The time is drawing near.

Dusk of the Madness: Overtime will be released after eight long years (ten years since the previous installment.) I thought I'd make a quick post covering some aspects of DotM: Overtime.

• It'll be about 25 minutes long (still finishing up the credits sequence.)
• I counted 81 kills
• The movie picks up immediately after the events of Dusk of the Madness
• It is my most ambitious project to this date
• It will feature a pretty conclusive ending, but there's still room for a sequel if I ever decided to do so**

DotM: Overtime features the fantastic music of @Asserter, @WeAreBlarg, @DamienFleisch, @punk7890, @xDSxGabo, and also features several original compositions scored exclusively for the movie by @Dleta67 (aka @Delta66), @slipz10, and I even made two songs.

Jollyroger53 and Delta66 also provided some additional artwork.

** I don't have any plans for sequels, but I've been entertaining the idea of prequels in my head. We'll see what happens! If prequels are something people would potentially like to see, I think they'd be super fun to make! I had ideas for episodes centering around what the characters were doing when the shit hit the fan- ie: the bikers, how the island in Day of the Madness fell apart, etc.

Some background info/what the hell I've been doing for eight years:

So, here we are. Eight years. The amount of support and continued interest in my series is honestly quite overwhelming. When I was 12 years old cranking out Dawn of the Madness during my summer break, I never thought it would break a couple hundred views at most. Now, Dawn of the Madness sits in the top 50 movies of all time here on NG. (I don't necessarily agree with this, but it's incredible regardless.) I created so many great memories working on this series that I cherish to this day. These projects have always been incredibly ambitious for me, and always kept me busy and motivated. I'm very satisfied to say that I created many more great memories working on Overtime.

So, why a fourth installment to a trilogy?

Unfortunately, the third installment, Dusk of the Madness, wasn't quite as enjoyable for me to make. I was pretty exhausted and somewhat burnt out at the time, and I was also eager to expand my animations into a non-Madness format. I still had a lot of fun, but it was also my first year of high school, which unfortunately did not go well for me. I had also gotten into a relationship, which is where a lot of my time was directed. Alas, the ending of Dusk of the Madness was rushed to hell. I mean, super rushed. I stayed up for like three days straight finishing the last 4 minutes. I remember being so deathly exhausted just trying to get those bastards down to that bunker. I had so much more that I wanted to do with the ending, but I had to cut it short.

I was ready to call the series done, but the ending just never sat right with me. It bugged the hell out of me, even as I tried to work on other things, and even got into painting. 2011 was probably one of the worst years of my life, where depression decided to give itself a name and make itself known. The following year, 2012, picked back up and I was able to resume my artistic ambitions, which included painting, and the decision to create Dusk of the Madness: Overtime. I mainly intended to make the movie for myself and whatever fans may still be out there, and I had great ideas for it. DotM: Overtime was originally intended to be an "extended ending" to Dusk, being under 10 minutes long. Ideas kept growing, and it quickly evolved into something bigger.

The summer of 2012 gave me plenty of time to work on DotM: Overtime, and I definitely busted ass. However, the movie was just too big to finish in time for Madness Day. I decided to put it on the backburner and finish it later, but then as time went on, the files got dusty, and it sat dormant. The following summer saw more drastic life changes, as I moved out of my parents' home and basically lived between couches for about 9 months before I was able to get an apartment with a few roommates. It was around then that my computer also broke. I was spending a lot of time working, but I was also doing a lot of painting. I actually painted the interior of a restaurant, did a piece for a hair saloon, and painted promotional/holiday themed decorations on windows of game stores/etc. I took in several commissions at the time as well. Painting quickly became the main focus of my artistic efforts, and throughout the next several years, I would paint at festivals, bars, concerts, etc. In fact, I met up with long-time NG veteran, @FatKidWitAJetPak who invited me to paint at several of his art/music festivals in Arkansas. I also ended up having a few of my paintings featured in the Lit Like Luma clothing line!

I ended up getting another computer in 2014, but it was an older Mac, which couldn't really handle any version of Flash. I managed to get my old laptop working again, albeit really slow, and I had to connect it to my hdtv with a VGA cable. I managed to get some work done, but it was still difficult, awkward, and laggy. I was also still very rusty, and it was hard to get back into the groove of animating. Finally, in 2018 after my other Mac took a shit, I bought a slightly newer MacBook that came pre-loaded with the entire Adobe Suite. CS6 handled my old .fla like a miracle, and with seemingly better backward-compatibility. This excited me, as the prospect of finishing Overtime was finally within grasp. I was still in the middle of several large painting projects, among other things, so the time wasn't quite then.

Regrettably, I teased a potential release for DotM: Overtime that year. It was hard to find a way to divide work, sleep, art, and animation, and that break didn't come until just earlier this year. When the United States started locking down due to Covid, I was presented a golden opportunity from my job. My company, in a surprising move, offered employees a month and a half of PAID time off. I think that a lot built up in my personal life around this point, and with anxiety/depression only multiplying in a horribly divided and seemingly dangerous world, the timing of having that opportunity to stay home could not have come at a better time. I was so extremely stressed and worked to death. Full-time corporate employment is just not the thing for me, and having to sacrifice sleep, health, sanity, and friendships just to be able to create art, one pure passion, gets extremely tiring.

Anyway, I took my covid leave of absence in late March. Initially, I had no clue what to do with myself. I felt free and remember laughing maniacally for hours because I wasn't sure what else to do with myself. I binged through several video games, finished a few paintings, and then thought to myself; "What about that project you've had on the backburner for almost eight fucking years?" Thus, my fate was sealed. It was definitely a bit strange getting back into Flash, but once I got going, everything else came natural. I would think to myself, "how the hell am I going to pull off this scene how I want it?" and somehow pull through every single time. I learned new things about flash, new techniques, and definitely pushed Flash to its limits a few times, dealing with corrupt files and several crashes along the way.

Overall, Overtime has really helped me align my life and set clear intent. It's showed me that I can accomplish what I truly set my mind to and even have a blast doing it. I've quit drinking, I've started eating much healthier, I've found new, seemingly limitless motivation, stepped back from social media, etc. I went back to work in May, but eventually started dropping my hours to be able to work on Overtime while I still had some money saved up to be able to cover rent. I was also able to take pretty much this entire month off from work in order to finish it up. I burned through all my savings, but it was worth it to finally see this come to life and to be able to share it.

I'm definitely anxious, but I'm very excited. I really enjoy watching Overtime- it's a lot of fun and I think it's a great flick! It's very common for artists to be extremely critical of their work, but this is something I truly feel proud of. The continued support and interest over the years is absolutely thrilling, and it's impossible to put into words how much it means to me.

Dusk of the Madness: Overtime will premier here on NG in the early hours of September 22. Till then, I'll leave you with this epic 3D fanart of Karlie as she appears in DotM: Overtime. This awesome piece was created by Vardoze, who created Corpses of Madness! Please check out the .gif version to appreciate the full glory of this epic render.