First attempt at the mini game

Our next assignment was to try and create our own mini-game based on the info giving on the wiki. What the game does is teaches how to get objects to move with actionscript. Once the code was written, I was able to get an object to move with the arrow keys and one object to move along a set path. The next part I worked on was the collision detection code. This makes the object on the set path reset once it is touched by the object controlled by the arrow keys. This was as far as I got, but the next step is to create a simple score counter on the screen.

More tools

The next tool we learned how to use was the motion guide. What this allows us to do is to create a pre-determined path for an object to move on. It's quite simple to use, just involves creating a new layer and choosing to create a motion guide path. Once you're done that, just draw the path you want an object to take.

Here's what I was able to do:

Choosing a Topic

1. Explore Local Social Issues that Matter to You

How do the following social issues affect your local community? Write down some specific examples next to each one.

* Poverty -- In my community, poverty is a big issue. In my opinion there aren't enough well paying jobs to have a steady economy.

* Health -- Like most places in the US, our community is pretty unhealthy. Whether it be obesity or drugs, it's all over.

* Environment -- As far as this goes, there's trash everywhere. People are really lazy and decide to throw it anywhere. Also, there are a ton of rundown houses / buildings that need taken care of before they cause some issues.

* Education -- Education in this area is decent, but could be a lot better. Being the son of a principal, I know there are loads of problems in the system.

* Civic Participation -- I think many people just don't care these days. I know I haven't given much thought about, so I can't say for sure.



2. Choose One Social Issue to Focus On

Pick one of the specific issues you listed above that you feel very strongly about, then answer these questions about it: The environment

* What are the most important facts people should know about your topic? - A better environment means a better place to live. If this place didn't look so run down, I'd say we'd have a lot more business in the area. Throwing trash in just any old place is a pretty low move.

* What actions should people do in order to help with this topic? - Use a trash can / bin for once; have you seen the river lately? Take better care of your homes and communities. Don't let them look like a dump. The list is endless.

* What is a positive outcome that could happen if people learned more about this issue? - In my opinion, I think we'll have more people come to visit. We really do have a beautiful state, so make it look that way. Besides, more people means more business, and more business means a better economy.



Pick Two Genres for Your Game Topic

Select two game genres that you think offer an especially good way to present information and get people to learn more about your topic.


* Genre 1:- Puzzle
o Why I chose it:

People tend to like puzzle games and sometimes it sit and play them for hours at a time. Hopefully they'll learn something by then.


* Genre 2: - Quiz / Scenario
o Why I chose it:

This genre would lean toward the younger age groups for educational purposes. Once they are given some info on the subject, they can see how well they understand it.

Using the tools

Last class we learned quite a bit about the actual Flash program. This included most of, if not all, the drawing tools. It was pretty interesting seeing how much you can modify a shape in flash using the pen tool. Most of the other tools shown were pretty basic, such as the line tool and pencil.

I was able to make a couple images using the tools:





Not the best in the world, but for a first couple tries, I'd say not bad.

Choosing a topic..

I've done some thinking about my game idea / topic, and I just really can't come up with anything worthwhile. I'd like to do something more information based, and less of a full blown game, but I can't think of a good topic to do that with. Perhaps something that deals with the environment - how its changing and what we can do to make it better. I'm leaning towards having a fun fact / quiz type game. Give a little info about the environment and ask some questions about what would be better for it.

We'll see what comes to mind later.

Latest Progress

The next thing we learned about in class was how to add a bit of navigation to our flash projects. This involved adding buttons and then going in and adding code to make the buttons work. Surprisingly, this concept wasn't that hard to grasp. It was quite easy to get this working and I was able to make a quick little thing.



Simple, but effective.

My flash story

Well it took a while to get the start button going, but I finally got it. This is just a quick little story, I suppose, of how Arthur became King. I'm not that great at the photoshop part, or I'd have a bit more animation for the graphics. Anyways, here it is.

Learned some new stuff

During our last class, we learned how to create a key item for our projects. This item is a start button. It was a little confusing at first to understand how it works, but eventually the concept became pretty easy to understand. Once we learned that, we got to work on our stories and did some work with them. I wasn't able to finish it in class, so I'll post the result later.

First animation

After we learned the basics, we had to create our own little animation. Mine was pretty simple, but for just starting out it isn't too bad.



Here's the outcome