Yep, the Game Ranger is close to being finished. I'm finishing up the dialogue scene right now before moving on to the climactic battle against Evil K!

I can't believe that it's over four minutes long right now...and that's just from where it's cut, but NOT including credits and bonus scene. From start, to cut, to the end of the epilogue, it's clocking in just slightly over four minutes! The best news is that it doesn't feel like you're watching for that long. Everything moves on in a way to make you feel fresh with each section.

I'm so damn happy about the progress now. Wyld and I are already talking about what's going to be in store for Game Ranger 4.

Hell yes, things are going EVEN FASTER now. Why? Well, remember when I said I had figured out a way of doing the sprites two posts ago? Turns out that it's allowing me to produce the work even faster because I don't have to keep rendering the movie to check the sequences!

Oh, and I half lied when I said that I wouldn't be implementing the new way of doing things this time around... Every scene except the first and second, the epilogue, the credits, and the bonus can be paused mid-play!

The file size is still pretty damn small for a fully acted sprite movie running at 25fps and an audio output of 32kbp/s. The file size is so small, in fact, that there is going to be an "Extras" section in which you can read more about the series, the thought process, and even listen to deleted audio!

Yeah, I'm excited right now. Why? Because I only have a little bit of story piece for this section, a short action sequence, a short story piece, and then the final action sequence to finish.

Hooray for China! This is the best Newgrounds ever thanks to China!!!

On a day normally saved for jokes and pranks, Newgrounds has allowed the glory of China to make this site better without any kind of comedy!!!!

Honestly...those of you who are bitching or think the China thing is real....fucking come on. It's April Fool's day

As those of you who have watched my sprite movies know, you can't pause any of them without it continuing to play, except for Phoenix Wrong: Appalling Justice. The reason being is because I put the sprites into a movie clip for the scene, then put movie clips inside of that for certain animations, in order to be able to resize them when needed so that they are the correct size and what have you. As you know, you can't pause a movie clip.

Well...I discovered a way, quite by accident, which enables me to enlarge or shrink the sprites as needed, but also allow the viewer to pause the movie. Yeah, I'm sure this is common knowledge at this point for most sprite animators, but this is a huge deal for me. (Don't worry, animators, I'm not going to go blabbing to everyone how to do it in this post).

I was actually messing around with some Mortal Kombat sprites a while ago for a now defunct project when I made a mistake. I didn't think much about it at the time, as I was still learning the program, and just deleted it. I don't know what made me think about it today as I'm sitting here working on the Game Ranger 3, but I decided to open up a new project file and test my theory. Well, it worked and my reaction was, "No fucking way..."

Not only will this allow the viewer to pause the animation, but it's going to allow me the ability to see where exactly a sprite is on the screen at any point instead of having to go forward to the point in the time line, click into the movie clip, mark where the sprite is on the screen, click out of it, then click into the movie clip of the other portion and make the adjustments.

Now, I never claimed to be doing things the easy way in my animations, so laugh if you want. I always knew there was an easier way of doing things, but I just couldn't figure it out. I don't have any kind of training or education with the program outside of what I have figured out on my own. I don't even use other websites to learn how to do things, unless I need a specific script...which has been about twice.

What does this mean for the viewer besides being able to pause the animation? Well...I can make better menu selections and give the viewer the ability to skip to more precise locations within the animation...this includes making a button to pause the animation in the current frame, skip back/forward next scene and/or skip back/forward ten frames.

Now, for the "bad" news. This will not be in the current Game Ranger animation, as it will cost MORE TIME for me since I would have to once again redo the scenes...and that's just not going to happen. I will, however, still have the scene selection and forward/back scene select during the animation.

In both the next Game Ranger and other animations I will put all the neat little things in. I'm rather excited about it.

High-Def End of Time (Game Ranger ) Poster

You know, I think the worst part of doing an animation, especially in sprites, is the constant need to watch the scenes over and over and over and over and over just to make sure it's right. I don't mind the sprite hunting, sprite editing, nor the audio editing so much as I get sick and tired of watching the same section of animation constantly. The one thing to keep yourself a bit sane doing it all is to have good background music playing while you're working in the time line and not viewing things.

While sprites can be a faster way to make an animation, you still have to know what you're doing in order to produce the desired feel and/or look. Also, you have to find the right place to "anchor" the sprites or they look bouncy or strange when you animate them...this is a HUGE problem in a lot of sprite animations, including Phoenix Wrong tributes.

As much as I'm suffering through this animation, the Game Ranger 3 is coming along wonderfully. With the scene selection, the first scene, the second scene (action), the full credits, and the bonus scene done the file size is only 2.79MB.

Some might say that file size is a bit large...well, it's not. Reason being is because it's at 32kb/s for the audio and 25 frames per second. Also, the action scene alone is over a minute long. Remember, this is a fully voice acted series with text boxes to assist you understanding what is being said.

Aside from the file size, editing and manipulating sprites isn't as easy as you'd think initially. Most of the time you're limited in what you can do based on the sheets available, but if you have the right programs and patience, you can do extra things...all of which takes time. Looking for sprites is time consuming enough as it is!

Oh, and what happens when you want to use something other than sprites in a sprite movie? Yeah, you either have to make it or find it, then edit it in multiple copies in order to get what you are going for...especially if you can't find what you need on the web.

Then there's the audio...even though I have the recordings from the voice actors and the music...it still has to be edited to sound better and/or fit correctly. This takes up quite a bit of time, too, especially when you have to redo voice files or find the right sound effects. You'd think that fucking Dragonball Z would have tons of sites with the sounds, but no...

Oh, did I forget to mention how long lip-syncing takes?

Then, of course, there's always those times where you surprise even yourself. It's always a great feeling to animate something and then watch it, only to find it better than you hoped for originally.

As far as the GR3 is going, as I said, it's a small file size for what's 100% completed and it's going to be a lot longer than the previous episodes.

Yep, another update already. Things are going great on the project and as I'm finishing up this scene, there's really only two more which need to be completed.

Down side is the last of those two scenes are, for the most part, very complicated in structure compared to the rest of the animation. It's completely doable and shouldn't take too much editing of sprites to complete, however.

The most annoying part of doing sprite animations is the time you spend looking for the sheets or animations only to end up using a lot less than you originally planned, either because it didn't look right or what you decide on later looks better.

While I'm still uncertain about the later fights (the ones seen on the previous poster) will play out exactly, the current action scene is going off very well. I'm extremely happy with how it's turned out. Big props to co-director Wyldfyre1 for the extra set of eyes and ideas, as without him, somethings just wouldn't be as neat as they are or would be very different.

As it stands right now, the action sequence on one of the scenes is almost a full minute, so that should tell you something.

It's so funny how things have changed in the animation and series...but that's a story for another time.

Sorry, no preview poster this time.

Yes, I'm sure that there are quite some people who think I'm a real bastard at this point, and for that I apologize.

I know no one cares what's going on in my personal life, but that's what has been delaying the Game Ranger 3 release.

The good news (there always is, isn't there?) is that progress is hammering forward once again in a head-on full fledged attack. In all actuality, there isn't that much left to do...it's just getting it done that's been the issue. Hell, I'm working on it as I type this.

I'm happy with the battle sequences and the humor. As always, I'm very happy with the voice work from our actors. I think the end product is going to be of such a quality that everyone involved is going to feel justified in their efforts.

Again, when I finish a few projects after GR3, the fourth installment will be released even quicker than previous ones.

Here's a new preview poster, too. (...OMFG, is that some spoilers????....no *L*)

High-Def Battle Poster

Now, I know there are quite a few people out there who find the Game Ranger series at least entertaining, but don't find it "magical" or "sexy". Well, I'm glad to report that should change with the Game Ranger 3.

Since I have a lot better understanding of the new way I'm using the sprites, things are happening a lot faster than they were. The first scene I was working on with the new sprites took me a very long time, but I've learned how to streamline the process. I don't work in Photoshop, but the program I do use is making things nice and easy just the same.

Still, there are times when certain things take a while to get to look just right. For instance, I have characters riding chocobos and it took two hours to get them to look good enough to use. The end result, however, is not only hilarious, but it looks very good.

The fight scene that I am working on will take a while. Good news? I have a lot of ideas to use that will make it fast paced and smooth. Please don't expect Proxicide or Alvin-Earthworm standards...I'm not that good nor do I understand the program well enough. I am, however, aiming for the same seat of the pants "GO! GO!!! GO!!!!" as R1665. No, I'm not trying to match R1665 nor am I trying to imitate any other author. I'm simply aiming to create a new standard for myself with the battle scenes and make them feel grand.

Also, Wyld and I have been going over a lot of ideas for the fighting scenes. There have been quite a few changes on just the one I'm editing right now. He'll throw me ideas that I never thought of, either for dialogue or for sequence, and I'll start to add or change it. This does slow some things down, but a lot of the time the changes/additions are for the better.

"I want screen shots!" you say? Sorry, not at this time. I realized I posted more screen shots than I thought the last time and I don't want to go about showing tons of the movie. Now, granted a lot of the caps were from the first scene, but I don't want to do that again. As I work along in the movie, I will show caps from different scenes, but only one or two at the most.

There will be a much better menu selection this time around! You can start at the beginning, skip to the fight of your choice, or go to the credits. Each part has a label such as "Section 1: Story" and "Section 4: Fight" so that you'll know exactly where you're going to be when you click on it. Selecting the "Section 1: Story" will obviously start you off from the beginning and play through the end. I may or may not add invisible buttons to allow you to skip to and from each section as desired.

Another thing...at this point last time with Game Ranger 2, and to a point Game Ranger: EX, the file size was getting large with only a few scenes completed. This time around? Well, with the entire scene selection done, the first scene completed, one of the fight scenes started, another partial scene with audio, full credits roll, and the bonus scene completed, I'm only looking at a 2.31MB file! Yes, that's right. What is the audio quality? Well, it's 32kb/s, which is higher than that of the previous versions. The frame rate? It's at 25fps! Yes, the animation has been optimized.

I'm really happy with the way things are turning out and the speed at which I'm able to produce the animation. Not bad for someone who has absolutely no training in this sort of thing and has had to learn everything through trial and error. Like I said, I'm really not that familiar with anything in the program except for movie clips, buttons, and still symbols. If I took a class, I'm sure I'd learn just how much of a "hard way" I do the animations are.

I'll keep everyone updated. I want to send out another thank you to all the voice actors who have helped with this project. Don't worry, your work is not just sitting around!

Yep, that's right, it's going on again and all is well with it!!!

I've almost completed another scene and I'll be working on fleshing out one of the fights. Fucking ownage, right? Damn straight.

While you're waiting for more screen shots, here's a new movie poster I put together:

Captain R: Game Ranger 3 Poster 2 (Color)

Captain R: Game Ranger 3 poster 2 (BW)

I no longer have access to a computer after I post this.

This means until I can once again get on a computer, I will not be able to work on any of the projects.

Fuck it all