A final post.

Welcome to the final post of this blog. In this final post we are to give our opinions and thoughts on the class as a whole. Looking back I think Matt did a lot for us overall. He shielded us from a lot of the crazy stuff that went on behind the scenes. He helped us when we couldn't figure out why something wasn't working in flash. I liked the fact that the class ended being more about flash and making the game than it was about the other stuff. The blogs and wikis just seemed tedious and pointless. I understand that they will be tools necessary one day, and that they are incredibly useful. But that doesn't matter one damn bit if you can't use flash in the first place. Blogging takes no effort at all to do. To say that you have to learn how to blog is an insult to a human being's intelligence. The wiki is slightly more difficult to use, but takes little time to update and maintain. You all have to learn a couple tags, which you can simply right down for when you need, and you're ready to go. Flash, however, is not so easy. With all the lines of code, the need for design art, and sheer amount of time to make a good flash, it seems like the class should be focused completely towards the goal of learning flash. Overall I guess the class worked out fine. I enjoyed it and can't say that I regret taking it.

The final countdown.

The time for the last class is almost upon us. I've gotten everything together I think. The biggest problem is me. What am I going to say? Going to do? How will I present things? Have I showered? I need to shave and get a haircut for sure. I don't really own any fancy clothes so I'll to dredge through my closet and pick out the nicest stuff I got. If it still fits. I have put on a lot of weight over the last year or two. Jeez, I need to go on a diet. Not much to say about the project overall. I mean, it's done for the most part.

The home stretch.

This is our final week before the big project is due. I've been working on and off on my project. But since this is the first post I'll talk about class. I was still coming off being sick from the week before. I had a massive headache that made looking at the screen painful. Not to mention a cough that made my ribs hurt. I still got a little bit done though. I managed to scrounge up a bit of a demo to show off. Nothing much. Just a basic level layout and a small tech demo of the character moving.

The second post for the week I was sick.

This is the second post for the week I was sick. Hmm, I think I covered that in the post title. Anyway. Like I said in the first post I got nothing at all done. I was sick for the entire week and a little into the next. I can't really say much for that week that went by.

The week I was sick.

I was more than a little sick this week. Had the flu. Got nothing done. Didn't think about anything. Didn't do anything. Couldn't even really walk. Slept all the time. I wish I could have done more, but I flat out couldn't. Trust me, I would much rather have been gone to class and done some work compared to what I went through.

The second post of the week Matt was sick.

So. Nothing to say. Again. The second time around. I've been remotely thinking about the game. I should be reading on stuff to learn how to get small stuff in the game working, but it's hard to watch the videos and read the information without having the program in front of me. I'm a total hands on learner. I can watch and watch and read and read but it does me no good without the program to try it myself.

And the teacher was sick.

Nothing to post. Nothing at all. Matt is sick so I didn't even get anything done in class this week since I didn't even go. I can talk about the other stuff I've done this week. In class and out, but that doesn't feel right. I mean that's not what this blog is for. Right? I mean I know I go on these little rants about crazy things, but that's because I have nothing to say. I'm going to try and not treat this particular blog like a personal log.

The post that came after first.

Didn't get a lot done in the off time of class. I don't have access to the program so all I can is visualize. And that doesn't really get anything done. I thought a little about the programming that I need to get done, but I can't really get it straight in my head. I thought about writing it down, but I've done so little of the actual programming that without the program I can't really remember the order to do things. Sounds kinda weird, but you try to write code in pencil while barely knowing how to code in the first place. Anyway, I'm out for this one.

A new post for a new day.

So. Tonight we worked on everything. That's right everything. Wiki, blogs, flash, our cars, the front lawn, stuff we have posted on that board at the house that we say we'll do but never get around to, a plan for a better tomorrow, and how to make the perfect cheeseburger. The cheeseburger part was my favorite, but I'm a fat guy. What else can I say? So maybe I'm exaggerating but I'm not far off base. We just worked and worked and worked. Projects, stuff we needed to get caught up on, you name it. And that's all class was about today. Just catching up and getting everything in line. I'm pretty much caught up on everything now.

The sequel to my first post.

So, not a lot to talk about at the moment. Been thinking about this and that. Not had a lot of chances to really get anything down on paper or in the computer. So. I notice I don't have a lot of hits and absolutely no comments. Who am I posting for I wonder? Does anyone read? Does anyone visit? It's so lonely here. Will no one be my friend? But that's kind of sad isn't it? Defining myself by how many people visit? Maybe I should learn to stand on my own. But can I? Am I a strong enough person? Totally. I bench pressed the moon once. True story. Don't believe me? Prove me wrong. Prove that the cat isn't in the box. What cat you ask? The one that isn't there. Or is it?

A new post for a new world.

This is my post about what happened in class last time. We watched some trailers made by previous students about their games. We talked about how we are going to do the same. We tooled around in class and I worked on the layout of my first stage. I got the blocks in place, and I got the on screen character to move. So I'll be putting that in the win column. But then again I put most everything in the win column. Very few, if anything, in the lose column.

The mandatory second post.

So, uh, yeah. Here's the second blog post for the week. Not much to say other than that I did my homework. Had to get the wolf to go back to it's starting point when it touched the rabbit. Also had to add some sound to the story/joke project. And as always, update stuff on the wiki. So that's all I have to say this time around. Thanks for tuning in.










Download here.

Learning about sound.

Tonight we learned how to add sound to our flashes. For next week we need to learn how to cause the wolf to move back to its home position when it hits the bunny. We need to add a sound to one of our old flashes, like the joke or story one. We'll also need to add interactive sound, like make the button click.

I hate getting homework in this class because it's such a strain. I don't have access to Flash outside this class and I don't live nearby. So I have to rush and find time where I can. Half the time I'm working on something in another class when I should be paying attention.

Another blog post.

Welcome back to my blog. Thinking about what to say. Hmm. Well, I've been prepping myself for the paper prototype presentation. I've been thinking about what to draw up for my logo, and I've worked on wiki. That about sums up everything that I needed to do for class. Oh, and I made this second blog post. Yay for keeping up homework. I guess. Oh well. See ya next time.

Paper Prototype

Tonight all we did was paper prototype our games. I cut a bunch of small square out of some construction paper in uniform shapes. Using these, I arranged them into shapes that I had drawn out in a previous class period. These are going to be the levels for my game. Next time we're going to do a presentation using our paper prototypes.

Also, I have to make a logo for my game. I'm still working on that idea. Other homework includes finishing up the prototype, work on team page, and finish working on Choose a Topic part of wiki. Oh, and the second blog post.

Updating the wiki.

Updated the wiki. Hmm. Maybe the title already gave that away. Anyway. I added a bunch of posts about each class and a summary of what we did. I added all my flash files to my files page and provided links to them. It feels more than a bit redundant since all that is already located here in my blog. Why do we have to wash, rinse, repeat in another spot? Who knows? So, that's all I got to say on this edition of Zack's Flash. Tune in next week, same blog time, same blog channel.

Lots of stuff tonight.

And I have a ton of stuff that I did tonight. Two different flashes to toss up. One is my collision test and the other is a flash that was premade but we had to change the parameters. Also did my presentation thing. It went okay. I didn't really rant as much as I wanted to, but that was mostly because I didn't make a mental list and stick to it. Oh well. We'll be doing it again and I'll make up for it then. Also, lots and lots and lots of editing to the wiki. This is a note to myself to at least look at that stuff and try and bring it in line.

Going on a rant.

Tonight in class I have to go on a rant. Otherwise known as a presentation. I've supposed to have been thinking about it and working on it since last week, but that's not how I operate. I work best under stress and just talking on the fly. I'm most inspired when on the spot. Or I freeze up and can't think of anything to say. It should be entertaining either way. I'm going to start with the basics. How I came up with a game idea then applied a 'story' to it. Then I'll move onto game design. Then who knows? Maybe I'll go off on some random tangent about how bologna is round and bread is square. My presentations are adventures and you the audience are along for the ride.

Motion Guides

We did a lot of group talk tonight in class. We shared ideas and help each other come up with new ones, and refine the ones we had. I realized over the discussion that I didn't have a good title (or one at all) for my game. We talked about some possibles and then moved onto others.

Also in class we talked about motion guides. It's a way to create motion tween and get it to follow a set path rather than take the most direct route. We also did a little programming in action script. I made a circle and a box move across the screen without using motion tween. My examples I made are below.

Working the Wiki

Worked on my wiki. I kinda stalled out on some of the answers though. I'll talk with Matt (the teacher) later and ask him about some of the stuff. So....Does anyone read my blog? I wonder about that sometimes. I mean I know one or two people check it to see if I've posted entries, but do they really read it? Do they get what I'm saying? Does anyone understand me? Probably not. I mean I don't really talk about myself in my blog.

The start of something great. Maybe. Probably not.

Today we started the basics of designing our game. I did a basic mock up of some of the stuff for my game. I'm going with a brick breaker style game by the way. I'm going with simple designs. Why? Because I'm lazy. And I tend to pay for it. I go with simple stuff and flash goes nuts over it. *Sigh*

Anyway. Here's the basic image I made.

Mandatory Second Post

This post is being typed because I have to have two a week. Yeah, this really stimulates my creativity. We're supposed to be thinking about what kind of game we want to make, but I already kind of have what I want to do in mind. The big hurdle is finding a way to tie in education. I may have to scrap everything and do something cheap and simple.

Hey, I got a working flash this week.

This week we mostly learned about how to add buttons to our flashes. We also have to start forming the idea for our games. The games have to be "educational". That really, really, really limits my ideas. Oh well. New flash below!

This ship is going down!

So I just updated my wiki. Yeah. I may have gone overboard with some of my answers. Or maybe not enough. I don't know. I'm heavily sarcastic. And filled with hate. Plus guts and black stuff. But seriously, I hope no one catches flak for this.

Shape tween?

So, after driving myself nuts tonight trying to get a line to morph using motion tween in CS3, I learned about shape tween.

Another blog post.

Hey hey. It's another blog post. Don't really know what to say this time around. Well, I have been thinking about the story we need to tell with flash. Should I try and stick to something simple, or maybe go for something a little more involved? If I keep it simple the graphics won't be too bad to deal with. If I go more involved I can tell a better story. As far as the story goes, I'm thinking of doing a story that was told in an anime called 'Cowboy Bebop' right as the series ended. The story of the orange cat. I might go that route, and I might not. Just depends.

Hey, my first flash!

Tonight I made my first flash. We learned how to create objects, insert keyframes, and 'tween' images to make them move.

Creating objects is easy. Not much to say about this except to remember to convert the objects to symbols.

Inserting keyframes is the major lesson of the night. When you insert a keyframe it creates a point of reference in your frames. This allows you to move any objects you have created to new positions in your flash. The main purpose of this is to allow you to tween them.

What is tweening? It moves objects to all the keyframes you have created and goes ahead and does all the tedious animation for you. Very handy. It will also morph and change the object to fit whatever new form you have given it in it's new keyframe position.

Below is my flash.

Thinking about the project.

Welcome to my second post. For today I'm gonna talk about what I might like to make for the Globaloria project. I'm thinking about making a brick breaker style game, with a small twist. Instead of just moving the paddle left and right, how about being able to turn it 45 degrees to the left or right so you can manipulate the flight path of the ball just a bit more? This is me just throwing an idea out there. I'm not sure if my idea is even possible in flash so I'll have to wait and find out.

Yay?

This is my first blog post for my Globaloria project. Yay? I'm not so sure what to say for this first post so I'm just going to go with what I'm thinking. I think this Globaloria thing will be a tough class. Sort of more than what I was expecting it to be. But who knows? It may end up being fun as well.