Summer is here. It's hot. It's damp. It's gross and sweaty and I hate every single second of it, but I'm still here. Somehow. So, what have I been up to since my last update? Plenty of stuff, for sure.

I can confidently say that merely being "busy" would be the understatement of the century, or at the very least decade.

I've been working on commissions left and right for various folks, all busy with their own game projects and ideas. All of them have long-term development plans which means that 1) the likelihood of their collective schedules inevitably slipping into Valve time units has a tendency to exponentially increase throughout development (much like entropy), and 2) they are entirely dependent on their own pockets when it comes to financing their goals, and by extension me as a composer/audio guy.

Let's just say we're all on the same boat. I am still developing my own game, they are as well; I am busy, they are busy. You know the drill by now. Speaking of busy, real life hasn't been exactly gracious with me either, what with school and some pretty habit-changing health issues along the way. They just love piling up, don't they. Don't worry, I've been much better now, despite summer-induced lethargy and occasional insomnia, but that's fine.

I'd like to think the worst has gone by and I'm trying to keep a somewhat positive attitude towards the future. I've been mostly prioritizing thesis writing for my impending graduation. Not like I have a choice, I just have to, really. Won't go into details about it. Just know that my irons are plenty full at the moment.

What else is there... Oh, of course, soundtracks. So, there's some pretty exciting things down the pipeline. I have been slowly converting to the sample OST mini-album release model as a taster pack for what's to come, i.e. the full soundtracks. If you're worried about the new model potentially diluting the quality of my output somehow, think about it this way: as explained earlier, my VGM work has a tendency to be paired with forever-in-development projects, with little to no end in sight.

I legitimately do not know when these games are finally gonna see the light of day, if they ever will. So, I thought, what if I were to release just a small bite for now? It's better than having to keep all this work for years without being able to publish it because those games aren't finished yet, right? I'm happier because I can finally publish some of my own work, you're happier because you finally get to listen to some new music from me, and my clients are happier because they can get some buzz as a result, too. Everybody wins and I got nothing to lose, anyway.

So, that's something you can expect before the end of this year. I have the grand total of three sample soundtrack albums down the line. That's right. It's official. They're pretty much ready, I'm just waiting on their artwork to get done, which might take some time still. Hopefully, it won't take too long.

As for me, I also have a bunch of personal albums in the works, ranging from wait this is still music? experimental, to purely ambient, to something more complex and melodic. It's exciting news because I try to bring a lot of variety to my own output, so even if you end up not liking a certain album, there's always something else you may look forward to and enjoy.

Finally, while I'm usually up for audio collabs, my slots are already taken for now. It's just too much to handle, as you can probably tell. If you'd like to use my music somewhere on Newgrounds, it's not mandatory, but it'd be nice if you shared some of that nice revenue or at the very least credited me. :)

As always, you folks can support me on Patreon,
https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenDawn

Check out my Youtube channel and subscribe for more music and full album videos,
https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenDawnOff

Check my Audiojungle royalty free assets,
https://audiojungle.net/user/forgottendawn

Or join my Discord server to meet all-around awesome creators and nice people,
https://discord.gg/KM44KY5

Thanks for sticking around and stay tuned,
//FD

April. Spring has kicked in, sun is shining, flowers are blooming. So, what have I been up to?

When it comes to game design, I have been experimenting around and better organizing my own ideas. I haven't been in a .defrag mood lately, but I'm expecting to resume development at some point this year. I have been preparing other short games, like The Linear Game, that I may or may not unveil in the near future.

Here's a mockup:

Such "games" are more like passtime projects for me and they kinda represent a transient mood than an actual game with, you know, conventional mechanics and objectives. They definitely have a story, but there's no win/loss condition, as you can only walk around and interact to push the story forward and that's pretty much it.

I'm not gonna lie they're fun to make, even though they take enough time from my schedule.

Speaking of things chewing my time off, music.

I have just recently made my Youtube exclusive 1-hour ambiances downloadable on Bandcamp, if anyone's interested. I'm planning on making more 1-hour videos, among other things. Links:

https://forgottendawn-main.bandcamp.com/track/1h-001-dark-ambient-lo-fi-music
https://forgottendawn-main.bandcamp.com/track/1h-002-lo-fi-space-ambient-drone-music
https://forgottendawn-main.bandcamp.com/track/1h-003-lo-fi-relaxing-ambient-meditation-music

More personal albums are also on the works. Slowly, but steadily.

I have been working on soundtrack commissions for the most part. I can't share any of these, unfortunately, but they will be available at some point in the future, when those projects will finally be released.

Now, another thing I'd like to get off my chest.

I have been asked many times if people could buy my albums or support me in some way or another.

- I always put download links whenever possible, especially on my Youtube videos.

- I always give people the option to pay any amount they want, if they so desire — they can still download my personal albums for free. I'm very lenient when it comes to pricing or value perception, as I believe everyone should think with their pockets and pay with their conscience.

- I even have a Patreon in case you'd like to donate even as low as 1$ every month.

- Furthermore, you may also buy my soundtrack albums in my VGM Bandcamp, or even stock tracks from my Audiojungle.

You guys have plenty of options and they're often within a mouse click's reach. I'm not asking anything from anyone, but these are the facts.

Till the next update,

//FD

Hey folks, good news.

I've recently released a fun little RPG Maker side-scroller called The Linear Game.

It's about a character called The Explorer having to walk from point A to B. It's really that simple. Or is it? :o

If you wanna find out, grab the game on either Gamejolt, RMN, or itch.io for free.

Shout out to Pancaek for the amazing backdrops and feedback~

//FD

Download link: https://forgottendawn-main.bandcamp.com/album/rust01

https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/794752

It's here.

We joined forces once again and created this beast of an album over the course of a handful of months.

Give it some love, folks! Share, share, share (and follow)!

By Newgrounds, for everyone.

https://the-underground-collective.bandcamp.com/album/volume-ii-sounds-of-the-future

Image credit goes to Kaede. Thank you @Ceevro for the kind opportunity.

Authors: @I0TA @RealFaction @1f1n1ty @AceMantra @normalgeist @LucidShadowDreamer @TSRBand @Kalviter @Gragon73 @LexaHergon

Organizers: @ForgottenDawn @RealFaction

@Troisnyx @TomFulp @EvilRaccoon @SoundChris @Phonometrologist @ADR3-N @Enzer0 @Mattashi @Rahmemhotep @Zechnition @JacobCadmus @backwardecho @pr0tagonist @Hikari @Ectisity

I thought I'd make a quick summary for anyone who's interested in using my tracks in their own projects.

Singles / Personal albums

License: CC 4.0 Attribution / Royalty-free

You are free to do whatever you want, even for commercial projects, as long as you credit me as the author of the chosen music. If you're planning on uploading your project on Newgrounds, you're not required to share revenue, though it would be nice.

Example 1: "Hi can I use your track for my awesome creation?"

Yeah, just credit me and we're fine.

Soundtrack albums / Video-game related music

License: CC 3.0 Attribution - Non-commercial - Share-alike / One-off payment - Royalty-free

You are free to use these tracks for your own projects, as long as you credit me as the author and you don't make money out of it. Furthermore, if you modify or remix upon these works, you have to use this same license. Again, if you're planning on uploading your project on Newgrounds, you're not required to share revenue, though it would be nice.

Example 1: "Hey I'm making this game/mod, can I use this?"

If you're planning on profiting from either its soundtrack or the game/mod, then you may NOT under any circumstance use those tracks.

Example 2: "Hey can I use this track for my cat hairballs awareness student film?"

Again, we're all good if you're not planning on making any revenue from it and you credit me.

Stock tracks (Unity Asset Store / Audiojungle products)

License: All Rights Reserved / Generally One-off payment - Royalty-free

Read their licensing rules upon purchasing my audio. Crediting isn't necessary though it would be nice. There's no need for contacting me for permission. You paid for it, you get to use it. Simple as that. Audiojungle offers a variety of specific licenses you can buy based on different uses.

Cover tracks

License: All Rights Reserved / I don't own shit

Don't use these tracks, period. I don't own the intellectual property belonging to the original content creator, nor I am able to monetize upon it. Neither should you.

Collaborations

License: Varies / Typically CC 3.0 (see above)

As a rule of thumb, since these tracks don't include just me, you may only use them for non-profit projects. Furthermore, you should credit me and whoever else is involved as authors.

Useful link: http://elearningbrothers.com/elearning-tip-the-difference-between-copyright-free-and-royalty-free/

If you still have any doubts or would like to share royalties or any other inquiry, feel free to shoot me a PM. Otherwise, it would be advisable to consult a lawyer.

Thanks,

//FD

One month to Forgotten Dawn's 5th anniversary in this internet hole called Newgrounds and a bunch of other places. OK, so what, right? Well, it's kind of a big deal to me, especially compared to my previous... er, "artistic" iteration. Thing is, almost 5 years ago I had no idea what I was doing. Not like certain things have changed over time — as much as I'd like to think otherwise.

Here's the premise to this weird and unusual post. It doesn't contain any updates or anything related to current projects and work in progress material. Feel free to ignore this if you're just not interested in my own trip down memory lane. Newgrounds historians take note. I think 5 years already feel distant enough for me to view things under a different light, as if I were a complete stranger filling the roles of judge, jury and executioner at the same time.

So, here it comes.

"The Brutally Honest and Tragically Funny Genesis of Forgotten Dawn!"

I'll be honest with you, Forgotten Dawn as a project is still a lucky coincidence. It was merely meant as just another cheap knock-off while waiting for the next music messiah to descend from music heaven™ and bless my mortal endeavor with more inspiring juice.

I had experienced a wealth of changes in 2012. I remember getting out of high school without any idea of where to go and what to do next. I just knew I harbored many interests and that was it, really. I felt really unprepared for that. Things then started piling up, stress came along to say "hi" and the combination of those took a toll on my music. For the entirety of that year, I was unable to create anything remotely satisfactory. It was a pretty bad case of writer's block. Granted it was also the year I expanded my library greatly, I didn't really know how to handle that kind of potential.

I used to make plenty of alts back in the days. Not that I won anything with them, but it wasn't the point. It was a mix of boredom, willing to role-play different characters each with their own personality and imagining how they would sound like, and simply screwing around with my audience. It was also a way to safely test whatever new tool or virtual instrument I would get with no real impact on any perceived "reputation" I could have had. Clearly, at the time I still needed to grasp the "nobody cares" rule. Baby steps, right?

My mindset at that time was still quantity over quality. I used to be incredibly wild when composing. Out of 100 tracks, I would really only recommend 20 or less. That was my own personal "success" ratio. At some point, I even made my own "label", envisioning myself as a curator of different artists that were still me under various aliases and personas. You may take a look, if you wish.

So, really, all things considered, when I made Forgotten Dawn, my cynical mind expected the same old thing I always did. Except not. This time was different. What made it different was the fact that I grew increasingly tired and frustrated of what I had done as @KKSlider60. Some people might still be wondering if I went off the charts forever never to come back again, so I'm assuming this post would finally clear any inch of doubt about it. It came down as an epiphany to me.

Back then, there was no option of changing your username as we know it today. There was no supporter status either. Your only chance was to directly contact either a mod or an admin and pray senpai would notice you. So, in a sense, I did have the option to just change my name to Forgotten Dawn, but I wanted none of that. I wanted to start anew. Zero. Nil. Again. For the, what- 4th time? Something like that.

I realized I lost that kind of initial "spark". The name KK Slider became my ball and chain at that point. I had littered my portfolio with tons of half-baked material, gigabytes worth of unreleased files now lost forever (courtesy of Seagate drives), plenty of "experimental" alts that led me nowhere artistically, and only a few released albums that I deemed worthy of receiving my own blessing. I wanted to desperately cling to that novelty feeling, even going as far as imitating what I thought was my own successful style. It felt pretty disasterous for me at the time. Again, I wanted none of that.

I didn't wanna drag that kind of legacy into the new era. "If I truly wanted to experiment and broaden my musical boundaries, it better be good and have soul!" I heard myself crying from the inside. I figuratively wanted a new home for myself. A peaceful place inside my head devoted to creativity where I could simply unleash my potential as myself, for who I was. Just one single nexus I'd always be welcome to stay as much as I wanted to. That was my vision. Definitely not a shallow business filled with subworks and musical afterthoughts. Definitely.

February 22nd, 2013 - The day I mustered the courage to finally call it quits with KKSlider60 and embark on this new age of discovery. I made this loop called "Whispering Horizon", and that was the last time I logged in as my old alias. Haven't logged in ever since. Not even by mistake. This is my home now. It's like mentally moving to a different place. I packed my stuff, the bare minimum, and christened the next cave as my new base.

Does it still feel new? Maybe. Kinda. Parts of it still do. To be honest, it kinda has to. I think it should never reach the point of predictability. It's like an organism, a constant busy workshop. It's always changing, evolving, adapting. As long as there's movement, there's life. It stops when there's no such exchange of energy. That's how I want things to be for myself.

Did I succeed in unleashing my full potential? Well, I'd be lying or in complete denial with myself if I said I did, so... Time will tell. Who knows, maybe my next project will be called Remembered Dawn.

//FD

And another year's down the drain, wew.

//What has 2017 meant for Forgotten Dawn? (other than referring to himself in third person, yay ego)

Production-wise, it's been a rather sophomore year. I was expecting to do more, in all honesty, but I've been slowed down by my studies, health issues, hardware issues (HDD crash) and ultimately myself. Not that I need to justify my relative lack of activity; in fact, I'm not. However, I believe it's important to spend some time reflecting on what has been done for this project I've been carrying on since 2013. It'll be five years in February 22nd, actually.

It's been a planning year, for the most part. Thinking about the future, the current state of things, what I'd like to do to push the project further ahead. I have laid out a solid road map for how I'd like to categorize and serialize my personal future albums (i.e. the non VGM-related albums) and therefore avoid creating a dozen different IPs that would  otherwise be very difficult to manage at once.

Distinguishing my personal discography from my soundtrack albums was the first step towards figuring out the kind of scope I'd like to achieve with my endeavor. For me, it's always been crucial to strive for genuinity in anything I do or plan, something that is not always possible to achieve when working under contract. The goal would be different in that case, since I would be providing a product serving a greater one. In other words, the soundtrack would be considered "mine" since I worked on it, but it's part of a larger purpose that may not be entirely "mine", which often times isn't — I would have to adhere to someone else's vision. My work would have to be more functional than experimental, unless I am the one creating everything in the first place.

Thusly, I would consider my personal discography as my "truest" unhinged exploratory effort. I have come to the realization that all the free tracks that I have released so far, all the singles and tracks that don't currently belong to any larger concept, are a bit of a prototypical vision of what I'd like my albums to be and sound like in the future. Even the two albums I've published a while back (mangled.bits and sixteen) still represent a rite of passage for me, between the idea and the vision. So, there's much to look forward to, and I'd like to think the past year has been seminal in furthering the vision, despite all the difficulties.

//What has been done so far, including the past few years

- Created a basic network infrastructure linking all Forgotten Dawn-related pages

- Made a YouTube channel now counting over 500 subscribers

- Opened an Audiojungle account allowing the selling of multi-purpose stock audio

- Opened a Patreon allowing users/admirers/listeners to pledge any kind of voluntary donation

- Opened a new Bandcamp welcoming my personal discography

- Created a Discord server

- Passing my previous amount of NG followers by almost double (258 as of now VS @KKSlider60's measly 130. Suck it, me!)

- Survived another year (woohoo)

//The Underground Collective

It's been a fun year for the collective. For those who still don't have a clue of what The Underground Collective is, it's simply a group of creatives coming together and collaborating for the sake of it. It currently comprehends the Audio Portal community since that's basically where it all started (me and @RealFaction came up with the idea before ultimately executing it), but it might extend to other communities in the future, should the concept grow past its boundaries.

We made the album m0lecular — soundwaves in liberty, in honor of our good friend and colleague @I0TA, who goes by many aliases and personas, mostly as a way to express our solidarity towards his opus and the difficulties he's faced over the years.

We're currently brewing Volume II with a futuristic theme in mind, as a follow-up to our 2016 Volume I album. Refer to @RealFaction's more detailed post.

//What's cooking in the pot

- New album material! Other than more soundtracks being currently in the works, I've been dedicating more time to my own personal audio and making sure everything lines up with my new road map. I'm expecting 2018 to be a busy year in a good way.

- Furthermore, the release of single tracks here will be less and less frequent, unless unrelated to my personal discography. From now on, I will stream my personal albums in their entirety as single uploads here, linked to my Bandcamp for download. This decision was made for the purpose of giving everyone the opportunity to listen before downloading for free or donating any amount of money they'd like to give. You have complete freedom over what you do with your ears and pockets.

- The previous point would also imply the slow transition from a track-centric portfolio to an album-centric channel. Again, quality over quantity.

- Possible logo redesign? It's still a thought, but I'd like to make a more streamlined version of the FD logo based on the current design. Those 24 rectangles were supposed to represent a future project, but these days I think there's really no need for that, as they tend to lose detail upon zooming out anyways. I still like the idea of a rising sun/eclipse over a floating island, though.

- Notice how I haven't really spoken about my game concepts and my still in-development game .defrag. Yeah, I have no idea when I'll resume writing some new stuff for it. I can only say a generic "in the future", whenever there'll be a chance to do so. I constantly switch priorities depending on what's floating in my head, so that's just the way I work.

That's about it for now.

I wish you all a Happy New Year and thanks to everyone who has been either directly or indirectly involved with the betterment of that journey called Forgotten Dawn~

//FD

Booya! Have a look at my newly designed Patreon page :D

https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenDawn

Hello.

I've been taking some time to pick myself up after that "incident", attempting to do some damage control and recovering the scraps. Long story short, that wreck of a drive is irredeemably dead. Not only did the head get likely disintegrated but the platter might have actually separated from the case leading it to vibrate and gleefully erasing data left and right.

Lesson learned.

It's funny because I was planning to release some 3.4-something GB of unreleased material from my past KK days, back when I thought stretching, looping and pitch-shifting my own samples was so oh-my-god cool (vaporwave before vaporwave, huh). Oh, the irony. Not that it was anything groundbreaking. In fact, most of it was either made of dead end experiments or whole album outtakes. Still, I thought it would have been interesting to let everyone see how far I've come from then. I guess it's all in my memories now. There's still my old released stuff for the really curious.

So, what now?

Well, I've been trying to get into a composing mindset again. I've been kinda set back by a number of real life commitments, then that thing happened and it pushed me further back in hibernation mode. However, I still have some plans and thoughts for the sort-of-immediate future.

1) Possible 1-hour long lo-fi dark ambient music video series.

Following the release of this video here, I have been slowly, but steadily receiving some positive feedback about trying to do something similar in the future or a straight follow-up. I love creating ambiances, so if I do have a niche audience liking this kind of music, I might as well give it a shot. I generally don't like the prospect of spawning sequels to my own music unless there's a recurring motif or underlining theme/concept wrapping everything up that I find particularly interesting, but hey, they're ambiances, whatever. Be it one minute or 12 hours, it doesn't really make that much of a difference. Versatile. They're versatile.

2) Work in progress soundtracks.

This year I have been largely working on a number of soundtracks for different game projects. Since I'm contractually bound by them, I can't unfortunately disclose any details concerning these works. I can just tell you they're indeed in progress and they're being pretty substantial. In terms of sound, they feel close to the soundtrack work I have publicly released so far, with perhaps a further emphasis on dark cinematics and ambiances. As with most indie projects, there's no release date as of yet, so everything will be done when it'll be done.

3) Personal works and possible future albums.

The other day while I was in the middle of salvaging some papers scattered across my room, I realized I still have a wealth of ideas regarding future albums that I'd like to figure out somehow. I feel like I'm giving my mind a creative rehab session just to get into the groove of creating/composing again. Whatever will fly off my head in the future weeks or months, I might finally dedicate some time to my own personal aural explorations.

4) Patreon...?

Yeah, I don't know. It's been in my head for a while, but I'd like to be real with you guys for a sec. If I opened a Patreon right now, I think it would be a bit problematic for me to sustain. There's the issue of constance; I don't deliver content regularly since I multitask and have to mind many things at the same time. Burnouts happen and when they hit, they tend to hit pretty hard and I'm assuming any hypothetical donor would be in the right to expect some new content from me. If I'm not able to deliver for whatever reason, then it could be a problem. Then there's the relative lack of a following leading to a potential crawl in monthly earnings (a.k.a. zero). Any earning I would theoretically generate from Patreon would be treated as a nice extra "something" to put under the mattress for as long as it's needed, but it definitely won't be enough as a would-be full time job unless I experience a sudden miraculous overwhelming support from very dedicated donors with more than a pocket to spare. Maybe in the future considering Youtube is becoming more and more small channel-unfriendly, but I just think it's premature as of right now. What do you think? Any Patreon experts in the house?

5) Game projects.

They're in an undefinite hiatus for as long as I'm mentally, psychologically and materially able to work on them again. Also, at least 70% -if not more- of those development files were lost forever, so I think it would take me a while to rewrite some of those ideas from scratch, if I'm still in the mood to do it.

So, that's it for now. See you folks next time.

//FD