Chapter 25. Storyboarding to Finished Project


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Any successful project needs project management, artist talent, programming skills, and quality control. Although it is technically possible for one person to fill all four roles, you might not be able to complete some projects in a reasonable amount of time this way. In addition, it helps to have diverse perspectives involved in the creation of a complex project. In large firms, you might find more than one person filling each of the four roles.

This chapter explains the entire production process for a complex Flash project. The example that you will follow is a ballistics game that takes advantage of Flash 5's new ActionScript functionality, which makes the program very adept at imitating laws of physics. When we created this tank game at Fig Leaf Software, we needed only one person for each of the roles. It is important to realize that this chapter presents a simplified explanation of the process. Rather than explaining every single step, as in other chapters, this chapter discusses the techniques involved in more general terms. Although we explain the steps in logical sections, the actual process involved a significant amount of trial and error.

In this chapter, you will learn about these topics:

  • Rotating objects. To rotate an object, you need to know the difference between its current _rotation value and the new _rotation value, as well as the direction. This requires shifting the result of their comparison to a range of 0 ° “360 °.

  • Creating game controls. By embedding a control's indicator inside a movie clip, it can be rotated based on the mouse's position. Inside the indicator movie clip, an invisible button over the end of the control's indicator calculates the angle relative to the beginning of the indicator using arctangent.

  • Ballistics animation. The initial x and y position of the bomb is based on the tank's location, and the z (height) is set to 1 to mean 100% of the symbol's size . The initial xSpeed, ySpeed, and zSpeed values are set based on the _rotation property of the three controls. An onClipEvent(enterFrame) updates the x, y, and z variables based on the xSpeed, ySpeed, and zSpeed variables. It also updates those variables based on gravity, as well as wind speed and direction. Based on the zSpeed, the playhead is moved inside the bomb movie clip to show whether the bomb is going upward, downward, or across.

  • Scaling a graphic dynamically to display height. Because the perspective in this game is from above looking down, scaling the movie clip makes it appear higher or lower.

  • Applying sounds to events. One sound clip is played every 30 seconds. Others are played when a tank is moved, fired , or exploded, or when sand or water is hit. A sound toggle button gives the players a break from all sounds except the button itself.

All the cool techniques in the world won't guarantee a project's success. You need to have a direction from the beginning and stick to it. To transform your ideas into something more concrete, you need a storyboard.



Inside Flash
Inside Flash MX (2nd Edition) (Inside (New Riders))
ISBN: 0735712549
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 257
Authors: Jody Keating

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