Case 9

Sound is a vital part of a game, as it helps to bring the interactivity and gameplay to a new level. Without sound, it would loose alot of the charm. I added sound to my game with a few simple commands. First I had to import flash.sound and soundchannel. Without these, flash would not play the sound. The I created some Variables importing my sound from the flash file, and then set the sound to play.

In addition to background music I created a jump sound that would play each time he, of course, jump. This was done by entering sc2 = jumpSound.play(); in my jumpcode. The sc2 means that the sound will be played in sound channel 2, and will not overlap the background music.

Caze 8

in this case we had to create something called Arrays and Timers. We would have to lay out some objects, that would give us points, and we would use arrays for that task. what is good about arrays is that you can easily create many objects at the same time, and insert a command that these objects would respond to, instead of putting the objects out one at a time and insert manually a command to each of these.



In my game, I wanted to put out objects and gain more health, instead of gaining points. I formed the array objects as standard cakes, and also made a health icon top left corner. This icon scales itself and symbolises how much health the character has. the less health, the smaller icon.

To create the array I wrote a variable with :Array, and imported the icon from the fla file. I also added a new variable with with a :int , which would symbolise how much life I start with. In this case I used the number 30.

To remove the cakes when the character touched them I created a new function, where I wrote that if main chracter hitTestObject the cake, it would removeChild, thus remove the cake. by adding the a [s] at the end of Array, it would remove the cake my character hit.

For making the Healthicon, I created several movieclips with different size of the icon. I then imported them into Actionscript, and used a hpnumber variable(which was set to 30), and then used a changeanimation code to make the icon change if my hpnumber decreased. I coded that the hpnumber would decrease if my character hitTest the Bean, thus decreasing the hpnumber with "--".

I did not add a timer, as my game does not need it. But if I were to create it, I could add it with importing a timerEvent and a Timer, and then add a function that would control the timer.

Caze 7

This case was about creating an enemy that had some sort of AI. I created my enemy as a Bean Worker, as it would seem fitting to my gamestory. I created three different animations for him: Walkcycle, hitcycle and death.

The Beanworker was supposed to have enough AI to follow my character and hit him when my main character got too close. I did this by creating a new actionscript file containing information about the Beans walk direction to my main character. The speed and gravity on the Bean Worker was also added in this new actionscript file. I then named the .as file the same name as my exportname of my beanworker (BeanWorker), and when I import my character in my main actionscript file, it will also run this 2nd actionscript file.

I also got it playing the hitanimation by writing a hitTestObject. command. Now when my main character touches the enemy, my character will begin his hit-cycle.

The problems I detected was to activate my new actionscript file (BeanWorker.as) with my main file. I did not know that they had to have same name. After I found that out, I could begin clean my main actionscript file by cutting out coding of the beanworker to the new actionscript file.

Caze 6

In this case we had to think over our story in the game, and add stuff to the story. I already created the story in the game in case 1, and the only change is that when the madman is released from the bombshelter, he will encounter his worst enemy, beans from space. :)

Caze 5

In this case we had to create the foreground and code in physix and gravity. The character would also get a new movement, the jump. I also wanted the camera to follow the character as he moved along the screen.

However, I encountered a big problem with my character when I followed the example. When my character stood in his Idle animation in the game, he started floating up and down unexpectedly. It looked like the hitbox tot he character were increasing each time his head went up and down, and so the character levered. After much failing I found out that I had to remove a height code in my actionscript file, that caused this jmuping. And my character finally started to walk and idle normally.

Also we had to code in a jump. We could try to experiment with the velocity of the jump, and see what acceleration in the jump would fit in on our character. After a while, I found out that I wanted my character to have a not so high jump, and rather try to code in a double jump (if I push jump two times, he would jump higher) as it would increase the gameplay a bit.

Caze 4

In this case we had to make our character move on the screen when we push a keyboard button. Through some more coding, my character can now walk on the screen accordingly to left and right buttons. It also goes into idle mode if none buttons are pressed or both pressed simultaniously.

We had to write an event code, that if for example left arrow was pushed down, the arrow left would be "true". The character would then respond to this, and move the character left.

Lots of problems were encountered, but most of them were spelling and {} faulties. I solved it by mostly following the tutorial we were given from school, and learned alot.

Case 3

Finished case 3. Had to make the character move on the screen through coding. It was the first time i had been writing anything in Actionscript 3.0. And we had to try to follow another code.
Among the problems, i found that the worst enemy was misspelling any code, as it would get you an instant error.

Walkcycle

Case 2

I have completed three different cycles for the game. The first cycle was the most important one, the walkcycle. This cycle will be most looped, and I found that i needed to spend most time on this cycle. when it came to the character, I really wanted the character to feel loose, and bring forth his characteristics as much as possible. Thats why i have created several limbs through his body, and add one extra limb in his waistarea. This gives me more control when I animate the character, although it requires alot more work.

I am happy with the outcome on the runcycle, and his way of moving shows that this character is something not so ordinary.


Picture of runcycle





The idlecycle shouws the character touching his head and breathing heavily up and down. I had an idea about moving the character's head left to right to give away that he is mentally unstable, but it required alot more effort and didnt have enough time.



The jumpcycle is the one I rushed through. Not having any idea how a jumpcyckle should be animated, if I should animate him with a jump? let him have air? and so forth. I just gave it a try.

Problems I had during the animation, was to get familiar with Flash's way of keying. We have the options between three keying methods, which is classic keeying, classic tween. or motion tween. I chose the one I had least problems with, and that was classic tween and classical keying (frame by frame). I especially had problems trying to mirror the runcycle from left to right, as it only screwed up the keys i had put in, although it eventually worked out.
As for the character, I tested out using bone tools, and although it required less effort to animate with, I found that I lost way too much control of the character.

Next I will convert these to sprites and start with the coding of the game :) gl hf

A late update

I thought I'd write what I did last week when we started on the game since I didn't create the blog until today. This game is a part of a school project, and we are told to use flash with actionscript 3.0 to create it. As I am totally blank when it comes to Flash, the first days with flash didnt exactly go smooth.

I started working on the story the day we got the case. As for now, this is what I came up with:

RUNNING MADMAN

Character:

Running madman
Feats: speed, shield, growing pies.
Level ups?

Features: Different weapons, action packed speed adventure

Must have: Easy world (not too much obstacles), fast moving speed,

Mål: Gather cookies

History: A person finds a bomb shelter and locks himself up by a mistake. After having lived in a bomb shelter for years, growing mad by only eating cans of expired beans, a great earthquake torns the doors apart. The man is finally free from the hellish beaneating life. His one goal is to feel the sweet taste from delicious cakes, and kill every beanlooking creature he can find. Rumors (in his head) tells him about a great bean-king that must be exterminated for the good of the planet.

I didnt have any problems coming up with ideas to this game. What I do have problems with, however, is about the capabilities and limits of the software I am using and how fast I learn. I also had to redraw my character with pen-tool, to minimize the aumont of vector-points. The game is going to be a fast paced shooter, and I dont even know where to begin.

I smell problems ahead.