00:00
00:00
Quasar14

Age 33, Male

Penn State University

Pennsylvania

Joined on 3/8/08

Level:
4
Exp Points:
130 / 180
Exp Rank:
> 100,000
Vote Power:
3.75 votes
Rank:
Civilian
Global Rank:
> 100,000
Blams:
7
Saves:
16
B/P Bonus:
0%
Whistle:
Normal
Trophies:
2
Medals:
226

Quasar14's News

Posted by Quasar14 - September 29th, 2011


I'm just about ready to release the game I have been developing on my own called Beast Squad. It will be available here on Newgrounds as well as on the iTunes app store for iOS devices for $1.99 (which will include more levels and updates). Both will be released on Friday, September 30th. [EDIT: The browser version will be released a little later.]

Beast Squad is a half puzzle, half action game in which the player must guide his or her animal across stages filled with numerous obstacles. The catch is that the player has minimal control over the character once it starts moving, so he or she must place floating, rocket-powered trampolines throughout each stage to bounce the beast to safety.

Using fewer trampolines will net the player a higher rank at the end, and multiple pathways through most of the 60 stages give plenty of incentive to replay them. When moving, each of the 3 playable characters (a flying squirrel, a squidbear, and a sleeping cat tied to balloons) has a different one-touch play mechanic, allowing for a variety of level designs-some more puzzle-oriented, others focused on fast-paced action.

Much more detailed information and high-res images can be found on my blog: http://www.cyclonekick.com/
Here is as link to a short trailer on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLAn_gX PK38
And a longer gameplay demonstration video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnE8KE0 Wo3c


Posted by Quasar14 - October 15th, 2010


After many months, I am thrilled to show you all my latest animation, How to Beat a Hard Game, which features 6 easy steps that anyone can take to become a better gamer. I'm really glad that I could release it right before "Kirby's Epic Yarn" is released, as the animation is centered around a gamer who is completely incapable of beating a Kirby game.

I hope you all enjoy all the work that went into this, and I would love to get as much constructive feedback as possible so I can continue to improve.


Posted by Quasar14 - October 12th, 2010


As I type this, I am putting the final touches to my new animation "How to Beat a Hard Game", and basically the title explains it all. If you ever find yourself stuck on a video game, do yourself a favor and (don't) follow the six steps you will learn that will help you finish even the most difficult of games.

After the success I had with my last animation, You Need a Health Bar!, I am extremely excited to show this new one. Comparing the two, I know there is some real improvement, as I am using a decent bit more frame-by-frame animation than in my previous ones. Also, I decided to stick with using lines to draw everything this time rather than the paint brush that I experimented with in YNAHB, which really helped with the movements. To separate the characters and props from the background, I am trying out using bitmap fills to provide a texture-like quality to the surroundings. This really helps the flatly colored characters stand out.

I'm hoping to post HTBAHG within a few days, so until then, don't get too frustrated with any game you can't beat!


Posted by Quasar14 - March 12th, 2010


Well after a lot of hard work, I have finally submitted "You Need A Health Bar!" for everyone's viewing pleasure. I sincerely hope you all enjoy it, and I look forward to receiving any comments, questions, or suggestions you may have. I started this as a summer project, but had to put it on hold because of college, but I am happy that I was able to use my entire spring break to finish it up (this is literally the only thing I've done all week). Enjoy!


Posted by Quasar14 - March 12th, 2010


As I am typing this up, I am putting the finishing touches on my newest animation, "You Need A Health Bar!" and I thought I would briefly describe the process I used to create it for anyone interested. I guess this would count as my fourth real animation I have completed, and the second one I upload to Newgrounds (maybe I will get around to uploading one of my others someday just for gits and shiggles). Since you probably already watched it or are about to watch it, you can easily discern the fact that I am not the greatest Flash-user or artist around, but I feel that I put my entire soul into creating the best animation I possibly could and learned quite a bit from my mistakes along the way. It is not nearly as long as most of the others I have done, but YNAHB is definitely a step above what I have done previously in terms of quality, and I hope you will agree.

As with all my other animations, the first step I took was to write the script. This was one of the most enjoyable (i.e., least frustrating) parts of the process. After rereading it a number of times, there were a few scenes I decided to cut as I took into consideration how well they meshed in with what I already had and the limits to my own abilities as an artist and animator.

The next step was to draw out each of the backgrounds and characters. I will admit that I am not all that interested in the frame-by-frame model of animation (maybe someday when I have more time on my hands I will learn this fine art), so i drew up backgrounds that were usually large enough to cover whatever scene I was working on. The character art was also generic enough to be versatile in multiple situations so I would not have to hand-draw each frame of character movement. When beginning a character or background, I usually observed screenshots and official artwork for inspiration.

After I had most of the backgrounds and characters sketched with pencil and paper, I scanned those pages into the computer and imported them into Flash, where I traced them with my Wacom tablet. The style I used was quite unique compared to any other project I have done before, you can clearly see I used only black brush strokes to trace out the images. Throughout the animation, there are absolutely no lines visible whatsoever, and I really enjoyed this new way of drawing. This also opened a range of problems and frustrations, as other Flash users will know that the brush tool as a bit finicky at times. It was also difficult to create other poses for the characters without lines to manipulate (I often had to use the ink tool for this, deleting the lines later). To color the computer sketches, I used the dabber tool to extract the colors from actual in-game screenshots and I am happy the way they turned out.

Then came the part that I actually had to put it all together and animate it, but that's another story. I hope you enjoyed this animation, as I spent quite a bit of time completely dedicated to it. Feel free to send me a message if you have any tips, questions, or want to collaborate on a project sometime in the future!