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My newest feature animation has been released! 

Watch it here:

Falcomaster the Smash Bros Anime

Read my WIP post on this animation.

It has been almost a week since releasing my smash bros parody and the video has gotten a good deal of attention. Here are some of my thoughts and future plans for my Falcomaster stuff.

Did I have fun making this: Kinda!

As far as the process went, I’d say I had a goodish time working on this project. It spanned roughly 4 months and took about 140 hours of pure animation labor. Usually I’m able to fit more art hours in such a timespan (remember that I went >500 hours within 7 months), but I wasn’t able to hit max productivity. This is mainly due to the fact that I underwent a website and stream re-branding effort in February, which disrupted my animation schedule. These were very positive upgrades though, so I’m okay with that.

A new stream overlay!

What I am a bit disappointed in is the lack of flow that I was able to achieve so well while working on Gildedguy vs. Jade. I’d say it’s because I was doing more difficult animation for this video, but there were other effects as well. This time around, viewership was lower, and my streams didn’t feel as playful and fun to me. But I don’t blame the chat, myself, or anyone for this. I dunno, the nights just felt more mellow instead of exciting.

On the upside, I really pushed my technical skills this time around, resulting in my crowning animated scene, THE FALCON KNEE:

This has got to be my best scene yet. And it only took me 8 hours! (I’m not being sarcastic, 8 hours for this kind of quality is pretty efficient for me).

Great Reception!

The video has done awesomely since I released it 5 days ago. It has gotten ~100k views, lotsa positive comments, and a Daily First/Feature on Newgrounds!

I’m blown back at how much the /r/smashbros subreddit enjoyed it. There was even a separate thread performing an in-depth analysis of the thing. It is an amazing feeling to have people dissect every scene and reference of the video. It is good to know that all the details I put in were noticed.

Finding out that pro players have retweeted your creation is always fun. A professional player is someone you only know from interviews, tournament play, and documentaries. They are top-notch performers and garner lots of respect from the internet masses. Although there are tons of stories and news clips about them, you’ve never seen them in person. To a spectator, they are distant, untouchable characters.

So when one of them tweets: “[Your animation] is amazing!”, you get surge of star power.

Holy crap! You’re that well-known guy from that well-known documentary!

AKA “HE NOTICED ME!!!”. And boy, is star power strong stuff. Which is strange, because I’ve got fans of my own. I guess no one is immune to the influence of celebrity.

Falcomaster Sequel? Series?

Oh hyes. I have a lot of wacky, grand ideas regarding the competitive smash bros scene. There are so many memes, stories, and historical events to be inspired by. And I love working with disorganized lore and making it more concrete. I’m thinking an episodic series that tells the full (fictional) story of Falcomaster, and what it means to be a fully-realized gamer.

If I’m going to do this Falcomaster series, I want to do it right. I’ll have to build up a lot of time and support. Many people have suggested Patreon, which is my next milestone. Don’t be surprised if you see “Falcomaster Episode 1” appear outta nowhere a couple months from now.

I’ll keep you guys posted.

What’s next?

I have a couple of loose ends I gotta deal with. This includes commission and freelance work, which I will be focusing on for the next week or two. I have 2-3 blog posts I need to finish as well as decide the fate of Gilded Quest, my dream multi-user dungeon game.

The next project is 50% chance gonna be a music synced animation with Gildedguy. Other 50% chance it’ll be a small tutorial or speed RHG.

Maybe I’ll let you guys decide. (This is where Patreon may come in handy!)

BUT, I do want to resume animating as soon as possible.

I’ve decided that I’m not going to take anymore mandated breaks between my projects. I love to animate, why stop?

Thanks for reading!

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