Into Flash

Now that I've got all my art assets together, I'm keen to get them into Flash with some code to test how it will sit in the frame. I also plan to change my layout as I go to make it a more natural game. It will improve the feeling of exploration if I build it using my separate platforms and assets.

This is how it sits at the moment. The black boxes that are present will be removed and the edges of the platforms cleaned up but I like the way it looks so far. This is the sort of view that I'd like to use for the game. It allows the user to see enough of the platform that they know where to go but not enough that it makes sense. This is mainly taken from my research into level design from Devmag. http://devmag.org.za/2011/01/18/11-tips-for-making-a-fun-platformer/

I think that the character scaling works well and the background gradient helps to emote a sense of mystery. It also looks like a nighttime scene which was my initial goal. It will be easy to add a bright blue filter over the top that can be implemented through code to change the day and night. I've started to animate the character. I think that this is important in effecting the mood of the game. The way the character runs determines what kind of feeling is emoted as well as what his animations are like. The other animation I've been doing is a spell animation which can trigger the change from night to day.

character mid spell standing on platform

An initial problem I have realised is that I'm struggling to fit the whole environment into my flash window and cant work out how to extend it. I posted in the years facebook group for answers but haven't had any solutions as of yet.

This a has made me realised that I may have to reconsider my level layout as it wont fit very well in the frame. I tried reducing the overall scale of the game but it looses some quality. I'm happy to rethink the design though as it didn't flow very well when I was testing it out. I also struggled get a way make the character appear as if they aren't jumping through the tree. Because it's coded to make the background move instead of the character, the layers are coded in and I'm struggling to get it to work so the re-think could be beneficial.