CORES~ HEART HEART HEART

Alright so I've been thinking about how school is starting up REALLY soon and I still have so much work to do related to my portfolio.. I've been working on some sketches for our beta because that is definitely one of my top priorities. Something else I'd really like to start worrying about however is the website. I know you still have a lot of school work to get done and I have these backgrounds to worry about but I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the site. I'd really really like to have the link ready to send to colleges so they can just view my portfolio from there. The more and more I look into schools all of them prefer digitally submitted portfolios. Do you think it would be possible to have something looking neat by the time we have to send portfolios and applications to schools? Let me know! I'd love to spend a little bit of time working on some graphics and whatnot to get the site going!

Alrighty, so I've been looking through my new books on Flash from the library and I just read through chapter 17 and it was talking about this "parallax effect" which is when objects that are closer to you visibly move faster than objects farther away from you. SO, I found this example that they had on their disk. 

This is pretty much what I was trying to explain to Jenn about the menu screen with the floating stars? I was thinking having motion that kinda spirals more, but this shows the general idea. Let me know if you guys think this is a good idea or not for the menu! 

Hey guys, I know we are all kinda on break and all that. But I had a bit of time (aka I didn't want to read Moby Dick) and was thinking about how Jenn and I would want to be able to still show some kinda beta or something for colleges in a few months, and I know I am going to want to start programming when I get my "new" flash professionals program in the mail soon. So I went and made a beta sprite (who I dubbed "beta ninja"). I still have to work out the walking animation, I think there might be a frame missing or so (but it works well enough for now). 

Anyway, this is just so that I can continue programming with hitTests and whatnot later on. It would however be TOTALLY awesome if we could all get talking and figure out what our long-long term schedule for the project might be pretty soon. 

Alright, let me know what you guys think!~

be approaching

Hey guys so I know we've all been a little occupied with other things but I wanted to know how things were coming along. I'm going to be away for a few days so no Skype but I can hop on Tumblr every once in a while. I'll spend those days finishing all my background sketches. How's everything else going so far though?

-Jenn

Hey Jenn, stuff on my end is going pretty well. I'm right now working with the AI system. Mostly just trying to make it something better and more intelligent than what we have right now. Pretty soon though I would like to start working on a menu screen and all that, so if you could send me something over within the next week that I could use (even if it's not done that's okay) just so I can start fiddling with it!

-Madie

I've barely gotten anything done. I've been ridiculously tired and miserable and have had a lot of trouble focusing or just doing anything at all the past week.

Hey guys, I stayed up late last night and checked over the animations that we had finished to make sure they were all good, but I found that Aimi's crouch attack was never fixed. I have the new version and I'll give it to Li next time she's on! 

Just don't want anyone to do any extra work and then find it isn't usable so make sure you check over EVERYTHING you get before you work on it and make sure it looks legit (IE: crouch attacks start from a crouch and end at crouch; jump attacks start at top of jump and end at standing; etc!)

I just was trying to work on the standard attack animations... and I really think you might have to redo the standard attack for Ana. 

She starts out holding the sword in her left hand. But then she cuts down in the next frame with her right hand. And then somewhere near the end she I guess flips hands again and is holding it with her left hand. But I have no idea how all that could possibly work. 

At first I thought you might want me to have her toss the sword over... but then there's no way for me to make it toss back easily with what you gave me...  I don't know. Maybe if you made it clearer or maybe it was just a simple mistake. Either way I just need to know how to do it...

-Madie

Hey Madie, I totally figured out how it works although it confused me at first as well. If you want I can totally take over that one because I see how she drew it now.

-Jenn

Thanks Jenn that would be awesome. 

Ana:

Standard Attack: A horizontal slice [see picture]

High Attack: zelda jump attack

Low Attack: A bash in the face with her shield

Lawlie:

Standard Attack: Gets on one knee and shoots and arrow with her bow

High Attack: Three arrow shot into the air, harder to avoid, not as powerful

Kohli: 

Standard Attack: Probably two “weak” but fast jabs with her "claws"  (so right "punch" could be a diagonal slash downward while left "punch" could be almost like a straight up stab to the "gut" or whatever). She obviously doesn't have much to work on as far as "facial expressions" go, but her eyebrows could probably raise up (almost like in surprise at her actually attacking someone) during the first "punch", and then crinkle down in concentration (or maybe even disgust at herself?) when she stabs with the second punch. 

High Attack: a jumping high - round house-esque -  kick. Depending on how you want to actually do the kick itself (it really doesn't matter so long as it is quick) but her arms would probably be pretty "flimsy"? I dunno how to put it other than her arms would probably fly along with her rather than be really sturdy or straight against her. 

Low Attack: kjdlka Okay, so you know when a character is on their back and they use their arms and momentum to push themselves off the ground and land on their feet? Pretty much that so when Kohli launches herself, she kicks the “enemy” in the face or upper torso. Her eyebrows would probably crinkle up in "effort". She'd probably also take a step or two back to steady herself just like the kid in the video. Just skip to 1 minute or so.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUTB2IaDYNk 

Terrence: 

Standard Attack: Simple Slow Punch. Probably some kind of mild frown but very focused over all. He should be VERY stable looking so no stumbling at all. Only his fist and torso should be moving. BY THE WAY, just over all he should probably always have his hands in fists. 

High Attack:  When he jumps, he should fall back down with his arms fisted over his head and then when he reaches the ground he should pretty much bring his fists down to hit the top of the “enemy”. His facial expression should be almost like a resigned angry. So not full out AGH I WILL EAT YOU. But more like he's gotta do what he's gotta do but he doesn't have to like it". Looks like this (except with hands fisted & I swear if you even jokingly make him green...) --> http://iplaywinner.com/storage/ssf4-images/blanka-diagonal-jump-fierce-punch.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1267246937898

Low Attack: From a crouch upper cut; strong (almost slow, definitely not fast). Before the actual punch there should be a couple frames where he is only just getting prepped kinda for the punch, so bringing his fists back and whatnot. And he should during this time also form some form of grimace or something. I kinda picture a one sided frown and his brows crinkling up or so.

Tact: 

Standard Attack: Two quick jabs. A good Left, Right kind of attack. He'd have a "proud" tall stance probably, but just slightly bent at the knees. You could probably even have his chin jutting out in with that "I so cool" attitude of his. He should also probably be bouncing from foot to foot just like with his stance throughout most of his attacks if at all possible. 

High Attack:  Jump kick. With this kind of attack he'd probably hit the ground with a stumble and have this "Oh shit, I can't stumble! Ladies might be watching!" He'd probably have that cocky face during the actual flying kick part.  :B This is how it should look sorta --> http://iplaywinner.com/storage/ssf4-images/ryu-diagonal-jump-heavy-kick.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1267338191953

Low Attack: Since Tact is a more “arrogant” character, his moves are probably more flashy… So one of those sweeping kicks where a person puts all their momentum into it and therefore spins around?  I just realized that this might look silly with the some of the "being hit" animations. SO why don't you do one of those kicks where a person sort of turns over and kicks with one leg... oh man. UH. Looks like this --> http://iplaywinner.com/storage/ssf4-images/feilong-crouching-heavy-kick.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1268899796484  

I just have attacks left to do, so this is where I need you!!

I need you guys to think in more specific terms what your character should do for what attack! Think motions, quirks, everything. I DON'T want to just guess and assume for this part.

http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1341779638

Well... I know I should probably be, you know- doing vacation-y things instead of programming and work and what not. BUT I CAN'T HELP IT. I feel like we can get so much done if we just try our hardest to keep focused as well as we can. 

Anyway -->

UPDATES:

HUD graphics are primitive but working okay

The EvilAna AI has been turned back on and modified so it's a tad bit better 

BUGS FIXED: 

Can no longer press left or right and then press crouch and then infinitely go in that direction

Moonwalking issue resolved

No more "flying" jumps (jumps are restrained and easily editable for each individual character)

Incorrect jumping animation has been resloved

Idle animation works on top of log now

ALL other animations work on log now

No more rapid fire punching

IGNORE THESE BUGS (Either intentional or I just haven't gotten there yet): 

Once again, the speed is clearly to fast right now

The enemy AI is simply too straightforward (if you have any ideas, please feel free to give them to me!)

No one dies if HP goes down to "zero" 

As of right now, the Health bars do not go down to zero, that's mostly laziness on my part

The mailbox and tree are still too obstructive, JENN. (just kidding Jenn, I love you <3)

Okay guys, I won't be able to do another massive edit like this until after I get back NEXT Tuesday morning. I AM however working on theoretical coding so that I don't get too far behind. I really hope you guys are working hard out there on the East coast! Please let me know what you think, I'll be able to check up on Tumblr at least once a day I hope. 

but I've been talking to Fred about programming updates a lot, since he knows his shit

and he's stressed over and over

doing it in a new text post so you actually see it

Uhh let's see you said you already know the animations are too fast, so I don't need to say anything on that.

I kinda feel like the jumps should be higher, they feel really restrained?? to me idk. Also idk why it looks like there's one extra frame in there that shouldn't be there but I'm guessing that's just a temporary glitch in the animation??

As for the camera, I hate to say it feels really abrupt and it's kinda jarring, not to mention it cuts off the HP bars (I'm assuming that's a "fuck it I'll fix it later" thing) I don't really know what to suggest for that though, since I have no idea how to make it work. Maybe a dynamic camera isn't gonna work out so well this time around, we'll see?? I would recommend figuring out the original, simpler camera plan we had, then mess around with the dynamic camera to see if you can get it. That way we don't have to stress it as much and it can just be a "hey look I got this to work so it can be cooler!!" thing

Also I'm terribly sorry but I'm a bit behind in animation. I've had some..........motivation issues that I'm not going to go into. I'm still going to do my best to get it done by the 5th, but I don't have any extra attack animations for you yet Madie.

Hey Li, first things first, don't worry about the health bars being cut off. I thought I mentioned this, but I guess not... I am in the midst of working that out (I'm like 70 percent done that). And the "jarring" I'm assuming is also because it is really fast? That goes along with me just upping the speed for right now. I can ALWAYS change that. I was planning to anyway. I really don't think we'll have to drop the dynamic camera unless you guys really just dislike/hate it. 

About the jump, Jenn and I were actually talking about this. I was thinking I was going to keep the actually height of the jumps kinda "up in the air" for right now. I just kinda feel like a character like Tika would be able to jump waaaaaay higher than Terrence; plus I am pretty sure that "restrained" feeling you're getting is also somewhat caused by the way the animation looks. However... I don't know what you mean by an extra frame... I tried looking on my computer just now, but I can't see it... maybe my computer is just processing it to fast to see???? Or maybe I just have no idea what you're talking about? GAH. I hope that at least kinda made you feel better and also thanks for bringing up these concerns. I'll keep them in mind. 

ALSO: I wanted to ask you if I could see some of your animations you have so far? I wanted to double check them and just make sure you are doing it in such a way that will look "smoothest" when I put them all together. I'm sure you're fine, but I just wanted to double check so you don't end up with even more work later... 

Thanks,  Madie 

Ah okay. Yeah for the most part I think I mean it's too fast, abrupt. It feels like a kind of extreme zoom too, idk. I know this is just like a first attempt though so I'm not stressing it too much yet. I think you should still make sure you know how to do the normal camera just in case, but you don't have to waste a bunch of time on it uwu

As for the animation it could've been a fuck up on my part, those keyframes were all wrong... I'm only just noticing it now. I think it's that the third frame (with arms up) should last until the sprite touches the ground. The last frame comes too early. Idk if that's a programming thing or an animation thing. Doesn't matter right now but it's just nagging my mind heh. Also I just noticed a few other bugs that I'm not sure you're aware of -idle animation doesn't work on top of log -rapid fire punching when it's done while jumping -aaand fred brought this one up, if you hold ctrl while jumping and moving right, then also press left, you jump to the left while facing right. That's bad.

About the jumps, okie doke. I just think they all should be a bit higher than that at least. We should also make the player commit to their jump and not have it as ~floaty~

Also yeah get on skype and I can send you the animations I've done so far.

http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1340927907

Alrighty guys, welp, I've managed to fix a couple bugs here and there, but this update is primarily about the dynamic camera. 

UPDATES: 

dynamic camera

Temporary HUD graphics are displayed (however they are inactive as of now)

Temporary "enemy" (AKA: "evilana_mc", more information below)

Three Part Background (foreground, middle ground, and background)

Platforms

BUGS FIXED:

Brand new gravity functions (portrays actual gravity, inertia, etc.)

Probably some other stuff I can't remember right now...

IGNORE THESE BUGS (they are intentional for this update):

AI enemy does not move or respond to Ana in any way (used to portray how the camera pans and ZOOMS OUT)

Speed of ALL animations (except maybe jump?) are too fast (I need the speed because while I test on my old computer, they are already sluggish there, I will change speed related variables sometime in July probably)

Mailbox and Tree are too obstructive and are capable of covering entire player (this background was only intended for testing)

The black border around the edges (that's just me being a lazy ass and not wanting to figure out the exact x and y coordinates when I'll just have to figure out new ones later...)

Okay guys, please let me know what you think so far! I already know that speed is too fast, so don't worry about that, but otherwise... do you like the way the camera pans, are you at least happier with the new gravity modifications, and over all does this look like a pretty good start? 

Also, as of right now I have a pseudo-working AI that can attack the player and the player even loses health! I did not put it into this update however because I am no where near happy with it. That will probably be the one thing that I will be working on the longest. I will hopefully have an update for the AI soon enough. 

By the way Li, I'm sure you are plenty busy and everything, but if you by any chance have a lower attack or a upper attack, I'd be happy to take them!

CURRENT MAIN CODING: Lines: Too many :C

//////////////ANA CODING onClipEvent (load) {        _root.grav = 0;        _root.xmove = 0;        _root.attack = false;        _root.airatk = false;        keydown = false; }