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At 8/19/14 04:52 AM, Aleque wrote: I like that idea, but I'm immediately thinking: what's the catch? Could there be any disadvantages others than the fact that I can't say anymore, that I made it all by myself?

Have to negotiate how to split any profit made off of it. Then there is the fact that everyone is going to want to have creative control. If you want them to work under you and do what you say and have them work to create your vision - well...good luck with that (unless you are paying them). Those are the two main issues with forming a team for animation as far as I know. Same goes for creating a game but it's more simple in some ways as people are doing what they do best for the project (programmer, artist, composer).

I will have to confront these things myself once I get better at programming (until then I just make small games by myself).

Who knows - maybe provide links to your projects that you speak of and if people really love what you are doing they and know you want assistance they may offer to join your team. Just know that collaborating on anything requires everyone to be open-minded - don't be a dictator about everything that must happen in the animation (again, unless you are paying them then you can be more strict).

Best of luck dude! Hope some of this helped.

At 8/30/14 05:14 AM, No-Brainer wrote: BUMP, still need a programmer. Someone responded but didnt bother to message me back.

You have any concept art? I know you don't have anything concrete yet but having some kind of concept art for the game would help you land a programmer because it shows that you have thought the idea through and it also allows you to show case your art skills for that style.

Not having much of an idea on anything, or art to show for it, doesn't really attract a programmer as they could just make one on their own if they wanted to. Just trying to help you out :)

At 8/31/14 10:20 PM, MSGhero wrote:

At 8/31/14 10:10 PM, Hero101 wrote: Oh so I should remove API.debugMode = API.DEBUG_MODE_HOST_BLOCKED; cuz that code blocks NG ads no matter where they are displayed on the internet - is that correct?

Correct. You should upload that version to the project preview once your ads are approved or whatever to make sure they are being blocked. If not, that's ng's fault, though I highly doubt it doesn't work.

Oooooh NOW I know what you mean about uploading it to project preview that way. It is for a game I currently already have out here on NG and ads are already approved. Should I just create a new project and enable ads on that to test it or should I do it on the game's current project preview and once the test works just re-upload the swf that was originally there?

At 8/31/14 10:07 PM, MSGhero wrote:

At 8/31/14 10:00 PM, Hero101 wrote: Well I blocked FGD website in host management and added: API.debugMode = API.DEBUG_MODE_HOST_BLOCKED; to my code. I uploaded it to FGD and got to test it in their project preview before I submit it to them. The NG ad still pops up and says the usual "You're ad code is working!" in the ad box.....so I guess it didn't work?

That shows up all the time, just be patient. You don't need to upload it to fgd to test the debug mode. You're literally telling the api that wherever you've uploaded it to is blocked.

Oh so I should remove API.debugMode = API.DEBUG_MODE_HOST_BLOCKED; cuz that code blocks NG ads no matter where they are displayed on the internet - is that correct?

Also no one will ever get a notification if you don't include their name in the quote.

Oh haha didn't know that...

I think you're worrying too much. It displays a black box or a black box that says "ads blocked on this domain." Just try it out and see what happens, it's not like they're gonna try to fuck you over.

Well I blocked FGD website in host management and added: API.debugMode = API.DEBUG_MODE_HOST_BLOCKED; to my code. I uploaded it to FGD and got to test it in their project preview before I submit it to them. The NG ad still pops up and says the usual "You're ad code is working!" in the ad box.....so I guess it didn't work?

I think you're worrying too much. It displays a black box or a black box that says "ads blocked on this domain." Just try it out and see what happens, it's not like they're gonna try to fuck you over.

Haha ok thank you :)

If fgd distributes the game to a portal, the game won't be on fgd when people play it, so the ads won't be blocked. You can test it by setting the debug mode to "host blocked" and uploading to the project preview.

Do you know what happens though if I addChild my ad in my game but it is "host blocked"? Will an empty box display or nothing at all?

I'm hoping nothing at all. Then I can just create my own play button to start game cuz right now I have it set to the ad's play button which won't work if it never shows up due to host blocking.

Not even a simple stop() command? Why not? The alternative would be to have enterFrame listeners checking to see if every movie clip you need stopped is on one of the frames where you want it to stop. That's not good coding, that's much less efficient. And even if we don't code at all in the timeline, Flash is still useful for animating and organizing all of the vector art that is central to many many Flash games, so I don't quite see what your point is.

Again, I am suggesting this for bigger projects. If it is a super simple game that someone can complete in under 5 minutes then sure you can code a simple stop command at the start of the timeline. It just becomes an issue with bigger projects trying to remember where they are all at and it can sometimes cause weird errors which is even harder to debug since your code is not all in one location.

Of course it would be better to have CS6, but don't you think there are going to be even more new versions coming out making CS6 obsolete before long? Development software is expensive. Helping each other out in what is supposed to be a friendly community is not expensive.

Well given people are still using CS3 it could be quite awhile. But I understand where you are coming from. No need to be defensive. Everyone here was just making suggestions to help you out in an overall way in case you plan to keep making games. Best of luck with finding people to make conversions - you may want to post this in the collab forum instead.

At 8/31/14 07:51 PM, MSGhero wrote:

At 8/31/14 07:00 PM, Hero101 wrote: How do I go about achieving blocking my ads from a specific website but still have them active in the game itself since FGD will distribute the game; thus, why I just don't want them showing up on their website.

If fgd distributes the game to a portal, the game won't be on fgd when people play it, so the ads won't be blocked. You can test it by setting the debug mode to "host blocked" and uploading to the project preview.

Ah yeah but they have to review it first on their website and they say I have to have ads blocked in order for them review it.

I'll try out your debug mode idea.

I want to upload a game to FGD (flash game distribution). To do so I need to have my NG ads blocked from their website.

I want to use Newgrounds Host Management option in the project settings to block ads there. I can't seem to understand this option.

What happens if I block ads with Host Management but still addChild them in my game? Will it just be a blank screen? Or will the ad still display?

The way my game is setup I addChild the ad and when the user clicks the play button the ad is destroyed and I load my game. I did a test and it seems that even with the Host Management blocking a website the ad still shows up if I addChild it.

How do I go about achieving blocking my ads from a specific website but still have them active in the game itself since FGD will distribute the game; thus, why I just don't want them showing up on their website.

What Barzona is saying is that you can have multiple movie clips for all your monsters but they all use the same actionscript file such as Monster.as. Just go into the properties of each monster mc and give them all the link name of your actionscript file name that is for the monsters.

Neat concept but don't code with scenes or inside frames or the timeline. It may be very quick but unless your game is extremely simple I would stay away from coding inside any timeline. If this is something you plan to do often and don't see yourself ever stopping (making games) then you and others with same drive/passion should just save up the money and upgrade to CS6. I know not everyone one can afford it but if you want to keep doing this then you should look into making the upgrade.

in my project, i only need to have a boy and girl looking characters. do i still need to have 2 separate mc's for that scenario?

Yes two movieclips. I mean if they are exact clones (same moves, animations, etc.) and they are characters the player could control when one is present and the other is not then I guess you could have one mc. It's just very messy.

another question, why is it a mistake to learn as2. because i find it easier to do the coding part using as2 than as3?

Because if you plan to keep making games beyond this one then you need to learn AS3. AS2 is way outdated. One day it may not even be supported. But ultimately there is just so much more you can do with AS3. So since you are new to this I highly suggest you spend the time needed to learn AS3. Yeah it has a steeper learning curve for beginners but it is well worth it. I jumped into it by using a beginners book I bought off Amazon - it was personally easier for me to get started this way rather than online tutorials (which there are plenty of) but it's different for everyone. You want to finish this game with AS2 then go for it. Just know that if you get hooked on creating games and want to make more than just the one you are making now then you should make the switch to AS3.

At 8/28/14 08:34 AM, tomfra wrote: Good day, so right now I'm trying to make a small Jump and Run game, but for some reason my hitTestPoint fails to detect the collision between the background and my character. I've searched for a solution but couldn't ind anything. The program detects if I don't collide though, no clue what's going on. I'd be glad if someone could help me.
The code for the collision is at the bottom.
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/154f1fb5285893a4db8f05d5beb98756

Only glanced at it quickly but you call your collision check only once. Put your collision code in the enter frame handler.

At 8/25/14 09:17 PM, halfblue3 wrote: i always wonder how to have multiple characters in a game. i know that i need to have one mc that holds all the appearance of all the characters and use gotoAndStop() to access each character appearance. but how do i do it when there are animations involving the said mc, and how do i kinda like set an appearance as the default apperance of the character.

Given you are using Flash IDE (Adobe Flash CS whatever version) It's just nested MC's. You don't have one mc for all characters. Each character would be their own mc which in turn would have multiple mc's for all the appearance states. For example, if the player mc was a knight then inside his mc would be a different mc for different body parts (at least one's you want to alter appearance (i.e. different armor) or control with animation) - same goes for the weapon in his hand. So inside your player mc would be all these mc's that just sit on the first frame of the player timeline. So your default appearance could just be his first frame.

i tried a simple test about multiple characters. i made a mc with an axe on the first keyframe and knife looking drawings on the second keyframe. i created a simple animation to that mc and added 2 button, the first is to stop the mc at the axe drawing and the second for the knife drawing. when i test the movie, the mc blinks showing the axe and knife. but when i press the buttons for the knife, the mc stops at the knife, and the mc it stops at the axe if i press the button for the axe.

This confuses me not quite sure what you mean. Do what I said above. So say player starts with an axe as his default weapon - which if you do what I said it will also be in first frame of player mc. Inside that axe mc (which you could just call weapon) could be a different weapon on each frame of the weapon timeline. That way you don't have to find the frame where the player has a certain weapon - you just change the frame for the weapon.

i always ask Google but i can't find something that i think is helpful for a beginner like, so please help me.

Since you are a beginner I really hope you are learning AS3 and not making the mistake like so many others of trying to learn AS2.

Sorry for all the posts by me alone....

I'll wait to hear how you guys go about using your ads in your game where they may need to be blocked. I simply thought I could still addChild the flash ad to my game and still use Host Management in the Project settings to block certain domains - I figured the ad wouldn't display if I did this - but I am either wrong or the host management isn't working to block the domain I want.

I'll respond to any replies I get later today after I wake up.

Talk to you guys soon.

At 8/23/14 09:06 AM, TomFulp wrote:

At 8/23/14 08:04 AM, LauriAJ wrote: So, besides Phoenotopia, do you have other recent Medal-enabled games in mind that you would recommend?

Here's the latest one!
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/644815
You can view all the latest by date on the Games with Medals page, it shows scores so you can scan for good ones, like this too:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/644809

Thank you Tom. Don't know if you suggest mine was good because of its current score or if it was because you liked it haha - either way I very much appreciate it :)

If I did it this way I would need to check if the flash ad exists or not. Would that simply be:

if (flashAd = null)
{
//remove flash ad and call startGame()
}
else
{
//startGame()
}
or is that wrong?

I meant

if (flashAd != null)

At 8/25/14 05:09 AM, Hero101 wrote: I may have just come up with a solution - but tell me what you think of it.

Instead of using the play button attached to the flash ad that loads, I could just add my own play button in the area where the ad would pop up and have that button call my startGame function. I would just remove the play button from the flash ad so that way when the game is on a website that my host management isn't blocking there won't be both my play button and the play button on the flash ad.

If I did it this way I would need to check if the flash ad exists or not. Would that simply be:

if (flashAd = null)
{
//remove flash ad and call startGame()
}
else
{
//startGame()
}

or is that wrong?

I may have just come up with a solution - but tell me what you think of it.

Instead of using the play button attached to the flash ad that loads, I could just add my own play button in the area where the ad would pop up and have that button call my startGame function. I would just remove the play button from the flash ad so that way when the game is on a website that my host management isn't blocking there won't be both my play button and the play button on the flash ad.

The way my game is set up. When the game starts it calls the function loadAd() which adds Newgrounds ads. There is an event listener for the flash ad play button which when click removes the ad and calls startGame.

This works great, but I was wanting to upload my game to a place where I am not allowed to have 3rd party ads. I was planning on using NG's Host Management in the Project Management settings to block ads from the website I am upload. This way I don't have to worry about removing the ads from the .swf I would be uploading - also should anyone take the game off the website I'm uploading to and place it elsewhere my ads would work there (I'm sure you guys already know how Host Management works...).

However, if I use host management to block my ads then I realize how I have my game structured as mentioned above won't work. How do you guys go about initializing your ads in your game to avoid this issue?

I forgot to add the code.

stop();
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, frameChecker1);
function frameChecker1(event:Event):void {
trace("Frame entered.");
var loaded:Number = this.loaderInfo.bytesLoaded;
var total:Number = this.loaderInfo.bytesTotal;
var percent:Number = loaded/total;
var percentRounded:uint = percent * 100;
loadingBar.scaleX = percent;
textLoading.text = percentRounded + "%";
if (total == loaded) {
buttonPlay.alpha = percent;
}
else {
buttonPlay.alpha = percent/2;
}
if (total == loaded) {
removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, frameChecker1);
}
}
buttonPlay.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, playClick);
function playClick (event:MouseEvent){
play();
}

Start putting your code inside of the code tags dude. I know you are new to it so don't worry everyone does it at first. Whenever you want to add code put it between the code tags. When making a post (or reply) you will see them to the left of the text box you use to type your message. They are located at the very bottom of the tags.

By placing your code between the two code tags your code will appear much more readable - which will make it way easier for us to read your code and help you.

Here is what your code you posted will look like using the code tags:

stop();
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, frameChecker1);
function frameChecker1(event:Event):void {
trace("Frame entered.");
var loaded:Number = this.loaderInfo.bytesLoaded;
var total:Number = this.loaderInfo.bytesTotal;
var percent:Number = loaded/total;
var percentRounded:uint = percent * 100;
loadingBar.scaleX = percent;
textLoading.text = percentRounded + "%";
if (total == loaded) {
buttonPlay.alpha = percent;
}
else {
buttonPlay.alpha = percent/2;
}
if (total == loaded) {
removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, frameChecker1);
}
}
buttonPlay.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, playClick);
function playClick (event:MouseEvent){
play();
}

If it is a game - are you using Flash IDE?

I've done most of the compressing I could, all pics are in .gif, sound files are compressed to 24 kbps

the published .swf is 6-7 mb, but with my massive library of crap inside the .fla still bumps it up to 80 mb

what other steps are there to reduce the size of library assets?

many thanks

Oh I'm sorry. i thought your published .swf was 80mb. You're project must be huge haha Is it an animation or a game? I see you do both.

At 8/24/14 02:24 AM, VanDiest wrote: hey guys im not sure if this is the right place to post this but I'm currently making a game and I have it set so when the player presses the "F" key, it makes the flash full screen.

now this works when I run the .swf from my computer but when I upload the game to newgrounds and test it on the Preview page, it does not work.
Anyone know why?

No clue haha I don't think I've ever seen a game with a fullscreen option here at NG. Maybe it's not supported? Hopefully someone replies that knows the answer as I am rather curious myself.

At 8/24/14 02:06 AM, ShadowWhoWalks wrote: I've been working on a 80 MB .fla file for years now, on Flash Professional CS 6.5
my trouble is that the save times are incredibly long, taking up to 3-4 mins per save
it's really starting to get on my nerves

I heard it's because CS6.5 does a save and compact everytime and there's no way to cancel that

Does anyone have a solution to this?

also, if I were to step back to CS4, will there be any serious issues?
I have a couple of photoshop items in the .fla, but otherwise it's pretty standard.

Why in the world is your file so large? I understand you've been at it for years, but have you been taking all the necessary steps to reduce the file size of all of your assets (compress sound/music, file formats, etc.)?

Ugh, I really don't know what to do with this now, I suddenly feel way too incapable of continuing it.

Just try to relax dude. Take everyone's advice and do what Barzona said and take your time. I know how it can feel overwhelming. I had zero knowledge of any coding language before I started to teach myself AS3 at the start of the year - you at least know AS2 which should make transitioning to AS3 a little smoother.

I'm sure you are dying to make this game you've been working on, but here is my advice: give it a break for just a little bit. Practice learning AS3 - you can even make a different, much smaller, simpler game while you are learning - and then once you feel more comfortable with AS3 go back to your game and rework it into AS3.

Ultimately, don't give up dude. Part of the thrill of programming (at least to me) is overcoming each difficult piece of new code you don't understand - no matter how small or simple it may be.

Best of luck to you.

I have this problem publishing flash games.

The thing is, I've only published pretty small games and yet they end up really laggy.
I know the problem isn't in my computer because it's supposed to be real fast, so i was wondering if there's something that I can change in the publish settings or something tho make the published game faster.

If you know any little tip please help. Thank you :)

Your screen does look rather intense like the other guy posted. Don't know if you used any filters for the rain/background. But I think there is a chance that the problem could lie inside your code as well. The more I played it the more things got rather buggy and I don't believe it had to do with the lag.

O...m....g..... My second game ever has made it on the list :O

Save The Sock reminded me of the Frog and Toad books I read as a child :)