who is rootpain?
Hi. My name is June Santos.
You might also know me as RootPain, Big Whiskey, or as one of my unfortunate older names, June S. Sai.
And yes, I stole the RootPain name from a DooM mod, and no, I did not make that, unfortunately.
I'm just some guy from Brasil that wears his heart on his sleeve. I live in extremes, it's either the highest of highs, or the lowest of lows.
It's the highway or no way, and that applies to everything I do, including my website and all of my works.
There's a lot of things that I like, there's also a ton of things that I don't, but you don't need to worry about that too much.
You'll definitely hear me complaining about it in here at some point or the other, though.
So if you're really interested in learning more about me, you'll either have to stick around, or just actually talk to me, I guess.
I don't consider myself an artist. Hobbyist sounds about right for me.
It doesn't matter how good or successful I might be at something. If I don't love it, or I'm not having fun, it's not worth it.
why rootpain?
RootPain.com was something that was a long time coming. The idea started as early as the early 2000s when I first got my computer
and found about the existence of websites like The Mystical Forest Zone, amongst other places around the web. Ever since then, I dreamt
of making my own website, one that would be as cool as the ones I saw around that time.
As years went on, and the internet became more and more centralized, with personal websites dying due to a majority of users
moving to social medias exclusively, it led to the internet to become boring, souless, and lacking any character that made it so endearing
to me back in the day. Then one day, my friend Octo made his own website, and I decided to give myself a hand in making my own
My first website, JuneSSai.net, started very small and simple, with code so awful that it not only it didn't work on mobile
but it barely worked on actual PCs to begin with, then eventually I remade it from scratch, while still archiving my first website.
At one point I considered keeping the JuneSSai.net name, but then I found out about the RootPain WAD, and not only I thought the name
was really cool and fitting (Root. As in flower. Because my character has a Sunflower on his eye, get it?), everything about that WAD
and how edgy it was just clicked with me. And seeing the vicious response to the WAD itself when it was first released just made it
even more appealing to me, so I eventually bought the RootPain.com domain, and changed a majority of my online names to RootPain
including the name of the website, so RootPain.com was born.
RootPain.com was a love letter to all things I used to find cool now and back in the day, and a spit on the face to modern web design
and just the modern internet as a whole and how dull and boring it has become. The objective was always to make something that I'd love
to scroll by when I was younger, and make a website memorable enough to make anyone that stumbles upon it to go; "I want more."
Neo-RootPain.com: Godspeed is a love letter not only to everything stated above, but also all things me, from the past, to the present
and even the future. To embrace everything, to take the good with the bad. To show everything I had to go through to get to where I am
today, to show the years of experimentation, improvement and experience to be able to make all of this possible, and in a lot of ways
to say "Thank You" to everyone along that I crossed paths along the way, independently if they sticked for the ride or not.
In a lot of ways, RootPain.com is the most honest representation of all things me.
If you like it or not, will most likely tell you if you like my person or not.
And if by any chance, maybe years later in the future, you're still thinking about this website, looking for more, or something similar
to it, maybe I even inspired you to pursue you into making your own creations, maybe even your own website, then it was all worth it.
Also, I don't think the guy who made the RootPain WAD minds me using the name of his WAD as my online moniker. I hope not.
special thanks
Firstly, I want to congratulate myself for finally getting my ass out of bed and finally being able to finish the website redesign
(What a fucking narcissist. I know, right?)
I want to thank my friends at BRR for always putting up with my shit and all of my endeavors
and in general, they're the biggest reason why I know half of what I do to begin with.
Octo for making his first website and inspiring me to eventually make my own, and for just being a cool guy in general.
Daemon for teaching me a lot about coding, and specially about Linux and her enthusiasm over CSS animations.
Pyronator for leaving one of the first guestbook messages on my first website.
Ork for always supporting me, and just being one of the best friends I've ever had in general.
Sage for being a great friend, and helping me with a bunch of pre-release stuff.
Kaia for putting me in their games, and in general, just being a great friend altogether.
Hatty for all of the fantastic fanart that I use everywhere, including on my website to this day
And in general, just being one of the best, and most real friends I've had in my entire life.
Tom for finding me in one of my lowest points, and managing to uplift and inspire me, and even getting me to revisit
and eventually finish the redesign for Neo-RootPain.com: Godspeed, and in general, just being a wonderful person.
BrothaKyo for making the Neo-Sonic games (specially Neo-Sonic: Godspeed) and permanently changing my brain chemistry.
And finally... Thank YOU!
Either you're new face, or someone that kept up with me and my website, either closely, or from a distance
If you sticked around to see the highs and the lows, or not, you helped to make this possible, and we wouldn't
be here if it weren't for you. So thank you for sticking around, or just passing by!
I hope we can cross paths again sooner or later.
And if you ever want to pursue something yourself, go for it.
It will be hard, and it will suck, but it's like I say; "Nothing worthwhile is ever easy."
Peace out, suckers; it's been real.
Godspeed.