Like Fires to Watch them Burn (Flash Game - Ideas)

Post time!


This post is about some ideas for a style of gameplay, as well as some added ideas.


The Gameplay styles I have come up with for the Drag and Drop game are:

Pen Drop and Drag –

Use a pen like object to pick up other objects and attempt to move them to the goal without causing errors. Uses mouse for controls (Like Drag Drop)

Construction Puzzle –

Depending on the theme, use the mouse to move square blocks around until it forms a picture. (Can’t remember name of game)

Slingshot –

Use a slingshot idea in a similar style to Angry Birds: pull back rope and let got. “Ammo” will be slung at a target.

Drag and Drop Dress up –

Use a dress up gameplay. It doesn’t have to be clothes.

Drag and Drop Matching game –

Use a matching style gameplay. Could use shapes, colours, numbers, words, etc.


These are definatly useful ideas to use use as the gameplay for my Drag and Drop game but I still need to come up with a theme for them. Right now, I am unsure of which one to choose. Although my eye is looking towards the pen idea, mainly because I’m thinking about doing a Doctor Who theme game where to have to use the Sonic Screwdriver as the controller. If I do want to use Doctor Who with this style of gameplay, I may need to come up with a short storyline for the game to fit in with.

The Slingshot idea is quite appealing to me as well but I and not quite sure what to theme it on. I don’t want to do a remake of Angry Birds, mainly because I don’t want to make a game that already exists and that’s already three times better than something that’s not been made yet.  

Okay, that's about for me for today. Until next time...

First things, First! (Flash Assignment and Descussion on Marketing)

Hello, I'm back once again for another update on my coursework.
Todays post is basically about our first assignment for our Drag and Drop Flash game and what we have been summarising within the media industry.

First things, first. Lets newsfeed on what's going on with the assignment:

Well, even though we had offically just started the assignment, some of my classmates have already finished their games and some are thinking about adding more to them. Me? I've decided make my self a checklist to break down what being asked from the brief and I'm gonna start working from the top, downwards. Here's my list:

I have started work on Adobe Flash games. I also need to write it as an essay and it must contain atleast 1200 words... yeah...

Anyway, moving on:

on the descussion on marketing; well it's actually a variety of different topics, such as

·         Agreement between client and worker on promoting products using target audiences through demographs and psychographs

·         Rights in the market, students don’t have any and also shouldn’t turn away from work unless they know they can’t do it

·         The average hourly rate of a web designer, which is usually between £35-£50 an hour

The agreement between client and worker is all related to a brief given by the client to promote a product. (you may remember this from one of my previous posts) This however goes in a much in depth detail on target audiences through demographs and psychographs. Demographs is like a spreadsheet or a result sheet of peoples personal descriptions, such as age groups, gender, nationality, contact info (I think...), etc. Psychographs are almost the same as demographs except that they look at peoples personal thoughts or feelings, such as views or beliefs, interests, hobbies, favourite activities, etc. All of these are used to determine what could be the right kind of product that this target audience likes.

The rights in the market are about peoples kind of vary between professionals and students. In the industry, students don't have any rights so it is always a good idea to work for free just to get the experience. When it all comes down to becoming working in professional standards, there is no room for error as when an agreement between a worker and a client has been settled, the worker has to go by a budget and a deadline, which can put the pressure on and when the deadline is not met, there is no fixing it. In this day and age, the pay for the hourly rate for a web designer is roughly between £35-£50. Other hourly interest rates may differ depending on the type of work that has been given to them.

Lets Bring It Down! (Flash More ActionScript 3 coding)

Hello again to another Blogger update on the Interactive Media Course at Weymouth College!

Today's update is about learning more AS3 codes in Adobe Flash. We have been learning how to create basic shapes and be able to move them around with the mouse. Unfortunately for me, I was only able draw a shape but not able to do the Drag and Drop feature. Here is the code for drawing a simple shape:

var mc:MovieClip= new MovieClip();
mc.graphics.beginFill (0xff0000);
mc.graphics.drawCircle(50,50,50);
mc.x=80;
mc.y=60;
addChild(mc);

Result:

This was what I able to draw with this coding. After that, we had to import an image onto the canvas, again using only ActionScript but first we had to save the image into our folder, then import the image into the lybrary, rather than straight onto the canvas, then write in the code. This is how it turned out:  

var mc:MovieClip= new MovieClip();
mc.graphics.beginFill (0xff0000);
mc.graphics.drawCircle(50,50,50);
mc.x=80;
mc.y=60;
addChild(mc);

var MC:Marneus_Calgar = new Marneus_Calgar(100,100);
var myImage:Bitmap = new Bitmap(MC);
addChild(myImage);
setChildIndex(myImage,0)

Yeah, as you can see, I'm a big Warhammer 40000 fan! Anyway, this is what resulted in the code. Straight after that, we had to resize the image we imported. Here's what I did:

var mc:MovieClip= new MovieClip();
mc.graphics.beginFill (0xff0000);
mc.graphics.drawCircle(50,50,50);
mc.x=80;
mc.y=60;
addChild(mc);

var MC:Marneus_Calgar = new Marneus_Calgar(100,100);
var myImage:Bitmap = new Bitmap(MC);
addChild(myImage);
setChildIndex(myImage,0)myImage.scaleX=0.5
myImage.scaleY=0.5

Result! So far so good. I'm sort of getting the hang of using AS3 but there is still a lot more I need to learn, especially for when I need to start making my game... Okay fianlly, we then had to create a movie clip without converting objects into symbols, then draw a shape within that movie clip. Here's the coding:

var mc:MovieClip= new MovieClip();
mc.graphics.beginFill (0xff0000);
mc.graphics.drawCircle(50,50,50);
mc.x=80;
mc.y=60;
addChild(mc);

var MC:Marneus_Calgar = new Marneus_Calgar(100,100);
var myImage:Bitmap = new Bitmap(MC);
addChild(myImage);
setChildIndex(myImage,0)
myImage.scaleX=0.5
myImage.scaleY=0.5

var cc:circle = new circle();
addChild(cc);

I would insert a picture at this point but there's no point because it's made no difference to the image. There's basically a red circle in the movie clip but it didn't show up when I played the file.

Anyway, That's it for me today. 

"It's worth its Weight in Gold" (Making Briefs)

Hello, me again. Just making another "blog entry" for the course. 
This post is about making "Briefs." (no, I don't the underwear kind!) This is basically a document, file or folder containing information on creating something for a client or a company, like promoting a product of some sort that is aimed for a certain target audience.

Now I don't want to sound pedantic, (if that's the correct terminology...) But I honestly have no idea on how to create a proper brief. I mean I had a go at this yesterday (and the day before...) but I'm finding this a bit too hard for me. I get the aspect what a brief should look like but it's getting all of the required information that makes it. This is what I am being asked to look for:

• Company profile
• Aim of product
• Target audience for product
• Target audience for media
• Budget
• Deadline
• give examples (optional)

I should also mention at this point that the brief that I am supposed to make also needs to have a type of media product promoted along side the clients/companies product. Anyway, here is my first attempt at making a brief

Brief

The Coca-Cola Company are a merchandise company that specialise in consumable products (mainly beverages) and distribute them to supermarkets, ready to be sold out to the public.

The aim of these products is to produce tasty drinks that a target audience can enjoy.  

You have been given the task by the Coca-Cola Company to produce a media product that promotes these drinks. You have to:

•  Find out what media types is the most appropriate for your target audience
•  Find out what your target audiences favourite drink is that has been made by the Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company has given you a budget of £7500 to use towards on creating your media product.

The deadline for the media product is 2 months (start date: 19^th March 2012. Deadline date: 22^nd May 2012)

Now, I know this isn't even worthy of being a brief as there is barely 200 words in this. This, in a sense, is meant to be a brief sent to me by the Coca-Cola Company, and they are asking me to promote their products using animations that I have created. I would put down more information on what needs to be done I have no idea what to put in.

For a Great Idea, We Ride. (Drag and Drop Flash Games)

Post time! I'm back with another entry!

Today, me and my group have been given the task of searching for Flash games that are featured with 'drag and drop' gameplay over the web, review them (talk about how they work, what's the objective, etc.) get ideas on what kind of game we could make using Adobe Flash.

I should mention at this point that we have to use ActionScript 3.0 to make this game, which none of use know how to use at the moment, as we are more suited to using ActionScript 2.0. AS3 is a whole lot more difficult to use because the coding is more complex than AS2.

AS2 coding:

on(press) {gotoAndStop(1);}

AS3 coding:

Instance name of object.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,button1);

fuction button1(event:MouseEvent) {gotoAndStop(1);
}

Another difference between these coding assets is that the AS2 codes can be placed almost anywhere, including symbols. AS3 codes can only be placed within the timeline. Because I have been using AS2 for about a year, I think the AS3 gonna be a bit tricky (not that I am gonna complain or anything!)


Anyway, back onto the subject of reviewing other Flash games: I have found a few games that are (or closing) related to 'drag and drop' game features  

http://vectorgame.com/drag-drop - Drag Drop

This game pretty much says what it means: this is a proper 'drag and drop' game. The objective of the game is to get the 'cursor' to a goal, marked "Drop Here" without hitting any other objects or the side of the map. If you get to the goal, you'll move onto the next level. If you hit an object on the map or the side of the canvas, you have to start from the beginning of that level. There is also a time lime of 250 seconds (roughly 4 minutes) in each level, though the game doesn't end when the time limit runs out but you won't get any points when you complete the level when it does. There are 15 levels to play and there are no lives.

http://vectorgame.com/cursor-race - Cursor Race

This game is close to a drag and drop game, but there is no dropping involved. It involves to different types of cursors, the pointer and the hand. The player takes control of the pointer cursor whereas the hand cursor is self-controlled. The game is played by using the mouse to control the pointer and move it around the race track and beat the hand cursor. Each race consists of ten laps. If the player wins, then he/she moves on to the next track. If the Hand cursor wins, then the game is over. The player has to keep his/her cursor on the track at all times if they want to win but if the pointer cursor hits the 'green area' then it stops moving, giving the Hand cursor a chance to catch up and over take you.

http://vectorgame.com/color-dots - Colour Dots


I think this game is the most addictive of the 3 that I have found: The aim of this game is to collect all of the coloured dots on the level. Move your cursor next to or make it touch a coloured dot and it becomes that dot. Left-click on your mouse and you will get a small amount of points for that dot, which then afterwards changes back to the normal pointer cursor. (or whatever cursor you have given it!) When your cursor is a coloured dot, make sure you don't hit a different coloured dot, otherwise you lose a live. You start off with 3 lives and when you run out of lives you lose all of your accumulated points received in the game when you restart. While your cursor is a coloured dot, you can move it over other dots of the same colour, which makes your cursor dot bigger and makes it harder to move around but you get more points depending on how big your dot is. There is also a time-bar at the top, when it runs out you lose a life. Collecting 5 blue dots adds extra time in the time-bar.  


Now that I have reviewed these games, I need to come up with an idea for a drag and drop Flash game. I also need to start practising a little bit more in Flash before I start making it as well.


Anyway, that's it for now...

"Making Friends with my Enemies" (Flash Website)

Hello and welcome to my Blog, based on topics and subjects related to my course at Weymouth College. This is basically a "journal" I will be using to keep track of what's happened and/or happening within the course.


Okay, so far I've back at college for a week now and on our first day back, we were given a task to refresh ourselves: We had to create a website that promotes the new Hive: Media Centre. The majority of us used Adobe Flash, myself included.


Here are a few pics from the pages:

Lots of space above... -_-


Anyway, when I had finished my website on the last day before we went back to college for the second week, by sods law, Adobe Flash decide to crash on me and I virtually lost all of the website contents! Fortunately though, the SWF file (the website itself) was fine, except for all of the hyperlinks that stopped working and when I had it presented, the contacts page disappeared...


Things to remember for next time:

• Save files as backups 
• canvas size 1020p x 768p

Now that that's been over and done with, I'm off!