Introduction - Max

[MaxTheDark]

Hi everyone.

The main reason why I'm posting this is because I can't directly message the moderators (for some fucking reason).

I've found this forum a while ago, a lot of games here are masterpieces. But I can't say I get the feel of the forum, so I'd like to enlighten myself a bit.

What I am is a beginner flash coder and I'm working on 4 projects now:
1. Prostitute simulator (+18)
Simulates the life of a woman down on her luck who has to resort to prostitution to survive. Side scroller
2. Town citizen simulator
Not pornographic project and only as a prototype. Currently working on top-down view procedural generation
3. Blacksmith game
Not a pornographic project, a rhythm game where player has to strike sword he's forging at the right time
4. Another porn game
The collaboration is barely starting now, prefer not to disclose too much. It will involve running from rape monsters.

My previous successes are purely private projects, some for university, some animations from years ago.

I'm using Flash 8 Professional (Macromedia FTW) and coding in AS2 (shut up! It's fine, all right?). Here are the things I would like to know:
1. How to change signature? Can't see the option, maybe I am going blind after all.
2. Can I upload SWFs (and FLAs I guess) directly to the board?
3. If I upload projects here, does that mean I grant you all the rights to the content? I'm never clear on copyright bullshit, I focus on the art side of art.

As you may have noticed, I do this for fun, not for results, but I sincerely hope one day other people will get a chance to enjoy my work.

Also, while I can't say I care much, I can't help but wonder how does the 'any digital art where the participants are stated as below 18 years old are disallowed on the forums' part of the rules go with this?



[EDIT]

Few things to point out. I like games with a lot of interaction and well made art. Here is what I dislike:
1. Novel games where characters' conversations are presented with lines of text dump over someone's picture. I hate when the characters shake and all that, but can't even move their mouths. Same for sex animations - if your animation is just shaking around an image, your sex scenes suck.
2. Overly elaborate mechanics. I don't mind a complex game where you need to work a while before seeing sum tits. But if I need to go through 20 pages of FAQ and a 2 weeks long correspondence course just to know how to do anything, your game sucks.
3. Contrived bullshit reasons for stopping me having fun. Games where you can only talk to someone x amount of time, then wait till next day to talk to them.
4. Manga and anime. I generally don't mind the artstyle, but it's frequently used to excuse incredibly simple and boring animations. Most of the time I see anime characters I skip the game because I know it's gonna be some stupid graphic novel written by an overambitious idiot who doesn't know what human conversations look like.
5. Meet'N'Fuck logo. The moment I see it, I close down whatever I was playing. I'm not wasting time on stupid demos with shitty graphics.

I am very strict and vocal about what I dislike in games, but keep in mind, I don't want to insult anyone or tell anyone to give up on their work. I have specific tastes and preferences, but I always hope that my - harsh - criticism will help someone design better games.

[x3Darkie]

Welcome to the forums! We also have a unofficial "official" Discord channel where quite a couple of us (including a couple moderators from this forum) are active on it. If you need a quick reply, that's probably the fastest way to get one.

Now as for your questions:
1. You can change your signature after you've at least made 10 posts.
2. You can upload SWFs and people can play them directly from the forums, not sure about FLAs.
3. No. You alone (/however you do your copyrights) own whatever you created. Additional forum rules are located here.

And I have no idea about the project you linked. You'll probably get a better answer from a moderator.

[maximilianos]

The same goes for sending messages, you need atleast 10 posts (accepted by mods). The restrictions are there to stop bots from making accounts and pm:ing everyone och posting walls of ads everywhere.

/another max

[MaxTheDark]

Welcome to the forums! We also have a unofficial "official" Discord channel where quite a couple of us are active on it. If you need a quick reply, that's probably the fastest way to get one.

Cool, can I get action script tips and advice there?

Now as for your questions:
1. You can change your signature after you've at least made 10 posts.

Okay... Thanks...

2. You can upload SWFs and people can play them directly from the forums, not sure about FLAs.
3. No. You alone (/however you do your copyrights) own whatever you created. Additional forum rules are located here.

Awesome. Thanks!

And I have no idea about the project you linked. You'll probably get a better answer from a moderator.

One of the moderators was active in that thread. As I said, not a problem for me, just curious how it happened.

The same goes for sending messages, you need atleast 10 posts (accepted by mods). The restrictions are there to stop bots from making accounts and pm:ing everyone och posting walls of ads everywhere.

/another max

Yeah, I get the point. Been on a couple of forums myself (mostly ended up getting banned...), it's just a little curious that you can't even contact administration without 10 posts. While the system makes sense, it kinda promotes spamming to get out of the 10 posts thing. But I'm sure they know what they're doing.

Heh Max is not actually my real name, but everyone from friends, through girlfriend, to medical specialists helping with my head, to actual managers when I had jobs called me Max. Some tried to annoy me (because people are shit) by repeatedly saying 'Maximilian' for no reason (brits are weird) so I started telling everyone it actually stands for Maxwell. (was gonna go with Maxim, the name of my fav beer, but changed my mind). I started going by 'Max' about 15 years ago and it's based on Max Payne.

[x3Darkie]

I've neglected to mentioned a couple mods are also on the discord channel, so I edited my original post. But here's another mention in case you missed it.

I don't know if anyone knows action script/flash are active on the discord channel (Zeus may, but I don't think he's active on it for a couple months now), but one of us know C# and I personally can provide another eye/critique for art (as an artist) or general game design stuff. I mean, no harm in checking it out. There's no pressure if you don't wanna be in the channel anymore either, so yeah.

WE NEED MORE FRESH BLOOD

[TheWrongHands]

hello, welcome to the forum. i wouldn't exactly call my self and expert on flash but i might be able to answer some programing questions you have. i also didn't know about the discord, so i guess i'll be joining it.

[MaxTheDark]

I've neglected to mentioned a couple mods are also on the discord channel, so I edited my original post. But here's another mention in case you missed it.

I don't know if anyone knows action script/flash are active on the discord channel (Zeus may, but I don't think he's active on it for a couple months now), but one of us know C# and I personally can provide another eye/critique for art (as an artist) or general game design stuff. I mean, no harm in checking it out. There's no pressure if you don't wanna be in the channel anymore either, so yeah.

WE NEED MORE FRESH BLOOD

I can do collisions, arrays to a degree, generally nothing too fancy, but workable into a pleasant game. My art skills... I used to think I'm sorta good, but over time it kinda got reduced... I've checked your blogspot, your art looks cool

hello, welcome to the forum. i wouldn't exactly call my self and expert on flash but i might be able to answer some programing questions you have. i also didn't know about the discord, so i guess i'll be joining it.

Cool, biggest problem I have now is how to make a hitscan weapon in flash. Any suggestions?

[TheWrongHands]

Cool, biggest problem I have now is how to make a hitscan weapon in flash. Any suggestions?

that's more of a physics question, but what you want to look into is ray casting.
this looks like it might be helpful, although it's not written in flash: https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Ray-casting_algorithm

[MaxTheDark]

Cool, biggest problem I have now is how to make a hitscan weapon in flash. Any suggestions?

that's more of a physics question, but what you want to look into is ray casting.
this looks like it might be helpful, although it's not written in flash: https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Ray-casting_algorithm

Thanks, not entirely sure how to apply it from this example tho. Will have to think of something. Which sucks, cuz I'm not very good at thinking

[TheWrongHands]

well how hit scan weapons work is you pull the trigger and the game will do a ray cast test from the gun (or your camera) in the direction you're facing. if the ray cast hits something then that is the object you're shooting.

[MaxTheDark]

well how hit scan weapons work is you pull the trigger and the game will do a ray cast test from the gun (or your camera) in the direction you're facing. if the ray cast hits something then that is the object you're shooting.

Well yeah, I get the principle, just don't know how to apply it. The only thing I can think of is to create a line object, place it on the map at the right angle and calculate collisions to see who is getting the bullet first.

[TheWrongHands]

i don't know what you mean by line object and without seeing your code i can't really go into specifics, but a ray cast test is usually a function you run and not an object in the world.

[MaxTheDark]

i don't know what you mean by line object and without seeing your code i can't really go into specifics, but a ray cast test is usually a function you run and not an object in the world.

Essentially draw a projectile stretching from character to outside the screen, an object in the shape of a straight line, then calculate what it collides with, then calculate which is closest. Not the most elegant solution, I know. I heard about ray casting before, wondering if the code for it would be similar to my code for enemies following player from a different project:

Code: Select All Code

         // Calculate Distance
         distanceX = _root.StageMap.player._x - _x;
         distanceY = _root.StageMap.player._y - _y;

         //Pitagoras
         distanceTotal = Math.sqrt(distanceX * distanceX + distanceY * distanceY);

         //Calculate Movement
         moveDistanceX = turnRate * distanceX / distanceTotal;
         moveDistanceY = turnRate * distanceY / distanceTotal;

         //Increase Speed
         moveX += moveDistanceX;
         moveY += moveDistanceY;

         //Total Move Distance
         totalMove = Math.sqrt(moveX * moveX + moveY * moveY);

         //Easing
         moveX = speed * moveX / totalMove;
         moveY = speed * moveY / totalMove;

         //Move!
         moveFollow(moveX,  moveY);

         //...and rotate
         _rotation = (Math.atan2(moveY, moveX) * radians) + 90;


[maximilianos]

Using my name to annoy people (Heresy!)... In my case no one ever bothers to say or write my entire name -.-' (I usually end up as max/maxi)

[TheWrongHands]

i don't know what you mean by line object and without seeing your code i can't really go into specifics, but a ray cast test is usually a function you run and not an object in the world.

Essentially draw a projectile stretching from character to outside the screen, an object in the shape of a straight line, then calculate what it collides with, then calculate which is closest. Not the most elegant solution, I know. I heard about ray casting before, wondering if the code for it would be similar to my code for enemies following player from a different project:

no, a ray cast takes a ray (which is made up of a position vector, direction vector, and distance) and then checks all objects that it could be hitting to see if it hits them using math. now there are a number of methods for testing which objects your ray is hitting but a good method would be to create an axis-aligned bounding box for your ray and for all your objects and then make a list of every object's bb that collides with your ray's bb. you then take that list and check every object in it to see if your ray actually passes though their bb and then add them to a new list. you'd then go though every object of that list and compare the ray to every pixel of that object to see if it goes though and if it does then you'd have a 3rd list that not only stores the object but the closest pixel that is hit. your function would then return that 3rd list.

[MaxTheDark]

i don't know what you mean by line object and without seeing your code i can't really go into specifics, but a ray cast test is usually a function you run and not an object in the world.

Essentially draw a projectile stretching from character to outside the screen, an object in the shape of a straight line, then calculate what it collides with, then calculate which is closest. Not the most elegant solution, I know. I heard about ray casting before, wondering if the code for it would be similar to my code for enemies following player from a different project:

no, a ray cast takes a ray (which is made up of a position vector, direction vector, and distance) and then checks all objects that it could be hitting to see if it hits them using math. now there are a number of methods for testing which objects your ray is hitting but a good method would be to create an axis-aligned bounding box for your ray and for all your objects and then make a list of every object's bb that collides with your ray's bb. you then take that list and check every object in it to see if your ray actually passes though their bb and then add them to a new list. you'd then go though every object of that list and compare the ray to every pixel of that object to see if it goes though and if it does then you'd have a 3rd list that not only stores the object but the closest pixel that is hit. your function would then return that 3rd list.

I see your point. I don't know how to draw said vector in AS2 tho, hence using object to act as one. The rest seems right, but will be a while before I know what I need.

Using my name to annoy people (Heresy!)... In my case no one ever bothers to say or write my entire name -.-' (I usually end up as max/maxi)

I tell you, Brits are fucking retarded. They'd say your name for no reason other than grabbing your attention without actually having anything to tell you. Happened with my real name, which pissed me off additionally because they couldn't even fucking pronounce it properly.

[TheWrongHands]

I see your point. I don't know how to draw said vector in AS2 tho, hence using object to act as one. The rest seems right, but will be a while before I know what I need.

again i'd need to see your code to give you specifics, but i think this might do it

endPoint = startPoint + (normalizedDirection * distance)

root.moveTo(startPoint.x, startPoint.y);
root.lineTo(endPoint.x, endPoint.y);

[MendlsIcons]

Now as for your questions:
1. You can change your signature after you've at least made 10 posts.
2. You can upload SWFs and people can play them directly from the forums, not sure about FLAs.
3. No. You alone (/however you do your copyrights) own whatever you created. Additional forum rules are located here.

Agh, thanks for that. Spent ages searching wildly for the uh, "change signature" option.

[berserkerhorn]

GREAT, NOW THERE'S TWO OF YOU I HAVE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN!

*insert temper tantrum rant here*

[MaxTheDark]

GREAT, NOW THERE'S TWO OF YOU I HAVE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN!

*insert temper tantrum rant here*

If you mean two Maxes (me and maximilianos) then please know my 'Max' stands for Maxwell (it actually doesn't - I was sick of people extending it to Maximilian to annoy me so I started telling them it's actually for Maxwell. Why? Because I'm Max and I'm well, thank you very much )

I see your point. I don't know how to draw said vector in AS2 tho, hence using object to act as one. The rest seems right, but will be a while before I know what I need.

again i'd need to see your code to give you specifics, but i think this might do it

endPoint = startPoint + (normalizedDirection * distance)

root.moveTo(startPoint.x, startPoint.y);
root.lineTo(endPoint.x, endPoint.y);

I actually found a solution that might be better than that. I'm using for() loop to move an object, check for collisions, if none repeat. That way I can make the distance moved as little as one pixel and still have it all performed in a single frame. Then again, might be a bit tricky when there's multiple enemies...