Innovation through Creation - Flash | PHP | HTML | XML | CSS | SQL - By Eliott Robson

How php works

May07
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott

When someone starts learning web development they usually start with HTML and possibly CSS. They usually get stuck here and most do not even venture into server side scripting like php.

It is important to know the different between HTML and php in that when someone writes HTML and they upload it in the form of a web page. When someone views (downloads) that page, they download all the code and it is decoded by the web browser. In php, you never see the code the author wrote, instead – only the output. In a php file it is first processed by the server to display the output to the client and in turn produces HTML. Therefore, the user views plain HTML where the server has already sorted the Php.

The main aim of Php is to be able to provide dynamic webpages. So, either based on a time, form result or otherwise. For example, a search box. You could have a database full of blog posts. If someone searched your site then you would expect the site to search for any matching results and ONLY display those. HTML could do that with javascript you say, but downloading a HTML page with every blog post in it (just not displayed) can take a while. And database queries cannot be run on the computer. Mainly because they don’t exist there.

Imagine trying to update a large website, moving every bit of code from page 1 to 2, from 2 to 3, from 3 to 4 and so on just to only show 10 per page. Php does this quite easily. It finds put which page you are on (probably by parameter) and then searches the database for the blog posts 20-30. Just imagine trying to download a HTML file with 300 posts in it.

Posted in Php, Tutorials - Tagged ,

Originality is key

May05
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott

New, original, different…

Let’s play a game,

1. Pick a game, any game
2. Is it popular?
3. If not head back to 1
4. What is good about it?
5. Is this “idea” original?
6. If not head back to 1
7. Now, why is it good?.
8. So, why is originality good?

Hopefully, you’ve learnt a lot from that little game.
I made a few implications which I feel to be true, everyone has their own ideas…

1. Unpopular games aren’t original
2. Unoriginal games aren’t popular
3. Original games are generally better
4. If you want to make a game, make it original

And that’s the key, original (FUNCTIONAL) games are usually better. Something people haven’t seen before means they can’t already know that they shouldn’t play it. Therefore they will, and therefore your game will become more popular.

Posted in Ramblings, Tutorials - Tagged ,

Welcome to MAMP

May03
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott

Hmmm

So, you want to see WordPress without hosting a server online, you want to develop your software before it is visible or you just want to know what I am on about…

Either way, it’s MAMP, the little tool to run your website locally.

You can grab yourself a free copy here…, but there is a paid version too.

So, what does it do?

Basically, if you need to develop a PHP site, and you’re on a Mac… You will find it useful, instead of editing live just edit and test it locally. MAMP = test.

Try opening a PHP file in your browser (local), nothing. The servers are ‘down’. MAMP literally just resembles having a web server to make everyone’s life easy.

Posted in Php, Ramblings - Tagged , ,

Shaking Objects

May01
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott

So, feeling shakey?

Heres something interesting for you:

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onClipEvent(enterFrame){
	function shake(){
		shakex = random(10)-5
		shakey = random(10)-5
		shakex *= 0.3
		shakey *= 0.3
		if (shakex<1 && shakey<1){
			_x = 0
			_y = 0
		}
	}
	setInterval(shake, 2000)
	_x -= shakex
	_y -= shakey
}

Obviously change the values to represent the output you are requesting.

Posted in Actionscript, Flash, Tutorials - Tagged ,

The 4 steps to a sponsorship

Apr29
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott

Now, remember my creating a game guide,

Well here’s my 4 steps to getting a sponsorship…

  1. Finish

    2. Actually finish a game before you put it up for sponsorship as an unfinished game could distract sponsors and wish to find a game to publish now

  2. Test

    3. Test it thoroughly, there’s nothing worse than a game full of bugs which not only annoy the players but will not get you a sponsorship

  3. Promote

    4. Don’t just stick it on a sponsorship hope earning website, you have to personally email the game companies

  4. Trust

    5. Trust your team members to help with the promotion. Trust feedback from testers, then trust the sponsor-shippers. If they think their logo looks good one place, go aged with it. Too much hastle and you wont earn a thing…

Posted in Ramblings, Tutorials - Tagged

The 6 steps to creating a game

Apr27
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott

How to make a game

  1. Idea

    2. You need a fresh new idea, change something. You want to make a platformer? Give them the ability to alter gravity or change the way it is played. It’s a platformer that acts across multiple dimensions?

  2. The prototypes

    3. But you need to ensure you know what you are trying to achieve, therefore you should make some prototypes to check that it will work and is not going to be another fail flash.

  3. The team

    4. It is unlikely that you will make this game to the best quality on your own. By using the prototypes you should appeal to artists, programmers or musicians based on where your own talents lie.

  4. 4. The testing

    5. Once your team are together it’s important to review what you are doing. In Alpha (development) you should be getting your team to review each other. The music, the code or the art. Once in Beta (testing) you should collect reviews and enhance it that way. Then in Gamma (published) you might want to set up a forum for bug reports.

  5. The rewards

    6. Before Gamma you might want to appeal for a sponsorship so you can reward yourself and the team members for the hard work.

  6. Repeat

    7. Now, go make a game, then do it again, and again, and again, and again! If you dare…

Posted in Flash, Ramblings, Review, Tutorials - Tagged

AS3 Creating new MovieClips

Apr25
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott

Because you will probably, at sometime, want to…

The old code for creating a movieclip (and drawing) was as follows:

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//AS2
this.createEmptyMovieClip("Object", this.getNextHighestDepth())
Object.beginFill(0xFF0000)
Object.moveTo(0, 0)
Object.lineTo(100, 0)
Object.lineTo(100, 100)
Object.lineTo(0, 100)
Object.lineTo(0, 0)
Object.endFill()
Object._x = 100
Object._y = 50

The previous code and the following do the same thing, look at their differences.

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//AS3
var Object:MovieClip = new MovieClip()
Object.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000)
Object.graphics.drawRect(0, 0, 100, 100)
Object.graphics.endFill()
Object.x = 100
Object.y = 50
addChild(mc)

We firstly see function changes in the creation of the MovieClip. Then we see the lineTo and moveTo functions not used, instead a rectangle draw function is called. Also, instead of simply drawing into the MovieClip, it is drawn into the graphics property. Please note, the MovieClip isn’t actually added to the stage until the addChild function is called.

Posted in Actionscript, Flash, Tutorials - Tagged , , ,

My Favourites

Apr23
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott

The best – in my eyes

Over the last year I have posted some interesting things, and so I come to show you my favourites so far:

#1) http://www.stormation.info/2010/08/getting-a-2d-image-to-look-at-the-mouse/

#2) http://www.stormation.info/2010/12/3d-in-flash-part-3/

#3) http://www.stormation.info/2011/03/naughts-and-crosses-artificial-intelligence-part-7/

#4) http://www.stormation.info/2011/02/creation-of-a-portfolio-using-sliding-boxes/

#5) http://www.stormation.info/2010/12/3d-in-flash-part-4/

Posted in Ramblings, Review - Tagged

AS3 Greyscale Filter

Apr21
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott
This entry is part 26 of 25 in the series Effects And Filters Tutorial

Grey is gooooood

Anyway, to begin we need something to turn grey So go ahead and draw something, import something or generally just make something into a movie-clip within the AS3 flash document. Why not instance name it as “Object” or something…

Now, the fun bit:

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import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
 
Object.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER, makeGreyscale)
Object.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OUT, makeColour)

So, when the Object movie-clip is rolled over with the mouse it triggers the makeGreyscale function and upon roll out the makeColour function is called.

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function makeGreyscale(evt:MouseEvent){
	greyscale(Object)
}
function makeColour(evt:MouseEvent){
	colour(Object)
}

Here we simply pass into the function the arguments from the listener then call two more functions which will actually do the work.

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function greyscale(Object:MovieClip){
	var b:Number = 1 / 3;
	var c:Number = 1 - (b * 2);
	var matrix:Array = [c, b, b, 0, 0,
		b, c, b, 0, 0,
		b, b, c, 0, 0,
		0, 0, 0, 1, 0];
	var matrixFilter:ColorMatrixFilter = new ColorMatrixFilter(matrix);
	Object.filters = [matrixFilter];
}
function colour(Object:MovieClip){
	Object.filters = [];
}

And all in all you get:

Get Adobe Flash player
Posted in Actionscript, Flash, Tutorials - Tagged , ,

Attaching movieclips

Apr19
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Eliott

Not attachMovieClip() anymore

Because in AS3 you don’t assign linkage – it’s all in the class now:

If I had a MovieClip named Object1 in my library then I would right click it and assign it the usual. Then make a class in the same directory with that name (Object1.as) and add some placeholders. I mean that if you had “Object1Subobject1″ in your Object1 MovieClip, in your class you would declare the “public var Object1Subobject1:MovieClip.”

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//Create placeholder
var ObjectPlaceholder:MovieClip = new Object1;
 
//Attach placeholders
this.addChild(ObjectPlaceholder);
 
//Access the new movieclip
ObjectPlaceholder.Object1Subobject1.x = 50;
Posted in Actionscript, Flash, Tutorials - Tagged ,
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