When I sat down at my computer today and tried to dig into Windows Explorer’s dark, messy insides.. I suddenly realized something. There was something that missed from my list of favorable and must have apps. The application I’m speaking of is of course Launchy, an indexing search function for your local files. It also has the power  to search the web, or any other application you want to add via a plug-in called Runner.

So summed up in a few words: Launchy is awesome and one of my must have apps for Windows.

Enough praise, let’s get to what this post is all about!

I quickly realized that I didn’t like any of the skins coming with Launchy by default, so I decided to pull “Black Glass” (by Peter Wooley) apart and reskin it to suit my insatiable hunger for minimalism and simplicity. So without further ado and mad ramblings, here’s Minimalism. (Click here to download)

I’m running a Dell laptop with Windows 7 – the reason for buying this keyboard is mainly that it’s slick, minimalistic, and anything you’d expect from Apple – it’s also cased in aluminum, so it’s a bit more robust than other keyboards. The keys are also nicely sized, fitting your fingertips unless you have quite large fingertips.

I’ve remapped some of the buttons on the keyboard to suit Windows a bit more – using this application.

Here’s a screengrab of my keybind-setup (the 0x006A key is F19, and the Right Windows (Right cmd) is right-click dropdown menu)

Finally I must say, the keyboard is a delight to type with – it makes nearly no sound at all, and the keys feel smooth. The aluminum coating also provides for an easy cleaning.

Moving my postings related to sketches, concepts, studies, and finalized artwork to a blogspot hosted blog over at http://joacimeldre.blogspot.com. If you’re interested in following my progress when it comes to digital drawing, that’s the spot for doing that.

I might start putting up tutorials and tips and tricks once I get more experienced. If you want to know “how” I paint either way, it’s just to ask in a comment. I won’t bite.

And I just wanted to test it out with a small chunk of code from my recently created Flash platform game.

		private function checkKeysDown (event:KeyboardEvent):void
		{
			if(event.keyCode == 37 || event.keyCode == 65) 			// A or Left Arrow
			{
				leftKeyDown = true;
				rightKeyDown = false;
			}

			if(event.keyCode == 38 || event.keyCode == 87) 			// W or Up Arrow
			{
				upKeyDown = true;
			}

			if(event.keyCode == 39 || event.keyCode == 68) 			// D or Right Arrow
			{
				rightKeyDown = true;
				leftKeyDown = false;
			}

			if(event.keyCode == 72 && !mainJumping) 				// H key
			{
				hKeyDown = true;
				sc4 = attack.play();
			}

			if(event.keyCode == 74 && !mainJumping) 				// J key
			{
				jKeyDown = true;
				sc4 = attack.play();
			}

			if(event.keyCode == 75 && !mainJumping) 				// K key
			{
				kKeyDown = true;
				sc4 = attack.play();
			}
		} // end private function checkKeysDown

Seems like it works wonderfully, I don’t know why I haven’t checked this functionality out before now. But I can see a lot of uses for this seeing as I’ve recently learned a lot of ActionScript 3.0 and will start learning more HTML and CSS in the following courses I have. Expect more posts consisting of code-strings in large amounts!

One awesome thing with this “plugin” is that it supports a lot of different programming languages; meaning that the plugin can color-code different syntaxes with various colors typically found within the language. It’s brilliant.

To insert code like this you simply write:

[*sourcecode language="css"]
your code here
[*/sourcecode]

Without the wildcard (*)

If you don’t define the source code language it will be “text” by default (no syntax highlighting). Here’s a list of the supported languages

• actionscript3
• bash
• coldfusion
• cpp
• csharp
• css
• delphi
• erlang
• diff
• groovy
• javascript
• java
• javafx
• objc
• perl
• php
• text
• powershell
• python
• ruby
• scala
• sql
• vb
• xml

Here’s the support post for the Source Code tagging.

So yeah, I’ve been extremely busy with deadlines and assignments for the course I’m taking in Creative Arts & Media. I enjoy browsing wallpapers, but lately I’ve had to enjoy Adobe Flash, ActionScript 3.0, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Soundbooth, games-history and methodical learning in game/project development instead.

All the wallpapers are, as usual, in 1900×1200 resolution. If you don’t like that you can find your own wallpapers.

Because pixels are awesome

Because a hamster on a pink background is totally random

Because you don’t mess with the pig

Because that’s what she said

My first game ever, developed with Flash CS4 Professional and ActionScript 3.0 (language used in Flash), for a course in Animation and Interactivity at the University of Hedmark. Have fun!

Release date: Released! (18/11/2009) Click here to play.
Genre: Side-scrolling platformer.
Plot: In a world of hard rocks, crumbled papers, and sharp scissors – you’re the hand. Struck your opponents down with great vengeance!
Gameplay: Defeat enemies by transforming into either a rock, a paper, or scissors – depending on the enemy you meet. Rock is weak to Paper, Paper is weak to Scissors, Scissors is weak to Rock.

Characters

Main Character:

Rock:

Paper:

Scissor:

Case 10 is the last case in this semester’s course of Animation and Interactivity – I’m at the point where I clearly see a game in front of me, fully functional (apart from a menu-system and a retry-function). It feels good to finally be done with the programming, and to finally have a game, even though I’ll need to dig through another semester of programming – but that’s fine, at least I have some ground to stand on when we start fresh over the winter.

Case 10: This is the last case, by now you should have a more or less functioning game and it’s time to add the last bits and bolts to your product. The start menu is vital to any game – in a way like a manual explaining a user how to use your game, how to play it.

Reflection: It’s been three very tough months. I had no idea what a jungle Flash and ActionScript actually is when I first started out with this course, but now I’ve gotten some experience – and it is a nice treat to see and experience all the possibilities that can be had with the usage of Flash and ActionScript in simultation.

I don’t feel anywhere near fully educated in either Flash or ActionScript, but I do at least feel that I by now have a general grasp of both the language and how to animate (be it vector-graphic or pixel-graphic). This is a good feeling in itself. What makes this feeling even better is that I, with some help from a good course and good friends, have developed a platform game! It even works, and it is quite fun if I can say so myself.

Difficulties:

• Introducing more classes, that needs to communicate with the main-class
• Figuring out how buttons work, and how this can be included in running a function
• Cleaning the game after the player has died
• Restarting the game when the player retry

Solution:

Result: Here’s a link to a quick mock-up (in my world – that is usually how things end up looking) of how I want the start-menu to look and feel.

Also, the game is finally done! Click here to give it a go.

Next case on the line is case number 9, in this case I’m going to add some music and sound-effects to my game.

Case 9: In this case you should add sound effects to various events in your game (jump-sounds, attack-sounds, etc.) and background music.

Difficulties: This case seems pretty simple, I think I’ll get most of it done fairly alright when it comes to coding the sounds. Finding approperiate sounds however, is a bit more difficult. I’m also going to use this week to add some more “features” to the game, or rather, bug-fixes – specifically adding a “inRange” function to the player, so you have to be in a specific range to be able to defeat enemies (unlike how the game is right now, where you can attack enemies from wherever).

Solution: Import the right classes -

import.flash.media.Sound;

import flash.media.SoundChannel;

Set variables -

var mySound:Sound = new thisistheSound();              // mySound (name of the variable - call this when you want the sound) :Sound (tells the variable that this is a sound) = new thisistheSound (makes a new instance of the sound you've exported into ActionScript)

var sc:SoundChannel;     // You need a SoundChannel variable as well (different sounds need different channels)

Add the soundfile to the main class function (constructor) if you want it to play “all the time” (as in background music) – or in the approperiate function if you want a specific sound for a specific event -

sc = mySound.play(0, int.MAX_VALUE);                        // 0 = starts song from beginning, MAX_VALUE = plays through the sound - typical for music playing in the background throughout the game

Result: One step closer to completion. I might change the sounds a bit (add different sounds for the attacks etc.), but I understood the code – and that’s something in its own.

Time for the next case in the line – adding bonus objects to my game. I haven’t really thought much about bonus objects for the concept of my game, I didn’t take it into consideration at all when making the game-design, which obviously is flawed from my side. I don’t want to do something outrageous and innovative in terms of bonus objects and mechanics surrounding these bonus objects, I simply don’t think it’s approperiate for my game, but also because I feel I don’t have the skills required to add a very intricate system.

Case 8: In this case you have to add objects that the player character (PC) should pick up and receive points for. The points should be summed up and showed in a counter (Heads-Up Display). You also have to create some objects that the PC needs to avoid, when the PC hits these objects it should be indicated in some way.

Game Design (specific for this case): I want to keep the design and functionality of my game quite simple. Mostly because I think it suits the design-idea in my head, but also because I do not feel I am capable to add much more tham this with my current knowledge in ActionScript and Flash.

• PC encounters an enemy (NPC), the PC kills the NPC, enemy drops a bonus object (health), PC receives additional health (HP).
• Counter should show total health (simple HUD with icon/text).
  • If health is 1 and the PC loses versus an enemy or falls “out of” the level -> Game Over.
  • If HP is 2 (or more) and the PC loses versus an enemy -> Looses one HP -> Knockback effect to allow the player time to rethink the situation.
  • If the player falls “out of” the level (misses a platform and drops into the void) and has 2 HP (or more) then the PC should respawn at the start of the level.

I may include a timer, showing max allowed time for completing the level – when the time runs out, the game ends. Either that, or using a timer as a way to indicate score – less time used on completing the level awards the player a higher score when completing the game. I might add a timer feature if I have enough time, right now I just want to finish what’s vitally needed to make the game a game.

I’ve played around with some more ideas for my game, I’m not sure if I will be able to include them – but I want to let them out either way. The first idea I had was to add a multiplayer function.

Multiplayer concept

• Local, each player assigned to a set of three keys on the keyboard)
• Two players will be able to choose an attack before a timer runs out  (Rock, Paper, or Scissor)
  • When the timer runs out, the players need to have set an attack -
  • An animation plays out (scissor cutting paper, paper wrapping up rock, rock smashing scissor
    • Draw (equal attacks (would do nothing, perhaps animate the sprites in a clash before they get knocked back)
  • Score is added to the winning player
• Best out of three rounds wins

The second idea is a boss-encounter at the end of the level, specifically a “clone” of the player character.

Boss-encounter concept

• Able to randomly attack with either rock, paper, or scissor
  • Needs to somewhat be identified, but not too obviously, so the player in a way knows what to “counter” the attack with – like some sort of “Block” function. If the boss chooses rock – the player could choose either paper (to damage) or rock (to block/draw) to counter that attack
• “Mimics” the player character in some way
• Has a total of three lives, meaning you need to get a correct hit on the boss three times before you beat it

Difficulties: I’ve had a lot of trouble finding the approperiate code I need for the features to function like I want them to. I’m not sure how I can solve this, currently I usually need to find an example of the functionality I want to include in my game – look it over – then I try to assimilate the code with my own code. I sometimes also look up how a specific syntax works in either Learning ActionScript 3.0, or in Adobe’s Help section for Flash. I am also getting a lot of help from my neighbour, which is very good to have if I am struggling for too long on my own. Specifically with this case I had some trouble getting the attacks versus specific enemies to work, solving this seemed to be easier than I first thought it would be, but I got help to achieve the final result.

I’m still having a hard time understanding how different .as classes communicate with each other as well, Object Oriented Programming is a pretty tough nut to crack, but once the nut is cracked it’s beautiful and very “obvious” I suppose. I’ve still not understood it, so to me it’s still quite messy, but I hope I’ll get there.

Solution:

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Result: Visual Result, I still need to add a respawn function if you fall out of the stage. I also need to fix a proximity where you can attack the enemy. The source code behind my game will be uploaded and released when I’ve fixed these two problems.

So! Just three cases to go until I have to have a game finished, I feel that I lack a lot of experience and understanding necessary for creating a final game with Flash and ActionScript 3. I’ve needed a lot of help from “the outside” in the previous cases, and this case was no different. I got a lot of help from my neighbour and from Learning ActionScript 3: The Beginner’s Guide. Mostly input on understanding why and how to use several classes, mostly for structure.

Case 7: Time to add some enemies (or friendly players) to your game. You basically have to understand the concept of using object oriented programming (OOP) and adding artificial intelligence (AI) to one objects or more in this case – to succeed with this case. You’ll be introduced to creating a new class that will communicate with your already created “main” class.

Reflections: I understand by now that I, should, devote even more time to understanding and learning the very fundamentals of programming in ActionScript 3.0. I need to devote time I feel I do not have at all, it is a struggle when I do not really aim to be a programmer – programming isn’t why I mainly chose this education, I’m more creative than technical. This mental lock I have in my head has made me quarrel and reflect a lot about programming, it’s not making it easier to understand and finish every case from week to week either. I’m also having a hard time learning everything I need to learn to complete every case (Not to speak about learning everything not considered in each case. The cases only cover the very vital and necessary functions for the final game.), I guess it’s just a matter of finding relevant information whether it’s on the internet through forums or tutorials, educational books, or fellow students.

If I have learned anything over the few past months in this course, it is that I am not really suited for programming, although I try my best I feel I can’t get further than what I’ve managed this far. I don’t want to give up just yet, but I’m not far away from doing so, I do at least want to finish my game – and to fulfill the idea and concept I have in my head. I guess the game idea I had in the start was too ambitious for me. So next time I’ll need to find out what the idea I have in my head requires from me in regards to ActionScript and Flash in itself.

In this specific case I’ve learned small fragments of how to add artificial intelligence to another object for the game. In my game, the “other objects” are enemies, specifically scripted to follow the player character wherever it moves. I’ve been introduced to Object Oriented Programming (OOP), how to make another class (another .as file) communicate (import/export variables, functions, etc.) with a main-class. I’ve also learned how to add a roughly working “camera” (moving a Movie Clip when there’s input, imitating movement) in a sidescrolling game.

Difficulties: I had a lot of difficulties or problems I did not understand before starting this case. What I first did was chopping the problem into smaller pieces so it would be easier to work with. I had three questions I needed answers to

• What kind of code do I need to make a function randomly choose a number assigned to three different enemies? I want the game to have a different feeling to it each time a player starts the game.
• How can I add spawnpoints – where the player character walks past and an enemy “spawns” <insert number> coordinates to the right? I want the enemies to spawn when the player passes a certain object or point in my level. One spawnpoint should spawn only one enemy each.
• How can I add artificial intelligence to the enemies? I want them to follow the player character along the x-coordinates.

Solution: Here’s a bit of code, mainly the functions I added to solve the specific difficulties that this case introduced me to (bullet points above). I will try my best to explain parts of the code, do note that I am quite inexperienced with scripting in Flash, so you’re welcome to comment my errors if you see any.

This is the code I’ve used for randomly spawning different enemies when the player character walks through a specific x-position in the level.

var RNG=(Math.floor((Math.random() * 50)) %3) // This code is used to "randomly" run through 50 values until 0, 1, or 2 is returned. The Math.random function loops through values from 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and so forth. Any value from 0 to 0.9 is considered "0", any value from 1 to 1.9 is considered "1", and any value from 2 to 2.9 is considered "2".

			if (RNG == 0) // If the RNG variable returns a value that is considered "0" - it uses the function called createEnemy1.
			{
				createEnemy1();
			}

			else if (RNG == 1) // If the RNG variable returns a value that is considered "1" - it uses the function called createEnemy2.
			{
				createEnemy2();
			}

			else if (RNG == 2) // If the RNG variable returns a value that is considered "2" - it uses the function called createEnemy3.
			{
				createEnemy3();
			}

This is what I have coded for the “createEnemy” function – it specifies what should happen when “createEnemy1/2/3″ is referred to.

private function createEnemy1()
		{ // start createEnemy1
		attackFrame = "rockAttack";
		walkFrame = "rockWalk";
		idleFrame = "rockIdle";
		} // end createEnemy1

		private function createEnemy2()
		{ // start createEnemy2
		attackFrame = "scissorAttack";
		walkFrame = "scissorWalk";
		idleFrame = "scissorIdle";
		} // end createEnemy2

		private function createEnemy3()
		{ // start createEnemy3
		attackFrame = "paperAttack";
		walkFrame = "paperWalk";
		idleFrame = "paperIdle";
		} // end createEnemy3

It basically tells the script to find Movie Clips which have the correct instance names for each enemy. I’ve made a sprite for the enemies, where for example the scissor enemy have three frames which consists of Movie Clips named “scissorAttack”, “scissorWalk”, and “scissorIdle” (these MCs contain the animation for said name).

This is the function I’ve used to specify where the enemies should spawn when the player passes specific “spawn points” throughout the level.

for each (var spawnObject in spawnArray)  					// Sends the functions of the loop into every spawnpoint (spawnObject) added to the spawnArray
			{ // start for each spawnObject in spawnArray
				if (spawnObject.x < handChar.x && spawnObject.spawned == false)
					{
						var newEnemy = new Enemy();						// Tells Main.as what Enemy.as is
						newEnemy.x = spawnObject.x+100;				        	// newEnemy spawn 100 x-coordinates to the right for the spawn point
						newEnemy.y = 300;								// newEnemy spawn 300 on the y-coordinates
						enemyArray.push(newEnemy);						// Pushes the enemy into the enemyArray
						addChild(newEnemy);								// Adds either of createEnemy (Enemy.as) into the stage
						spawnObject.spawned = true;						// Checks if the Enemy has been spawned on a spawnpoint, if yes, then the spawnpoint is set to true and disables the spawning of new enemies
					}
			} // end for each spawnObject in spawnArray

“spawnObject” is a Movie Clip directly on the stage in my Flash file. spawnArray is obviously an array, so I’ve pushed every spawnObject into the array in the top of my code, like this “spawnArray.push(spawn1);” where “spawn1″ is a graphical Movie Clip on my stage with the instance name called “spawn1″.

This is the function I’ve used for the artificial intelligence on my enemies.

public function Chase(handCharx, handChary)
		{ // start public function Chase
			if (handCharx < this.x-20)                    // if player (handChar) is lesser (to the left on the screen) than the enemy, enemy should turn to the left and follow the player.
                        {
                                this.x -= speed;
                                this.scaleX = -1;
                                gotoAndStop(walkFrame);
                        }
                        else if (handCharx > this.x+20)               // if player (handChar) is larger (to the right on the screen) than the enemy, enemy should turn to the right and follow the player.
			{
				this.x += speed;
				this.scaleX = 1;
				gotoAndStop(walkFrame);
			}

Result: Here’s the visual result, and here is the code behind the enemies. I haven’t added the main-class, but it involves some changes related to the newly added class.

I’ll write some more words about the solution later.

And all 12 of these need a new owner. If you want one just tell me why you’d like to check out what the fuss with Google Wave is all about in a comment below. Don’t worry though, I’m not very strict.

Update: And I forgot, please include your e-mail when commenting.

I currently have no more invitation left.

Time for case 6 and some reflections of what I’ve done this far. I’ll redo the way I’m setting up these posts from now, so the new way of structure should at least contain Reflection, Difficulties, and Result.

Case 6: In this case you’re going to work further with the design of the environment and the enemies for your game. You should also rethink your game-design and the idea behind your game, reflect about your experience. Do you have the skills to make your concept come true, if not, what do you need to learn more about? You should also blog about the history for your game,  elaborate the game-design, describe the interactivity, and “sell the concept to curious future players”.

Reflections: I feel the game-design for my game is pretty much complete, so as of right now I am not going to change it much at all. I think the idea behind the game itself is good on it’s own as well, I haven’t seen many examples of games alike the one I want to create, so I feel it’s innovative. My experience when it comes to fulfilling the concept in the aspect I want it to be like, is somewhat more diffuse – I feel I have a basic understanding of Flash, but I am yet experienced enough to create a lot of code purely on my own – as well as including different features that there’s no examples of from before.

Difficulties: For my concept I know that I’ll need to learn about random events, timers, artificial intelligence (for the enemies), and specific spawnpoints (I suspect this is basically coordinates).

Result: Click this link. It’s not at all done, basically a quick sketch of the environment (Grass, yay!), and a introduction (paste-in) of the three possible enemies.

The Rock, Paper, Scissor Game

Gamestory: It’s about the Hand. The Hand has to find his way “home” (to the end of the level), to find its way home it will have to defeat huge hordes of boulding rocks, razersharp papers, and angry scissors.

Game-design: Based on the popular “rock, paper, scissor” game where two human opponents first count to three by saying “rock, paper, scissor”, and then choose to use either “scissor” (beats “paper”), “paper” (beats “rock”), or “rock” (beats “scissor”) – the winner is decided from what the two human players picks.

I want to implement this kind of random and unforseen feeling in the game I am making, and hopefully I will be able to do that as well. I don’t want the player (PC – Player Character) to see the enemies (NPC – Non Player Character) before being right in front of (2-3 seconds) the enemy. I also want the NPC to “pop up” at selected spawnpoints along the level-design. The NPC should also be randomly selected out of three possible outcomes, either it’s a rock, a scissor, or a paper. The PC then have to use the right attack to defeat the NPC (Rock beats Scissor, for example).

Level Design: I want the level design to have a simple and minimalistic look, think in the ways of how Super Mario was done back in the day. I’ve decided that I want a simple and minimal level design mostly because I am drawing everything in pixels, dots by dots of colored pixels adding up to a final level in the end. Having something very detailed means a lot of work, in terms of adjusting pixels here and there. That’s hard for me to go through with as a student with both limited time on each project, and a lot of projects to do.

Interactivity: The PC can move to the left (A or Left Arrow), to the right (D or Right Arrow), and jump (W or Up Arrow (along with either A or Left Arrow, or D or Right Arrow to move in the air)). The PC can also attack, either as a scissor (H), paper (J), or rock (K).

Why you should play: Feeling lucky? Any new and experience-hungry player can join in on the fun he or she will get from The Rock, Paper, Scissor Game by simply:

• Being lucky in battles (RNG is always fun)
• Defeating horrendrous amounts of enemies (perhaps 5 in total, that’s really massive)
• Beating the tough (non-existant) high-scores
• Cutting, stoning (as in throwing/mashing rocks on people, not like smoking pot), and papercutting evil pixels to their inevitable death

I clearly have a really solid concept going on here! Perhaps not, but I hope I’ll make through with the concept and finalize the game. Which, of course, will be free to play for anyone who wants to give it a go. :)

What’s Google Wave?

It’s like a new social network thing, from Google. It uses waves (alike threads for SMSes from different contacts) to include messages, photos, videos, and documents between users. Several users can also collaborate on waves together, which makes it a seemingly nice tool for projects where some kind of communication is needed between coworkers. But who can better explain what Google Wave is, than Google? Watch this looooooong video from Google I/O 09

(Old beta build, but basically the “same” as the beta going on right now)

I have beta invites

Yes, I do! If you want one out of eight possible invitations, leave a nice comment saying how much you want Google Wave – and why you want it – in this post. Include your e-mail adress.

I currently have 0 invites left. I’m all out.

There’s basically four new things I’ve been introduced to in this case – hitPointTest/hitPointObject, the while loop, gravity, and velocity.

Case 5: In this case your character should follow the terrain you create for him/her/it. You also have to make it so that your character is allowed to jump when you press a key, the jump should move your character up and you have to use gravity to pull it back down on the terrain. Your character also needs to have the correct animation for the jump. If you want to; make it possible to move to either side when your character jumps.

I finished the jump-code and movement while jumping in my last case (Case 4), thanks to this tutorial and some classmates.

I’ll try to explain the new code I’ve added in this case.

var mainJumping:Boolean = false;
var jumpSpeedLimit:int = 10;
var jumpSpeed:Number = 0;

Here’s the new variables I’ve added to my code. It’s variables for the jump.

handChar.y -= jumpSpeed;
jumpSpeed -= 2;

This code simply makes the Movie Clip “handChar” take effect from gravity, the code says that “handChar” should always pull -2 down on the y-axis (vertical) until it hits the hitTestPoint which is assigned to the Movie Clip called “Ground”.

while(Ground.hitTestPoint(handChar.x, handChar.y-3, true))
{
         handChar.y -= 1;
         jumpSpeed = 0;
         mainJumping = false;
}

The while loop basically means do “this” when “that” happens, and it keeps repeating all the time, checking if there’s ground (objects) to stand on. Or in other words: when my character (“handChar.x” and “handChar.y” – for both x and y-axis) hits the ground (defined by “Ground“) it should stick to the ground.

if(upKeyDown)
{
	if (!mainJumping)
		{
			handChar.gotoAndStop(5);
			jumpSpeed=jumpSpeedLimit;
			mainJumping = true;
		}
	idle = false;
}

Here’s the “moveHand” function for my jump – you can see the variables here (jumpSpeed, jumpSpeedLimit, mainJumping).

Code for this case can be found here, the result can be found here.

So, I was ordinarily done with case 4 in the last blog post I did about the case. I wanted to do a bit more with my code though, and with some help from Markus the neighbour I was able to add attacks to the script. It even works like I wanted it to!

When I tried coding this myself, I had one serious problem: How can I make the animation initiate when a specific key is pressed down -> Run through the animation for said keyframe when specific key is pressed -> Then stop and return to idle.

It seems that the main solution for this was adding a instance name to the keyframes within the sprite, and adding the named instance as a Event Listener (line 32 in my code). I also had to make a new function that would say when a frame was ended (line 46 in my code).

I’m still not completely satisfied with the result, the code is looking alright – but the graphic isn’t looking like I want it to, so I will have to fiddle around with that a bit.

The result can be found here, and the code can be found here.

All images have been found on ImageFlash. Resolution on the images is 1900×1200 pixels.

So.. Another case filled with juicy traits of ActionScript programming, oh joy! Well, the “frustration” aside, it’s fun once you learn the hang of it, programming in ActionScript that is. I haven’t gotten the hang of everything yet, but I am starting to feel comfortable with some of the different strings, events, variables and functions.

Case 4: Make your character move left and right with animations, using keyboard functions. You also have to make sure the character goes into the idle-animation when you don’t press down any keys. Important keywords in this case: events, keycodes, functions.

At first, this sounded like a hard task, and it was a bit difficult actually. I am glad I live in a era where internet is, more or less, like owning a pair of socks: quite common. If I didn’t have the internet to look into when I stepped into trouble I would probably have a much harder time finishing this case. Thanks to all of the awesome people out there who are willing to share their knowledge with others! It means a lot, at least to me it does.

I started the case by finding out what the problem was. I had to find out what kind of code I needed to write, foremost what sort of events I had to use, then the functions and other code-bits came naturally along the way. I needed keyboard events added to my script, I found, and used, parts of my code from this specific tutorial and reading in “Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner’s Guide” (Mainly chapter 3 and 4).  Check out Flash Game Tuts, a neat and organized webpage aiming at the Flash Game programmers out there.

Here’s the result I’ve got this far, thanks to DeviantArt for supporting .SWF files.

As usually when there’s code involved in my ramblings, I have to paste them out for everyone to see! Well, I don’t have to, but I want to contribute something back to the “community”, hopefully someone will learn something from the code I’ve used, as I did from the tutorial I found.

Here’s a Pastebin link to the code, formatted for ActionScript, and here’s the same code pasted directly into WordPress (I recommend using the Pastebin).

package
{ // start package

	import flash.display.MovieClip;
	import flash.events.*; 

	public class Main extends MovieClip
	{ // start public class Main
		var speed:Number = 5; 

		var handChar:HandChar;
		// define MovieClip "handChar"

		var leftKeyDown:Boolean = false;
		var upKeyDown:Boolean = false;
		var rightKeyDown:Boolean = false;
		var downKeyDown:Boolean = false;
		// define keys left, right, up, down - for movement (left, right, up, may add down)

		var hKeyDown:Boolean = false;
		var jKeyDown:Boolean = false;
		var kKeyDown:Boolean = false;
		//define keys h, j, k - for attacks (rock, paper, scissor)

		var mainJumping:Boolean = false;
		var jumpSpeedLimit:int = 15;
		var jumpSpeed:Number = jumpSpeedLimit;
		// define jump

		public function Main()
		{ // start function Main
			addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, moveHand);
			addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, attackHand);
			addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, boundaries);
			stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, checkKeysDown);
			stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP, checkKeysUp);
			handChar= new HandChar ();
			handChar.x = 200;
			handChar.y = 90;
			handChar.scaleX = 1;
			handChar.scaleX = 1;
			addChild(handChar);

		} // end function Main

		private function checkKeysDown (event:KeyboardEvent):void
		{ // start private function checkKeysDown
			if(event.keyCode == 37 || event.keyCode == 65)
			{
				leftKeyDown = true;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 38 || event.keyCode == 87)
			{
				upKeyDown = true;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 39 || event.keyCode == 68)
			{
				rightKeyDown = true;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 40 || event.keyCode == 83)
			{
				downKeyDown = true;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 72)
			{
				hKeyDown = true;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 74)
			{
				jKeyDown = true;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 75)
			{
				kKeyDown = true;
			}
		} // end private function checkKeysDown

		private function checkKeysUp (event:KeyboardEvent):void
		{ // start private function checkKeysUp
			if(event.keyCode == 37 || event.keyCode == 65)
			{
				leftKeyDown = false;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 38 || event.keyCode == 87)
			{
				upKeyDown = false;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 39 || event.keyCode == 68)
			{
				rightKeyDown = false;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 40 || event.keyCode == 83)
			{
				downKeyDown = false;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 72)
			{
				hKeyDown = false;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 74)
			{
				jKeyDown = false;
			}
			if(event.keyCode == 75)
			{
				kKeyDown = false;
			}
		} // end private function checkKeysUp

		public function moveHand (e:Event) : void
		{ // start public function moveHand
			if(leftKeyDown)
			{
				if(upKeyDown || mainJumping)
				{
					handChar.x -=speed;
					handChar.scaleX = -1;
					handChar.gotoAndPlay(5);
					mainJump();
					return;
				}
				handChar.x -= speed;
				handChar.scaleX = -1;
				handChar.gotoAndPlay(1);
				return;
			} 

			if(rightKeyDown)
			{
				if(upKeyDown || mainJumping)
				{
					handChar.x +=speed;
					handChar.scaleX = 1;
					handChar.gotoAndPlay(5);
					mainJump();
					return;
				}
				handChar.x += speed;
				handChar.scaleX = 1;
				handChar.gotoAndPlay(1);
				return;
			}

			if(upKeyDown || mainJumping)
			{
				handChar.gotoAndPlay(5);
				mainJump();
				return;
			}

			handChar.gotoAndPlay(3);
		} // end public function Movehand

		public function attackHand (e:Event) : void
		{ /*// start public function attackHand
			if(hKeyDown)
			{
				handChar.gotoAndStop(rock);
				return;
			}

			if(jKeyDown)
			{
				handChar.gotoAndStop(paper);
				return;
			}

			if(kKeyDown)
			{
				handChar.gotoAndStop(scissor);
				return;
			} */
		} // end public function attackHand 

		function boundaries (e:Event) : void
		 { // start function boundaries

			 if(handChar.x > stage.stageWidth - handChar.width/2)
			 {
				 handChar.x = stage.stageWidth - handChar.width/2;
			 }
			 if(handChar.x < 15)
			 {
				 handChar.x = 15;
			 }
         } // end function boundaries

		function mainJump():void
		{ // start function mainJump
			if(!mainJumping)
			{
				mainJumping = true;
				jumpSpeed = jumpSpeedLimit*-1;
				handChar.y += jumpSpeed;
			}
			else
			{
			if(jumpSpeed  -jumpSpeedLimit/5)
				{
					jumpSpeed *= -1;
				}
			}
			if(jumpSpeed > 0 && jumpSpeed = stage.stageHeight - handChar.height)
				{
				mainJumping = false;
				handChar.y = stage.stageHeight - handChar.height;
				}
			}
		} // end function mainJump
		} // end public class Main
} // end package

Update: I’ve added boundaries (the function called “boundaries”) and attack inputs (the function called “attackHand”). Going to add animations for the attacks once they’re drawn.

4walled has them. I also found ImageFlash, a similar site, but without all the “explicit” content and desktop screenshots.

Click on the images for the full resolution. 1900×1200 pixels.

This week we’ve been introduced to ActionScript 3.0, the programming language used inside Flash.

Case 3: In this case you have to move your character by using ActionScript, you also have to make sure that the character is kept “within the screen” (an invisible border that you assign in the script).

Having small amounts of experience within the whole programming setting is something that I’ve felt, in a negative way, the last days. I have a bit of experience from Assembly, and a bit of bash/C++ programming, but it’s not really comparable to ActionScript.

I have completed this case, more or less to a satisfying extent, although I have to admit that I’ve cross-referenced most parts of my code within the  “Learning AcrionScript 3.0: A Beginner’s Guide” book.

I’m going to read about packages, functions, statements (if, while, then, etc), classes, loops, and events. I also have to add another sequence to my walk-animation, as well as tidying up the sprite I’ve made out of all the animations.

Here’s the code (pastebin) I’ve written to solve this case. Here’s the zip archive of the ActionScript file, the flash file, and a Flash movie with the two files combined.

And here’s the code pasted directly into this post, it appears quite messy as WordPress doesn’t really allow “clean” indents when you quote text. I recommend checking the Pastebin version as it formats the code with colors according to ActionScript.

1. package
2. {
3. import flash.display.MovieClip;
4. import flash.events.Event;
5. public class Main extends MovieClip
6. {
7. var speed:Number = 5;
8. var walk:Walk;
9. public function Main()
10. {
11. addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, Update);
12. walk= new Walk ();
13. walk.x = 200;
14. walk.y = 50;
15. walk.scaleX = 1;
16. walk.scaleX = 1;
17. addChild(walk);
18. trace(“Flash”);
19. }
20. public function Update (e:Event) : void
21. {
22. walk.x+=speed;
23. if(walk.x>400-walk.width/2)
24. {
25. speed= -speed;
26. walk.scaleX = -1;
27. trace(walk.x);
28. }
29. if(walk.x<0+walk.width/2)
30. {
31. speed= -speed;
32. walk.scaleX = 1;
33. trace(walk.x);
34. }
35. }
36. }
37. }

The groups in our course got two example files, one .as (ActionScript) file and one .fla (Flash) file. I studied the examples while reading along the code, to better understand what the code was all about. Thanks to Eirik (Antihelt) who chugged up some code to the web, which I was allowed to take part in myself, and later used parts of. I wrote most of the code down on my own using “Learning ActionScript 3.0: The Beginner’s Guide”, and added some code that I found out would “improve” the script, like dividing the walk.x so it turns inside the assigned screen-limit/border. I still need to learn more of the functions and so on to get a broader understanding of what I actually write, and why I do it.

All the wallpapers are 1920×1200 pixels, and found with 4walled.