It's been a year since the launch of Bird & Bee's Adult Activity Center on November 28th, 2023. This post is a few days late for reasons I'll get into, but I wanted to look back on what I've accomplished so far, sharing trials and tribulations, give long-awaited shoutouts to those who have played the game already, and give a glimpse of what lies in store for the future.

Over the past year I have gotten a few Let's Players to play the game. Bo55 Fatwod is currently the only one to have posted an entire playthrough, but Beef Gravy Studios gave it a try as well. I'm still waiting on WasabiSoda's video. I asked them if they were interested in playing back in February, they got back to me 5 months later saying they played it and will be uploading the video soon, but haven't done so yet. They're a small channel who seem to be doing it as a hobby, so I don't want to rush them, but I'm still eagerly awaiting to see if they still follow through. As for the other channels, you can find their videos below and give them a like and subscribe if you can!

As for what I've been working on for the past year, I've been starting work on sequel projects, but I have to admit that progress has been slow. For this next "phase" of what I hope to be a series, there are two games, with the first being Project Tours, a browser-based Bird & Bee game set in the world of the first installment. I've only made a few sprites for Bee in the hub screen so for, as well as a work-in-progress for said hub screen. For the second project, being the next numbered Activity Center game, I've spent months working on one section of one background for one shot of one scene. I want the backgrounds for this project to blow the first game's out of the water. Each numbered installment will take place in a different location each time. The first one took place in a park, and while the second will technically be at that same park, you'll be exploring it at a tiny size as our titular Bird & Bee will be shrinking themselves down and embarking on a Fantastic Voyage-style journey through the body of their friend Taffy the space girl!

I think it's better to be open with these next installments as opposed to keeping them under wraps. Sharing progress on the sequels is a good way to naturally promote the first game, which I did keep under wraps for the entirety of its development, mostly because of the novelty of the concept. Even so, I still feel like I have to very be selective about who I promote it to with the nature of the game making fun of anyone and everything, lest I catch the attention of someone raring to try and take it down. I would like to have at least a bit of an audience for it before that happens, though, with a few more Let's Plays and perhaps some fan art as a way to preserve it (even if I'm the only one who thinks it's worth preserving). The game itself I'd like preserved, but also open to updates if I spot any grammar errors while watching other people play, and the creation of fan art I'd like to happen naturally through people's enthusiasm. 

I would like to get to a point of financial stability so that I'm able to commission artists I trust to help out with future projects, as I'm definitely going to need it. I still consider Bird & Bee to be a hobbyist passion project, with it becoming a business only when I start making money off of it, but I want people to get paid for their work if they do help out. I'll be making the post about it when the time is right.

Now for some bad news that happened this past week, and the reason this post is so late. The old hard drive that I developed the first game on has finally gone kaput. Luckily, I've occasionally been saving everything in my documents folder, including the game itself, the art assets, and sounds, to a USB drive, with the latest save being right before the hard drive went past the point of no return. I would've liked to have migrated the entire thing before it did so, that's why I'm currently looking into repairs, in addition to preparing for other big changes in my personal life which I won't get into because the Internet doesn't need to know about that shit.

I had plans to join this year's Newgrounds Secret Santa, which could've resulted in that first piece of fanart, as well as me returning the favor by drawing someone else's OC, but me being busy kept me from doing so. There are also a few illustrations I completed months ago, but haven't gotten around to uploading, a few of them being made for that trip to LVL UP EXPO in Vegas that was one of the biggest highlights of the year. Despite the ups and downs, 2024 had a lot of amazing moments. I'm really looking forward to what comes next.

I'll conclude the post with this: The illustration I made of Taffy and Bee to close out 2023 got 0 stars, and yet I still love it. It represents the bond between these characters, which is what I believe to be the heart of the series. I'd like for it to be the final shot of the second numbered game, obviously with a little polish. It's been a rocky road getting here, with many people trying to make me doubt myself, but I still believe what I do is worth doing. Works need to hold value to the person making them, no matter what other people might say.

I sent a PM to Tom Fulp yesterday, hoping for at least some explanation as to why my illustrations were taken down. I have to wonder, is this just a thing that's going to keep happening? Are new users going to keep joining the site to try to dictate to me what I can and can't say and who I can and can't make fun of? Are the mods going to provide no clarification at all outside of the usual, "I don't owe you an explanation," routine. All of this on a site that has no problem with certain users making fun of others.

It's a-okay to join in on making fun of Chris Chan for the millionth time or whoever else is currently being mocked by the mindless mainstream Internet, but it's not okay for me to make fun of certain others who aren't? It's fine when Zach Hadel fans repeat the same lame excuse of a joke over and over and over again, and when he himself has animated a guy who didn't want to be recorded yelling at someone to get out of his car, but it's not okay when I point out how repetitive they are, and when I make fun of the people that I do? It naturally makes one wonder why, and it's killing any motivation I have to post creative projects. 

It's sure as hell fueling my desire to just flat-out write an exposé on every single one of the schmucks here who have ever tried to take me down, though. Perhaps I could at least call out the user responsible for it this time, but I'm trying with every fiber of my being not to give this worthless user the attention he wants, despite him combing through my account looking for unrelated reasons to get back at me, despite him 0-bombing my gallery, despite him sending his backup crew and mods to do the same, all because I made one mocking comment towards his attention-seeking campaign.

Of course, he only blocked me as soon as I pointed out that I knew what he was doing, that I knew the type of individual I was dealing with the moment he responded the way he did to my first comment. I wanted to tell him, "While others may allow themselves to be silenced, I'm not going down without pointing out how much of a coward you really are and laughing at you for it."

It does also really upset me that I didn't archive that entire comment section. I did for the first few comments, but then stopped, assuming I had better things to spend time on, but I can't really focus on those better things now. What's the point? All a majority of the Internet seems to care about is drama nowadays, and while I do cover my fair share of drama, all it really takes is one out-of-context snippet to send the vultures your way.

And of course, this user who joined the site yesterday will receive no repercussions while I, someone who's been here for years, receive the brunt of the punishment.

I know it's just posts on the Internet. I know that it was only a few, but it's the principle of it, ya know? Am I going to have to worry that projects I put effort into are going to get taken down just because an individual or group didn't like it or didn't like some unrelated thing that I said? I'm not really much more of an asshole than anyone else on this site, so why do I always feel like the world is out to get me? Every website I've been to, it's always the same, but I really thought Newgrounds would be different.

I don't usually write melodramatic posts like this or make posts explaining my goals for the future. My goal as of right now is to find people on the Internet who I know will understand the points that I try to make, who I know "get" me and what I'm trying to say in my work, and actually appreciate having me around and value what I do. I've spent too long acting like I don't care about this sort of thing, but if I'm to keep working on creative projects for the Internet, I have to be honest in saying that it at least matters somewhat.

C'mon, that was a funny one. Can I at least save the pic?

Jannies are getting crazy. Let's take a look at the rules this site has regarding hate and bullying.

"Hate / Bullying

Your art may not promote hate towards a race or sexuality, or celebrate / fetishize hate groups. If your portrait of a 'sexy nazi' is removed, this is why. Also please avoid the use of slurs. You might think, 'I can use the n-word because I'm black' but anonymous people will use that excuse to try and get away with stuff so our rule is that if it appears derogatory, we're gonna treat it as derogatory.

You may not use art to bully another user."

Unless Liam Robertson decided to become the single member of a new ethnicity, or the mods think he's somehow an offensive caricature, my art depicting him did not break any rules here, as that last rule refers to other Newgrounds users. I mean, if it didn't just refer to them, why does this website base itself around making fun of public figures? Why are the mods selective about who you can and can't make fun of and who can and can't make fun of others despite this one rule?

The illustration was made in response to Liam sending his followers to ban and censor anyone he doesn't like, kinda like what's happening to me right now. I know I've made a lot of enemies here, there's a long list of people who want me gone, but their reasons for doing so are kinda ridiculous. Gotta love the silencing from jannies without them knowing the context, but I'm not going down without a fight.

Some things are worth causing an uproar over, and blatant cases of unjust silencing and censorship is definitely one of them. Whether I get banned from this site or not, expect developments on this story.

Some unimportant, attention-seeking user on this site is currently sending his backup crew to comb through my gallery looking for any reason to get me banned from here, all because they couldn't handle a single comment poking fun at their campaign to use the Palestinian War to promote themselves. This morning they actually managed to censor two of my illustrations.

I mean, whatever. Butthurt jannies gotta do what butthurt jannies gotta do, which is exile anyone with an opposing opinion. However, one of the censored illustrations was the one I made discussing the Internet's overblown reaction to YouTuber Mr. Enter's review of the Pixar film Turning Red, where he mentioned that the setting the movie took place in, which was shortly after September 11th, 2001, radically altered the tone of that time period. The Internet took this to mean that he wanted the movie to directly reference 9/11, and decided that the out of context clip in which he said it was worthy of writing news articles about.

Now, the message of that illustration was, "I honestly want to give massive props to Mr. Enter for sticking to his guns. Despite his status on the Internet, it baffles me how the people against him end up looking worse." Back in the present day, we have a user on this site wanting to start a campaign where he plans on using an actual war to promote himself and other attention-seeking users that got Tom Fulp's approval by having it on the front page. This is the kind of thing that's just as bad as the Internet made Mr. Enter's Turning Red take out to be, yet the jannies try to tell me that I'm not allowed to make fun of it.

I'm still going to make fun of it.

I posted the Turning Red illustration at the top of this news post, since it didn't break any rules. I'll cover this topic again if it makes any interesting developments, even if it's on another site.

[This news post is temporarily out for the holidays. Enjoy some festive music in the meantime.]

[This news post is temporarily out fishing. Enjoy some elevator music in the meantime.]

Expect a reveal next month.

Quaker Oats announced their new breakfast cereal to celebrate. The nutritional value may not make any mathematical sense by government standards, but today's a special occasion. Chowder's coming back to Cartoon Network!

Also, today's a palindrome or something.

Life's a kick in the head. Happy New Year!