Story time!

Allright, time to reveal the story to you guys. Like I said, the story is pretty huge, so I'm just going to tell you the plot.

Allright, here goes!

/epic voiceover: "It all starts one quiet night at a faraway saloon in the middle of nowhere. A cowboy is enjoying the quiet night, when suddenly the doors fly open and a battered figure enters the saloon. He collapses in front of the bar, and several people gather around him, including the cowboy. The battered figure looks at the cowboy and tells him what happened. It appears this guy was on a mission from God, and he's failed. His mission was to destroy Satan, who has grown powerful and threatens the balance of good and evil. To destroy Satan, he was presented with a holy sword imbued with the power of God. However, after an epic battle, Satan managed to overpower the holy warrior and shattered the sword into five pieces. After the warrior barely escaped with his life, Satan distributed the pieces of the Sword to five of his most feared minions with the orders to protect the pieces with heir lives. Before the holy warrior dies, he tells the cowboy that he is the next Chosen, and he has to gather the pieces of the broken sword to reassemble it, and defeat Satan. Thus begins an epic quest spanning six different areas. Will the cowboy make it? That is up to you as the player." /end epic voiceover

Riiight.. uh, I know it's kinda extravagant, heh.. But that's how I want it to be! I'm kinda getting the hang of programming now, so I guess it's just a matter of patience (for animating the, uh.. 40 cutscenes or so, the plot is going to be the first one, like some sort of intro), heh. Of course, I'm SERIOUSLY considering making only the first chapter playable for the school project, or I'll be COMPLETELY swamped.. Then I can always come back to the rest. It WILL be finished someday though..

Hey, a deviantART profile!

I just got myself a deviantART profile. This means I'll be able to upload my flash stuff, without having to convert it to crappy .avi files. Yay! I'll start with the programming I did at school today. It started out as an attempt to solve case 4, but it evolved into a bit more. It ended up as some sort of 3D space, with ability to move along the z-axis, as well as the x- and y-axis. Yay!
Add some music, and voila!

Click the link below to play, and please, give feedback!

Oh, and to be able to play, you need to click it first (on deviantART, not here. I figure you'd get that though, lol), heh..

A sort of 3D game by ~Andbja on deviantART

My game.. gets a story?

Allright! The story for my game is beginning to shape up! It's huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge though, so maybe I'll consider making the game some kind of a demo version I can turn in, and then work on the rest later so I'm not constrained by time limits and stuff (mostly because of the cutscenes. I currently have to do about 40 of them, and some of them are going to be a pain in the ass to animate..). Expect a gigantic update later with the full story, heh.. or maybe just a small one with the highlights.. to keep you interested, hehe..

Case 3 report.. thingy

Okay, so I decided I'd try my hand at a report! Yay! Okay, I haven't done much of this before, so bear with me..

Riiight, case 3, the first encounter with programming in as3..

I had been looking forward to this case, because I was excited about programming (Still am :D).
So much so, actually, that I decided I couldn't wait. So, I went home the weekend before we officially started the case at school to learn from the master (sort of..), my DAD! He's got a lot of experience with java, which apparently is pretty similar to as3, so I thought I'd make use of the resources I had. The results of this weekend can be seen in one of my earlier posts.

So, what did I learn? Well, I learned a LOT! For example, I had my first encounter with the addEventListener thing, which REALLY helped me understand a lot of things. I realized that you need event listeners to make things happen, like moving my character, updating stuff, things like that. I also learned some basics, like inheritance, which after a while I finally sort of understood. I still have a long way to go though, heh..

Okay, so after a brief (two days) programming lesson, I went back to Hamar, with a lot of anticipation. And that Monday, we got started. I soon realized that, while I had certainly learned a lot of stuff from my dad, I didn't really know where to start. I had learned a lot of syntaxes, but I didn't know where to put them, I had learned about functions, but I didn't know how to make them.. and so on. But, after a brief introduction to the basics (again..), things suddenly started to make sense. And after building a basic script in school that Thursday, I finally understood where to start, how to make functions, what a class is and how it works.. yeah, everything kinda fell into place.

So, I started experimenting. After thoroughly failing at making the character jump, I tried adding a variable for the y speed ( I already had one for the x speed) and at least something happened. I was kinda happy, because I managed to do something that the teachers hadn't covered (the x and y variables) and got it to work! I felt like I could do anything now.. but that feeling is probably soon to change, heh..

So, this was a kinda report for my solution of case 3, I hope it's satisfactory (I don't know if it was really necessary, as it seems I already got the case approved, but in case I was wrong..). If it's not, tell me what's wrong and I'll take it into consideration on the next one.

About the "myth"..

It turns out I'm wrong about some parts of the "myth" I wrote about.. I tested it on another computer, and it lagged.. Buuut, according to one of the comments I got, the "myth"(for lack of a better word, heh..) may still have some truth to it, as it seems flash can take vector point amounts of up to at least 10000 (if I understand it correctly..). So, I think I'm still going to stick with the brush tool.

Also, I'm afraid I can't explain much about the EVENT.ADDED thing, because I don't really understand enough of it to do so. I think it's covered in the tutorial I posted though.. Have a look at it, maybe you'll get some answers, heh.

Myth busted?

In my recently released "game" I think I kinda busted the vector point myth.. I used a background with a BAZILLION (23928 to be exact, and it DOES move.. :D) vector points and...

NO LAG?!?!

I think it depends on how you render the graphics. If you render at frame start, you're fucked, because the event will fire 24 times per second. If you render in the ADDED event, it renders ONCE, and that's it. This means delayed startup by a few milliseconds, but, uh, who cares about that, right?

Of course, this is the background, BUT, I tested with a character with a fairly high number of vector points, and he was happily, uh, flying around.

So... Myth busted? Comments are very welcome.

And as a side note.. FUCK PEN TOOL!! I'm sticking with my beloved brush tool. Brush tool FTW!

Programming session..

First attempt at programming a game, for fun really. I used the tutorial (and modded the script a bit..)I linked to earlier, so check it out if you haven't already. I didn't use all of it, so don't expect any enemies or pickups yet.

Instructions:
move character with left/right arrow keys
jump with space key
climb ladders with up and down keys

Known bugs:
you can fly.. if you don't jump after walking off platforms
you can't go down ladders from atop platforms or within the ladder.. or at all, really..

Still it's pretty good for a first attempt, no?

Download here (right-click, save as)

P.s, you'll need a .swf player to play it, but you might already have guessed that, huh?

A background with something on it..

Okay, so I made a background for my most recent loop, and I decided I'd put something on it. Like, a preview of how I'd like my game to look when it's finished. Here, you can see how much the cowboy sux at jumping, and why he doesn't really like it. And yeah, people in my game can walk underwater without drowning.. for the time being, mwahaha.. Oh, and that fish is going to be an enemy in the game. I named him Fishie.. He likes you.

Animations! Aaand a loop..

I made some animations for the guitar hero. Well, one of them isn't really animated yet though.. Oh well..
Top left : With guitar (picked up)
Middle: Idle animation (while standing still)
Top right: Jump animation
Bottom left: Attack animation (can't decide if I'm finished with it yet, I think it's kinda cool the way it is, heh..)
Bottom right: Walk animation ( it's kinda small, so it might be a bit hard to see. If it becomes a problem, tell me and I'll upload a bigger version)

The loop is a new one I'm thinking of using for some underwater levels. Please tell me what you think about it, and if I should consider using it for something else..

Allright, I won't keep you reading anymore, here's the video.

Well, whaddya know..

It worked! Woohoo! I even managed to squeeze the size up a bit from the last one, so it shouldn't be too blurry. Allright, enjoy the fabled "masterpiece"!! Oh, and this one is also supposed to sound a bit higher pitched.. I don't know what's doing it, but it probably has something to do with the filetype I'm using. I don't really know what kind of music file is best for flash, so I'm using something I know that it recognizes, .wav.. If someone could enlighten me, I'd be most grateful!

Yet another loop..

Which is supposed to sound higher pitched.. Oh, well.. Oh and I put it together with the same movie as last time, because I'm lazy, and don't wanna make something new, so yeah..

Oh, and the video is blurred because I had to make it a lot smaller because of the filesize.. Hmm, maybe that'll work for the other one from way back? Let's find out!

Hey, an actual animation!

I came up with an animation for one of my loops. Well, actually it's been lying around for a while, it's one of the backgrounds (W.I.P) for the platform game.

..If I can use it, that is.. stupid flash game.. I wanna animate instead, a lot less headache.. nah, just kidding, making games is fun!

District 9

Riiight, I just came back after watching district 9, and I gotta say..

IT'S AWESOME!!

Go watch it if you haven't already.

Aaand the other one..

Here's the other version. Remember to let me know which one is best, ok?

Even MORE music..

Wow, I'm on a roll here.. Right, this one has two versions. I'm uploading both of them, so let me know which one you like the best, ok? Since I'm still a bit unsure as to how filesizes works here, I'll upload the other version in a separate post. Wouldn't wanna mess something up by accident, right? This is another kinda factory-ish loop.

More music, yay!

It's not the awesome loop I mentioned before, but it's pretty cool. I'm thinking of using it as some kind of industrial/steampunk/factory kind of thing. Or maybe something else entirely. Let me know if you think of something else I could use it for. Oh, and I forgot to mention.. Both this and my previous loop were made with Fruity Loops 8 (demo), a program with which I consider myself...

..A complete noob.

Cool tutorial

I found a tutorial on programming for platform games in AS3. It's really good, definitely worth looking into. Url : http://www.tutorialized.com/view/tutorial/How-to-Create-a-Platform-Game-in-AS3/38525AS3/38525

Stupid brush tool..

This whole game making thing is pretty frustrating.. Turns out I can't use the brush tool in flash for making characters because there'll be too many vector points. Like this little guy, he's made up of, oh I dunno, maybe a bazillion vector points, and is likely to lag the game to hell or worse, and that's only one symbol.. Oh well, I'll just use'em in the cutscenes I guess.. Yeah, that's right, cutscenes. My game's gonna be awesome like that.. if I can figure out how to do it..

Oops, I forgot..

Okay, I kinda just jumped to the part where I spew stuff out on the blog, without defining the purpose of this whole thing. Okay, the purpose of this blog is to present a project at school in which we create a platformer game in flash. The process of this creation is to be presented on a blog, which is kinda why I started this anyway..

Alright, I'll just go ahead and present some kind of game idea. Here goes..

==========================================================
Title: Uhh.. I dunno.. yet. (updated later)

Synopsis/Plot: Meh.. there's not a lot to it yet.. (Updated later)

Characters:

-The Cowboy: A kinda mysterious, cool, bad-ass type of guy, his eyes are almost always concealed by his hat. He likes to shoot guns, and isn't too fond of jumping.

-The Guitar Hero: A slightly insane guy with a serious black metal warrior vibe going on. He normally goes nowhere without his trusty guitar, but has made an exception for the occasion. If he does get his hands on a guitar though, he'll shred any enemy to bits -literally-, with his awesome guitar solo's. If he has to jump, he keeps with his style, and grows bat wings out of his back to fly for a short period of time.

-The Ninja: Uhh, I guess you all know what this guy does, huh? That's right, he's a NINJA! Which means he's a stealth master, and can use awesome ninja magic to obliterate his enemies! Okay, that last bit there is maybe a BIT exaggerated, because he's not that stealthy...and he can't use magic.. BUT, he's pretty good with a katana and shuriken. Oh, and he's red.

Features:

- JUMPING! Duh.. It's a platformer..
-COOL UPGRADES ..like guns :D ..And jetpacks.
-RPG ELEMENTS Like talking to other characters, and getting people to join you.
-SIX COOL CHAPTERS Each with three separate levels.
-SWITCH BETWEEN CHARACTERS Use each character to beat each level.

STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES!!
====================================================

Yeah, so that's my idea.. I know, I know, it looks too advanced for me, and it probably is, but hey, that's what I want to do. And, if I work hard enough, I'm pretty positive I can do it, so, yeah..

AAaarrghh!!!

I can't get the filesize down.. Oh well, I guess that means it's gonna remain a secret, huh?

Whoops..

Arrgh, I can't upload the most awesome one, because it's too BIG! Alright, I'll try and make it smaller..

Playing around in flash

Alright, so I made these music loops and decided I'd put'em here. And, because it seems I can't put music files here.. I made some stuff in flash to go with it, just to show off the loops really..

Starting up

Okay, that's it, my blog is officially up and running. A bit late, but no worries. I decided I'd write in english from the start, as I consider this language easier to write in, and I'd have to do it eventually anyway. So.. Enjoy the blog, I guess.