Adding Interaction

Basically the same thing we did when we completed the minigame topic. I think this was the last topic before starting on our game. I am having mixed emotions on that though, cause I am excited to actually get to work on it, but at the same time, I am a little scared because I am hoping my game idea doesn't turn out to be more than I am capable of...so...I don't know, I guess I will see soon enough.

Adding Sound

Adding sound to simple objects is fairly easy, but it seems like it is going to be a pain in the a$$ to get things to coordinate properly within your animations, but I guess we will see. Overall though it was pretty easy to catch onto; I was kinda sleepy in class and was having trouble paying attention, but I was still able to add sound to my button, no problem...so I'd say I am well within the learning curve. It is pretty cool seeing everything come together and how everything in flash works together with one another; from drawing, to adding motion, and then sounds with in each drawing and motion. I have a feeling things are going to start getting complicated though and I am not sure I like it.

Animation

The coolest thing about learning to animate is seeing how everything is going to go together. Being able to make characters and symbols interact with one another on a the screen is pretty cool. Plus it is a huge relief that everything isn't going to be done in code through action script.

Dealing with simple animation like we are right now makes you really appreciate entire animated movies, cartoons, and games. I can't imagine how much work goes into completing some of the more complex projects out there. The video we watched today about animator vs. animation was pretty inspiring, that in itself im sure took an insane amount of time to put together, but it comes together in such an entertaining way, its pretty awesome.

Drawing In Flash

About as frustrating as writing with my left hand, almost as effective too. I take these scenes that I drew by hand, which I thought looked pretty sweet, and try to trace them in flash and the sweet drawings turn into what looks like a third grade art project. I am getting the hang of some of the tools, but for the most part my scene looks like crap.

Paper Prototyping

It took me forever to get started, but once I got rolling, I got several ideas on paper. I have been thinking about how to put it together for a couple weeks now and it was still difficult to transfer my ideas from thought to paper. Now that I have started though, I am starting to see it come together. I can hopefully keep it simple and try not to put down a lot of things on paper that I can not accomplish once I start actually building the game. I can already tell I am going to be non-stop doodling ideas about this game in all my other classes, but all together I  think today was a pretty successful sit-down.

Imagining My Game

So I transferred my game idea from thought to print today and to be completely honest with you...I like it! it sounds like it will turn out to be a pretty cool side scroller, the only problem now is being able to take all of those ideas and actually having them function the way I want them to within my complete game, that is going to be a challenge. I have confidence in being able to complete the game it is just a scary thought thinking how much is actually going to have to go into it to make it function and play to the point where someone will actually want to pick it up and play. Oh well, day by day I guess.

Favorite Game of All Time

It is extremely difficult to imagine my favorite game, because there are so many that I've loved to play for so many years. Any game in the Madden franchise is up there at the top, but I don't know about favorite of all time. All time is going to have to go to Halo 2; I can remember missing an entire day of class, on multiple occasions, because my buddies and I were playing Halo 2 on Xbox live in the dorm room when I went to Indiana University. It never got old. The game itself was amazing at that time and the experience of playing with 8-16 of your buddies at the same time, and all the trash that we talked, was priceless. I only have a few buddies that I still play with from time to time. Your Halo buddies change, but the trash talk stays the same. I play Halo 3 now and am looking forward to ODST, but Halo 2 definitely has a special place in my heart.