So… short summary of what this is… I was invited to give a lecture at UCLA, and then also invited to give a workshop at the UCLA Game Lab. The lecture can be found here. This is the transcript of my workshop. The description in the above image says it best… This workshop covers alternative technologies for making experimental games, as well as encouraging some mentalities when entering this area. It also includes some history about the web, browser and web politics… and the impact that this has had on the web. I make a strong point to encourage the...
Continue reading...Web/Game Dev: Tutorials & Sourcecode
Tutorials, source files, and implementation.
For the downloads/sourcecode archives folder Click here.
These statements have not been evaluated by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
This blog is not intended to identify, patch, solve or prevent any technical issues.
Tutorial: Making a Frog Generator with Adobe Animate (HTML5 & CreateJS)
You can VIEW the end result here: http://frogs.alienmelon.com/html5/ You can DOWNLOAD the sourcefiles here: http://nathalielawhead.com/sourcefiles/Weird_Alien_Frogs/ This tutorial will walk you through using Animate to make a procedural frog generator. It will cover all the basics of using the HTML5 Canvas output, as well as timeline scripting for the functionality. For those that are interested I also have a tutorial for making a game with CreateJS + the canvas in Flash/Animate here. It’s a bit older, and some of the issues (and resulting workarounds) I mention there no longer apply. Although the tutorial itself is still fairly relevant. It’s also interesting...
Continue reading...The (New) Tetrageddon Games “Art Direction” Commentary: Everything Looks Better Low-Fi!
I rarely ever do “art posts” where I explain the thought process behind the look of the game, so I thought it’s about time that I do something. A lot of planning goes into it, and I’m certain others will find the general philosophy interesting. This is about the new “desktop” version of Tetrageddon Games I’m making. It’s coming to Steam. Small video about the project: So… The new experience has a lot of new art, and animated transitions. Think of it as a very large, “interactive animation” with games here and there. The art is largely vector art. This...
Continue reading...Custom Chrome with Adobe AIR (Customizing a Desktop App’s Window with Flash) – Getting Started Walkthrough
Introduction: I’ve been working with AIR for quite some time, but have procrastinated getting into this part. The feature has been around for a long time too. With this new mini-project (Anatomically Incorrect Dinosaurs) that I’ve been working on, I decided to look into it again. I was so not sorry. AIR is amazing. NativeWindow opened up a world of possibilities for me (game design/development wise). For example, I could make the user’s actual desktop a level! There’s a lot that can be done in terms of “breaking the fourth wall”. In this case, I thought it would be cool...
Continue reading...Adobe AIR/Flash GameInput API (Getting Started)
Update (May 29, 2016): emmett butler has an even more thorough post on the topic here, NativeJoystick in Bum Rush I suggest starting with that since his post is a lot more in depth. I had been emailed about this issue (problems with GameInput) and gave some links that I thought helpful at the time I was working with controllers. Here they are in the event they can help others: * NativeJoystick: AIR “ANE” extension to support all joysticks that Windows can. * Topic: NativeJoystick: AIR “ANE” extension to support all joysticks that Windows can. * Joystick Library for Adobe...
Continue reading...Getting Multiple XBox 360 Controllers Working On A Mac (OS X Yosemite)
I had this running in a previous version of OS X, but then it stopped working (operating system update made the driver non-functional). I spent some time Google-ing around, but it was hard finding something due to all the information out there being for PC. This is apparently completely doable on a PC (as described here, for example) But not as easy on a Mac. Searching Google did little for me… except that I found this cool thing (http://multicursor-wm.sourceforge.net/). I had no idea you could do that. Nevertheless, now that I have multiple controllers working on a Mac I feel...
Continue reading...The Muchachofier (With Sourcefiles)
Are you a tourist that sounds too normal? Do you have text that you need to muchachofy? I created The Muchachofier to solve all these problems, and more! It fully supports American tourist dialect… and… more! Ok… It’s my new Super Stupid Thing (TM) I threw together last night, because it would make a fine easter egg, and then I thought it would be fun to have it run in javascript… It was an evolution. This has been a 1:00 AM project. Try it: HERE Or download the sourcefiles HERE… I’m working on this new game called Monkey Fortunetell. It’s...
Continue reading...New Game Release: FROGGY (It’s Hungry!) – With Sourcefiles
* PLAY IT HERE: http://froggy.alienmelon.com * DOWNLOAD SOURCEFILES HERE (includes website, music, etc…): http://nathalielawhead.com/sourcefiles/FROGGY/ I just launched FROGGY last night, and I’m thrilled (and relieved) at how positively it’s been received (on Twitter). It has even been posted on Warp Door! Update: Rock Paper Shotgun so wrote a post about it! I am not hallucinating or dreaming. This is amazing, and now makes me want to make another game. :) Froggy is a fizzing little curio that’s more Superhot than Frogger, a weird and wonderful free game with charm gushing out its cloaca. Come see. -Link Thank you everyone for...
Continue reading...HTML5 Game Tutorial: Making A Platformer (PART 1)
DOWNLOAD SOURCE HERE I’ve been developing a totally new game for Tetrageddon. It’s going to be available for mobile (iOS, and Android), as well as the desktop. This is an HTML5 game (for a change), with CreateJS, using FlashCC’s HTML5 Canvas document. Doing so will make things easier for me animation wise, as well as managing complex animated “cut scenes”, and other graphical aspects… The game is codenamed “Face The Music” because it will essentially be about death and “giving up” — in a playful yet poetic pixel art style. :) Best of all, “Face The Music” is a platformer...
Continue reading...Tutorial: Building A Game With Flash HTML5 Canvas & CreateJS (Haxatron 2000)
Introduction: Flash Professional CC introduced a document type in which you can create an HTML5 Canvas document. It publishes HTML5 content using the CreateJS libraries (but you could easily use other libraries if you wanted to). Although this feature has been out for a while, there is little to no information (at least I couldn’t find much), about how to make something more complex in it (like a game). I love this development because (from Adobe documentation) “Flash publishes to HTML5 by leveraging the Canvas API. It translates objects created on stage in to their Canvas counterparts.” Meaning, I don’t...
Continue reading...Tutorial: Building A Game In Edge Animate (Offender)
Introduction: I’ve decided to build this first Tetrageddon Games “mini-game” tutorial, Offender, in Adobe Edge Animate because the program is still very new, and there isn’t much out there on it in terms of game development. I think this will make a great “getting started” resource for newcomers, as well as demonstrate the capabilities of Edge Animate. In this tutorial I hope to offer a solid example of building a game with the program. This is the first part of a series discussing HTML5 game development. * DOWNLOAD the source files here: Offender_HTML.zip * Play the finished game here: Offender...
Continue reading...Tetrageddon Games Microsites/Websites Sourcefiles
First of all (moving forward) I will port some of the simpler games (Offender, The Gatekeeper, Haxatron 2000) to HTML5 (HTML5/JS/Edge Animate –maybe Edge Animate), and release a HTML5 version tutorial + source code for them. I’m very excited about doing this! It’s going to be awesome… Stay tuned! More (HTML5/JS/ect… related) source code/tutorials are on the way. :) Secondly, I finally found the time to release the sourcefiles for the microsites done for Tetrageddon Games. I created these in Edge Animate, seeing that there is little to no Edge Animate examples, tutorials, out there (it’s very new) I believe...
Continue reading...Introduction to iAd in Flash AIR for iOS – Kick Start Tutorial & Samples
Sourcefiles for the tutorials are here. SUMMARY It can be very confusing to know where to start when you want to add advertisements in your Flash/AIR based iOS app. Google search results can be ambiguous at best, and there are a number of free solutions out there, but little or no support. The most recommended pay for solution is Milkman Games’s iAd for iOS Extension. There are also a number of others (like Smaato For Android and iOS ) for pay, but I’m a firm believer in that “if they do it, I should be able to do it too”....
Continue reading...New Tetrageddon Games Open Source Release: Tetrageddon (Bloodsport Tetris)
Visit the directory here! I’m excited to announce that I’ve finally finished porting, testing, and rewriting Tetrageddon FPS Tetris’s (updated) game engine. I’m also renaming it to Bloodsport Tetris, because that’s just so much more fitting… I’ve uploaded all assets to the sourcefile directory — the game is now open source! Enjoy!! All of its sourcefiles, sounds, classes, etc… are in the new directory here: http://nathalielawhead.com/sourcefiles/Tetrageddon_BloodsportTetris/ Do visit the /as directory, because that’s where all the hot sexy action is: http://nathalielawhead.com/sourcefiles/Tetrageddon_BloodsportTetris/as/ And, in-case you don’t like plain text links or whatever, the website now has that shiny golden “Download Source”...
Continue reading...Offender 2 – Programming A Composer
Every time I program the soundtrack for one of my games I get inspired with how I could perfect the engine for music. I know that a long term goal will be to program a composer. It’s my personal creative crusade. :) I want to create something that, with some degree of intelligence, really “makes” music while you play. Although realizing that goal is still a ways off, I’m very proud of my current achievement. Offender 2 development has covered a lot of ground since my last blog post update. One of the advantages of creating your own music is...
Continue reading...Source Code Snippet: Making A Custom Customize Keyboard Shortcuts Feature – For A Game (ActionScript)…
This is a simple example that I’m throwing up here because it may help some googler looking for a quick solution (just strip out the trace and txt_output). This lets you set an alphanumeric (letters and numbers) character as a desired “keyboard shortcut” which is saved for use throughout your game (or application). I’m currently working on the “settings” area for (if you haven’t heard yet, I love saying the title) my upcoming game, Offender 2 (World War B: War on Rabbits). For those that are interested I have a gallery of the game’s artwork here: http://offender2.alienmelon.com/artwork/ which I’m continuously...
Continue reading...Super Simple Script Snippets – Part 2
This is part two of my previous post of fun code trickery. Click here. I’m thrilled with how development is going. It will definitely be a fun mobile game. Like I said, you can find more in the Open Source Directory. Click here. So… I should hit “Publish” now before I get distracted too much with my blog. :) Random Sound From Array Of Strings Download Here [swfobj src=”http://nathalielawhead.com/sourcefiles/Haxed_By_Megahurtz/snippets_AS3/random_sound_from_array.swf” height=”456″ width=”608″] If Removed From Stage Remove All Listeners Download Here [swfobj src=”http://nathalielawhead.com/sourcefiles/Haxed_By_Megahurtz/snippets_AS3/remove_from_stage_remove_all_listeners.swf” height=”80″ width=”428″] Code: //loop through an array of functions/listeners that you pass it //removes them //call this from...
Continue reading...Super Simple Script Snippets – Standalone Leaderboard System, and More
Offender 1 is available for purchase on the app store. Because the submission process was so successful, and it’s a platform just waiting for more Tetrageddon, if taken the time off Offender 2 and am porting Haxed By Megahurtz to iOS. It’s nearly complete, and going well. I’m excited to see it working on mobile. The game (Haxed By Megahurtz) was developed for the Nintendo Wii. It took off like wild fire after a Jay Is Games review. It was a lot of fun to see it spread the way it did, and the reactions people had to it. It...
Continue reading...Making an App: Adobe AIR for iOS – Flash to iOS Walkthrough
Following is a tutorial for walking you through all the things you need to set up, and start developing an Adobe AIR iOS app with Flash (on OS X). It’s a summary of my forays into the world of mobile Flash development. Screenshot of Offender on iOS. This is a resource that will take you through the development process of converting an .swf to .ipa (the file that will run on your iPad/iPhone), and some notes about submitting to the app store. Technical documentation can be found at Adobe AIR documentation Or the Adobe AIR Developer Center I have tried...
Continue reading...Pandorabots To Flash (Actionscript Tutorial)
As promised this is a tutorial for building a Flash interface for a Pandorabots chatbot. This is a portion of an unreleased game I was building where you are stuck inside of a giant maze. The maze is actually a machine. An artificial intelligence called “I”. You can talk to it throughout your journey, and it engages with you in existential conversations, often taunting you. You can check out some screenshots, and more of that here. It was intended to be part of BlueSuburbia. At present it’s slipped to the back burner. The source files that are given with this...
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