Red Graffix Blog » flash

Random # Generator AS3

jason — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:52:59 +0000

I recently created a game that needed a random number generator. Searching the internet, I found many ways to create one. Some seemed overly complicated, but I came across this and it seems to work perfectly, at least for the application I used it in. What I was trying to do was create random behavior for the computer AI when fighting the human player. The way this works is I created a movie clip with all the monster's animations for his different behaviors. so from from frame 2-20 is his standing still behavior, 21-40 is his attack behavior, 41-60 is dodging behavior, and so on.

I then labeled keyframes with still, attack, dodge, etc. As for the action script, on frame one I put this bit of code

var randNum:Number=Math.floor(Math.random()*4)+1;

What this does is create a random number, 1-4. First it creates a variable "randNumber" which then must be defined as a number , that is a whole number "floor" , that is randomly 0-3. We have to remember computers always start with 0 not 1, so that's why there's that +1 at the end otherwise we'd have numbers 0-3 as our output even though we put 4 as the highest place. With the +1 it adds 1 to the output number making them go from 1-4.

From here we need tell the computer what to do with these random numbers. So we add this bit of code after it.



if(randNum==1){gotoAndPlay("still")};

if(randNum==2){gotoAndPlay("attack")};

if(randNum==3){gotoAndPlay("dodge")};

if(randNum==4){gotoAndPlay("still")};

Whats going on here is a simple set of if statements. if the variable we created earlier is 1 then our movie clip jumps to the frame labeled "still", if it's 2 it jumps to "attack", and so on. I realized to make the game a little easier, I should have the monster stand still more often so the player can attack that's why "still" is called twice. He's more likely to stand still than do anything else.

So basically, a random number is generated in frame 1 that tells the movieclip where to jump to, it plays those set of frames, then at the end of those set of frames I send the play head back to frame one with gotoAndStop(1); to go and do it all over again. There's more code to go along with this, like testing to see if the monster hit's the player when he's attacking, figuring out how much life is lost when hit, and other things I'll save for another day. I'm not saying this is a great way to do things, but it worked for me.

Robo Samurai Game

jason — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:09:32 +0000

I created a game to insert in to my final presentation for my 2d animation class because I found out i was missing some things for the final. This is a simple little little game. you're a robot samurai and you fight stuff. Right now it's only one level and the battle system is very basic.

But I would like to make the fighting a little more complex, add leveling up after fights and of course, make more monsters with smarter AI. Time constraints limited me from doing those things. I'm happy with what I've got so far, I built this from scratch in 4 days, so I feel that's pretty good for being a flash novice. The monster's behavior is based off a random number generator, so basically when a number comes up, he has a behavior assigned to that number and performs the animation to coincide with it.

I think I was probably very influenced by games like final fantasy 1-5, chrono trigger, and other old school rpg's in the way the battle system works and with where I would like it to go. By the way, that's my school in the background there. click on the picture and you'll go to my portfolio site where you can play this.

2d Flash Animation Final

jason — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:20:36 +0000

After many sleepless nights and a semester of trying to figure out AS3, I'm just about done. I finished my final for my 2d animation class. It's a flash based application which loads my other class projects externally and is a display of my skills learned over the semester.

I tried to think out of the box with this one, instead of having a static menu and a view screen, I tried to create a little environment for the user to interact with. I illustrated everything in what I consider "my style", influenced by artists like M.C.Escher, Albrecht Duurer, Todd Mcfarlane, and R.Crumb. I love lots of contrast in the use of creating shadow and form. I also attempted to add many little subtle nuances such as a blur on object as the come into view, to give the effect of speed and motion.

Also fading out background elements when a selection is made to direct focus and get rid of background distractions. I tried to add little "easter eggs" in on some background elements just for fun. I would have liked to add more but there are time constraints and I do have other projects to do also.

I also had to do more action script programming than previous projects to have an added level of interactivity. I had a big problem with my earlier projects creating bugs when loaded into my final. Because the beginner projects were so rudimentary, much of the sound and script in it had to be reworked. I spent a couple days banging my head against a wall trying to figure out were my final was creating bugs and it ended up being caused by my first project when it got loaded in for viewing. Anyways, here it is. A show of all the animating skills learned over the course of one semester in 2d animation at Cuyahoga Community College.

Click the image and you'll be taken to my portfolio page where this project is at. Enjoy!!

Keeping Time With Klock

jason — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:19:51 +0000

Adobe air application "Klock" is a very nice little time tracking program, perfect for the freelancer trying to keep record of their work flow. I found it incredibly useful, as I'm just getting started in my new career field of web design and don't always have the best idea of how long a project might take. You can think of this application as a fancy punch clock. It keeps detailed track of how you spent your time, on multiple projects.

You start by entering client/ job info, and a time frame estimate. Then you simply clock in to a particular project you may be working on, and when you're done you clock out. You can add details in like, working on design mockup, or emailing client, or whatever you choose. Klock then takes this info and creates timelines, graphs, and pie charts. I can now see exactly how long I spent creating the print style sheet for a site, or compare over all I spent 10 hours on john doe's site to 12 hours on jane smiths site. Very useful stuff for OCD people like me that like to tack everything.

The best part is it's FREE!! I think this application could be useful to many people, not just a web designer like me. A graphic artist could use it to track their time spent on a magazine ad, or photography could track time retouching photos, a developer writing code, etc. If you take a few seconds to set up things like this at the start of a project, you be glad you did down the road.

KLOCK homepage

Cox Cable E-card

jason — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:57:44 +0000

Here's a holiday E-card I made for a local cable company. I tried to make it as non denominational as possible since it's getting sent out to a wide variety of people.

I do the snowman's voice and my son did the kid's voice. I know the sound quality isn't amazing, but hey, I don't have a proffesional recording studio in my attic. sorry. The list of holidays I thought was amusing. A lot of the holidays are fictional from movies and tv, fitting i think since it's for a cable company.

In case you missed them, here's the list of holidays I used.

Hanukkah
Eid ul-Adha
Advent
Christmas
Chinese New Year
Winter Solstice
Bodhi Day
Imbolc
Hand Washing Awareness Week
Dong zhi
Civil Aviation Day
Diwali
Holy Innocents' Day
Ice Cream and Violins Day
Yule
Read A New Book Month
Samhain
Eat A Red Apple Day
Inti Raymi
Refrigerator Day
Aplastic Anemia Awareness Week
Eastern Orthodox Christmas
AIDS Awareness Day
Saturnalia
Sadeh
St. Valentine's Day
Matariki
Forefathers' Day
Coats For Kids Days
Feast of Fools
Pearl Harbor Day
Kwanzaa
Feast of Winter Veil
Hogmanay
St. Lucy Day
Yulefest
Volunteer Day
Stress Free Family Holiday Month
Rosa Parks Day
Burns Night
Festival du Voyageur
Christmas Eve
GERD Awareness Week
New Year's Eve
Muhurram
Groundhog Day
Watch Night
Saint Nicholas' Day
Freezingman
Life Day
Armenian Apoststolc Christmas
Lupercalia
Saint John the Evangelist's Day
Britney Spears birthday
Festivus
Human Rights Day
Chahar Shanbeh Suri
Yalda
Poinsettia Day
Holiday
Kwansolhaneidmas
Modranect
Maritime Day
Bhaubeej
Hi Neighbor Month
Boxing Day
Winter Solstice
Saint Basil's Day
Karachun
Starlight Celebration