Hello there. Can you help me?

[GtF]

Hi there!

Little over a week ago I started to learn Flash and ActionScript 2.0 with the hopes that eventually I'd be able to come up with something really quite brilliant!

You see, up until recently I was the author of a small-ish webcomic called Dreamleak. (http://www.dreamleak.co.uk/) It was alright, I guess, a few thousand visitors each week and nobody seemed to complain! It's just after a while I got bored of it because, oddly enough, I'm not actually that keen on webcomics. They're OK I suppose, but coming from a film and TV background I find webcomics lack somewhat in depth, atmosphere and audience immersion. However, there is no better way to distribute content regularly to such a vast potential audience.

I came up with the idea of continuing my comic but almost in the guise of a point and click adventure game. Looking back on such games as the Monkey Island series or the early Lucas Arts Point n' Click adventures I remember just being completely enthralled in both their game worlds and their stories. I believe there is no better way to achieve such a high level of immersion than with a game and with the dynamic qualities of Flash and ActionScript regular updates shouldn't be that hard to achieve...surely?

Just to clarify, I'm not wanting to make a game here. I want to take a webcomic and present it in a different format that is similar to a point and click game. For example, when reading a normal webcomic and you want to read a particular story arc, you click on the archive page and then you click on the story arc you want. What if you actually had to go and find your 'story arc' somewhere in a completely open, free roaming world where if you're not careful you might happen to come across some previously unseen pathway and upon investigation you find a completely new story or mini-game or short animation or who knows what!?
The stories will be told in a fairly standard comic strip format but you just have to make your way to them first!

So yeah, sorry for blathering on but I'm quite excited by the whole thing! At worst it'll be a rather cool little interactive flash game/comic but at best it could completely revolutionise the way millions users experience reading their webcomics! Maybe.

Heh, well I guess if you are still reading by now then you must be atleast slightly interested in this idea. As I mentioned waaay back up there I recently just started learning Flash and ActionScript and since I'm sort of just an artist/writer (technical ineptitude HOORAH!) something like what I just described above is merely just a far off fantasy. I came here kinda hoping I could find someone (or some people? :D) who would either
a) like the sound of the idea so much and jump aboard the project as a lead programmer/GOD OF CODE or
b) just give me general hints tips advice or all of the aforementioned.

So here's a .FLA of what I've come up with so far : http://www.dreamleak.co.uk/theglen_test.fla
Or a just a .SWF if you fancy it: http://www.dreamleak.co.uk/theglen_test.swf

My first and foremost problem is that the background here is supposed to have a 3D perspective depth to it if that makes any sense. And the camera is supposed to scroll along with the character as she moves. I've tried following tutorials and looking at working examples but I just cannae seem to get it. I feel it's pretty important to get this problem solved first because I wish to create a basic environment engine so then I can start working on actual content and u'know...things. Any advice at all will be appriciated!

Thanks!
(and sorry for the epic post...)

[Valaran]

Hello, I admit this sounds interesting and I would be glad to help you, a personal tip however, since you say you are 'just starting' with flash and actionscript 2..... Switch over to Actionscript 3.0, right away.

Would be a lot easier for me to help you that way aswell.

[GtF]

Hi Valaran,

The reason I started off learning AS 2 was because I read somewhere that AS 3 is a lot more difficult to learn for a complete beginner and that you can pretty much achieve the same results using either version. Plus I found there is a lot more learning resources online for AS2.

What are the main advantages to learning AS3 over AS2?

[glosrfc]

I wouldn't get swept up in the argument that you should learn AS3. Yes, there are some benefits but these only come into play if you're already accustomed to writing code, particularly in an OOP environment. If I were you, I'd stick to whatever you're more familiar with. AS2 does allow you to fall into some bad habits that are hangovers from AS1 - particularly attaching code directly to symbols - but if you avoid those pitfalls, then AS2 is more than adequate for your purposes.

As for your immediate problem, what you're talking about there is creating an illusion of perspective. There are links that describe how to create this effect:
http://imm.sheridanc.on.ca/imm2003/z...utorial1.shtml
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/art...23221&seqNum=1

There is a useful tool that can achieve the effect for you:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2004/08/17/flashhacks.html?page=2
Scroll down the page to the comments and you can find links to various Flash versions of the source. It's particularly suited to a comic/game environment as it allows you to zoom and pan into smaller areas of your comic without the tedium of having to tween every individual symbol on your stage.
There are also updates of this source available in the Experiments forum on this site.

The basic idea sounds...well, sound. It should be easy enough to achieve by loading the appropriate sub-comics as required. One thing you might want to consider is studying Flash's Shared Object class. This would allow the viewer to save their progress through the comic if they should leave the site...much like a cookie on normal web page. It could also be used to personalise the comic by, for example, remembering the viewer's name and other details.

You'll get plenty of help here so don't hesitate to ask.

[GtF]

Hey glosfrc,

Thanks very much for those links! They definately helped a ton!

It now mostly works how I want it too! :http://www.dreamleak.co.uk/theglen_test.swf

The next big obstacle I think is going to be getting the character to move towards and away from the camera with correct perspective scaling and varying movement speed. Or something.

Be warned, the chances of me returning with all sorts of questions about things and stuff is pretty high... :proud:

Thanks again!

[glosrfc]

Not a problem...the chances of my answering them may be pretty remote ;)

The virtual cam will be the best tool to zoom in and out on the character. One added bonus is that, if you're clever with foreground items, you won't have to animate walk cycles. I can probably point you in the right direction with buttons and loading swfs...for example, if your next strip requires the user to click at the top of stairs.
At the moment I don't think I've seen a lot of difference between the two examples....very little user interactivity as yet...just a character blinking.

On the subject of which, there are additional animation techniques you can utilise to make even the blinking appear more realistic. Placing a number of "blinks" onto tweens that comprise prime numbers allows you to loop them while, at the same time, creating the illusion that they're occuring randomly. Unlike now where the blinks are simply repeating every few seconds.

[SparK_BR]

Not a problem...the chances of my answering them may be pretty remote ;)

The virtual cam will be the best tool to zoom in and out on the character. One added bonus is that, if you're clever with foreground items, you won't have to animate walk cycles. I can probably point you in the right direction with buttons and loading swfs...for example, if your next strip requires the user to click at the top of stairs.
At the moment I don't think I've seen a lot of difference between the two examples....very little user interactivity as yet...just a character blinking.

On the subject of which, there are additional animation techniques you can utilise to make even the blinking appear more realistic. Placing a number of "blinks" onto tweens that comprise prime numbers allows you to loop them while, at the same time, creating the illusion that they're occuring randomly. Unlike now where the blinks are simply repeating every few seconds.

did you try pressing the arrow keys?
man, that's really cool effect!
look's more like an animation than a game
10/10

[glosrfc]

did you try pressing the arrow keys?
man, that's really cool effect!
look's more like an animation than a game
10/10

No...I'm a mouse man :)

I'll go and have another play....and yes, I was hoping it would be more of an animation.

Edit: Taken a peek and I can now see how you've utilised the perpective effect...well done. Just need to place some AS to restrain the character when it reaches the edge of the stage, and maybe upping the framerate slightly. Or you could look at ALT/Space/CTRL + arrow key options to speed up the movement. I'm guessing that the white rectangle at the top of the screen is a controller clip so you'll need to ensure that's well off the stage.

Forget my earlier ramblings about the walk-cycle as you've mastered that easily enough too. Just needs a few minor tweaks...I've mentioned randomising the blinking already, but perhaps adding some glowing effects to the lamps, maybe some bugs/moths flittering around them, etc.

All in all though, it's looking good.