Hey guys n gals!

Figured post-Pico day would be a good time to get all gushy over the past couple months on Newgrounds. So about two months ago I released ALZ for Stencyl Jam 2014.  It was featured on the front page for a bit, and got something like 5-10k views. I was already pretty impressed, since I figured the piece might pass 2k if I was lucky. I had figured that since the piece was only like 2 minutes long and didn’t have a lot of interactivity that it would be overlooked by the gaming community of Newgrounds, but people gave me an overwhelmingly positive response. The piece was taken off the front page after a couple days, as expected, and it kind of faded away for a bit. 

Then about a month later, and I have no idea how exactly this happened, the game was featured on TheVerge.com, and its views skyrocketed to something like 50k almost immediately, which trumped the views of any other project I have worked on here. I ended up not placing in the game jam, which wasn’t a shock by any means, but I did get a nice shoutout from Tom in his post-jam writeup! I didn’t win, but I didn’t feel like I had lost either.

Since then, I’ve had a steady increase in views, to where I’m sitting on the 100k view line right now, which is a pretty big deal for me. In fact, if you Google “ALZ,” I’m the top hit. I’m the top hit for a not-obscure search term, that’s crazy!

Since the piece started getting publicity, I’ve had a few job offers that make it look like I may be able to actually make some decent, livable money from animation over the summer working with a few non-profits. I’ve also had a few interviews about the game, a few offers to translate the game into other languages (you may see Spanish and French options sometime soon), and a couple invitations to some digital media festivals.

Speaking of festivals, Pine, which premiered here on Newgrounds, has just screened at two festivals! It was the first time I’ve seen my work on a theatrical screen. Pretty neat, but I think I prefer online showcasing. 

I don’t know, 100k views for something I was proud to see pass 2k has been an amazing experience for me, even if it’s not all that impressive in the huge scope of Newgrounds. More than the numbers though, I'm proud that my piece has been able to actually connect with so many people. I really have all of you guys to thank, so thanks Newgrounds, both staff and viewers!

Happy belated Pico day!

- dylan