Just checking in to say hello, a few updates.

I'm 60 days away from my wedding. I'm getting really excited about getting hitched and I have a wicked honeymoon in Australia afterwards. I'll be going up the coast of Queensland. It's my first time to Australia so I'm excited.

I launched two games, Hedgehog Launch 2 and Rabbit wants Cake. Check them out! Also made a Text-based adventure called Llama Adventure which was released a few weeks back.

Met Starogre at E3. He's a good kid.

I've been getting into photography as a hobby now that I do Flash for a living. I've been trying to get out every weekend or so to take photos at different locations. You can take a look at my flickr here. My Conservatory pictures are some of my favourite. One day I hope Newgrounds will allow photography so that I can upload my work there.

Anyway, have good one.

Hi friends!

Launched a new game today about automobile traffic. You can play it here and read about it there.

ANYWAY, have you bought your BoMToons Tshirt yet? It's 100% preshrunk cotton, not tax-deductable whatsoever, and available in your size. BoMToons cannot sell tshirts without you giving him money so throw him a few a buy a couple! All proceeds go to Powerbars and Gatorade for his upcoming ridiculous 200 mile one-day bike ride.

Have a fantastic day!

I know this Twitter thing is suddenly popular here but unlike you crazy kids I had Twitter back when people thought it was a stupid fad (well, technically people still do think that :-) ).

Hit me up @jmtb02. Take care!

Here's a nice picture I generated from a Grid Bending thingy I made.

Twice actually! Sad to not be a judge this year but thanks for the nom nom nom for Dark Cut 3 and Achievement Unlocked.

Like BoMToons has spoiled completely we're wrapping up a tribute to the best game ever that exceeds even his Pickleman Betafest game. We've been working on it for way too long and we're going to be happy to finally get this monstrosity out of the FLA barn.

Because he posted spoilers I'll post something that doesn't spoil anything. ENJOY.

Hi friends,

JayIsGames is among the best in Casual Games review sites and has been dedicated to the Flash and casual game community for several years now. Myself and MANY fellow Newgroundians (-ites? -ers?) have been nominated in several categories for best of 2008! Go vote your support.

VOTE GO GO GO

I like Christmas. I like the new Monthly awards that come on Christmas too. But there's more to the story.

Chapter 1: The Award Package
The NG Monthly awards usually come in a padded bubble mailer with a Newgrounds address label in the top right corner. Inside the envelope is a a black folder-type portfolio to protect it during travel. Sometimes the postman gets physical with the envelope and folds it into my tiny apartment mailbox thus bending an entirely terrible crease across the award. This has happened twice so far but overall it hasn't been bad. Inside the award cover are several stickers and other fun things that Newgrounds gives away or sells. Also there's a swell t-shirt. And of course, a check written from Tom's future kid's college savings.

Chapter 2: The Missing Frame

Newgrounds typically has a short few weeks between announcing a monthly award and seeing the monthly award. During this time I always run out to Target and get the same frame I have been getting since i won my first one back in 2006. I've done this eight times now for each award as sort of a tradition, and for the ninth I ran out to buy a frame at Target once more. They are always on sale for about $5 and in-stock so I always counted on them being around.

Low and behold, Target has stopped producing the frames (from what I can tell). My OCD tendency to have matching frames on all my monthly awards caused a major frowntown. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what to do, so instead of buying a different frame I just left. I went to another Target store later that week but it wasn't in the cards.

Chapter 3: The New Awards

Like a Christmas miracle, the new award came ALREADY FRAMED. It's beautiful. It's lovely to have an assembled award ready for wall mounting in my place. And it totally means no more postman bending (unless he's hulking out or something).

Chapter 4: Easter Egg (ZOMG)
Of course, the amount of details on these awards are stunning. From the gun-barreled crest border to the foiled tank emblem the entire award is a piece of artwork on it's own. But a smaller look closer into the bottom left corner reveals a message to the award recipient which I would love to share with you. It's sub-8pt font, very difficult to read, and is below a picture of a crown (I marked it on the pic below):

KING FOR A DAY
Every day approximately 500,000 to 1,000,000,582,090 visitors come through Newgrounds. Many of them are regulars, while others were simply passed a link from a friend, co-worker, or their older then fuck grandparents (who have ZERO business browsing Newgrounds, OR the net in-general). LOL I'M SENDING EMAILS TO MY GRANDKIDS!

Anywho, Newgrounds is the original - and still the largest - flash portal on the net. That means the world, and I'm TEMPTED to say the entire solar system, but our knowledge of Jupiter is very limited in it's hostile, unforgiving environment. Jupiter is fucking huge though... I mean, for all we know...
------

And I'll leave it there, it goes on about naked Jupiter girls and some crazy thing like that. Next time you win a monthly award I'll let you finish up because it's one lovely read (and I'm getting tired of translating 6pt type). Anywho, I appreciate the monthly award and thanks for the lovely Christmas gift!

-John

I wasn't really planning on saying Merry Christmas in this post but I just happened to forget to front page the news story, and now I'm stuck with having to say something in this post as I make another. OH WELL.

-John :)

Thanks to everyone in this topic who responded before I even had a chance to make any good announcement :). But I got engaged last night to my girlfriend of 5 years. We're celebrating for the meantime, no wedding date set, but it was definitely a big step for us.

I need a beer.

I finally reached a 1,000 people who have "added me to their favourites" list. It only took 4-5 years.

In celebration I will drink my coffee and continue programming.

I love games with old music in them.

My recent jaunts through the wastelands of Fallout 3 have been nicely accompanied by an accessory radio they give you with your Pipboy3000. The radio plays all sorts of older tunes, and even though the game is set in the future I enjoy the mellow 50's style of music. I love how the game seems to tap a culture that is purely Cold War but is frozen in a post-nuclear age.

Bioshock was also one of those games that had great music. The game also had culturally significant tunes of the a half decade's past (most notably "Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin) while subsiding in an futuristic underwater human colony.

Both games seem to stir a style of futurism stuffed in a 50/60's getup. The craft and attention to make something so new yet so old is incredibly appealing to me. I love the idea of a game being one part steampunk, one part cold-war, and one part dystopia. It's an amazing feeling when played, boiling down to two really well crafted games.

And the music is just the icing on the cake.

I'll be downloading these songs on iTunes, because now more than ever I want to walk around modern society with some 50's music on the dial.