Expectrum's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sprite A Day Revenge: 1]

There was a time when people actually tried to be creative with these. This is just spam in sprite form.

ERROR 404: Fun not found.

Horsenwelles responds:

check out the ones that were actually funny

[Ant Comeback]

Good animation, too short for solo.

Now, don't get discouraged by my low rating. The animation is pretty good, and the idea was interesting, but the problem is (and I'm sure you realise this) that this clip alone is too short to be a submission of it's own.

My suggestion is that if you're aiming to make quick shorts, at least put a few togheter and then submit as one.

Other than that, good work. Perhaps a background would make it better? Do that next time.

I saw make a bunch of these :)

Bloodspill234 responds:

Thanx!

[Generic Sprite Flash: 1]

Quite good, better than many!

That was actually very good for your first flash. It was better than many other sprite flashes floating around here, that is for sure.

At first I thought that there was going to be no music because it took a bit before it started. I enjoyed the little overworld walk, but I think that it got too abruptly to the dungeon. Perhaps an extre scene before that would have been nice.

The music choise was pretty neat. The minotaur part was kinda funny and I thought it would do good as a running joke. The ending was a good cliffhanger.

Since you say it is an old flash and that you have improved since then, I think there is not much I can add. Besides that, most of my points have been made in the other reviews. I must say I enjoyed it and would watch further episodes.

Tip: Sprites are good, but it would be useful if you also learned how to draw a bit. It can be intimidating, but it feels good when you have more choises of animation styles :)

Keep it up!

Fro responds:

I can draw fine.

I just can't animate and draw together. :P

Thanks for the tips and the review.

[Metal slug total war!#2]

Watch out for some things.

Well, since you're going to animate using sprites you should pay more attention to things. For example:

1- Use camera movements and zooms. Don't just make the camera static: play with moving around the scenario, or using different zooms.

2- Use sounds. You just set a music track at the back, but there were to sounds at all. Makes everything feel fake and empty.

3- Do not use the full track of a song. Using a free program like Audacity you can cut out the parts of the songs you're not going to use and so avoid importing unused parts to your movie, which greatly add on the filesize of your flash.

4- Be careful with the choppiness in the animation. This is something that is learned with practice, but try your best efforts to make things be smoother. Increasing your frames per second to 24 can do wonders.

5- Do not just get a bunch of animated sprite GIFs and paste them in the movie. After a few seconds the loop is obvious and looks really bad. I can't go into detail with this but watching other sprite movies and tutorials can help.

6- Make your text more clear. Use colors that help the clarity, or better yet, use some sort of text bubble or background color for the text.

7- Never stop getting better and refining your skills. This takes time, effort and lots of practice. Just watch a lot of stuff, learn from them and keep making yours. Find the flaws in your movies, and think of how you can make them better. Never be lazy when animating.

8- Don't stop with sprites. Drawing can seem hard, but it just takes practice. With time you will appreciate other things and find that sprites can me limiting. But it's absolutely not a bad thing to start with sprites.

If you have any questions, I'm at your disposition :)

HeadTaker responds:

hey man thanks for the message. that was true man that really opended some doors up in my mind. Hey if you've got any more tips just PM me and im really into anyone that has nerve like that. If you have example movies tell me so that i can check them out to see what i should and need to improve on and how. i also think your an intelligent person who respects others for what hey do. thank you. im working on part three of the series and i'll post it ASAP and i would love your input. in conclusion im just really trying to say you motivated me.

[Koopa shell of doom]

Short, but sweet! =D

I always have the luck of finding your flashes while under judgment.

It was pretty good. Experience has served you well, and you've managed to get a good grasp of how things should be done. Everything went by smoothly. Good use of camera movements, visual effects, ambients, transitions, etc. You have your own distinguishable style ;)

It's a bit sad that this will be your last sprite flash for a while, but I guess that as long as you keep animating it's all good. I'll look forward to watching and reviewing your first hand-drawn animation. Although, it would be nice to see more sprite work from you.

All in all, you've improved a lot since your last animation with a sustainable development. I'm glad you did good in your animation class and hope that you improve even more in the future! ;)

Your friend, Y&W.

ThePigeonMaster responds:

Thanks again mister YoungAndWise, I'm glad that you liked my work :)

[8-bit Mario Shorts]

Mmmm... everything seems familiar.

Oh, that's right! It might have something to do with everything being recycled jokes and sound clips from movies/TV/comedians. Well man, here is some advice for you: If you're going to use sprites, which by themselves are not yours, why don't at LEAST make the jokes and everything else original?

I mean, hell, everything seemed like you just cut off sounds, jokes and ideas from everywhere and pasted them together to make this. Yeah, they were probably funny the first time, but if I hadn't heard them/seen them hundreds of times already on every Mario sprite movie with a blooper format, I wouldn't be telling you this at all.

So, bottom line, it's alright if you're going to use sprites, and even a Mario themed sprite flash, but at least bring something new and fresh to the table. Don't just use funny audio and copied ideas.

Besides that, the animation was kind of plain. Everything revolved around the sound clips and the jokes... not much animation/effects involved, excepting some small parts. I also think you went a bit over the limit with tweens. Try watching other quality sprite flashes and see how to play around with the ambient and make everything more smooth.

But I repeat myself, you need to be more ORIGINAL. Using graphics ripped from a site is one thing, but displaying overused jokes/gags/clips? Please.

[Sprite A Week:2]

Good job.

My only critique goes to Player-exe: You shouldn't have used that green color as your font. The text was barely readable. Next time try using a more contrasting color, or use some sort of shadow or something behind the text to improve de clarity.

But overall good job everyone. Just wish everyone made longer skits, such as Khawner. Seriously, you have a whole week, don't be lazy >=(

Khonjin responds:

Well, I do hope the skits are longer next time...and you are joining, so I don't want to see you pointing fingers until I see YOUR finished skit.

lol jk

thanks for the review :D