This is just a quickie post to tell you guys that Oscar over at DeletionQuality.net has just released Part B of his four-part episode titled Castle Repercussions.  I don't have much to say because I haven't watched it yet.  I'm waiting for Rid to get his ass online so we can watch it together.  We're gay like that.  Anyway, here's what Oscar himself had to say:

First of all. Thanks for the amazing feedback I received at the release of Part A. It makes me warm inside.
Castle Repercussions Part B is now uploaded to the flash section. This part is the shortest of them all, but I might say it's my favourite in a way. Hope you like it even because of the shortness.

So it looks like this part is a shorty.  That's fine I guess.  As long as it's as well done as the previous episode, I really don't care.

Anyway, go watch it over here.  Tell us what you think in the comments!

Last night at around 8pm EST, Oscar Johansson released Part A of Castle Repercussions.  After a year of on and off delays, I can safely assure you that the wait was worth it.  Though it's only Part A that's released, I'd easily put good money on parts B, C, and D being equally as epic.

If you want to watch the movie, just click here.  Make sure you are familiar with the Castle series.  Even if you've seen the previous episodes, it might be a good idea to watch them one more time before watching this one, just to refresh your memory on who's who and what's going on.

Rid and I both jizzed in our pants while we watched, hope you do too .

About the Jynxed Theme:  I still can't release it because one of the sponsors has still yet to get in touch with me.  Trust me, as soon as he does, I'll make a post here about it, whether it be in 10 minutes or at 10pm, so keep checking in.

So I was browsing NewGrounds yesterday.  (It's kinda tough to avoid it, with it being my homepage and all.)  Anyway, I happened upon a pretty cool looking game called IncrediBots.  (It was actually the avatar for the game that caught my eye, it just looks so simple yet fun.)  Anyway, I decided to check it out and boy, am I glad I did.  Not only did I spend a good two hours (not consecutively) playing it in school today, but I keep finding myself going to play it while I'm here at home.  I've never loved a flash game nearly this much, ever.

The best part about this game is that there is basically an endless amount of stuff to do.  You're the boss.  All you'll have is a given objective (eg. - get all the bricks into a pit on the other side of the level).  What you have to do is construct a robot that can do that.  So essentially, you'd need a robot that can move to the bricks, extend an arm and grab the bricks, then swing the arm around and drop them into the pit.  The great thing about this game, however, is that you don't have to do it this way.  Make a cannon and shoot something at the bricks and make them bounce into the pit (or something else, that was kinda a bad example...).  The customization possibilities are endless.

Honestly, I could see this game succeeding on home systems with even more customizations available (think Spore) and more objectives.  It's just a really fun and addicting game.  I recommend the hell out of it to anyone.  It does take a little bit getting used to all the possibilites that are available to you, so just take it slow for five minutes or so.

Play it on either NewGrounds.com or Kongregate.com.  (Another great feature of this game that I love is the ability to view other players replays.  Say, for example, you can't get all of the bricks into the pit because you suck miserably, you can view the replays of all the people that got high scores and see how they did it.  It's really pretty cool.)

It's finally here! Asylum 3 was just released this morning after a small delay from the original November 1st release date. I actually talked to Swished last night and he wasn't home at all to release it, so he apologizes for anyone expecting it yesterday. Aside from all that, there's not too much to say about it. It's your typical Swished animation filled with suspense and action, playing along to a great soundtrack. So, if you haven't seen it, I strongly suggest you check it out here.

Please support our good friend and vote 5! I can guarantee after watching it, you'll be wanting to anyway. Enjoy!

A lot has been happening lately in the land of Flash animation. Quite a few new and anticipated releases have just hit NewGrounds and I'm here to give you the scoop!

New Releases:

• Fallen Angel Episode 1 - Probably one of the most anticipated Flash animations to ever hit NewGrounds. Only four years ago the very popular teaser was released and had people talking. Least expected when everyone was uncertain if it was going to be completed, creator Rob H. surprised everyone when it hit the portal. Shortly after it's release, it surely hit the front page. Reviewers are now calling it one of the greatest Flash animations of all time. I strongly suggest you check out the episode and see what everyone's talking about.
• Rage 3 - Popular stick animator Seth Wooten (Cosmoseth) has just released the latest addition to the Rage game series. The games have always gotten positive responses from reviewers and this one is no different. Almost rarely do stick animations or games reach the front page anymore, unless they are that good. Both me and Ralph find this game fairly entertaining and if you're just bored, it's a great game to keep you occupied.

Upcoming Releases:

• Asylum 3 - Swished, one of the best stick figure animators today, who isn't so well known, is about to release the latest addition to his Asylum series. This, I can almost guarantee will be sure to hit the front page of NewGrounds and raise his popularity without a doubt. It's set to release on November 1, 2008, so be sure to mark your calenders.
• Castle Repercussions - Oscar Johansson is also finishing up the next installment to the Castle series. His last release, Castle III won quite a few awards, along with many fans anticipating and waiting for the next addition. He's currently 92% complete with it and is expecting it's release sometime in late December. He's also uploaded a short, ten second clip from it on his website at DeletionQuality. Be sure to check out that, and the front page of NewGrounds around Christmas time for a great gift.

That's all the latest news on new and upcoming Flash animations. Stay tuned for more information on the following animations, and we'll have you covered. That's all for now.

The past week was a pretty good week in the world of flash animations.  Two highly anticipated movies were released, and boy, they were pretty awesome.  In case you didn't catch them, here's some quick info on them.

DE_dust2

Where: http://www.flash-deck.com/animations/de_dust2.php
Info: Compared to the other animations in this series, this one is probably the best in terms of quality, comedy, and longevity.  I actually lol'd a few times while watching.  Even though it's based around Counter Strike the game, you don't need to have played it to get the comedy in this (like me).  Definitely worth a few minutes to watch.

Super Mario Bros Z - Ep. 7

Where: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/462494
Info: Personally, I love this series.  Alvin Earthworm does a great job using only sprites from the classic games to create all of the art in these animations.  Each movie in this series are really quite long, the latest one (this one) is probably over 15 minutes long, maybe even more.  I suggest you watch the previous 6 episodes before this one to get a good grasp at what the story is: link.  It is somewhat complex and you'll be pretty lost if you don't.  Don't let the animation quality in the first few episodes fool you, Alvin has improved 10-fold, and this episode proves it.

Upcoming

Here are a few animations that are being very eagerly awaited and should be coming out sometime soon.

Asylum 3 by Swished  |  Site (Not Updated) |  (Expected sometime this week)
Killing Spree 7 by Sam Green  |  Site (Currently Down) |  (October/November 2008 ?)
Castle Repercussions by Oscar Johansson  |  Site |  (October/November 2008 ?)
Joe Zombie 7 by Rob DenBleyker  |  Site |  (2009 ?)

Hey everyone.

Today I wanted to make another post centering around animation and flash, the heart and core of this site.  I searched around a bit the other day to find some more outstanding flash-based sites and blogs and boy, I found quite a few hidden gems.  I'll also talk about a book that I bought a few months ago that, if you're interested in animation,  will benefit you in the long run to purchase.  Anyway, let's get started...

(Before we begin, looking at my previous post about flash-based blogs and sites might be helpful.)

Moolt.com aka HayasaPictures.com

http://www.hayasapictures.com/

This is my new favorite animation blog out there.  It's run by Hayk Manukyan, a young flash animator who has worked for companies such as Disney, Cartoon Network, Luma Pictures, Unbound, One Red Room, Sixpoint Harness, Toonaciouse family entertainment, as well as others.  He keeps his visitors updated with long and in-depth video tutorials of him working on some of his projects, which, if you ask me, is epic.

ColdHardFlash.com

http://coldhardflash.com/

Not so much for tutorials, this site is more about keeping everyone informed about the happenings in the flash world online.  It has daily newsposts about all the popular artists and their animations and series, as well as interviews with them.  Definitely worth a look-at.

AnimationForum.net Forums

http://www.animationforum.net/forum/

I haven't been able to snoop around this place alot, but by judging from it's name and the huge amount of topics and users that appear on this site daily, I'd say this is surely a forum that all animator's should be a part of (I am ).

Bitey.com

http://bitey.com/

Bitey.com is owned by Adam Phillips.  I'm guessing you all (the flash animator's out there) know who this is, right?  He's the creator of one of the most popular and well-drawn flash animation series out there, Brackenwood.  Phillips used to work for Disney before he called it quits to work on his own.  He's recently hired a writer to help him begin to plan out a feature film he plans to produce in the future (he wants it to be about 90-120 minutes long) featuring his Brackenwood series.  As you can imagine, his site is full of great flash inspiration and tutorials.

Now that I got that list out of the way, let's talk about that book I mentioned before, shall we?  I talked about it in V2 of the site, but since the database went bye bye, I'll revisit the subject for all of you that missed out before.  The Animator's Survival Kit is a great ol' 340+ page book written by Richard Williams, best known for being the animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  As the cover of the book says, the book is "A manual of methods, principles, and formulas for classical, computer, game, stop-motion, and internet animators."

The book is filled with really in-depth and thought out tips and tricks that WIlliams has acquired over the years throughout his various jobs at Warner Bros. and Disney, and even under the apprenticeship of great animator's such as Chuck Jones (Looney Tunes), Ken Harris (Looney Tunes), and Art Babbit (creator of Goofy).  The book is about 85-90% hand-written, this is including the hundreds of drawings and sketches that Williams uses to help his readers easily understand and comprehend what he is teaching them.

Below I have scanned a few pages of my copy of the book and put them together real quick, just so you can get an idea of what the style of the book consists of (crappy scans, I know, sue me ).  Before I post them, you can find this book on Amazon.com for $16-$20 and have it delivered to you in less than 5-10 days.  It's definitely worth the price.

Well, I hope you got some useful information out of this post.  You should bookmark all of the sites that I posted in this article as well as the ones that I talked about in my previous article on this subject.  They are all owned and run by trustworthy and talented animators, and they can only benefit you from reading over them.

That's all from me today.  See ya'.

Yesterday's post got me thinking, since I was posting a little about popular animations around the web - what's your favorite one?  I've organized a nice little poll for you guys to share with us which stick-figure series around the internet is your favorite of them all.  In case you haven't seen one or more of them, here are the links to where you can watch them.

Castle series:  http://deletionquality.net/flash

Killing Spree series:  http://www.fusion-revolution.com/flash/killingspree.html

Joe Zombie series:  http://www.explosm.net/movies/oldies.php

Xiao Xiao series:  http://www.stickpage.com/xiao.shtml

Rival Series:  http://petermurphy.newgrounds.com/flash/

Once you've seen them all, take a vote on which one is your favorite and if you want, comment on this post with maybe an explanation or something.

My personal favorite is the Joe Zombie series.  Even though the rest of the choices (apart from Xiao Xiao which is just really good fighting animation) focus more on looks and animation, Joe Zombie is just a really good story.  I'm not saying the others aren't, I just enjoy Joe Zombie more.

That's enough from me.  Here's the poll.  Choose wisely, as you can only vote once!