OOPS.

I wrote a news post thing here *ages* ago saying I'd upload MARDEK 3 here but that I couldn't since it was too big, and wondered how I'd be able to increase the limit for what I could upload.

It turns out that Tom Fulp actually *did* kindly increase my limit quite some time ago, but I never realised it since I never really visit Newgrounds and this account was tied to my old email address, so I never even saw any notifications about it or anything!

I feel embarrassed now since I probably seem stupid for not taking the opportunity that he gave me!

So yes, now I can upload it, so that's great. I feel sort of awkward about doing so though since it's been months since I even so much as looked at MARDEK 3, so it feels sort of out of date.

I will upload it anyway though, since some people are sure to enjoy it if I do and I may even get through to some people who never saw it elsewhere.

But I'd like to delay it for a few days first, since I'm working on renovating my website at the moment, and it'd be nice if I could finish that first so then people who get to my site from MARDEK 3 here won't end up making accounts only to have to make new ones days later. A few more days of delaying won't really make all that much difference in the long run anyway, I don't think.

So, uh, yes! MARDEK 3 will finally be on Newgrounds, I suppose, within probably a week or two! Sorry for the rather rude delay; I really should check here more often.

MARDEK 3 is only playable on Kongregate and my own site, Fig Hunter, as far as I know (unless it's been uploaded to other sites without my knowledge, which isn't really a problem).

The reason I haven't uploaded it here is because of the filesize. It's larger than the limit allowed when submitting a game here.
So if anyone knows how to specifically get around that and upload the game here, I'd like to hear about it... but only if it's specific. 'Maybe contact the staff' isn't adequate, because anyone can think of that. I'd prefer to hear from someone who knows for sure how to actually do it, rather than hearing speculation from people who don't know but feel they should offer their ideas anyway.

It's difficult for me to casually contact people, which is why I don't want to go around contacting staff members willy-nilly.

If you see 'MARDEK 3' anywhere and it's not released by me, please rate it 0 and report the game and the poster to whatever authorities exist on the portal where it's been submitted.

The game is currently being sponsored, and some people, it seems, have taken the opportunity to try to steal and distribute it (not successfully, it seems, though).

If it IS distributed before an official release, I could lose most or all of the potential money that I could make from it. If that happens, then I won't have any reason to continue the series. I might not even make Flash games anymore. This is why this needs to be prevented.

MARDEK RPG, that magnum opus of mine, has had its first two chapters out for years now. I've been working on the third since the second came out, but countless setbacks and diversions to other projects have delayed it time and time again. I keep giving possible release dates, but never meeting them; largely because I overestimate the amount of work I can do in a certain amount of time.

However, this time, it really is IT. I'm really going to finish and release it within a month or two (or three, depending on how long beta testing takes), since I'm not merely estimating how long it'll take to finish a huge chunk of the game; I'm just adding little bits of tweaks and polishes now, final touches. Extra bonus content, much of it optional.
For the most part it's finished; the main plot events are fully done and the game can be played from start to end as it is.

So yes. JANUARY OR FEBRUARY 2010 are the most likely release dates. Excitement!

Just for the sake of getting the previous entry off my page, here's another one that says basically nothing!

Currently I'm still working on MARDEK 3... It should be finished this month, yet it probably won't be RELEASED until about December.

I suppose I'll also be working on Raider 3 sometime soon, but that might not be out for about three months either. Sponsorship takes ages.

If you are interested in the progress of any of my games, see my website: www.fighunter.com!

I've got two private messages from a user called AAnonymous in the last few days.
Here, have a look at them.

However, I'm not a fan of profanity, so for the sake of censoring words I don't want in my news posts and for a potential added amusement factor, I'll convert all offensive words to the word 'trombone'.

This one was titled 'Wow' and sent to me a day or two ago, concerning Raider: Episode 1, I assume:

"space pirates.. logs.. ghost ships of a dead race... rip off of metroid more, seriously

newgrounds even says that flash games arent a stable source of money, SO GO AND GET A REAL JOB U LAZY TROMBONE.

why dont u do something with ur pathetic life rather than staying ur mom's basement u disgusting excuse for a human being. if everyone was liek u this world would die out fast.

ur games r trombone, ur life is trombone, YOU are trombone.

just die in a fire already, ill enjoy blocking u, u stupid piece of trombone"

He then blocked me so then I couldn't respond to that.
"Tsk", I thought, annoyed that such people exist at all, but I just sighed and ignored it, thinking it was just a one-off thing from some pathetic wretch of a human being trying to make himself feel good about himself by spewing badly-mangled profanity-ridden insults at Flash developers who are using their time to contribute something to the world out of the desire to do so rather than just because they're being paid to...
Truly though, we should all aspire to be like this person. Surely we would transcend the gods themselves if only we all followed his bright, shining example. I shall name my children after him and Jesus is old news, O Christians; a more perfect saviour has arrived to deserve our worship.

Anyway, I got another message today from the same person, this time called 'Hmmmm':

"Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

are you dead yet u tromboning ugly faggot? Hmm. Hmm.

god ur so tromboning annoying. Hmm.

stop making tromboney flash games too"

I know it's just some troll - probably some young child who feels good about putting relatively skilled people down from behind the barriers of a monitor and a block - but still, it's really pathetic, and I thought I'd write this about it simply because he denied me the pleasure of responding to his actual PMs.

Has anyone else seen this person around?
Or what do you think of these pathetic wretches in general?
Makes me sort of tempted to add a 'hate mail' section to my site...

(Also, interestingly, I've never actually played any Metroid games!)

Is there any way to report people like this though?

The other news post has been up for months and months, so here's another. I'll be succinct:

- Raider Episode 2 should be out in 'a few days'; it's done but needs sponsorship still.

- MARDEK 3 is predicted to be finished by about September. Sponsorship may take up to a month after that though. Exciting.

- I'm not working on anything else at the moment.

Raider 3, and maybe even Raider 4, will be out before MARDEK 3, probably... And I hope to have the five Raider episodes done by the end of the year.
After that, depending on how much people liked Raider, I'll likely make a sequel to the episodes which is more like a cross between an RPG and a platformer. Probably.

Anyway, hello.

I'm not sure if anyone checks here and only here for updates on what I'm doing or games that I've released, but if you do, you're not going to find much out because I rarely visit Newgrounds. I'll upload games that I finish here, but for information on what I'm working on and how far I've got, check my website instead, www.fighunter.com. I update that regularly.

Currently, I'm STILL working on MARDEK 3 (gods, it's been taking ages... but it's nearing completion now, at least), and several other games:

'Beast Signer', an RPG which has gameplay derived from Pokemon but with noticeable differences. It's similar to MARDEK and perhaps larger in scope, but focuses more on gameplay than story. It might not be released anywhere other than on my website because I'm planning on updating it weekly or so, and having possible player involvement like a sort of quasi-semi-MMOG, instead of finishing it as a single thing and then releasing it on other Flash websites...

'Fig Hunter Online', or 'FHO' for short, which will definitely be only on my site. It's basically a thing that allows players to easily make 'RPGs' of their own (or more like 'levels' for the same game, using the same engine as all other players' creations, etc), without having to understand the complexities of games design. All the 'Adventures' that people will make will be rated by other players and hosted on my site...
If you've ever played Neverwinter Nights, FHO is comparable to the Toolset feature, except that everything you make is automatically hosted on the website and doesn't need to be uploaded.

'Chimaera', a game sort of like Monster Rancher in concept, for those of you familiar with those games (Monster Rancher 2, specifically). You play as a Mad Scientist, and raise a single monster for battling in tournaments (which is done for sport in the game world). The monster grows with age and you have to train its stats while taking time into account due to the monster's finite lifespan.
Much of the appeal - and the title - comes from the fact that you ARE a Mad Scientist, and as such, your 'monstrosity' is not a mere animal, but a fleshy construct similar to Frankenstein's Monster; that is, it's stitched together from a collection of parts. You can swap around the limbs of your monstrosity at any point, changing them for more powerful limbs that you've acquired.
You can have dinosaurs with metal arms and insect heads and such...

'Raider', a sci-fi platformer that I started more than two years ago and really should finish...

And 'BE-a-St', a game about reincarnation...

Those are all my game projects currently in development. I keep changing what I'm working on though, so none of them are finished, but they'll likely all be 'finished' sometime this year. Hopefully.

So, uh, check my site if you're interested in updates and such!

It's been a while since I released MARDEK 2, and people are understandably asking when the next one will be out. So, I'm going to tell you exactly what's taking so long!

At the moment, MARDEK 3 is about 30% complete, but it's postponed temporarily while I work on some other game(s). I'll get back to it soon, but these other games will be released relatively quickly, and might interest people!

Firstly, there's a platformer called 'Raider' that I worked on years ago but never finished, and I'm currently sort of trying to finish it. It's not an RPG, but it has "RPG elements" to it, like stats, etc. It's a sci-fi side-scrolling platformer though.
I don't know how long that will take to release, or whether people will like it when it IS, but I just want to get it out of the way since I started it almost two years ago, and keep just leaving it for months...

Other than that though, I'm also working on a game called "Beast Signer".
It's basically a Pokemon clone; that is, you catch and train monsters, and battle with them and so on. It uses a variant of the MARDEK engine, and has similar graphics.
It'll be MASSIVE, and might appeal to people; you can read more about it [HERE].

What I plan to do is work on Raider and Beast Signer simultaneously - as I'm doing now (if I work on just one game for too long, it gets tedious and I lose motivation and get nothing done) - and release a 'demo' of Beast Signer as soon as possible. After releasing that, I'll be updating Beast Signer in weekly installments, so a 'Full, Finished Game' version won't be released any time soon (or at all...?), and instead it will be regularly updating. Yes. I think I'm repeating myself and rambling!

As soon as the Beast Signer demo is out, I'll get back to MARDEK 3!

I can't give you any dates for any releases - not even vague approximations - but, uh... I'd like to say "Beast Signer or Raider will be out in maybe a month!", but don't take my word for that! It could be sooner, could be later.
It takes a long time to make a complex game though, as you might realise if you've made Flash games yourself. If you HAVEN'T made them before, then try making your own before telling me to "hurry up", so then you can understand how much work it actually requires...

Raider's about 80% - 90% done though, and Beast Signer's about the same (well, if 100% would be considered "ready for a demo release", anyway).

Anyway, uh... This is news!

How do Flash things actually get chosen to be featured on the front page of Newgrounds...? Because I'm really disappointed that MARDEK 2 didn't get featured even though it got great scores and things (better than other things that DID make it to the front page...), and MARDEK 1 got featured despite lower scores...
Do a certain amount of users have to suggest it for featured status or something? Or is it entirely just Tom Fulp's personal preference (since everyone seems to say 'thanks for the front page, Tom!')...?

Does anyone know?

It would be good if you could maybe suggest MARDEK 2 though if possible, or at least recommend it for the Adventure Games collection!