Pato Shooter

My New Game

This is the link to Project one.  The process I used to upload my .swf file onto blogger has recently changed due to some changes with the previous file hosting program that I was using.  Now, I put my .swf files onto my syr.edu hosting site.  I am currently attempting to resize and crop the game to a specific size, but that will take some effort in the program Dreamweaver, which I am yet to understand thoroughly.  My final project for project one is called Pato Shooter.  This game was an introduction into action scripting for me.  I am not familiar with the system nor its interface and through this project I am becoming more familiar with the language at hand.  This project is very simple.  You shoot what is in front of you and proceed and advance onto other levels.  It does not get any simpler than that.  

Thoughts on Virtual Jihadi

One thing I've learned in life is to "pick your battles" and this situation between the government of Troy and Wafaa Bilal reinforces that certain beliefs on political, economical, and social topics are worth fighting for. I understand that the subject matter at hand is a very touchy subject for thousands and thousands of Americans. Millions of people internationally have been affected by the war in Iraq. It is obvious that people (AKA government of Troy) focus more commonly on the negative aspects of political reality because in the realm of politics peoples emotions are easily affected.  I think it is necessary to stir the pool of emotions because that is going to be the stepping blocks needed to make a change in today's social structures. From my perspective the government of Troy is attempting to be the peacemaker in a sense. Wafaa Bilal's artistic approach focuses on touchy content; the War, President Bush, mis-construed stereotypes, and what USA's reason is for being in Iraq. These topics have been up for debate and criticized since the beginning of the war and the people that are sick and tired of everything are primary components that are actively engaged in making a change in today's world. These people are the protesting organizer's and motivators that are going to produce a "ripple effect" that will eventually change and alter you and me to become more active. Margaret Mead said, "Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have."  Overall, I think that this is an unfortunate situation that people don't want to have to deal with and the government of Troy is handling it poorly.  At the same time Virtual Jihadi is gaining more media coverage online and across television.  If I were to balance out the pros and cons on this situation I would make an assumption and say that through all the negative emotions that are being affected, Virtual Jihadi, Wafaa Bilal, and the local community will come out stronger and smarter in the end.  This is just the beginning and the first droplet in the pool of water. 

Want More Information on the topic:

http://www.wafaabilal.com/about.html

http://www.wafaabilal.com/media.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/TroyisFree

Final Sprite Character's

The link below directs you to my final Sprite Character in ACTION! When you arrive at this web page, you need to FIRST, click the character with your mouse and then if you hit your...

"Left" arrow
"Right" arrow
"Up" arrow
"Down" arrow
"Space Bar"

...the Sprite will perform a variety of movements that is controlled by the viewer. My character was created using basic flash techniques. There are numerous movie clips with-in movie clips and that is how I was able to create arm and leg movements within body functions. It gets a little complex, and thankfully Shaun, our professor, was able to fix my minor errors. I will admit that the "Linkage" function still seems useless to me, but maybe I will utilize its capabilities in the future. Using numerous clips embedded in one another can become quite confusing when creating a character. I made a major error during my duplication process as well, because I duplicated my character but never exited its group, therefore, my alterations affected both the original and duplicate. The action scripting is becoming more familiar to me and easily comprehensible. The "actions" and "label" layers have definitely served there purpose and make more sense too. Overall, I feel pretty comfortable pursuing my Sprite Character, Pato, to the next level of 2D Gaming.

http://imgbolt.com/files/104066/PatoHead2.swf

OR

In the link below, the Sprite Character exhibits a variety of movements in one scene...

http://imgbolt.com/files/104066/AllCharaters.swf

OR

Again, the website that I use to upload my Sprite Characters (.swf files) is:

http://imgbolt.com/upload

More Sprites in Action

I added three different motions in this link(below):

http://imgbolt.com/files/104066/PatoThreesome.swf

This is my Sprite jumping:

http://imgbolt.com/files/104066/PatoJumpimg.swf

Sprite Character Standing

I uploaded my sprite character but I have not set him in motion yet. That is definitely becoming my biggest challenge... and the action scripting is a little confusing too. I created two links to the same place:

http://imgbolt.com/files/104066/PatoHead.swf

OR

The website that I used to upload my character was (set up your own account, it is free):

http://imgbolt.com/upload

Some More Sprite Sheets

I created extra Sprite Sheets and some new characters for some more practice. My idea for a 2D Game is still pretty general and it's becoming more difficult figuring something concrete out. For now, I will proceed on further Sprite developments and maybe create some new sprites.

Eye Blinking

Mouth Moving

Tongue Moving

Exercise 1 - Assignment 1B

This is my Sprite Sheet:
This is a quick clip of my Sprite Character in Action:

The article that we read for this week was very useful in terms of allowing me to organize my plan for a successful project. The layout of the plan was easy to follow and simple to understand. My sprite character, that is shown above, is not going to be used in my upcoming 2D Game. I need more practice with the CS3 Suite so having to remake a character(s) will be great practice for me. The .mov clip that I attached to this blog was exported from Flash CS3, but I couldn't figure out how to upload my .swf version of the animation.

Why Games are Addicting?

I gave up video games back in high school because I noticed myself becoming severely addicted to them and it was beginning to take over my life. I couldn't concentrate in class, during sports, and my sleeping patterns became irregular. All I could think about was my Nintendo 64 Gaming Console sitting at home waiting for me to sweep the controller off the table only to make love to it over and over again. Please don't take that literally! I realized this habit was not healthy and my time spent playing video games was time taken away from other social activities that I could of been partaking in. There were many days where I tried to force myself not to play video games. I couldn't break the addiction. So, I eventually got to a point where I was able to take my console and all of its games and give them to a friend. They were pretty excited to receive a free Nintendo 64 and numerous games. I went through a couple of days of remorse and ventured outside for a nice long run to take my mind off of my guilt. It was tough, but I managed to pull through. Breaking a behavioral addiction is a difficult thing for young adolescent to go through by themselves. Especially with an ever growing, socially evolving, piece of technology like video games. I recently raised some questions (below) and began doing some research about "Game Addiction." My results were a little surprising... Why are video games so addicting? What chemicals do they stimulate in the body to satisfy the human mind? Why can't people cut video games out of their daily routines? One guy said, " B/c it is so fun it is like u berly sarted to play at 1:00 and u stop at 3:13 but it fills like u just played for 30 mn" (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_video_games_so_addicting). I was able to answer these questions from an article that I obtained from an online source to help me understand why people love video games so much?

SOURCE:
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060228/clark_01.shtml

ABSTRACT:
"... so far research has simply suggested that at most, people are becoming addicted to games, not that games themselves are actually responsible for addicting people. Some people do seem to be addicted, yet games may not be the real culprit. Nevertheless, research that directly examines whether certain games are addictive should not be shunned, it should be welcomed. There are two reasons for this, neither of which is completely obvious. First, it is entirely possible that games are in no way addictive... Addiction is complicated. To revisit the introduction's caveat: this article isn't intended to transform you into a trained clinician. Instead, it's meant to shed some light on the very basics of addiction. It also shows why some of the research deserves to be viewed with a critical eye. Some people do have problems with games; that's getting harder to discount. What we can do, as game creators, is understand that a problem exists, and try to understand research advances as they occur."

Only YOU can break the Addiction!

Exercise 1 - Assignment 1A

So, I was searching through Youtube and I came across a clip of David Hasselhoff drunk out of his mind and so I decided to make a portrait resembling that "tragic" moment in his life... if that is what you call it. These are the original images that I choose to use in this piece:

Don't Ask...

Here are the two images that I vectorized:


And this is my final product:

And for your enjoyment I attached the Youtube clip of David Hasselhoff:

Demystified

So, I've read the "Demystified" article and thought of some great project ideas, but I'm really interested in learning what Flash is capable of doing. This article touches on a few pros and cons, which helped me understand its possibilities. Using the knowledge gained from this article I can now take over the world... JK! I do think it's important to make yourself aware of the terms provided in the article. I also plan on using them in my vocabulary and in conversations with other 2D/3D gamers. There were a couple of phrases that I did not understand, but I am hoping that this class allows me to comprehend those particular terms. I think Flash is a great program that I plan on utilizing in my future for either web building or plain graphics.

Yeah for RPG Games!

My Last Semester

That is correct! It is finally my last semester here at Syracuse University. Do I feel satisfied? Excited? Ready to embrace the "Real World?" Not really... I am going to really miss every memory, each extra curricular activity, and all the people that I met here at SU! I really wish I had another year to go too. This school, and particularly the VPA college, offered so many opportunities for me. I've been challenged to think a certain way and my art skills (aesthetics) have tremendously advanced over the course of three years. Even though the weather is sometimes "poopy," the people are always shining.

Anyways, I've never blogged before so I am going to end this paragraph with a video that I made. Enjoy: