Archive for March, 2007
March 28, 2007 at 8:55 am· Filed under Flash, Work, Play, Tech News
Well, Flash CS3 gets released today… at least it does for our siblings in code that reside in the USofA. Aussies will have to wait a little while before we get to taste the new candy.
I’ve been eagerly waiting for this new version of Flash since I first dipped my toe into AS3. My stuff generally has too much going on in the actual MovieClip timeline for me to be willing to migrate fully without the IDE - regardless of how much I loathe the current version. It looks like the aquisition by Adobe is paying off for us as the new interface and features are going to push Flash Development up a few notches.
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March 25, 2007 at 12:46 pm· Filed under Misc, Play
A quick wedding update for those who care to be in the loop…
Taking my Uncle Paul’s advice: “a happy wife = a happy life”, I recently forfeited my Aussie wedding in favor of holding it in the homeland of my South African bride. The decision was made a couple of weeks ago now and on reflection, it seems to have been the right call… Sam, being an only child, has realised how important it is for her parents to be involved as much as possible - which I guess is the ideal outcome as these guys really know how to organise! The date we’ve chosen is 12th April 2008.
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March 22, 2007 at 11:03 am· Filed under Flash, Tech News
Well, the Flash bloggers have been going mental over Adobe’s announcement of Apollo… so much so that many of the notable blogs have gone silent since then - no doubt they’re all working on their first examples and will wow us very soon.
I’m a little busy with freelance projects at the moment to get into it… what I can tell you is that Flash developers now have the tools to make cross-platform desktop applications using nothing but HTML, Javascript and Flash. I guess it’s like a super-charged version of Zinc or mProjector.
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March 19, 2007 at 1:55 pm· Filed under Play, Novel Ideas, Tech News
Well, I don’t know what planet I’ve been on… but I think I’ve just had a life changing experience. One thing is for certain - I now NEED a PS3 and I now NEED this game: Little Big Planet.
I’ve always loved platform games. Super Mario Bros really kicked this off for me (not including the platformers in the Arcade and on the C64 that got the ball rolling). I wonder which game has the honour of spawning the genre? Donkey Kong?
Update - I was right! This from Wikipedia:
Donkey Kong, an arcade game created by Nintendo, released in July, 1981, was the first game that allowed players to jump over obstacles and across gaps, making it the first true platformer. Donkey Kong had a limited amount of platforming in its first two screens, but its other two have a more pronounced platform jumping component.
Back on topic - I think LBP is a glimpse into the future of gaming… well, that may be a little generous… but I do think that it’s a great sign that developers are starting to really consider and embrace the unskilled gamer in their target demographic. No doubt we have Nintendo and the Wii to thank for this shift in focus. I’m so excited that games are now more often about community and communal experiences rather than the 1-on-1 style that got us this far.
Make sure you check out the navigation, pretty slick! If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re in for a treat!
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March 10, 2007 at 11:44 am· Filed under Flash, Play, Tech News
I’ve just signed up to The Great Games Experiment, a new portal aiming to capture the hearts and minds of gamers, developers and publishers alike.
At a glance it seems to be an interesting system. Members are rewarded with ‘experience points’ for joining up to, and participating in, forum groups. You can also submit and review content, enter competitions etc.
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March 9, 2007 at 7:40 am· Filed under Flash, Design Stimulus, Play, Novel Ideas, Tech News
Here’s something new - Red Interactive, a Californian Ad Agency, have just announced beta access to a virtual community-chatroom-esque site, “Red Universe”.
It’s kind of reassuring to know that when the world is doing their best to take Flash into 3D (and doing a great job of it, by the way), some people are happy just making the X and Y axis prettier.
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March 1, 2007 at 1:41 pm· Filed under Flash, Play, Portfolio, Novel Ideas
To celebrate my newfound relative working freedom, I decided to revisit my Drumming by Proximity experiment.
This time, I’ve taken out the random element (which was the focus in the previous version)… so that we could have more control and lay down some solid beats!
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