Recent posts by Josh1billion on Kongregate

Topic: Collaborations / How to Write a Design Brief

Until now, I’ve never seen anyone refer to this type of paper as anything other than a design document.

Good work in writing this. Also, curious newcomers should continue their learning by Googling “game design document” to find even more information (and examples/templates) in regards to writing design docs. ;)

Topic: Kongregate / A website that recommends badges for you

This is pretty cool. Good work!

Topic: Kongregate Labs / Jumptorials: Learn To Make A Platformer

Originally posted by GreenPantsMan:

Actually scrolling is usually done by placing all the onscreen objects into an empty movieclip, and then simply moving the movieclip when the player moves, everything else stays the same

for reference look at the code here

see how in the level creation function a child is added to the stage called “level_container” and then everything else is added to the stage as a child of “level_container”.

Then in the enterframe function the level_container x and y values are set according to where the player is. So when the player moves right he actually moves right, and then the level_container is moved left to compensate for the players movement, shifting everything back

Nice! I like that idea a LOT better, thanks for posting it. :)

Does that method also work with AS 2.0, or just 3.0? I ask because I’ve heard addChild() was added in 3.0.

Topic: Kongregate Labs / Jumptorials: Learn To Make A Platformer

I’d love to see this become a reality.

I’ve already written a platformer in C++ (a somewhat advanced one— it has 6 levels + 3 bosses, custom level support and all that), so I’m by no means a beginner to platformer programming.. but Flash/ActionScript is so unconventional compared to the rest of the game development world that many techniques we commonly employ in large-scale game development just aren’t possible in Flash/ActionScript.

A good example is scrolling. In real-world game programming (C++, Java, etc.), the usual implementation of scrolling involves game objects each having X and Y coordinates that relate to the game world (level), and the programmer can obtain an object’s screen coordinates simply by subtracting the scrolling view X,Y offset from the object’s X,Y coordinates. From my experiences in seeking Flash platformer tutorials (of which I’ve only found shoddy or incomplete ones, hence my desire for Kongregate to take on this task), Flash/ActionScript scrolling seems only possible (or, I should say, “best” possible) via manipulating every game object’s X,Y coordinates whenever the player moves, all-the-while adding and removing objects from the stage when they come into or out of view.

I’m experienced in C++ and Java (and also PHP) game development, but I’m still a beginner when it comes to Flash, so I’d personally love the opportunity to soak up more information from the quality tutorial authors at Kongregate.

Topic: Off-topic / Who has the best breadsticks?

Originally posted by Obeliskos:

Fazoli’s.

WOOOOOOT, good choice.

I’d say Rocky Roccoco’s.

Topic: Kongregate / WE NEED A CHRISTAN CHAT ROOM!

Originally posted by dee4life:

P.P.S. I see they have discovered a new dinosaur fossil that is millions of years old. Must be fake then……………

Hah, great example of trolling.

Topic: Kongregate / WE NEED A CHRISTAN CHAT ROOM!

If the room is moderated to keep out idiots, I support the idea. The chances of that seem low as most of the existing rooms are entirely unmoderated as is.

Topic: Kongregate / IS THIS TRUE....

Originally posted by GHEZ119:

All flash gaming sites have their amazing gamers :/

We can’t really compare because we have different systems and games :/

:/

Topic: Kongregate / WiiBoy (Meat Boy going to WiiWare)

If you want meat boy for Xbox, get N+. Almost the same, probably even better,

Yuck, no way. N+ is so stale..

Topic: General Gaming / Paper Mario Series

The first Paper Mario (on N64) is the best.

Topic: Kongai / Did Kongai Fail?

Did it bring in new users?

It’s the reason I registered on Kongregate, and that was over a year before it was even released (May 2007).

Topic: Kongregate Multiplayer Games / [Zening] Beta Testers Wanted

Sign me up please. :)

Topic: Kongregate / Would this be legal?

When you “bought” the music, you most likely bought the right to have a personal copy to listen to. Similar to how on the back of movie cases, it is said that the purchase of the DVD is granting you a license to view it in your home (and not commercially, such as playing it in a theater and charging people to see it).

To use it in a game or anything else you intend to distribute to other people, you need to purchase the right to distribute it.

Topic: Game Programming / Flash for mobile phones?

Look at Java instead.

J2ME in particular.

Topic: Kongregate / Pick my chatroom!

Games Workshop. Unmoderated chaos. Actually, it mostly amounts to a gathering of pre-adolescents flaming each other. :| And here I was, hoping for an actual workshop to collaborate with fellow developers.

Topic: Off-topic / What is Your Idea of a Perfect World

Somewhere within, though I don’t remember a specific passage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation

Topic: Off-topic / If YOU had a Portal Gun?

Probably something like this: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/10/12/

Topic: Kongregate / 10,000

i think i was here when it only had 7500 games

I think I was here when it had less than 1,000. :P About this time: http://web.archive.org/web/20070526200650/http://www.kongregate.com/

Topic: Game Programming / [AS2] ignoring the IF statement

You have a semicolon at the end of your if statement. Remove the semicolon.

i.e…

if (score >= 500);

becomes..

if (score >= 500)

Topic: Kongai / does anyone have all the kongai cards

I now have all of ’em. Thanks Onimaru!

Topic: Game Programming / Loading + storing an external image as a MovieClip, then displaying it later

Is there then a way to copy data from the stored movieclip in my class into that new movieclip? Essentially using my class as a preloader.

Topic: Game Programming / Loading + storing an external image as a MovieClip, then displaying it later

Aaaaaaaanyone?

Topic: Game Programming / Anti-Cheat Protection (Sticky)

var foo = 1; // set foo to 1
if ( foo != 1 ) { cheatAlert(); } // in case someone cheats after I set foo!

lulz

Note to all: Take this entire thread with a grain of salt.

Topic: Game Programming / Loading + storing an external image as a MovieClip, then displaying it later

To load an image you would first use createEmptyMovieClip and then loadMovie the image into that MovieClip.

Alright.. but how would I display the movieclip on the screen/stage?

Topic: Game Programming / AS2 or AS3?

You shouldn’t be using tutorials to write your code for you anyway.

Since when was that the purpose of a tutorial..?

If after reading the tutorial you’re not capable of writing the same code by yourself without minimal reference to documentation or the language reference, then the tutorial was a waste of your time.

That’s debatable. It’s often a good idea to code with documentation open in the background (and this applies to any language or API).

If you have any OOP background, AS3 will be ridiculously easy.

This is also false^. ActionScript defies many game programming conventions, and you’ll have to find ways to hack in solutions for problems. For example, compare scrolling (in a 2D platformer or otherwise) in ActionScript to the same thing in C++ [with a common API like DirectDraw, Windows GDI, or Allegro].

In regards to the original question:

In my experience, I originally decided to go with ActionScript 3.0, with the main reason being “it’s newer.” But, as you’ll soon find out, there is a relative lack of resources available online compared to AS 2.0. Even being a very experienced C++ and PHP programmer, AS 3.0 was more challenging to learn mostly because of the lack of online resources. If you have a physical copy of an AS 3.0 book and are willing to put your trust in it (that it will cover every single question you may have) and are dedicated enough to plow through the entire thing, maybe that’s a better choice. But personally, I’ve decided to dabble a bit in AS 2.0 before continuing into 3.0.