Colors - My First ActionScript 3.0/Flash Game

A few of my colleagues had told me how much they enjoyed working with ActionScript 3.0 and Flash and that I had to try it for myself. Though I have only experimented with a few of it’s features, I can easily say that I am hooked.

I decided that my first AS 3.0 project should be a relatively simple game, one with only one or two main goals. I went with a color-oriented game. The goal of this game is to fire bullets of matching colors at the falling objects. Each object destroyed increases the players score.

During the development of this game the biggest issue I encountered was getting used to AS 3.0’s syntax. I found myself declaring a variable, then finding out later I used standard C/C++ syntax. For Example:

C/C++
int x = 0;

ActionScript 3.0
private var x:Number = 0;

The other concept that initially threw me for a loop was the notion of the Library. When you draw an object to the stage in flash, you can highlight it and convert it to a symbol. Each Symbol can be a Movie Clip, Button, or Graphic, each with their own distinct properties. These symbols can be referenced in ActionScript 3.0 for use as game objects. This game only used two symbols, both of them movie clips. These symbols were Hero and ColorOrb.

It took about 3 hours for this project to be fully playable. If you want to try it out for yourself you can play it at:

http://rawkgamer.no-ip.biz/FlashGames/Colors.swf

Controls:
W/S – Cycle Colors
A/D – Move Left/Right
Space – Fire Bullets

[Via http://ggammon.wordpress.com]

Shadows in Darkness On Campus Today!!

TODAY: Producer, Nick Schreiber and Lead Artist, Adam Glueckert will be here to speak with you. Learn exactly what is required in your reel to be hired for a triple “A” production!! Do not miss this opportunity to speak one-on-one with the pros.
See Craig Kelly (crkelly@aii.edu) or Anne Kelly in Career Services for more information!!!!

Shadows in Darkness is a professional and proven outsource solution for everything gaming. We understand the challenge publishers and developers face when outsourcing their most important assets. We have the knowledge, experience, management and talent to jump into your project and become an extension of your team. You can expect every asset we deliver to follow the guidelines, art direction and quality that you demand in house. We understand both sides of outsourcing, we understand next-gen game asset creation, and we are able to contribute to your projects in ways that only our experience and knowledge allow. Where there is Shadows there is light.

[Via http://vfxvicky.wordpress.com]

Mass Effect

That’s right, you’ve seen right…

1) Something not related to anime

2) Mass effect 1 is correct. No I’m not one of the cool kids with ME2…yet

I decided to post this to help show what I’ve dedicated quite a bit of time to these last few days. Instead of watching the trashy stuff this season or more FMA:B I’ve returned to Mass effect. This is my first playthrough. I started this game in 2007, playing during my first year of University. Then I just stopped until sometime this or last week.

That’s right, between stopping playing this game and resuming I passed two years of University. Hmmm. However in the last couple of days I’ve jumped from 4-5 hours played (from 2007) to over 13 hours now played. A few days has more then doubled what I did in over two years…

Also prepare for crappy pictures…xbox 360 plus a shite camera equals what follows (it took 21 attempts to get the following three images done)

Craig Shepard

Say hello to the hero of this particular game- Craig Shepard. As a soldier he has taken to using guns to get the dirty work done as opposed to more technical things. However that isn’t to say he always rushes to use the guns. In this gameplay I’ve taken to having a “good” character, with the occasional renegade moment. Basically I’m playing it as I would be myself- usually good, but willing to shoot first and ask questions later if the need arises.

Craig Shepard can usually be found in battle to be blazing away with a rifle or shotgun. Alas the picture doesn’t fully show off his scar which I guess I thought was cool when creating this character back in ‘07. I still think it’s a pretty cool scar.

Today (well on Wednesday, yay for midnight blogging) I put another few hours into the game, cutting through the side missions (aka Assignments). Now the only assignments I seem to have left are basically fetch/tracking quests in which I have to find different materials and emblems etc across the galaxy. And well…fuck that shit. I hate those “find 30 of such and such” missions, so as such I’ll be returning to the main missions when I start playing again. I stopped at about 23:00 today as I’m near the end of the game, and wanted to be ready for an upcoming gruelling mission. A few more hours of gameplay and this playthrough that started in my first year might be complete before I graduate.

But oh god don’t mention Eternal Sonata. I bought that game at my (first ever!) expo back in 2007 when looking for stuff to buy near the end of the expo. I’ve spent a few hours on it, but I doubt I’m anywhere near finishing. I suspect that will be a game that won’t be done before I graduate.

[Via http://trueredesu.wordpress.com]

A Nugget Goes to the Game

I have always found the vertically challenged quite amusing, but I find them to be even more so in recent years thanks to my favorite lady comedian, Chelsea Handler.  Chelsea has a serious affection for little people whom she lovingly refers to as nuggets.  Which is why I am going to tell you a little story about the precious nugget I saw at last night’s Orlando Magic game.

While at the game last night a group of people only a few years younger than myself sat in front of my roommate and I.  They seemed like a normal bunch, drinking beers and cheering on the most choice NBA team in the league. When after halftime along comes a little nugget friend of theirs who happens to sit right in front of me.  Nugget was wearing a Vince Carter jersey and had on an adorable tiny pair of Air Jordan sneakers.  I just wanted to give him a big old hug, but I had to restrain myself.

Towards the end of the fourth quarter, the Magic began to comeback against the lackluster New Orleans Hornets… now, last time I checked, the Hornets were still in Charlotte so obviously I must have missed something over the years… Whatever, the Magic begin to come back and crowd begins to get out of their seats every time the team nears our hoop, everyone except Nugget that is… Because he is actually standing on his seat.  Oh, it was just unbearable to stand there and not tell him what a nugget he truly is… I mean just take a look…

Once the Magic tie it up with about two minutes to go, Nugget is almost a permanent fixture on his seat.  And to make things even better for him, Vince was having an outstanding game.  With seconds to go and a 6 point lead, Vince Carter had 44 points.  But the crowd (Nugget included) was concerned the Hornets might hit two 3’s and tie up the game sending it into overtime.  Until! Nugget’s man Vince makes another shot for a total of 46 points and needless to say the Magic won.  It was a great night for the Magic, Orlando, myself, and the little Nugget.

[Via http://themierz.wordpress.com]

Game 11 Recap - 02/08/10

Opponent:

Stephen Gaynor School

Score:

1st Quarter: 7:4

2nd Quarter: 5:15

3rd Quarter: 9:11

4th Quarter: 2:14

FINAL: 23:44 (Stephen Gaynor vs Columbia)

Jersey # Name FG FT RB TR AS ST BL FL PT 14 Jason Schottenfeld 7/13 1 3 1 3 2 17 12 Ryan Glick 0/1 0/2 1 1 21 Maurice Russo 6/13 0/2 2 7 3 7 2 1 13 15 Eric Smith 0/1 3 1 1 1 10 Noah Martin 1/4 5 3 2 1 2 11 Adam Felsenthal 0/3 4 3 2 2 13 Zachary Ashley 1/11 2/4 8 1 4 4 1 Alec Ashley 3 1 22 Joshua Kanter 4/11 3 3 4 8 TOTAL: 19/57 2/8 27 21 4 19 2 16 44 (FG – Field Goals, FT – Free Throws, RB – Rebounds, TR – Turnovers, AS – Assists, ST – Steals, BL – Blocks, FL – Fouls, PT – Points)

[Via http://columbiabball78.wordpress.com]

Process Project

Okay, putting it out there, I really have left this project down to the last minute. With less than a week until I am due to present my work, I’ve only just set a fix on the idea I will be pursuing. It isn’t entirely down to complete procrastination, for a while I struggled with idea generation and when I set an idea after some development steps I decided I wasn’t 100% happy with it.

After setting out to generate a list of 10 ideas (blog post here) I choose to make a combination of two ideas.

…2. Community based photography concept game

3. Flashmob photography…

I named it ‘Shuttermob.’ taking the idea of ‘Flashmobs’ and combining it with photography, though rather than gathering at a location to take photos taking photos of the same subject at your location and submitting it back to a community for feedback and to see other participants (hopefully) interesting results.

Other than creating a Flickr group and getting a small number of members, I didn’t get much further with the idea and it soon wilted, the main problem I had with the idea is that I wasn’t happy with how similar it was to other groups that are already more developed.

At this point I decided to take a look at other avenues and decided to take the direction of going back to my previous (People) project, which was also a photography based idea.

The idea was to create a platform from which photographers would gain massive amounts of publicity, to achieve this my idea was to project photographic images onto content specific/relevant areas.

Below is a quick demonstration of the platform I developed for the People project.

I came to the conclusion that for this project I’d like to develop this further, my plan is to:

• Complete redesign of the platform
• Integrate the Shuttermob idea

I feel given the current time limit I’ve now unintentionally self imposed this would be an achievable task by the deadline.

[Via http://adamjones53.wordpress.com]

Truthball Fun In Our Shop

We are always talking about stuff to do in our little shop in virtual Kensington.  Hibiscus and I had planned to sell some artwork there, I started to do some photos and then got too busy to finish them (but I might carry on later, it’s a shame to give up on an idea!).  Anyway looking for other ideas, we had fun playing Truthball at the Truthball Cafe and decided to install a Truthball in the shop so people could stop by and play the game if they wanted to.  It’s great fun, you can play with two people or a crowd, you click on the Truthball and it reads out a question, which can be personal or not so personal, depending on what list of questions you pick, and you are supposed to answer truthfully!!  It’s a laugh and in a group  it’s an icebreaker as it keeps the conversation flowing, it’s also fun with just two players, you can answer in chat or IM, so you can talk to each other like never before!

Hib, Ed and I had a go at the Truthball and then decided to go over to the Underground Club to see who was there.  It turned out to be quite a crowd with all the regulars having a good time.  The theme was ‘best in green’ to win lots of money, Ed fished out a green hat from his inventory and I couldn’t find anything, so I had a cup of green tea instead, not sure if Hib had anything green, I think she was just enjoying the dancing.

Take a trip over to our shop and play the Truthball if you dare!!  Don’t forget, you can leave us a few Lindens in the tip jar for the news blogs if you like the game!

[Via http://janeysplace.wordpress.com]