final project

Drive-By.fla
Drive-By.swf

Well, I have conceded that my final project (or any of my previous projects, for that matter) will never be complete. Unfortunately, I was not able to retrieve the latest version of the code, which had moving thugs on the sidewalk. The continual bullet stream is caused by problems that were experienced with the timer function.

Everything said, I learned a lot about Actionscript 3.0. I confirmed my initial suspicions that I never want to be a programmer in any sense, once again, through taking this course. My passion for Flash animation will never die and I hope to continue to be able to utilize it in a professional sense at some point. Despite what others may say about the usefulness of other programs or the lapse in importance of Flash, I hope to continue to use it to express myself creatively and tell stories that would otherwise go untold.

Drive-By

Abstract: Drive-By is a side-scrolling shooting game starring T-Dawg. T-Dawg is a member of the North Side Thugs, rival gang of the South Side Thugs. T-Dawg must seek vengeance on his rival thugs by rolling down the street and performing a drive-by shooting. Avoid hitting innocent bystanders and kill as many South Side Thugs as you can before running out of health. North Side Thugz 4 Life!

project 2

Project 2


Well here it is....not much of a game really. I have become completely and utterly frustrated with coding and dread even the sight of Actionscript. It seems as though even an idea as simple as mine requires complicated coding that is far beyond my capacities. I feel like all of my attempts to do things on my own are futile and fruitless. I don't want to use a sample game as a template because the code there is hopelessly complicated and contains far too many features and elements for a game this simple.

Generally I dislike working in groups but i fear that may be the only way to make an actual finished game that I can include in my portfolio. Life is too stressful right now, I need a break.

update

I won't post my progress on project 2 as there are no more functional additions to the code since the last update. I have made progress in using the bitmapData class and am seemingly close to having some working collision detection. Once I have a solid, working game engine, I can finish designing the levels and adding all necessary flourishes. I really want a fully-working game this time.

In relation to the controversy surrounding the art exhibit, people will always try to find ways to circumvent free speech. Some obscure zoning regulation will be unearthed at the opportune moment and used in place of some legitimate concern. The government is scared at the idea of giving people freedom to defend their rights and contrast the views of the establishment. By intimidation, fear-mongering and the systematic assault on the constitution, the Bush administration has basically destroyed freedom of speech and enhanced fears of terrorism. Much of the lyrical and artistic content of my band 'The Nursing Home Band' relates directly to the first amendment and the fear of terrorism, Arabs and the middle east. To quote one of the lyrics in our song 'Jihad,' "In a culture of fear, in this culture of fear, everyone is a terrorist."

If you might be interested in our music, feel free to check out our myspace:
myspace.com/nursinghomeband

progress on project 2

The lack of posting is partially due to some personal issues I have been having. My project is in early stages of completion, but is such a simple idea that the first hurdles I cross should get me very close to a working game engine. The name of the game is Roll and Bounce, and that's exactly what you do. The player controls a red ball that navigates throughout a level by bouncing and rolling. The goal is to reach the end of the level. The code I attempted to use was from one of my Car exercises, and worked pretty well except for after I tinkered with it a little. When in roll mode, the player should be able to press the spacebar to bounce again. Ideally the collision detection would be based on the radius of the circle, but I will settle for hitTest if I must.

Project 1

http://www.jgwolfe.com/dragon3.fla

Unfortunately I could not get all of the game working without an error message (something about a null object reference.) I hope to continue to work on this game and fix all of the errors, as I would really like to get all of my planned features in there at some point. The lessons I learn with this game will help me for my next game project in correcting errors in code and game structure. Flash coding is seeming a little less alien to me now, although still very confusing.

Update on Project 1

(Click on .swf to start game)
Arrow keys move dragon up, down left and right.
Spacebar to launch fireballs.
Control/Command(on a mac) to bite.

http://jgwolfe.com/dragon2.fla
http://jgwolfe.com/dragon2.swf

My dragon game is coming along nicely. I have yet to implement collision detection and a health bar/timer which I plan to incorporate at some point. Hopefully Sean can clear up some troubles I'm having understanding good ways of doing collision detection. Basically I see my game as similar to other arcade games in that there is no end and the only point is to get the highest score. In this case, the score is determined by how long you can last before too many birds hit you and you run out of health. Either the speed or the number of the birds will increase over time to provide an extra level of difficulty. The birds will also be randomly chosen to drop an egg, which can provide the player with extra health if he can 'eat' it by pressing the bite key while overlapping it. I hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew with this game, but I think it has the potential to be really fun and playful.