Wednesday, 18 December 2013

Flash. A IDE Software

I have used flash for a long time, for many different purposes, and because of this I believe it is the strongest IDE. It can be very simple to use, or very complicated it just matter what your using it for. There is a wide range of tools on offer to create graphics, because of this all graphics for games can be created and stored in the software making it easy to access. For more complex tools, you can use programs like Photoshop and illustrator. This is good as most file format are supported by flash. Flash is not just great for graphics and vector images, it is also good for audio. This is all very important, as the software will have to adapt to the changing file formats and screen resolution.
Scripting is a huge factor of flash. It can be very easy and quick to set up a simple game. The layout supports even new users, but keeps the more experienced happy. All it takes is too create a actions layer, there you have the ability to access the huge amount of pre-sets of script called " Code Snippets". These can be used to create simple buttons, hyper links, and much more. Flash uses Action Scipt. Because of the popularity of this, there is many tutorials online for anyone to use. Some IDE language is not so well known so would be harder to grasp.
Flash also makes exporting very simple as you can do it in the program and do not need to use other software to get the right file format. There are two main formats when creating a game for a mobile device. These are AIR for Android and IOS. When exporting in this formats, it is very quick and simple and can be created with a professional look, ready for the app store. There is also limitations to flash, the fact they dont support some formats like Windows mobile and Mac, meaning games cant be played on Mac OS.
Animation in flash is simple compared to other software. You can also script animation, but that is for the more experienced scripter. With the layout flash uses, make everything quick and easy to find, which is alot different compared to other IDE's. This makes most tasks quicker as you dont have to spend time finding the tool you need.
Though flash's positives there is also limitations. These are flash is only mainly used for 2D games, compared to other software where making 3D games for smartphones is alot easier. But a large amount of people still use 2D games due to there familiarity and simpleness.

In Conclusion I believe flash is a very powerful IDE, but that comes at a high price. But I believe for a long time to come there will be a market for flash. But while uses for the web are fighting against the newer HTML 5. I huge point is the fact that its simple to use. Wont take long to learn the UI and how to create simple things using script or animation. With more people using smartphones and tablets, the market for new games created in flash and similar software will keep on growing.

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Ideas generation


Ideas Generation
Our brief is to create a asteroid game like the one below, I didn't wanted to copy the game and other student by just creating a game the same way, where you just destroy stuff flying around and get the highest score. I wanted there to be an objective. So I thought about making a game where you have to defend something on the screen. So I looked at strategy games that you have to defend a base, but they are alot more complex, so I made a base for what I want the game to look like.
This is the base for my game, you are a mole and there is diggers coming to destroy your house, you have to keep shooting them to defend your home. each round they get harder and more come, they will take two shots every 3 rounds, then after 6 rounds it will take 3 shots. once you get to round 10, they will take 4 shots and loads will come making the game alot harder. The mole will shot rocks and balls of twigs. there will be a 1 second delay after every shot in till you can shot again, I will make it so the first couple of rounds will be easy to complete so the player will want to carry on then after those rounds they will get hard and you will need alot more skill. I have also done this so you can get the feel of the game, sort of like the tutorial rounds. I wanted to make a game not like the asteroid game as they can get boring and repetitive very quickly,  I will see how hard it will be but I want to make it so each round you get a new piece of clothing to make your mole cooler. 
This is an example for the diggers will look like, this is off the game MotherLoad, the aim of the game is too mine the ores and get money and upgrade your digger. The HUD is similar to the game I want to create, The health of  your home will be in the top right, you ammo will be in the middle, you get a certain about of ammo each round, use it up and you lose the round and the game so you have to conserve your ammo.


This is another example of a defend a base game. This is a game called Storm the Base.  As you can see the ammo bar, and the base health bars a the top, this is another example of what I want my game to look.