My first/last game was based on Torque Game Builder. While it did have some nice things for game development, it is a little heavyweight for the types of game I want to try to build, and having to package applications feels so 90’s. So, I’m going to be using Flash as my development platform, it doesn’t have some of the game specific functionality of TGB, but it’s lightweight and deploys just about anywhere. I may go back to TGB if I build a larger game, but for now, Flash is it.

Most of the tutorials and books on Flash development that I’ve gone through start with dragging and dropping stuff around in the Flash application. Inevitably, as things get more complex, most of the development is done in editor and very little is done using the UI constructor except for splash screens, buttons, and backgrounds. From my understanding, you can do all of this programatically which I’ve done similarly in the early days of Swing. The Flash editor is not my idea of a great text editor so I went looking for a way to do Flash development without the Flash application. I found this nice article on using TextMate and the Flex SDK to do development. I’ll go into a little detail on how this is working out in the next post.

So, I’m all set. I’m doing Flash development without Flash and I’ll be updating my progress as I go, so stay tuned…

This is an awesome use of the Wii.

Check out Johnny Chung Lee’s other Wii experiments.

found via: Jason Yip

My next action is to learn Flash game programming by following the book ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University. I hope to complete the book by the end of the year which equates to about a chapter a week. I’m using the online edition which I can use through the Santa Clara County Library.

Here is my, mostly finished, game, Catechism. Here are some screen shots.

So here’s the list of things that aren’t quite right:

• No application icon
• Non-final character and tablet graphics
• Some transition tiles don’t show properly in the build
• Only one background song
• Unused resources which cause the application to be large

That being said, here are the downloads. Just unzip and double-click.

Catechism - Mac
Catechism - Windows

I was a little unhappy that my PowerBook need to be repaired for the 4th time in 2.5 years. A benefit was I got a new keyboard (there was a broken key and some other serious wear), logic boards A and B replaced, and a new sound board. I’m hoping this can now last a couple years until I can afford something new.

I was making some progress on the audio portion of the game and while cleaning up a sound file my PowerBook froze. More lower DIMM slot trouble. I had never looked up to see if this was a common problem, but found a petition for people with the same problem. This doesn’t seem to be just a logic board problem or I wouldn’t need a third replacement. Maybe this machine, or this model, is a lemon. I like Apple products and have never had a problem with either iMac we have, but I’ll continue to be leery of their laptop models.

As my ADD would dictate, I have been thinking about what I’m going to work on after I finish my current project. My first thought was to work on a Multi-player Tetris game as described in an article on becoming a network programmer. Then there were two announcements that may change my mind.

First, was the announcement that GarageGames and IAC were creating a site, InstantAction.com, which would allow you to use GarageGames’ tools to create games that are playable through a standard web browser. My guess is that they will enable the Torque engine to run in a plug-in and then execute games that were developed with some/all the existing Torque products or a new member of the Torque family. This is interesting because I wouldn’t have to go the Flash route. Flash is great because you don’t have to download the games, but it isn’t a framework specifically for developing games. There are some big questions though, like will you be able to deploy these games anywhere or only at InstantAction.com? WIll I be able to take my existing TGB game and deploy it in this new environment?

The second announcement that caught my eye was Raph Koster’s latest endeavor, Metaplace. It promises to allow people to create MMORPG’s, puzzle games, etc, eventually. It will be interesting to see how much is working at this point. Here’s a demo:


Should be interesting. Gives me some incentive to finish my game so I can play around with these two technologies.

I completed the gameplay such as it is. This is just displaying an opening message when the player run into an NPC and then displaying one of the Ten Commandments when the player collides with one a Commandment object which is currently a key for a placeholder. I need to replace the art for the player, currently an orc from Sickhead, the NPC, someone from Planet Cute, and the Commandments, a key from Planet Cute. I’m not sure if I want to commission some real art that I can use in similarly themed game or if I should come up with some art that my daughter will find funny. Next are the background music and sound effects.

I finished the map today and all I can say is, I’m glad that’s over. If it hadn’t been for the “Do something” mindset, I know I would have let this game die (just like every other game I have attempted to make). 3 of the 4 nights I worked on the map I had almost considered not working on it at all. I just sucked it up and told myself to make some progress. One night I just did collision polygons for a small section, but it was “something.” Now I can move onto the “game play” which isn’t all that involved. Hey, this isn’t a AAA title, it’s not even donationware worthy. It’s just a proof of concept..proof of the concept that I can finish something.