More than a rant, it's just a way to get some thoughts out of my head. It's nothing serious, I'm doing fine.

However, sometimes I can't help but feeling... afraid and really uneasy within today's society.

I think it's appalling that in 2017, I still hear people talking about "white" people, "black" people, SJW's, BLM, feminists, neo-nazis, alt-right, alt this, alt that, autists, cucks, immigrants, non-immigrants, etc.

You really can't afford to say anything these days without being taken out of context and have a label glued on your forehead by whoever doesn't like your opinion and doesn't wanna hear it, twisting words and turning them into disposable insults for the sole purpose of inflicting more misery upon others. What's going on out there?

Everything just seems to be blown out of proportion these days, ain't it? Oh, this guy said this about that, wow, big deal. Everybody can be an easy target for the media bubble and internet justice mobs. It's convenient, and easy to do. You just need to be "outraged" about something and vehemently project your hatred and bigotry upon the other. There are so many echo chambers across the world you can join at the cost of nothing but a lot of... passionate time. It's so easy, and it's not just confined to the internet.

It's a war on labels. I call you this and you call me that. Kids in kindergarten do it, but they're kids, you can forgive them. One day they'll learn how to behave more maturely. Hopefully. But society these days seems to enjoy hammering that behavior as a kind of "normal" thing to do whenever something doesn't go quite their way.

I think it's sad. And scary.

It's scary to think of how easy it is to regress into this form of media-inflated tribalism where everyone can point fingers about stuff they don't like that is suddenly deemed "outrageous" or even "dangerous". Freedom of speech, you say? I think that's abuse of that same freedom, when you're limiting others' own freedom for the sake of feeling superior.

Opinions can be argued, sure. You may agree or disagree with them, we all have differences. But it ends there. It's not a reason to fuel the fire of hatred and bring things on a personal level. When it comes down to opinions, that's really all there is. It's just an opinion. Of course, if i.e. you say you hate X group of people and then try to actively harass them, I might have a slight problem with that, but you know, if you're all talk about it, I simply disagree with whatever you say and let go. Fact-checking is the hard part. No one wants to do that, so it's just a lot easier to spread ignorance instead.

I simply think there are more pressing matters at hand worth discussing. I know I've been painfully general here, it's really just a rant/venting out post. I get up every day and I think to myself "I hope that one day my music, and my games, my writings, my artwork, my... anything, really, will invite people to stop and reflect for a sec about what's going on in our lives, if what we're doing is good or not, if we're hurting people by our actions, if instead of healing we're creating more divisions without even noticing, if we're building more walls instead of bridges, if we're simply regressing to our uglier, more brutal side."

Every day I come to Newgrounds with new ideas and perspectives, and try out ways of having fun with the community by proposing different ideas and celebrating our own collaborative spirit. Because it's fun! It brings us closer together and through our creations, we eliminate borders. I say why not? It's not that radical of an idea, isn't it?

What I do in my creative works tends to be generally apolitical and avoids direct references to news or religious topics for the simple fact that projecting my own personal beliefs isn't the main focus of my own work and has never been. Creating for the sake of controversy isn't really my thing either, and I think it would be more collateral than anything. I just create for expressing myself, and that's really why I am frightened, sometimes.

There will be people out there who won't like such freedom. They'll seek to destroy it in any way possible and my fear is more towards the fact that it's becoming easier and easier for such people to abuse their privilege. Imagine your lifetime work suddenly disappearing because some dude or some group of folks decided your shit was too controversial to exist, or didn't match their own blind expectations.

Scary, right?

I don't know if it's too commonplace to think that if in the old days people didn't like something they would just avoid it, when suddenly nowadays everyone is entitled to take something down because "it hurts my feelings and I'm an emotionally fragile individual".

I think it's ultimately gonna be... a really bumpy ride, lol. I won't yield, and it took me a long, long time to get to the point where I can bring myself to speak freely about my own thoughts.

Anyways. My next posts will likely cover more Newgrounds-based initiatives and AIM is also pretty close, so I look forward to that. Thanks for sticking around and see you guys soon.

//FD

To give yourself the full context, please read the previous newspost along with the comments below.

So, long story short, 8 people voted for "Contest", as opposed to 2 people who voted for "Collab" instead.

There you have it! Please, let me know your thoughts.

@TroisNyx @RealFaction

Not too long ago, I had the honor of lending the following tracks for a short student film that was screened at a friend's graduation ceremony. I was there in the front row, and seeing my name at the end, along with my FD logo, really made me think lately.

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/636591

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/606306

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/606467

If I have the opportunity to share the film, I'll let you guys know and drop a link here.

I thought, why isn't anyone making more music videos here on Newgrounds based on tracks from the audio portal? It would be such a great opportunity for both musicians and animators to be known more, and it would also be a great way to experiment with something new.

I think there are so many interesting tracks around that go pretty much undiscovered until someone has a visual reference for them to work upon.

Oh, and of course, feel free to use any of my tracks (safe for those belonging to game soundtracks) for any Newgrounds or web-based project. Sharing the revenue would be nice, but not mandatory. I honestly don't even care if the final product is shit because I consider my tracks as a resource. I can't tell you how to use them; that's entirely up to you.

So, yeah, good stuff. Tell me what you think.

EDIT: Please vote on the poll below to decide what to do with the aforementioned idea. :)

The poll ends on Friday 10th March, at 12:00 PM EST.

http://www.strawpoll.me/12457363

EDIT2: POLL CLOSED! Look up the results here: http://forgottendawn.newgrounds.com/news/post/982027

Just a quick announcement.

While waiting for my portfolio website to be done, or at the very least functionally up, I just want to say that every future album, including my "rogue" albums mangled.bits and sixteen (they'll be available again at some point, don't worry), will be available for free under a Creative Commons license... aside soundtrack albums and Audiojungle tracks.

The reason is quite simple. Sounds are my playground and everyone should be welcome to sit, listen, and enjoy. They're personal projects, and if you guys have been following me for a while, you should already know that I tend to be eclectic and fairly unpredictable. One work might sound melodic and more "reachable", while the next might be a collection of noises, hard to pigeonhole or discern.

I definitely don't want prices to be a firewall to discovery and ingenuity. It gives me a lot of creative freedom and expressive range in that respect and I'd like to preserve that kind of liberty. For me, it's the logical conclusion to something I've always been willing to do, that is to explore possibilities and play with all these different sounds around me. It's a constructive experience and a moment of reflection, not just for me but for my audience as well.

Of course, you may still donate if you want or feel inclined to. I'm not one to refuse anyone's generosity, even if I'd never ask you to do so in the first place.

So, there you have it. I'll see you in the next post.

Yup, today marks Forgotten Dawn's 4th year here on Newgrounds and a bunch of other places. Time flies, doesn't it.

It's weird because I don't feel like it has been that long since the day I finally decided to get my shit together and move forward, you know? It's a mix of accomplishment and wondering where I'll be in the future. Right now I wouldn't trade this project with anything else in the world. I'm relatively good where I am, and I think that's what matters, ultimately. I think it boils down to this video:

Well, bottoms up!

I don't have anything else to say for now. I'm tired.

Hey folks,

For anyone who has missed the news I posted last night on Twitter/FB, I just released a preview build of what the final version of .defrag might look and play like.

Technically, the game is pretty much there. It can be finished, there's quite a bunch of new content available since last time, and in general, it's just to give you a heads-up on what I've been developing and what to likely expect in the final release that will still bear the 1.3.0 version number.

If it's your first time with the game, please take some time reading the FAQ available on the Gamejolt page. It's an RPG Maker game, even though the game itself isn't an RPG. Love it or hate it, lemme know your thoughts, and as always, stay tuned for news.

Main changes from v1.2.1:

- New title screen!
- Revamped running mechanic. It now works automatically upon acquiring the Speed Hax item. Running is disabled during cutscenes and smaller areas.
- New third of the game available. More quests, characters, dialogue, happenings, shenanigans, etc.
- Two extra endings. Conditions for triggering all endings have been altered according to the new content.
- Slightly altered Garden layout map.
- Bonus areas :3

What to expect from the full release:

- Extra graphics for the Garden, Junkyard, and Plant areas.
- Some items artwork (possibly).
- A couple of extra music tracks.
- General polishing duty here and there.

Hi folks, I've been thinking about something. Yes, it's one of my midnight thoughts.

In little less than a month by the time of this post, Forgotten Dawn as a project will blow its 4th candle. I've surely came a long way since then, but I've also been thinking about my musical beginnings, back when I was @KKSlider60 on this website or simply "KK Slider", because I liked the ring of it. And the Animal Crossing character.

I've been quite reserved about it, mostly because for a long time I had considered it a bit of an old shame, safe for a few selected projects. I must confess to have at least a couple of GB of unreleased material still lying around in my hard drive. Things that were never intended for the public, which is obviously about Japanese pornography, but no. It's not.

It's just a lot of material that quickly became an afterthought as soon as I began gaining more experience. It's funny to me because it's like looking at a photo album and seeing how dorky I was, yet enthusiastic about my own endeavors. It's a testimony of how much musical experimentation was a novelty for me and I would just end up producing material of opinable quality, bundle them in personal albums and call it a day. 2010 and 2011 in particular were the "album-a-month" days, as I call them nowadays. OK, yeah, "shit years" would be more appropriate given how out of all that material, I'd eventually consider "decent" less than 5% of it.

In short, it could probably be interesting if I make all of that material publicly available at some point in the future at the cost of nothing — probably after my own website will be up. Just to say "hey, I was this kid before eventually becaming FD".

Honestly, it would feel to me like I'd be finally at peace with who I was artistically and put that chapter to rest once and for all. In the age of sharing and information, I think it would make plenty of sense.

//FD

Hello there,

Just wanted to quickly drop by to announce that I won't be participating Pixel Day, or likely be around here for this week and the next. I'm just really busy IRL and that comes first.

I've been also working pretty hard on .defrag, adding new content and making sure it feels like an upgrade compared to what's currently available, which you can still check out if you want. Testers might be needed at some point, so why not.

That's all for now, I'll see you folks later.

//FD

WARNING! LONG POST AHEAD.

And another year's down the drain.

It's truly been an intense year, for better or worse. I'd like to leave any political banter aside and instead just spend a few words on what I have accomplished in 2016 as Forgotten Dawn, as I've anticipated in the last post.

Games and related stuff

- Trail of Shadows: Origin

The first escape-the-room kind of game I had the chance to design and direct with the guys at X App. It was intended as a side-project to the main series, Tears of the Machine — something fun to make while the big project was in the works. Folks liked the idea and we released the game for mobile in early 2016 after about 4-5 months in the making. It's not over yet, however, as we're still planning something neat for this game at some point this year. ;)

As per usual, I also made the soundtrack which is available here.

Android link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shadow.game.android

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trail-of-shadows-origin/id1102054848?mt=8

- .defrag

This project has a peculiar premise. I made it as a bit of a self-challenge after years of foreplanning and not being able to pull out actual games for myself. I built the core files in about 10 days of non-stop development and I'm still updating the game to this day, in fact, I am prepping the next version (likely the final one) as we speak. It's technically early access as of now, but it can be finished and I'm hoping to put it on Greenlight at some point in 2017. If you like surreal/weird retro-styled exploration games, this game might be for you. :)

The soundtrack, which mostly consists of experimental noise tracks, is available here.

Gamejolt link: http://gamejolt.com/games/defrag/179965

- Tears of the Machine: Episode 02

And here's the main dish. Over the past couple of years, I've pretty much become a de facto co-writer/co-director of this newborn series that still has a lot of potential to unleash, aside from providing the soundtrack and occasionally concept artwork. Episode 02 is the second canonical installment in the series, after Prologue, and Episode 01. In terms of audio, it was an interesting change of pace for me because we intended it to be more action-oriented instead of "in your face" creepy/dark, at least compared to the previous episode. I took inspiration from various video game soundtracks including Half-Life 2, Ratchet & Clank, and the Metal Gear series, and overall it was an interesting experience. The game took about a year to get done, as we planned beforehand, and we're now moving forward to the next projects.

The soundtrack is available here, along with a few sample tracks that I shared here on Newgrounds.

Android link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.totm.game.android

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tears-of-the-machine-extended/id1157840414?ls=1&mt=8

Music

Aside the aforementioned soundtracks, I haven't published many solo tracks in 2016 or even made albums for myself. There's actually a good reason for that and yeah, being involved in many different things at once is part of it. Only recently, I've been thinking about organizing my own musical projects better and what I actually would like to do with them. I've mentioned in previous posts how I'd like to organize my future albums into different "series" so that each of them would have their own sound and in the end it would still be me, under the same alias. It's a centralized approach but at the same time it enables me to branch into many different things because that's how my brain works, lol.

Worth mentioning is the creation of The Underground Collective, along with fellow @RealFaction, enabling all kinds of artists from Newgrounds to voice their own ideas and creativity. I hope to make it an annual thing, but for now I'd rather not plan anything in advance and live by a "we'll see" approach. It went surprisingly well, and I really hope to repeat the experience at some point again, possibly by expanding the concept to other mediums, not just confined to the musical realm.

The future

I'm pretty excited to see what can be accomplished in 2017. Bringing my games on Steam starting from .defrag would be great and it's definitely not a remote possibility this time around. I would also love to finish my portfolio website and start dumping content there. I'm also thrilled by what X App will come up with this year, and I'm sure it's also gonna be a busy but satisfying year.

I'm probably gonna upload less solo tracks here and less experiments due to just the sheer volume of projects I'm personally invested in. You've been warned! jk

I'll try to be around here, but I'll honestly just be busy overall and, well, I need to prioritize my own projects and ideas.

With that said, it's been an eventful year and I hope the trend continues in 2017 as well. Huge thanks to everyone who has been involved in any of the aforementioned projects, either directly or indirectly — without you supporting those ideas, nothing would have been done and I think it's important to let you guys know.

So, Happy New Year from Italy! I'll see you folks around, and as always, stay tuned. ;)

//FD

I wish you all a Merry Xmas to those who are celebrating it, and happy holidays to everyone else!

I will write a bit of a retrospective once 2017 kicks in, just as a reminder for myself about what I have accomplished with this project so far and what needs to be accomplished in the future.

For now, let's just have fun, chill with either family or good friends, online or not, and that's about it.

See you in the next year!

//FD