To make horror games of my own, I have to expand my horizons as possible with horror games that already exist. The more I can really get into the nitty-gritty of other works that inspire me, the more I can gain knowledge and learn where my next steps might be.

Recently, I think I've stumbled into the perfect candidate to aim for with my next few games: the point-and-click horror puzzle game series Forgotten Hill, made by the Italian duo @FM-Studio, who got their start here on NG! Forgotten Hill mixes head-scratching escape room gameplay with old-school horror settings and sometimes a little bit of gratuitous darkness, all seasoned with hints at interesting lore, to uncover piece by piece as you figure out what exactly is up with this town.

As far as I understand from the About page on the FM Studio site, the answers I got were from Francesco, who does the main development of the games themselves, though credit must also be given to Manuela, who is in charge of API integration and the business end. They were even kind enough to give me some images from the dev process that I could put up here with the interview!

As before, this will eventually be made into a YouTube video, alongside the interviews I did with Mike Klubnika and Yatoimtop! (I am a really bad procrastinator when it comes to writing these video scripts. :') )

Minor spoilers ahead for the Forgotten Hill series! If you'd like to play the games first, they can be found on the official website, where most of them can be played in-browser!

Inspirations/Process

What got you into game development in the first place? What about the art, storytelling, etc angles of it?

Video games have always fascinated me, ever since I saw the first pixel move on an old TV. Right away, I started imagining all the things I could create. It took quite some time before I could fully dedicate myself to making games. Luckily, the artistic and narrative aspects are always evolving and the more I work on games, the more I learn and become comfortable with the styles that best suit me and the game I'm working on. There’s a lot of experimentation, and many mistakes are made along the way.

What came first, the story/setting idea or the idea to make (horror) puzzle games?

The setting and the desire to make horror games definitely came first. The puzzles came later.

What is your favorite horror media?

Definitely books. Many of my inspirations come from great horror novels - especially Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Edgar Allan Poe. No other medium impresses or influences me as much as books do.

How do you plan out the flow of puzzles from one to the next? What do the earliest versions of the games look like?

A game actually starts on a flowchart (see picture as an example), and the first things added are rooms, the ones that are initially necessary for the story. The progression of the puzzles is designed within this diagram, keeping in mind that the puzzles (or what they reveal) must, in some way, "push the story forward." The first playable version of the game is essentially just empty rooms that I move between to test the flowchart.

(Editor's note: This is a cool flowchart, though I didn't get any clarification about what these shapes mean. Good to know, though, I might start up some Google Drawings to plot out the games I've got planned.)

How do you plan out the lore hints in the games? Do you keep a master document of everything there is to know about the Forgotten Hill universe?

Lore hints are implemented during the creation of the initial flowchart. This often happens to highlight or deepen the backstory of minor characters who deserve a bit more attention. And unfortunately no, there isn't a master document that contains everything, except in our heads. In fact, when working on a new game, besides relying on memory, we often need to watch videos or replay old games to ensure that everything fits correctly. We really should write that document!

How did you develop the art style of the games? It looks like it takes a lot of work to make these hand-drawn sprites. I’m impressed. Do you have concept art?

The graphical style of the Forgotten Hill games, as it is now, was developed for two reasons. First one is that I wanted a style that was different from other games, something recognizable. There are so many point-and-click games, and some are really good. So, besides working hard to make a good game overall, I also wanted to create a distinct visual style. The second reason is that this is simply what I am able to do. I experimented with various styles that I really like, from illustrative styles to watercolor effects, but the results weren’t good enough to be used. Find attached 2 pictures of paper concept art and how they became in game.

Has anything interesting been scrapped from any of the games?

Yes, many things get removed or never make it into the final game, often due to time constraints.

Parts of the story, puzzles, or even interesting gameplay mechanics sometimes have to be left out.

However, nothing that gets scrapped is gone for good, many ideas often return in different forms in

other games.

How was your experience creating a game for the PICO-8? What was interesting about the

limitations you had to work with?

Working with PICO-8 was amazing. Having development constraints almost turns the process into a puzzle itself, as you need to solve certain problems to move forward (which is exactly what happens). Moreover, it taught me a lot about programming, since my programming skills are still pretty basic, and managing a game within those limitations is a great exercise.

Success

What was your initial reaction when your games started to gain traction?

At first, when we got the first positive comments about our games, we thought, "Wow, could it be that we can really make video games?" It’s really satisfying, and still a bit hard to believe, to see that what we’ve created in video games is seen and appreciated by so many people. It gives the motivation to keep going and to work hard to improve every time.

Do you have any larger goals you want to aim for with this franchise? How many games will there be in the Forgotten Hill universe?

How many games there will be? Who knows? The Forgotten Hill universe has expanded quite a lot since its beginning, and there are many characters whose stories and motivations we’d love to explore further. Right now, the biggest goal is getting to the conclusion of the main story. We are already working on it, but it takes a lot of time. There’s so much to show in order to properly wrap up Mr. Larson’s story.

Here’s your chance to promote your other stuff! What’s your favorite game you’ve made out of the various little unrelated titles you’ve created?

At the moment, our favorite is definitely Detective Lawrence. It’s a small game (but still a little horror-themed) that was really fun to make and should be released soon (hopefully!). We wanted to make a pixel art game for a long time.

(Editor's note: I happened to catch a couple playtest phases of the game! It's fun enough that I played through it a few times - even sorta speedran it! It also has a slightly different gameplay style from the others, and I think I should probably keep it in mind when I'm working on my own stuff.)

Misc/Silly Questions

What advice would you give to someone struggling to play through the games (i.e. me)?

The best advice is to not get stubborn on a single puzzle. Often there are multiple tihngs/puzzles that can be done at the same time, to avoid the game to be too linear. When you see a puzzle, ask yourself: Do I have the clues to solve it? If yes, solve it. If not, move on, you’ll come back to it later. Also, sometimes, simply taking a break can help, and you might realize that the clue to what seemed like an impossible puzzle has been right under your nose the whole time.

What happened to the father and the dog? Why is the father a werewolf, and how the heck did the dog become a giant spider? (Context - Forgotten Hill: Fall)

The father became a "wolf" after a surgery procedure by the Colonel. In the first chapter of First Steps you can find a note in the house mentioning an appointment at the surgery clinic. And the dog... well, maybe he has always been a spider.

(Editor's note: "First Steps" is the compilation of the first three Forgotten Hill games: Fall, Puppeteer and Surgery. I played through these games individually instead of buying the compilation, so I wonder if I missed the appointment note when I was playing through Fall, or if it was just added when the compilation was made. I do tend to be oblivious.)

I can imagine you’re good at escape rooms if you design games like this. Have you been to any? Which have been your favorite experiences?

Surprisingly, we’ve never been to an escape room. Always wanted to do that experience but never got the chance, also not very sure we would be good at escaping. Designing traps doesn’t mean you are good at getting out of one!

As a novice game dev always looking for the next branch to reach to, part of the reason I’m conducting this interview is because I now want to make some point and click horror puzzles of my own. What advice would you give to someone thinking of making similar games in the future?

Don’t put the safe key inside the safe.

When designing a game, especially if it’s a long one, you might unknowingly create dead ends. If you discover these dead ends too late during development, you might have to redo entire sections of the game, which can be a huge waste of time.

Another tip is to carefully balance puzzle difficulty (which is not easy). It’s also good to alternate puzzle difficulties, after having solved a tough puzzle, it’s nice to have a smaller, simpler one as a kind relax time. This also makes the experience feel more fluid.

Also, try not to place a clue too far away from its puzzle. If the player gets distracted along the way, they might shift their focus elsewhere instead of staying engaged with that particular puzzle. (So many times we made this mistake!)

What exactly is Pico from “Rise of Pico”/how did you design it? Frankly, I didn't expect it to look the way it did when I played the remaster. It looks a little goofy with its mouth closed and I immediately loved it.

RATTUS PICONICUS: Commonly called "Pico", these rodents belong to the very rare family of oviparous

mammals and have recently been domesticated. Although rather aggressive in nature, a specimen born in

captivity can be effectively trained by exploiting its highly sensitive sense of smell.

Pico first appeared in Forgotten Hill Mementoes, inspired by a nutria. It’s been originally added because we needed a small animal to feed in order to get a key. Since then, whenever a little creature was needed, Pico is always there to help.

So there you have it! The devs were really nice and enthusiastic about the interview, and I really appreciate the extra pics for insight into their processes! Can't thank you guys enough!

People of Newgrounds, I cannot stress enough the love for point-and-click horror that Forgotten Hill has ignited in me. If you're like me and you love dark stories and puzzles that make you rage a little bit sometimes, please go show the devs your love and support and play the Forgotten Hill series. As stated before, most of the games can be played on the website, but compilation titles (with extra content!) are available for purchase on Steam, the App Store, Google Play, and other stores as listed on the site!

Have a good night, everyone!

-Theta

I don't remember if I've gone on any philosophical rambles in my news posts before, but I wrote this up after thinking more and more about recent things I've seen and my relationship to horror. Some of it might be poorly expressed or have nuance I didn't think about. Discretion is advised.

I think one of the things that people most commonly don’t understand about me is how I can joyfully embrace such brutal, dark stories and flagrantly evil characters with open arms. Many other people, typically in my age group or younger, feel uncomfortable or alienated from me because of it, because their modus operandi is so different from mine. How could I be so callous as to enjoy fictional horror stories where fictional people get hurt or traumatized?

Well, there’s an answer to that, which I have taken a long time to finally put into words.

The short answer is: Reality is scarier. And to feel brave enough to face it, I must master my fear of things that aren’t real.

At a young age, I was quite easily traumatized, including by fictional scenarios. I would obsess over the things that scared me, to the point where signs of an anxiety disorder cropped up somewhat early in life, and my family knew it. As I’ve gotten older, I still can fall prey to the same obsessive fear if I’m not careful. However, what I strongly believe is that that is no way to live. So how do I keep the fear of hypothetical scenarios from consuming me? For me, the answer is to harness the power of these boogeymen for myself, and study it in safe, controlled environments such as art and writing.

To those who prefer to apply their real-life moral compasses to fiction and treat nonexistent situations hyper-seriously, my very existence is an insult. To you, I am disrespecting your fictional best friends and lovers, and therefore I deserve to be disrespected in return. I’m sorry to break it to you, but characters are not people, they are symbols, snapshots of a creator’s mind and the zeitgeist they came from. But my intent is never to desecrate the symbol, rather to criticize the culture of worship and sacrosanctity you create around stories and characters. Simply put, I don’t think it’s righteous or just that your pseudo-religious practices include sacrificing real people to your fictional gods.

“But what would you do if you were in that same situation?” The important thing to me is that I’m not in that situation. I don’t like to imagine myself in that situation. I like to play God behind the scenes. I’m the dungeon master, if you will. I prefer to freely explore the minds of evil figures, trying to figure out what exactly makes them tick and what kind of brokenness brought them to this point. They provide lessons to you and me, cautionary tales of what not to become.

Somewhere in my cold, dead heart I still have empathy for the characters, yes. But between supporting my loved ones and worrying about myself, I only have so much empathy to waste on people who don’t exist before I get compassion fatigue. As a result, I approach dark fiction from an emotional distance. I try to have a little bit of fun with it while I’m learning.

Yes, there are still some limits I do not find it enjoyable to cross. Even more so if I am trying to write a serious work of fiction - I place a lot of value on not making serious elements feel cheap. But with most other scenarios, it is possible to wrap around to the other end and revel in absurd, cheesy levels of gratuitous darkness. Again, the intent is never to desecrate the symbol.

In summary: I am who I am because I was once afraid like you are. But rather than living in fear and misery, I chose to rise above it as much as I can. I seized its power, I became the master of the madness, because the other option was to let it consume me entirely. Fandom is a cult, and I am a heretic, but I refuse to let you sacrifice me.

I know you feel powerless and weak when it comes to the brutality of the real world. Trust me, I do too. But when it comes to fiction, at least, I have a choice. You have a choice. Join me and we can rule the galaxy, we can captain this ship, we can ascend to godhood on the throne of Ma’habre. I dare you, for once in your life, to not be afraid of being unafraid. It will not cost you your humanity. I am proof of that.

-Theta

Thank you for reading.

I made a BBS post about the subject. Feel free to pitch in.

It's even later, but it's here, and it's just as awkward as last year! All 5 (ahem) of this year's entries entries have been played and reviewed, with some stupid but hopefully insightful commentary from yours truly!

Developers/dev teams reviewed: @Beeetelgeuse, @Simoes1000, @Hoppio, @aapiarts/@Nebulate/@Creeperforce24, @beenibroh/@gymba/@YellowWest

Thanks to @AhWham for most of the editing magic and @EmsDeLaRoZ for the thumbnail!

Check out the playlist of entries in the video description or here!

In other news...

In preparation to possibly move the game jam to Itch.io in future years, I now have an account. First thing posted there will probably be an updated version of "I'm Not a Doll". I'm excited to do more gamedev and put up stuff there!

-Theta

All must bow before me.

Thank you to the random selection thingy that determines who is chosen. And thank you to whoever stops by to check my stuff out!

-Theta

In my quest to get under the hoods of indie horror games I love and inside the heads of their developers, my next stop was a mysterious golf course that had already closed. Yep, this time the interviewee is @yatoimtop, and we're talking about his game Greener Grass Awaits! It's tense, it's surreal, it's even darkly comedic at a few points, and you will probably have no idea what's going on - but one thing is for sure, you must golf!

Just like the Mike Klubnika one, this will eventually be made into a YouTube video. (I haven't forgotten about the former, I just kept getting distracted and not working on the script. :o) )

Spoilers ahead for Greener Grass Awaits! (Go play the game first! It's free, only about an hour long, and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.)

Inspirations/Process

I see you make games, music, and animations. What got you into each of these creative media?

I got into video when I was 10 because I wanted to make animations, and started with stop motion stuff before I eventually found blender. For music, I'd always wanted to make some, but I only started during COVID. COVID was also when I also started really getting into game development with pearl grabber. I did dabble with gamedev in high school, making some point and clicks!

Where’d you get the idea for a golf horror game in general?

How hard was it to get the golf physics to work like you wanted them to? How about the enemy behavior? Was the staring response something you came up with from the beginning, or was it something you added to keep the player from becoming too powerful?

This has a half cynical answer- I knew I wanted to make a horror game because they were popular on itchio/YouTube but I wasn't quite sure what my angle would be. The golf inspiration came from my addiction to the mobile game Desert Golf, which I had discovered from reading Tevis Thompson's website.

On a whim I had decided to make a prototype in Godot of a golf setup based on Desert Golf, and found it surprisingly easy to make? At some point I started thinking about how I could make it a game when I remembered my goal of making a horror game. So I began thinking about how it'd work, planning out a bunch of holes and writing out the game mechanics and what would happen hole to hole. I got far more wrapped up in it then I had planned!

Initially, the game was going to be all on one map and have enemies that patrolled the course. You'd see them in the distance and have to hide. When I found that I couldn't make the game all on one map and I also didn't want to figure out how to make the NPCs work like I had wanted, I pivoted. I programmed the NPCs to do the only move when you look away thing and liked how it worked with putting. I eventually found it goofy how you could stare forever and they would just stand there without moving so the stare timer was added. I ended up liking what I had built far more than what I had initially imagined- it's more confrontational and ties in with the golf mechanics more directly.

My process is basically bumbling into something that works.

Greener Grass Awaits has a really distinctive style for its visuals and music. Some people call the graphics “PS1-style”, but I think there’s more to it than that. I really like the posterization with different color palettes. What influenced you in designing the look of the game?

I also wouldn't describe my game as PS1- I think of it as sort of lo-fi and fuzzy. Some of the reason I went with the posterized look was it sort of covered up the eh graphics, but also it helped scenes remain legible when it was dark. Keeping the game dark was one of my main priorities. I also just like the reduced color look! I'm pretty bad with picking visual inspirations, I just go for what looks right to me at the time.

The soundtrack is probably one of the game’s biggest strengths, it absolutely carries the atmosphere and the buildup of tension throughout. How did you come up with the music? (Also, what programs/plugins do you use :O )

Soundtracking things is something I love doing- it helps me pick a musical direction with much more clarity than my other music projects. I wanted to match the fuzzy visuals so I went with sounds that were dark and distorted. I had a lot of Aphex Twin and especially Boards of Canada in my mind.

I did a lot of slowing things down, lots of brushing random things against the mic, and a lot of shimmer delay. I also did a lot of singing and chanting for any forest bit.

My most used plugins for this project were Sketchcassette 2, Valhalla Delay and Valhalla VintageVerb, and Arturia Pigments. I also used an old Casio keyboard someone was giving away for free for the boss theme and some percussion on the Greener Grass Awaits song!

What about your art/music/animations in general, independent of the game?

If you're asking about software I use Godot, Blender, FL Studio, and Procreate. If you mean my process for coming up with things, usually I'm just randomly struck with some idea that captures my mind.

You did a very good job of making the antagonists feel like a part of the world, and making their presence feel justified by the story and environment instead of being solely there to make it a horror game. How did you come up with your antagonists and flesh them out? What made you choose to make the game’s main threat some kind of murder cult masquerading as a lawn care company?

I came up with most of the big ideas of the game in a day or two where all I could think about was how I'd make this golf horror game make sense. I'm not sure where the evil landscaper idea really came from, or where most of the ideas came from for that matter. My guess is that I asked myself "Why is a cult at this golf course and why do they only move when not looked at" and then started answering that question.

My overall goal was to know exactly what was happening and why, even if the player didn't.

Success

What was your initial reaction to seeing people and YouTubers start to pick up your game? How have you felt about it since?

It's fun but extremely nervewracking for me to watch people on YouTube play it. It's fun to see reactions but it's also a bummer to see problems I hadn't noticed in the game. I had a couple friends playtest the game, but seeing some playthoughs, I think I should've playtested more!

Based on the things some people who played it struggled with, is there anything you’d make differently about the game knowing what you know now?

I'd tone down the forest level a bit and add more signposting. I knew it had problems before I put it out, but the friends I saw play it didn't have that much trouble with it? So I let it be.

Can we get a sneak peek at any other projects that may be up your sleeve for the future?

I've been posting some pictures on my bluesky of a game I've been working on- the title right now is "apple seller supreme" but that might change.

I know you’ve got a lot of other projects. Here’s your chance to shill your other stuff. If you had to pick one to a few other works of yours that you really want people reading this interview to go check out, what would those be?

I put out a music video named LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND recently. Or the VIDEOPALOOZA series! (Editor's note: All of VIDEOPALOOZA can be found on his NG movies page, or YouTube!)

Misc/Silly Questions

How did you write the song for the Greener Grass advertisement? What does “dry and crispy like the thing in my head” even mean? Why does it sound like they’re using grass as a metaphor for a sense of purpose in life? (Is it because the people who lack that sense of purpose are most vulnerable to cult recruitment?)

I bumbled into the right thing while making the Greener Grass Awaits song. I was basing vibe/concept the song after another cult song I discovered off of a Redlettermedia video, SOS. I remember it being very catchy and upbeat while talking about how dissatisfied you were with life. It stuck out as a bizarre ideological Trojan horse, and a good fit for the game. I think I started with the synth riff and bass and just built it out from there.

There's an original version of the theme available on the soundtrack album- I canned it because it wasn't catchy enough and the distorted ending feels wrong for how the song is supposed to be used, in universe.

The dry and crispy line is referring to an unhappy brain!

Are you yourself any good at golf?

I had only ever played mini golf before making this game! But near GGA's completion, I went with some friends to a driving range where I nearly hit the person next to me in the head with a stray golf ball (twice)

What does your username mean, exactly/how’d you come up with it? What is yatoimtop?

I was in to making nonsense words when I was in middle school and that's what I happened to name my first instagram account. I've stuck with it since! Unfortunate -_-

So there you have it! This was a fun conversation and I enjoyed getting to hear Yatoimtop's thought processes!

Please go check out Greener Grass Awaits and Yatoimtop's other content on various platforms. It's all worth a look!

(I've been listening to this song in particular a bunch lately. It's very catchy and I can relate to the lyrics.)

Have a good night, everyone!

-Theta

Hey everyone!

As I said, nominally the deadline for Costume Jam entries is today, October 31st, at 11:59 PM EST.

However, due to changes in my IRL schedule, I will not be able to review the entries until November 9th at the earliest. That means you have extra time to finish up your games, or add updates and polish if you’ve already submitted them! My entry for the jam will likewise be finished in the grace period.

In other news…

PSA: I have a stalker here and on Discord. Ever since after last year’s jam, where we had an argument on the Costume Clash dev team and split up, Dieswyx has been making sporadic attempts to contact me or get around me blocking him for an entire year. I had to unblock him briefly to be in the Pokémon Gijinka Collab, thinking it was all over and he would be reasonable, but only got multiple other unwanted messages and friend requests - one while I was in the collab, one after I left it, and one more a day or two ago. I have put up with this for far too long. Don’t make efforts to witch hunt him necessarily, I’d rather let the admins handle this, but if you are someone he talks to, do not agree to contact me for him or relay any messages.

Next collab? @TheNorf has been planning an art collab that juxtaposes Christmas with horror themes. He is thinking of opening it in November to give enough time for artists to sign up, and I’ll be there to help with logistical stuff and possibly program an interactive gallery. More details will be available within the next month! (Also, if you have scary Christmas music you’d like to be in the gallery, DM me!)

Thanks, everyone!

-Theta

(Banner by @EmsDeLaRoZ! Can you identify all the characters?)

Here we are, last weekend before October begins. I wanted to do some quick housekeeping related to the jam.

I'm curious as to how many people are interested and have managed to start their projects for the jam. Let's do a headcount - if you're working on something for the jam, or planning on it, say so in the comments!

If there are any artists who can't find a programmer, I'd like to know if you'd be interested in using Meiker to make a game for the jam. Essentially, the website turns a PSD file into a functional dress-up game using tags in the layer names. While it will lack some functionality compared to coding something yourself, it might make it possible to participate. If there's enough interest, I could run interference between the admin and NG mods to see if it's acceptable for jam entries to be made off-site.

Thanks for checking in!

-Theta

(Banner by @EmsDeLaRoZ! Do you know who everyone here is?)

It's happening again. Another year of the Costume Jam is upon us, and I'm aiming to go bigger and better!

Once again, if you don't know me already, my name is Theta, and I'm the ghost with the posts! With Halloween coming, everyone’s thinking of a costume - which makes it a perfect time to resurrect a piece of internet history! Dollmakers and dress-up games were a staple of the early days of web games, but they’re still clinging to life even beyond the grave of Flash! So last year, I launched a jam to celebrate the spooky season with some old-school internet flair!

The basic premise of Costume Jam is this: Make a dress-up game with a twist in its game mechanics. It can be something as simple as having the character react to what you put them in, or something as complicated as a whole narrative game where dressing up is the main gameplay. Outfit challenges, minigames to get more clothes, selling to customers, the sky’s the limit! Here's a list of examples I collected for last year's jam.

This year, we have a second optional theme/prompt on top of the regular challenge! It's open-ended on purpose and you can come up with whatever you see fit to go with the theme.

The prompt is "More Like Me".

I'm excited to see how you interpret this for your collab entries! Halloween/horror themes are also encouraged as usual!

Other basic rules:

• Deadline: October 31st at 11:59 PM. Two months should be enough, I think!
• Rules: No shovelware, no hateful content, stick to the NG rules about AI art. Nudity is now allowed for artistic purposes, but no outright pornographic content. A-rated submissions will nonetheless be left out of the video review to keep it suitable for YouTube.
• How to participate: Tag your entry with costumejam2024, and I’ll look through the entries after the deadline has passed!

There is no contest/judging element to this jam, but just like last year, I will do a video review of the entries after the deadline! I'll also ideally be making my own entry again - this time, completely by myself. Last year's fiasco proved to be the kick in the pants I needed to finally start learning to code in an actual game engine.

Alright! Put any questions you have on this post! It’s showtime!

-Theta

After a lot of thinking, I have come to the conclusion that it's probably best to put an end to the Mystery Meat Collab and not pursue making a second, bigger game for it. The collab's basically already been dead for a while, and the ownership issue is messy, and at this point I've moved on emotionally from wanting to fight over it.

However: That being said, I still want to make this game project for its own sake. I just feel like having a looser theme would put less pressure on me to make it perfect, and to outperform my competition on this site.

Gameplay-wise, it will still be the same, except for the omission of planned story-related elements, collectibles, and NPCs, all of which would have made the project more complicated than it likely should've been for a first game. Gamedev is frickin' hard, and I wish I had known years and years ago that the right way to begin a first project is to isolate one aspect - whether it be doing the code first by making simple games with no story, or the story first by creating D&D modules or the like that don't require coding.

Theme-wise, we're also still keeping the dark comedy aspect, but expanding it outward to make horror spoofs of various types of kids' Flash games - not just the Pokémon ones that inspired the minigame approach in the first place. Expanding the theme opens up even more possibilities for minigames and aesthetics, too!

Working title is "The Forbidden Arcade". Perhaps I'll make a devlog of this, we'll have to see if I remember to post regularly about it. Either way, I'll see ya in the next news post!

-Theta

So over the past few days in the Art Forum, I've posted some art challenges that I'm calling "the hate series". The intent behind this is to drive artists into territory unfamiliar to them and test their commitment to the craft. Are Newgrounds Art Forum users willing to draw something they don't like, or spend time researching something they don't know, just as a chance to hone their skills? Will they possibly discover something that they do like buried in the rubbish, or at least a stronger knowledge of why they don't like those things? How will they even react to the very idea of doing so? I seek to find out!

Here's a list of the threads (will be continually updated as I do more of these):

• Draw yourself in a style you hate
• Do an art trend you hate
• Discover, draw, and describe an aesthetic
• Draw a design trope you hate
• Copy the style of someone you appreciate (it’s not hate related, but it definitely involves going out of your way to draw something you wouldn’t!)

I'll keep on adding new threads to keep the experiment going. In the meantime, it'd be fun if anyone else would like to join in! An experiment needs data, after all, and performance art needs an audience.

-Theta

(I kinda made this post for my own use, as a way to keep track of all these threads in one place, lol.)