Today I reached 2000 fans on Newgrounds!

It's super cool to think that that many people were looking forward to see whatever I do next <3

'Twas over 10 years since I hit the 1000 milestone, so I'm thrilled to get to celebrate again today!

I have to say, I'm forever grateful to Newgrounds for being here in the first place, to fulfill my first real dream of getting my games noticed, my music heard, and my creative pursuits supported.

I met some lifelong friends on Newgrounds.

I created almost all of my best work through Newgrounds.

And I feel surrounded by its talented and kind community every single month.

The sense of significance about this site was potent at the "Pico Day" events at the NG office, where we all met each other, for real, right in the middle of our awesome (and strange) careers.

Just like the others that I met, I found Newgrounds at a time where I was just looking for creative validation. And here it was! Newgrounds essentially gave me a chance to immediately prove myself and grow. And that was deeply impactful.

My games now have over 2,500,000 plays here, and a couple went viral because of Newgrounds, leading to a quarter billion people to play my games worldwide.

My music has about 350,000 listens here, and Newgrounds allowed me to get noticed in Geometry Dash, allowing me to reach a hundred million people, by my rough estimates.

And! I was able to monetize my creations here, allowing me to pay the rest of my college tuition literally thanks to Newgrounds!

Things are a bit different now compared to those crazy days haha. But a new thing I love about Newgrounds is the nostalgia.

Participating in the early internet was warm and accessible in a way I think we will never quite see again - yet because this site remains self-maintained, I still feel that the vibe never actually left here, even as new communities migrated over and technology did what it do.

It's a nice bubble, here. I guess we're all just still wonderfully homebrew haha

I'm here basically every day still, witnessing all the crazy eras Newgrounds finds itself in. And before long, I will absolutely be posting new games and music here. :D

I just wanted to quickly reminisce about the impact Newgrounds had on me. I'm hoping some of this resonates with others here, and I would love to hear some stories and thoughts in the comments if you got 'em!

Thank you Everyone <3

- Zanz

(Shoutout to @FT385 for being my 2000th fan here! I'm happy you liked the Henry Stickmin music I did :D)