Wonderputt, custom engine or reused one - actionscript-3

like many others i guess, i came across the wonderful game of "wonderputt" (http://www.dampgnat.com/wonderputt)
I was wondering if anyone knows how it was produced.
Did they use an engine like box2d or rolled their own?
Did they use the Stage3D Feature or pre-render the grafix?
Any Infos greatly appreciated, thanks!

You can find a lot of info on how Wonderputt was developed in the own author's Development Diary. Apparently they used a custom framework built for another of their games, Adverputt.
More useful info can be found in these interviews:
http://truepcgaming.com/2011/09/12/delightfully-addicting-mini-golf-wonderputt-interview/
http://mochiland.com/articles/flash-game-friday-winner-wonderputt
Hope this helps!

Related

Create Series of Families On a Selected Path In Revit Using Dynamo

I’ve started exploring dynamo for a while now and quite enjoying its power. I’ve started work on a project, I’m wondering if someone would like to share their expert views on how do I create series of families from one starting point to other. See the following image to understand it visually. I’m sure we can achieve such functionality via Dynamo. Appreciate any help. Thank you.
Here is a discussion of using a dynamic model updater DMU in conjunction with the Idling event to achieve a couple of complex synchronisation tasks, including a video of almost exactly what you are asking for: Updater Queues Multi-Transaction Operation for Idling.

Does anyone have a good web audio api drum machine tutorial?

I want to get a better understanding of web audio api, and I would like to build something like this http://stuartmemo.com/beat-petite but I can't really find any good starting points. There are plenty of great drum machines online, but I don't really know where to begin! Any help in finding one would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
I wrote an article on scheduling (used for sequencing and drum beats) - http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/audio/scheduling/. Read that, then just start pulling apart the code to a drum machine like Stuart's.
You can use this library which I have written : https://github.com/sebpiq/WAAClock
It lets you schedule things precisely and easily and also provides useful functionalities such as : cancel event, change tempo, ... everything necessary for a drum machine. There is actually a demo of building a very simple drum machine with WAAClock there : https://github.com/sebpiq/WAAClock/tree/master/demos

Action script tutorial?

Hi I am a Student in Norway looking for a good general tutorial on Action Script and how to use it,and what it's for.
I have been looking around google for a while and I can't seem to find any good or "simple" way to learn or even understand how it works.
sites i've been too:
(http://www.actionscript.org/resources/categories/Tutorials/)
(http://www.flashandmath.com/)
(http://tutorials.flashmymind.com/)
(http://tutorialoutpost.com/tutorials/flash/actionscript)
(http://www.tutorialguide.net/programming/actionscript/)
(http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/actionscript/)
(http://www.kirupa.com/developer/flash/index.htm)
(http://www.freeprogrammingresources.com/actionscript.html)
(http://www.adobe.com/devnet/actionscript.html)
So what do I want to know ?
Basic scripting to advanced scripting.
Where it's best to use action script. (best functions)
A simple yet efficient explenation that alot of people might understand.(if possible)
So if there is any way you guys might be able to help me with this little problem of mine I would be forever in your debt.
and thanks in advance for any info that might come my way, even if it helps me or not.
Check out this too: http://www.gotoandlearn.com/. It has some good free tutorials, but if I remember correctly, you need to pay for the full series!..
And the best approach to learn something is to read the documentation while working on something! Try create a game/small site/interactive animation/etc and when you are stuck, search the answer or ask for help!
ActionScript is similar to Java and C++ but different. It runs on the Flash Player. It is generally used for applications ranging from online games to video players to Rich Internet Applications.
Flash can be developed from 2 perspectives:
Designer's perspective: This approach consists of drawing objects, shapes etc on a stage like you do in an image editing software, and then animating / adding actions to the drawn objects. You develop this in Flash Professional (Link here)
Developer's perspective: This approach consists of developing using the Flex framework, from an IDE (Flash Builder)
Check these out. I learnt it by looking at various tutorials on the net (do a Google search, you'll find plenty), so you can learn from the net as you go.
I often recommend Colin Moock's Lost Actionscript Week End video tutorials , it's an excellent resource if you want to grasp the general concept behind AS3 and leaves you with enough understanding so that you're able to tackle books on Object Oriented programming, AS3 language reference, basically tools that you will eventually need when you get deeper into the subject.
http://tv.adobe.com/show/colin-moocks-lost-actionscript-weekend
Why don´t you try the official Google Action Script documentation? You can find it at https://developers.google.com/apps-script/ . I fount it very useful and easy to understand... It is very well organized and there are many examples with diverse grade of complexity. For example: you have there 5-minutes overview for your first Google Action Scrpipt https://developers.google.com/apps-script/overview#what_can_apps_script_do
And if you are looking for a more complex example, you can go forward to end-to-end examples: https://developers.google.com/apps-script/articles/bracket_maker
That is my first reference point with Google Action Script...

This Question about how do i learn from basic As3 to advanced as3

This Question about how do i learn from basic As3 to advanced as3 , as i want to become professional in as3.And work as freelancer.
can anybody guide me how to reach to the peak of Action-Script-3.
This question seems to be really funny to many but this is the most basic question in my mind
1) which way to go.
2) what steps i should follow.
3) how should i do my first project professionally.
4) how do i become excellent in as3
I believe actionscript 3.0 and Flash in general allows you work on a wide variety of projects:
from interactive rich media web interfaces, to interactive video, animation, games, desktop applications, rich internet applications, physical installations, creative and abstract pieces, etc.
It's up to you what you want to do, but I'm guessing if you start with something that motivates you, something that you enjoy working on and learning, it's a sure way forward
and it will make the boring bits more fun, and that's what it should be about: FUN!
It doesn't matter if it's actionscript or something else you want to learn, enjoy learning/challenging yourself and you'll get there faster than you think.
Answer 1.):
With regards to actionscript, based on what you want to do with it, there are a couple of good starts. Let's say you're interested in just the code, not planning to use the Flash IDE much or at all, and your aim to develop great applications. as #David Morrow said, Colin Moock's Essential Actionscript 3.0 is great. Also his guide From the Ground Up is a compressed version of the book.
An easier lecture, but packed with hands-on tips to getting things done in actionscript 3.0 is Rich Shupe's Learning Actionscript 3.0, also from O'Reilly. This might help you get up to speed with project you might have in mind.
Answer 2.) and 3.):
In short you have at least two routes:
easy/practical start where you learn
by doing small mini projects, but
keep in mind there are gaps to fill
in order to move on to complex
projects
a 'harder'/more theory based start,
that will cover advanced topics, so
you will ready to take most projects
out there, simple or complex.
Answer 4.):
It also important to keep in mind that there is no substitute for experience! Learn how ever it feels comfortable, but plan time for practicing/writing a lot of code/failing/fixing/repeating. Don't worry about getting things wrong! I don't know any programmer that can write a complex project perfectly from start to finish. Basically all projects out there are the result of this loops of failing/fixing/learning/ if you want to put it this way.
Never be afraid of getting things wrong ! You learn more this way, than getting things right, but not fully understanding why, also, you can discover something new. You can't run
into happy accidents if you don't have accidents at all.
As you progress you will like some things more than others. It is important to try everything when you learn. Knowing what you don't like is just as important as knowing what you like. Don't take everything for granted and form your opinions while learning.
You mentioned peaks. It's great to aim high. As I mentioned earlier, actionscript can be used for so many things, that it's hard to be the best in all areas. Andre Michelle and Joa Ebert for example are very talented developers and have a lot of experience with sound. Chris Georgenes on the other hand is a very talented animator. I wouldn't expect roles to swap anytime soon. If it helps, choose people that are actionscript virtuosos, get inspired by their works, there are plenty of them out there.
HTH,
George
understand OOP classes and packages.
Inheritance and polymorphism
keep all content in external xml files
dont ever put any code in your fla
start building a library of reusable classes for common tasks ( a util library )
start working with the Essential Actionscript 3.0 and you are on your way...
read and understand this entire book and you will be rolling
The simplest, yet probably most important answer is: Use it.
The only way you'll become advanced in AS3 (or any language) is to just start using it. Do some experiments, maybe create some small tools for yourself, or find an open source app and start contributing to it.
Books will help, but they're no substitute for actual experience using the language.
As they say, you need to learn to crawl before you can walk.
You need a solid understanding of programming. See David Morrow's answer for things you should know. Also add to the list a knowledge of datastructures.
Start programming. As George Profenza said, start with a simple project first and something that you will enjoy doing. If you undertake something too big you may end up disillusioned. The best thing about working on little things often is that you will encounter certain problems, and you will learn through experience on how to tackle them.
Once you have the basic hang of things start looking at other people's source code. Visit blogs of various well known flash developers and go through their code. Learn from the best. My blogrole is a list of such people.
After a while, maybe a year or so you will be a decent AS3 programmer. Remember AS3 is just a tool. What seperates the men from the boys is being able to solve problems. Start tackling more complex problems, for example, develop a voxel engine or something along those lines. The best programmers tend to experiment with problems in the field of computer science. In doing so, they become knowledgable on various things like 3D rendering, Audio etc and develop unique skills placing them on the cutting edge.
Well I'm a visual programmer, i only learn as a means to an end - I want to make things.
If you are as i am - then here's what I recommend to go from basic AS3 to advanced AS3.
Make a game. OR, and this might be an even better route.
Clone a game that you like - e.g. tetris, bomberman, pacman
I know it a single statement answer.... not fancy, but - you will HAVE to learn so much in the process of creating it.

What is the best Actionscript3 3D Engine?

I am looking for a somewhat detailed explanation of which 3D Engine for Actionscript3 is the most efficient, practical, scalable, documented, community supported, etc. When I first got interested in the 3D world for flash and actionscript3, all I knew of was papervision3D. In my curious way I went to read up on papervision3D and was shocked at the lack of tutorials. Later I started to research Away3D and have found that their site is easy to traverse and there are many tutorials and easy to find documentation.
Is there something I am missing? Is papervision3D so good that it doesn't need tutorials and other mediums to help users adopt it and begin using it more often? Does it have a performance increase that allows this? Which 3D engine do you suggest?
I came up against this same issue a few months back. In the end, I went with Sandy3d. What did it for me is the amount of quality documentation and the really supportive community which really helped me get my project up and running.
http://www.flashsandy.org/blog/
I'd go with Away3D, if only because we know they are working so closely with Adobe to make sure that people's existing knowledge of their product translates as easily as possible to the upcoming Molehill version. If you're not already aware of it, Flash Player 11 is going to have an API for using OpenGL and/or DirectX 3D from within Flash. For those wishing to do 3D games and UI in Flash, this is going to be HUGE.
Papervision3D is going through the process of a full re-write to take advantage of CS4's new 3D capabilities. It sounds like they're also looking into mixing Alchemy into the engine to get a really big boost. You can check it out in a bit more detail here.
I've found that the irc channel for PV3D is fairly active and they've been able to answer any questions that I had due to an outdated tutorial or awkwardly documented section of code.
I don't have the reputation comment yet, so in response to David Hanak's comment above about viewport layers, the best use for them (that I've found) is to help with depth sorting. You can assign objects to a viewport layer and give that layer an index. Then tell the render to sort the viewport layers by index. It really helps reduce visual display errors.
AFAIK, Away3D is a fork of Papervision3D. You might be interested in this comparison of their features. It seems to me that PV3D is faster, although this blog entry might be pretty outdated.
What I would like to know is which library will be the first to support the 3D related features of Flash 10. That would mean so much in performance...
The thing is, that papervision has a good community. In long term usage, you should take that into account.
I was the same in the beginning. It was not obvious where to find what. But you should stick with it. I just worked on a prototype: Papervision3d + Jiglib (3d physics for flash, ported from c++) and SmartFox Server = fun mulitplayer game :D
Anyway: this might help: http://papervision2.com/tutorial-list/
the BEST one really is Alternativa3D, but you have to pay them for it. It's the only one that currently supports FP10 features, as we're still waiting on PapervisionX
Personally, I much prefer Away; although it started off life as a Papervision fork, they've diverged a long way since then. Most times I start a new 3D project, I begin by evaluating both (the time elapsed between projects often gives both engines time to go through some pretty major changes), and I always end up coming back to Away - to my eye, the rendering quality is a bit better, and it seems to be easier to Just Get Stuff Done with Away. I've never used Sandy, so I can't speak for that.
I've never had a problem getting support from the Away community - while PV's may be bigger, Away's certainly isn't short of helpful people.
In my experience, PV tends to accumulate whizzy features more quickly - it's probably the more bleeding-edge and technically impressive engine - but Away tends to be more stable, has a nicer API and is easier to hack about with ;)
This is all very much my own opinion, YMMV. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. The best recommendation I can make is to evaluate both and see which works best for you.
I've used Papervision, Away3D, Alternativa and Sandy 3D (you can find tutorials for each here). I personally like Away3D better - it is free and has more features, as well as a Lite version if you just want the basics. I'm especially looking forward to the Haxe version, which might just let you compile stand alone executables in C++ with hxcpp.
Options for 3D in Flash boil down to Papervision3d, Away3D or Sandy 3d Engine. I find the first two to be the best, in terms of maturity, documentation and performance.
In case you're interested, on the blog of my company there is a series of posts comparing those 3D engines for Flash (in Spanish, although you can follow the examples and read the source code in English).
Away3D is the current free champ.
It is in active development, and supports Flash Player 11, Stage3D, etc.
I would also start looking at Blender3D for a game engine in the near future. It's not Flash, but is free, and fairly easy to program. The langage behind it is Python.