Flash Final Project

I think I finaly realized the importance of planning a video game. If you have a look at my final project for my multimedia class, it looks like I did not plan it at all. The graphics are horrible, and in one spot the text is not displaying properly. Yet the logic is pretty good.

It's a blackjack (this is my favourite one) game that I created from scratch. Everything had to be completely original. I chose to inlcude card counting just to give an extra element that could make it more interesting. The orginal idea was to have a dealer, two computer controlled players, and a human controlled player.

I had a card class, a deck class, a player class, a dealer class, and basic game play all worked. Except, by the time the asignment was due, I did not have any graphics working, and all the information needed was being traced to the output window in Flash. I given an extra week to finish it, by the end of that extra week, I did have any working graphics. Which leads me to my question. Is it better to start a Flash project by making sure the animations work properly, then tackle the logic, or vice versa?

I was not even able to get a card added to the stage. Never mind he simple animation of moving it across the table to appropriate place, then have it flip to reveal the face value. I was able to get one or the other but never both. There was the flip as a motion tween o the symbol' timeline. I had intended to add a card as needed, basing each card on one symbol from the library. Then adding the necessary info for each card. Or would it have been better to create 52 (or in the case my original idea - 208) symbol's in the library; one for each card.

In the end, as you can see, it was visually a disaster. However there was enough logic behind the scenes to get at least a passing mark assignment.

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Making Cars Go Bump in the Night

Finished another pleasant day at school, with one 3 hour canceled, leaving only one that started at 2:30pm.  It was kind of nice being able chill wth the ladylover and watch some Californication this morning instead.

Once at school, we continued to animate a car moving around the screen.  What I accomplished last week was keeping the car on the stage by cutting the speed to 0 when it hit the ed of the stage.  Now we are adding obstacles, which adds a new level of fun, both programming wise, and playwise.

It's pretty easy to moniter a hit between 2 objects, but each object is surronded by a an invisible box.  When Flash records a hit, it is when the two boxes overlap, but the eye, the objects are afair distance apart:


There is a trick out there to watch different coloured pixels overlap, that will take some research.

Another issue some people were having was removing a child from the stage.  We created the obstacle in an array of obstacles, but removing individual elements are turning oout to be a bit of a complicated pain.  Some more reasearch is required.

UPDATE:  Getting this error when I try to remove a child
                    ArgumentError: Error #2025: The supplied DisplayObject must be a child of the caller.
    at flash.display::DisplayObjectContainer/removeChild()
    at DocClass/HitObject()

Here is what my code looks like:
for ( var count:int = 0; count < NUM_OBS; count++ ) {
                 if ( car_mc.hitTestObject( obsArray[count] ) )
                 {
                     trace("HIT!!  KABOOM!!" );
                     obsArray[count].scaleX /= 2;
                     obsArray[count].scaleY /= 2;
                     //obsArray[count].play();
                     car_mc.speed = 0;
                     trace(obsArray[count].scaleX + " " + obsArray[count].scaleY);
                     if ( obsArray[count].scaleX < 0.125 )
                         removeChild( obsArray[count] );
                 }
}

Keeping in mind I am trying to manage an array of obstacles for a simple car game.

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Flash - My First Experience

Adobe Flash Pro CS4 [Mac]

 I have discovered that I am not an artist, or designer in any kind of way.  I can not draw.  Take a look:



That is probably the best car I have drawn on a computer, and only the second best one ever.

My Mutimedia & Internet class is based on Flash and ActionScript.  After a an introduction into basic animations such as Classic, Shape, and Motion Tweens, we have moved onto ActionScript 3.0.

I find the Flash platform a crappy development environment.  I do not have much experience with animation, and  I am new to the Flash environment, but there is something unrefined about the user experience and the workflow.  The compiler and debugger seem as though they were added as an after thought.  It would be nice if there was a more unified approach to developing with ActionScript;  compiling should be a step by it self, where error messages are reported by themselves.  As it is, errors are being reported once Preview Movie is Selected.

Even the teacher says Flash CS4 is not the greatest tool available, and is looking for alternate methods for developing with ActionScript.  Since Flash is a very closed piece of software, I do not think he will be too successul.

On th upside, my ugly can turn, acclerate, and has an emergency break.  What I am looking to add is a way get the car bounce slightly off a wall (the wall being the edge of the stage).  I am open to any suggestions.

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