

Originally, I went by the username ‘LickitySplit’, and then tried out a few others. ‘Techno’ just sounded cool to me at the time, and honestly, I’ve never been too attached to online usernames. They’re just identifiers, not something I get too hung up on.

Q: How did you have bronze in 2008? How did you get to deity level whistle?

Just by using the site daily. After watching thousands of movies and playing countless games, you would run into content that broke the rules.

Q: What is the story behind Newgrounds: Abuse or Not!?

‘Abuse or Not!?’ was a game I made on a whim one weekend while staying at my grandmother’s house. Innocently, I wanted to give back to Newgrounds in any way that I could. It was a quick project, and it doesn’t hold up today, but I keep it on my profile as a reminder of how far I’ve come.

Q: What was it like working on Stamper's Quest For Fags?

This game was programmed by my friend Kevin. Most of the art were sprites that Luis had created, but didn’t end up using. We repurposed them and I filled in the gaps with additional art. This was one of the earliest games that I collaborated on with other people!

Q: How did you become an artist for MLP: Friendship is Pain?

The My Little Pony craze was everywhere at the time, and we created Friendship is Pain as a response to the fandom. The game wasn’t much in terms of depth, but it was fun to make!

Q: How did you create Air Hockey League in Godot? What is it like using the Godot Engine?

I started making the game in December, with the goal of releasing it at the beginning of January. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t played (go play it!), but it started off as just a simple Air Hockey game. Originally, I wanted to make the gameplay more like a tournament, where you would rise through the ranks and fight tougher opponents. It turns out that it is actually more work than you would expect and there was no way I would finish it in time. Instead, I pivoted and created something more simple with a fun twist ending. 

As for Godot, I absolutely love it! I have previously made games in other engines like GameMaker and Unity, but Godot definitely stands out. The way nodes are laid out just makes working with it so easy. And it is open source! If anyone is looking to get into making games, I highly recommend Godot.

Q: What would you say are the biggest downsides and upsides of Newgrounds from your perspective over the years?

I have always appreciated the crowd of creative people looking to share what they make on Newgrounds. The variety of content to consume constantly gives me inspiration to get the creative juices flowing.

Q: In what ways have your views on the world changed throughout the years, and why?

I’m still figuring this out myself!

Q: How did you discover Kenny vs Spenny? That show is really funny!

A friend in school showed me the show! Because it was a Canadian show, I would watch the episodes in horrible quality on YouTube. For anyone who doesn’t know, Kenny vs Spenny is a show where two guys have competitions and the loser has to do a humiliation. One of my favorite episodes is “Who Can Wear A Gorilla Suit the Longest?”. Good stuff!

Q: How would you describe your music taste?

It’s all over the place! Here are some bands I have been enjoying recently: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Khemmis, Rush, Elder, Pallbearer, Void Witch, and Japanese Breakfast.

Q: How did you get interested in making music?

I’ve always wanted to play an instrument, but it wasn’t until I got a guitar for Christmas that I really dove into making music. Before that I played the trumpet for a while, but my interest fell off. The guitar really clicked with me and ended up sticking with it.

Q: What tools do you use to make music?

Currently, I use Ableton as my DAW. My guitar is plugged into a NeuralDSP QuadCortex to use as my amp sim and interface. 

Q: What advice do you have for making music?

Just record everything! Even if you only have a chorus or an idea, record it. You might come back to it later and see how it can fit into something else you’re working on.

Q: When and how did you develop an unhealthy obsession with buying and playing guitars? At the moment, you have 9 or 10, and you've lost count.

I have always wanted more guitars, but never had the money for it. When I finally had the money, my lack of self-control began to take over. Some guitars I have purchased over the past 2 years are a Strandberg Masvidalien, a Fender American Vintage II 1961 Strat, and a 7-string Jackson Soloist.

Q: What does it mean to be a habitual hobby jumper? You bounce around between drawing, music, and programming, which does make making games a lot easier. What are some other hobbies you've had?

I have a lot of interests, and sometimes I need to switch things up. But I’ve learned that switching between drawing, music, and programming helps me stay inspired and gives me fresh perspectives on each one.

Other than those, I’m either cooking or working on games.

Q: What are your opinions on foods and drinks?

I’ve been making chicken piccata every week for the last couple of months. Cooking has become my way of unwinding after work and when I’m in the zone, it feels almost meditative.

Q: How did you get interested in Deathmatch Wrestling?

I got into wrestling through WWF and then found hardcore matches like those in ECW, which really grabbed my attention. Deathmatch wrestling takes that to the extreme. It’s raw and intense, but it's also a unique form of artistic expression that I understand not everyone appreciates. Deathmatch wrestling takes the existing dangers of wrestling and raises the stakes. These wrestlers are in the ring with real glass and real barbed wire tearing apart their body to tell a story. 

These days I am watching Game Changer Wrestling for my fix of deathmatches. 

Q: How did you get introduced to the art of Mike Mignola, Moebius, and Philippe Druillet, and what do you like about their work?

Like most people, I first discovered Mike Mignola’s work with his series Hellboy. I love the shapes that he uses and his bold use of shadow.

Moebius I discovered from the comic Silver Surfer: Parable. I was in absolute awe of how clean his linework was. Through discovering Moebius, I found the comic Lone Sloane. It was created by another French artist named Philippe Druillet. His work has a psychedelic element that is so attractive. Go check it out if you are into sci-fi comics!

Q: What do you think about comics, and why are your favorite comics Judge Dredd and Hellboy?

Judge Dredd just has the perfect mix of action and humor making it an amazing satirization of western culture. 

As for Hellboy, I really enjoyed the movie, which led me to the comics. Mignola has an amazing ability to weave his stories and art together in such an attractive way.

Q: What qualities do you look for in media?

I love when people wear their heart on their sleeve. Art doesn’t always have to be vulnerable, but I really enjoy when it is. It can help you see the world from a different perspective.

Q: How do you plan on making 3 games in the year 2025?

By brute force! I have a horrible habit of abandoning projects... so I have decided to salvage a few of them. "You Have to Go Fishing" is coming out on Pixel Day (January 23rd!). It is a game I started working on about a year ago and picked back up after finishing Air Hockey League. After that, I am most likely going to wrap up a side-scrolling platformer game titled "Onionrang". 

Q: You found a kitten under your porch, who now lives a happy life. What is the name of your cat?

Faye is her name and she is the most skittish cat that I have ever owned. She will calm down from time to time around people she is familiar with, but anyone else she will hide away until they are gone.

Q: Sadly, your other cat was diagnosed with diabetes and then heart failure, passing away this past October. What would be your advice for dealing with the loss of a friend?

Just remember all of the good times you were able to share with them. It may be cliche, but it’s the truth.

Q: What is your advice for life

In the wise words of the great John Cena: Never give up.

littlbox is working on a documentary and it's going to be awesome!

Deadline for questions: January 17, 2025, 11:00 AM

Please, post your questions in this thread!

Let's go!

@Chris - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: When and how did your interest in games begin?

I’ve been into games since I was about 3 or 4 years old and as far back as I can remember I always wanted to make my own. Back then I’d make up my own games by drawing a fake screenshot on a piece of paper or I’d draw like a world map or something. Most of the games I’d play outside with my friends would have some kind of videogame structure to them in that we’d split up whatever we were doing into Levels. Our parents absolutely hated it and said we were obsessed lol.

Then later when I was about 12 I got my hands on The Games Factory, which was an old drag and drop game development program from the 90s. Once I got that I’d be making like a game a week and distributing them amongst my friends at school on floppy discs. The games were all pretty horrible but we didn’t give a fuck because we were just excited at the concept of making our own games. Eventually I got Flash and started making stuff for the web.

Q: What media inspired you?

I consume a lot of different media including games, films and books and I like to think about what works and doesn’t work in them. Whenever I start thinking about a game project I do a bit of a mood board where I put things down that I want the end product to be like.

I’m currently working on a sequel to Stay Indoors and I’ve got Soft and Cuddly (1987), Saw (2004), Les Chambres Rogues (2023) and Mad God (2021) down as things that I want to inform the feel of that game.

I also take a lot from my own life too, for example the map in Stay Indoors 1 is loosely based on what I remember of the neighbourhood I grew up in.

Q: What are some of your older games, and what was your process behind creating them?

One of my earliest games was a top down shooter called "The Arnold Schwarzenegger Tree Game" that I made with the stock sprites that came with Games Factory. Quite frankly, the game was terrible. In it you played as a generic action hero who just happened to look a little "Arnold Schwarzenegger-esque" battling an oak tree which would fly all around the room firing bullets at the player. If you got hit you died, if you shot the tree yourself it would lose health and eventually be defeated. 

Noone that I know of ever defeated the tree, but me and my brother still had a great laugh trying. The game was broken, I doubt it would even pass the judgement process on here, and yet over 20 years later I still remember it and the great time we had playing the ridiculous thing. My games eventually became bigger and better (but no less broken), especially as I moved on to Flash.

Some of my old Flash games still exist on this site but its pretty much only the Gravoor ones I left up for whatever reason. Somewhere there is an early version of RoboNips from about 15 years ago and when I started my company we made a couple of games for iOS. On PS Vita we released a game called Jail Break which was an endless runner.

This is the old RoboNips, with different gameplay

Title screen of Jail Break

Jail Break gameplay

Q: How did you become interested in filmmaking?

It was another avenue to be creative and I’m also a big fan of movies. I think around ages 16-18 I might have been bigger into films than gaming which is where I decided I might like to try my hand at it. I did a few music videos and was a crew member on some short films.

I’m still a big fan of films and watch a huge variety of stuff. I’ve started making a note of everything I watch and in 2024 I watched 225 movies. In 2025 so far I’ve watched 13. I’ve started posting a lot of what I watch on my BlueSky account if you’re looking for recommendations.

Q: Why is horror your favorite movie genre?

Horror is probably my favourite genre just because I’ve had a fascination with it since I was a kid. I like horror across all mediums including books, gaming and film. Some of my favourite horror movies are Suspiria (1977), Phenomena (1985), The Fog (1980), Ghostwatch (1992), Noroi (2005), Terrifier 2 (2022), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979).

I will watch movies of all genres though. There isn’t really anything I don’t bother with.

- Company and Conference

I briefly went professional and had a company developing and putting out games. We released a couple of iOS titles (Gravoor and Paper Skies) and one game for PS Vita (Jail Break). This was going on 12 years ago now though so those games haven't been maintained and are therefore delisted sadly. But these opportunities led to some contract work for us and allowed me to make a lot of industry contacts. In 2014 I was a guest speaker at the BFI National Media Conference as well through this, where I led an industry talk with my old business partner about the current state of the games industry. This was at the tail end of our time working together professionally but we have since collaborated again on the Politics series and are now planning a big project that will end up taking us a couple of years work.

Q: What was it like being a speaker, how did you get ready for the event, what did you learn about yourself?

I’ll be honest I have no idea why we were asked as there were so many people more qualified than us to speak about this subject but there we were. It was good, we talked about our experiences making games and what challenges we faced as a small dev team.

This was that year where Ubisoft were in hot water for not offering the ability to choose a female character in Assassins Creed Unity and so some Guardian writer decided they might try putting us on the spot by asking why we didn’t have any female character representation in Gravoor lol. Its like well thats because Gravoor is just a circle. The next day she tried asking the Fable 3 devs the same question thus proving my suspicions that she’d done no research before trying to start a problem with us.

Q: What are the biggest lessons you've learned from developing games?

Project management skills. If you can’t do that its pretty much impossible to make a game.

Q: What are the games that you like, and why?

I’m a big fan of RPGs. Recently I’ve been playing Metaphor ReFantazio which I’ve finally gotten stuck into. I’d like to make an RPG myself some day.

Q: What was it like working on music videos?

I worked on about 3 sets where I was just a crew member and directed one myself. The one I directed was for “A Night Out by Jay Betts feat. MC DEVVO” . We did two days filming on this in Sheffield, England. We did one day filming around the city for the first half of the video and then for the second half we filmed at a night club we had booked out.

The nightclub was a pain in the ass to shoot in because the main artist was basically paying the extras in free alcohol so a lot of the extras were pissed up and hard to wrangle. The actor playing MC DEVVO, who Newgrounds viewers will know from David Firth’s work, wasn’t drinking and was a bit of a life saver at times because the crowd were treating him as some kind of celebrity. Whenever he told the crowd to calm the fuck down and do what they were told they’d immediately start behaving. Great guy and super professional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTdHlwlz06A

I'm the guy in the blue t-shirt.

In this one I'm the guy in the stripped hoodie. We were making something else here.

Q: What do you think about the Internet?

I have some issues with the internet but and I really don’t like how sanitised its become over the past decade. I think we’ve lost a lot of individual personality in many corners of the web.

Ultimately though I think the good outweighs the bad. I certainly wouldn’t be able to reach such a wide audience with my work without the internet, wouldn’t have discovered many of the things that I enjoy and wouldn’t have met the people in this community or some of my friends. One of my oldest friends Stu ( @Sjhillustration on Newgrounds) is someone I originally met on a forum for example.

Q: Why did you join NG in 2004?

I’d been a fan few a years prior and when I got Flash I joined up to share my work. I originally tried making cartoons but they were really bad so couldn’t get through judgement (Which was a whole lot stricter back in the day). Once I started learning ActionScript I started shifting over to games full time.

Screenshot from an old cartoon I made

Q: What was NG like in 2004, and how has it changed over the years?

We didn’t have the Art portal back then so it was just movies and games. I think Newgrounds is still very similar to the way I remember it which is great that we’ve been able to maintain our personality over the years with reasonably little change. I would say we’re a lot more chilled out and nice to each other these days but thats obviously a good thing.

Back then we had a lot of people who’ve either moved on with their lives now and don’t make stuff anymore or make stuff for places like Youtube instead. I wish those people would come back even if its just to post in the forums and be a part of the community.

Q: What is NG about?

I think Newgrounds is all about creativity. I find that the community is more passionate about their work than in other places where I feel almost as if they see making stuff as just an avenue to make some money.

In games especially I’ve seen a lot of people off site that are getting into it because they think they might be able to make a game, put it on Steam and live off it passively. Which is an extremely difficult thing to achieve that only about 0.1% of devs will pull off. If you want to make a lot of money you should be doing pretty much anything other than games. You stand to get more return on investment begging on the street than you would through making games.

I stopped making games professionally because I realised it wasn’t fun anymore and we weren’t making nearly enough money to justify it. When I got back into it a couple of years ago I tried to approach it from the mind set I had when I was 12 where I was just making whatever I wanted whether it was a safe idea or not because its fun to do. By thinking about it like that I’ve been having a huge amount of fun again and ironically its probably led to me doing my best work.

Q: What is Mazza based on?

Mazza is a parody of the Mario games if Mario was set in my home town of Rotherham. Its also based a lot on the Newgrounds I remember from 2004, where we’d have lots of videogame parodies with extremely juvenile plots. With Mazza I find that the more juvenile the humour the better it is and then when you juxtapose it with professional looking graphics and a big orchestral soundtrack the end result ends up being very funny to me.

Q: What game development education resources would you recommend? 

I would recommend not doing a University course for game development because I don’t think what they teach you is worth the money. I say that as someone who has both studied on one of these courses and served three years as an Associate Lecturer in the subject at University level. You’re much better off just making things yourself and building a portfolio.

Q: Your favorite food and drinks

I’ve gotten really into tea in the past few years so I drink a lot of Pu’erh these days. I got into that as a means to try to curb my alcohol and coffee in-take. I still like a pint of course but I can’t put it away anymore like I used to haha.

Q: What are some of your favourite aspects of Game Dev?

I like the creativity of it, both in my own projects and ones that my friends and other indie devs on this site are making. I like seeing people play my games and enjoy them, and I like coming back to my games after a couple of years when I've forgotten them a little to play them myself.

Q: How did you get the username: Chris

Years ago Tom was clearing out old accounts that never interacted with the site or logged in. I asked him if I could have the username Chris since it was just being sat on and he gave it to me.

Q: How does sleep impact the creative process?

When I'm really stuck into a project I don't sleep much. I'll be going to bed at 2:30am after working on my game and then getting up again at 7am to go to start my day job. I really need to get more sleep.

Q: What's a joke that makes you laugh?

I was walking past the cemetery this morning when I saw a man crouched behind a grave.

"Morning!" I said.

He responded, "No, I'm having a shit!"

@Hexelbit - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: How did you become interested in learning to draw anime, and how did you go about learning to draw it?

• Well, I actually just like anime, so there wasn't much of a “why” question. As for how I learned, well, I watch tutorials on youtube, try to repeat, also, before, I often drew by eye to understand how it all works. Recently I've got some sort of schedule, and I've been spending about 1.5 hours a day on it.

Q: What is it like to learn Japanese, and what sparked your interest in learning the language?

• Well, my father is a polyglot (knows 5 languages: Spanish, Portuguese, English, French and naturally Russian), so I grew up in an atmosphere of love for languages. Also, I have a great love for Japan itself. A lot of people don't like kanji, but I just love doing it. And in general, I think it's a myth that hieroglyphics are difficult. I don't think Japanese is much harder than English, for example, it's just a matter of motivation. 

Q: What are the anime you enjoy, and why do you like them?

• Ohhhhhh, in general, as a true lover of lists and charts I have lists for almost every aspect of my life, including anime))))) 
• In fact, of the recent ones, I really liked - Dandadan. It's cheeky, great music, characters, humor, direction. In short, just the perfect anime to watch and not to stress.
• Of the classics, perhaps my preferences are more specific. Tehnolyze, Welcome to the NHK, Monogatari, The City I'm Not In. These tittles are really interesting and make you think and even change your opinion. My favorite anime - Melancholia of Haruhi Suzumiya, everything from Kyoto animation.  I've even read the books on it). 

Q: How would you describe your experiences with playing bass?

• It's not mine. I'm really bad at it.

Q: You quit smoking a year ago, what was your strategy? Why did you start smoking at the age of 16?

• Well, smoking is more of a company thing. If all your friends smoke, either you smoke, or you don't have those friends anymore. It's very hard to be a non-smoker amongst smokers. For example, half of my class at school and almost everyone I know used to smoke. It's a real epidemic ha-ha. 
• How I quit - slowly. First I quit cigarettes, then I switched to less strong vape liquid. Then I started reducing how much I smoke per day. But as practice has shown, it's more of a psychological dependence, that's the hardest part.

Q: How did you become interested in creating music?

• A long time ago, when I was small and useless, all I was interested in was games. Terraria, GD, Don't starve, isaac, etc. And I, as a true degenerate with no imagination but a computer, wanted to do something too. I had many projects of varying degrees of completion. But the main question was about music. I came across a program called Bosca Ceoil, which weighed almost nothing and was created for creating 8-bit tracks. And then the games just faded into the background, but the music remained. :)

Q: Advice on creating music

• There's a lot I want to say and I'm afraid I'll remember half of it later, but to summarize:
• 
  
• 1) Music is not complicated at all, 90% of my knowledge can fit on about 2 A4 sheets.
• 
  
• 2) Study every day.
• 
  
• 3) You need both theory and practice, make music every day, study music every day.
• 
  
• 4) When you make a track, at least define the genre, it will be much easier to understand where you went wrong. If you just want to make cool, it's likely to be the opposite.
• 
  
• 5) Be creative, music isn't hard, but you have to have something to say. I know a lot of people who are really professional, but they don't do creativity, they make cliched good music that everyone is sick of. 

Q: Your experiences with the Internet.

• The experience is too varied to say so easily. 

Q: How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

• Well for me as someone who has been playing GD for quite a while there was no question as to why NG. As for the site itself, it's just a tool, who cares how it looks, the main thing is that it works. 

Q: The story of your username: Hexelbit

• Well, when I first started I really liked Dimrain47, Ocularnebula, Blackhole12, etc. So in coming up with a nickname I was coming from some such vibe. But in general, looking back, I don't really like it, I would change it. 

Q: What do you think about pranks like that?

• Well I'm just not at the age to find that funny (I'm 20 lol). To tell you the truth, when everyone realized it, no one was laughing. Anyway, stupid joke, but in their defense, they didn't expect the toilet to break. 

Q: What do you think about the NG community?

• I can't say anything, I hardly interact with anyone here. Besides, I'm not on Spotify or Soundcloud, so I have nothing to compare it to. 

Q: Your favorite food and drinks?

• When I quit smoking, I really liked tea. Now I drink it about five times a day. Coffee's always been my favorite. As for food, I like to experiment, if there is an option to try something new or eat something familiar, I usually choose the new.