What the fuck is wrong with me? Every time I try to open up ZOA and knock out at least SOME work on it, I become useless.

I don't know what the fuck it is...

Everything I'm depressed about either has nothing to do with Newgrounds (or the internet in it's entirety for that matter) or the fact that I haven't completed ZOA yet. WHAT'S THE DEAL!?

Everything would be better if ZOA is just DONE, so why can't I finish it!?

I don't understand myself.

*sigh*...I gotta go to court tomorrow morning to find out WHEN they actually want me in court this week (I lost the original paper that told me the date and time) and I also gotta find out WHY they want me...I haven't been pulled over in half a year, and I thought we were straight. Apparently not, as it would seem.

Then I gotta up-the-job hunt, and I gotta get money to fix up my car....

...I probably shouldn't rant here...

Film at Eleven.

I'm gonna have to get used to tagging that "09" on the end there...

2008 was a good year.

But, I don't know what it is, but I can't find myself motivated to work on ZOA lately...the only progress I've done in the past few days since my last post was I modified a couple of ADA scenes....that's it.

I'm kinda bummed for some reason. It's not the flash, even though I'm not entirely pleased with how it's coming out...I just wanna get it over with and absorb the criticism from you guys so I know what areas to polish up...

...but I know what I need to polish up...urrrghh...I want to start on something new, but I can't until this is done. I feel obligated to it.

And I ought to. I spent a lot of time and effort into this thing.

I just gotta get the motivation to get this thing done. As soon as I can. That's what I need to do.

Flash classes start on the 22nd...I'll set my own deadline for the 11th.

To Triumph and Obliterate.

...Jesus, I want to get this thing done...

When I wake up in the morning, I'm riding with my Mom to drop off Grandma at Shreveport. I imagine I'm getting little done then.

*sigh*

I gotta find some motivation.

Goddammit.

I've been busting my ass off, but even if I arrive an hour late to the New Years Eve party, I won't finish in time...

So much for deadlines.

But even though I missed the deadline, this thing is still looking better than I expected it to be. Yes, it will go down as a 2009 submission, but it'll be the kickoff for greater things to come.

I only wish I didn't rush it as badly as I did. Playing it back, it's disgustingly obvious I was rushing things. I can already tell I'm going to get reviews pointing out the pacing of this thing is way too quick; quicker than Metal Gear Awesome.

But I started this project knowing only slightly more than what I knew when I completed my first submission. I've come out of this thing, by learning hands-on, and asking on the BBS, with so much knowledge on Flash, and it's only going to grow because I'm taking a flash course at my community college, to help me from the ground up.

I'm not completely happy how ZOA is turning out, but I wasn't with my test either; this is serving as a bookmark in time as to what my skill level was at this time...

...and holy shit, so late into working on ZOA I learned all of these neat little effects that I believe it's too late to go back and redo on earlier parts.

Oh well. Lulz.

The saddest part is? That Jehuty Raptor fight is probably going to be the coolest five seconds out of the whole flash. (screen below)

I'm off to the New Years Eve Party at The Londoner.

In the morning, I got-
-FOUR Pink Mannequin animatics to brush over.
-1/5th of the scene where Leo falls into Jehuty.
-1/3rd of the Jehuty vs. Raptor scene.
-Four lip-syncing scenes for ADA
-Three lip-syncing scenes for Leo.
-and the closing scene.
-and fix the credits.

It trips me out when I play it back and I see how much of it is done...but it aint over yet.

See you guys in 2009!

Prosit!

Falling Debris around the hangar scene- Done.
Leo falling into the cockpit + dialogue lip-sync - Almost done.

Taking a lunch break.

I'm worried only about the Jehuty Raptor fight.

Film at Eleven.

I got pretty drunk last night; it was my good friend, Johnny Hampton's 21st birthday.

So if I don't make the deadline by 11:59 tonight, it's my own fault, and I can accept responsibility for that.

Basically, because I don't have a lot of time and I'm going to get back to work right after this, I got:

-11 scenes of dialogue left, both ADA and Leo (Ada will be a lot simpler)
-The scene where Leo falls into the cockpit plus lip-syncing...I'm going to skip using Pinky altogether because that takes time.
-The 48-framed Jehuty vs. Raptor scene (still...yes...I know)
-Tracing over the Pink Mannequins with something that isn't pink or a mannequin.

Let's see if I can meet the deadline! Oorah!

No time for a pic! brb!

I can feel it nearing completion.

...In my loins. :O

It's that fbf of Jehuty and the Raptor that's really slowing my ass down. When I get discouraged, I'll get distracted with other scenes that need tending to, like Leo falling on Jehuty's giant metal cock(pit), and ADA speaking, but Christ, it's that damn scene!

I will conquer it in time!!!

FILM IN A FEW DAYS!!!! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

I've made all of the necessary cuts, and even recorded necessary lines for transitional scenes that needed to replace some cuts.

Brings the full run-time to 133.1 seconds without credits.

I've also knocked out a couple of frame-by-frames, and filled in a few animatic scenes. Still not done yet, though, so film at eleven.

Hmm...well, here we are. After a few hangouts with long-time friends I haven't seen in months, holidays, sleep-deprived staring into space, and even a power-outage, I've come to this solution to help me out with meeting my deadline.

Start chopping off unnecessary scenes.

The first one that went was previously the longest bit of lip-syncing the flash featured.

Leo catches his breath after literally falling into Jehuty's cockpit and says (direct quote)
"Hmm...wow...you'd think something as expensive, dangerous, and classified like this thing would be a little bit harder getting into...Ha! Let alone turn...
(accidentally kicks the dashboard, activating it)
uh...on?"

This has been replaced with NOTHING saving me a couple of seconds of painstaking lip-syncing and body movements.

PLUS as mentioned in the previous news post, Leo running down the hall while yelling.

After just getting chased by a Raptor, he runs down a corridor and shouts (direct quote)
(running down a hall)
"OH GOD! I COULD REALLY GO FOR A 'DEUS EX MACHINA' RIGHT ABOUT NOW!
(stops in bewilderment)
er...
(long shot of him looking at Jehuty, awestruck)
Holy shit!"

This is going to be replaced with:
(long shot of him looking at Jehuty, awestruck)
"OH MY FUCKING GOD, A GIANT ROBUT!"

Genius.

-The debris falling around the hangar: not going to be a problem.
-The complicated 48-framed Jehuty vs. Raptor scene: difficult, but necessary.
-Leo's argument with Hideo Kojima: necessary and average complexity.
-The closing scene: it could possibly be revised down...if there are any re-writes, I gotta get Jennifer Johnson to record again, which shouldn't be a problem, but as it stands, I might leave it completely intact.

Other than those dashes above, and lengthening the "OMFG A GIANT ROBUT" scene, by making these cuts, I've lifted a couple of heavy stones that were weighing down my back.

I just hope I made the right choice.

...No, fuck that...someone once told me to ignore the voice of doubt to achieve success.

This shit is gonna rock.

There's still so much of the animatic portion I haven't even touched. And with going over and clothing Pinky all throughout...it all seems kind-of overwhelming.

The only other corner I'm considering cutting at this point are trading in ADA's EQ bar lip-sync with three lines to indicate speech. I did it in the animatic as a lazy way to indicate it's ADA who should be talking in the scene, and now I'm starting to think about just coloring in said scenes and touching up a few details at most, but not worrying about setting up her EQ bar on the dashboard to match what she's saying.

That'll buy me some more time for work, considering a good 1/3rd of the scenes that are left now are of ADA talking,

Now I know how Egoraptor feels. XD

I had a very Merry Christmas indeed! Got loads of presents (new sketchbook, badass iron coin bank of a pitbull in a bowler hat smoking a cigar, M.C. Escher calander, Tequila, assorted cheese's and sausages, comfortable sweater even though the past couple of days has been T-shirt weather, a neon lamp, and Wall-E!) as well as many free beers, and spending some awesome time with the whole family together for once!

But, you're probably reading this about the flash.

Since I'm almost certain one or two people might have read this when I posted this, I think the most exposure any of these News Posts will be getting is after it's been released.

At this point, with a pathetic six days left to work until my final deadline, I have these scenes to deal with on a scale of difficulty.
-Falling debris around the hangar.
-Several scenes of ADA talking.
-Leo's exchange with Hideo Kojima.
-The closing scene.
-Leo getting in Jehuty.
-Leo's observations after getting in Jehuty.
-Leo running whilst talking down a hall.
and finally
-The 48-frames of Jehuty shredding up a raptor. (pictured, incomplete w/ onion skins on)

It may not seem like much, but fuck my life that's a lot for someone who's still getting a hang of flash.

Worst-case-scenario is it comes out late. But dammit, I'm determined to get this thing done as quickly as possible. Besides, after I get all of those scenes done, I still have to clothe Pinky the Mannequin scattered throughout this thing.

Fuck my life?

Merry Christmas Newgrounds!

All I want for Christmas is a happy gathering with the family in a couple of hours...

...and a Silver Whistle on NG wouldn't be bad either...lol

Although I've failed my initial deadline to get ZOA out by now, I anticipated this, and I still have about a week left before 2009. I'm confident I can have it out before then.

Tackling the hardest scenes to animate first...right now it's Jehuty shredding up a Raptor.

2 frames down...46 more to go...

It's all down-hill from here.

Film at Eleven.

EDIT: Huh...it's my 42nd News Post...my favorite number! :D

Also, picture may or may not be shopped. Lol