The Idea

[ LiB ]

You might be wondering why there is a sequel to a game that you've never heard of before. One of the first games I created for the DOS operating system was called Matridia . It was a top-view shooter with a cheesy story, but the real challenge was creating it from scratch. I took from the original idea for this chapter's project, and it led to the sequel.

Lucky for you, you won't have to write any video or sound card code because you already have drivers installed for those purposes. Instead, you will be dissecting the Flash version of Matridia , Matridia II ; doing so will give you that extra push, allowing you to head off on your own into the world of Flash.

As for the game's ideas, I decided I wanted a scrolling star field. I wanted to imitate depth by using different levels of alpha. To improve the effect, I also planned on assigning different sizes and speeds to each star.

I wanted a lot of explosions, missiles and bombs , so I decided to create Movie Clips of all of these. They all have their linkage properties set up too.

In Matridia II , you can shoot the bad guys to gain some points when flying through space, but don't let them hit you, because you will lose power. If you make it through all the floating sine control enemies, you will make it to the Bossthis guy loves to spit tons of fire-power, so watch out!

If he kills you, you will see a Game Over screen and you will be taken to the splash screen. If you win, you will be congratulated and then taken to the splash screen.

Check out Figure 17.1 for a shot of the splash screen.

Figure 17.1. The Matridia II splash screen

See Figure 17.2 for a look at the game in action.

Figure 17.2. Matridia II in action

Figure 17.3 shows the player battling the Boss.

Figure 17.3. Save the universe!

[ LiB ]