Thanks for the help, but I don't think the problem is locating the image because I've gotten it to not say 'File or directory not found'. I think its a matter of permitting the file move. But... it can't be the permissions because I've adjusted all of them.

I have a scenario where I have images in a pending folder that need to be moved up one directory when a form is complete. For example's sake, lets say it looks like this:

one/two/image.png --> one/image.png

Where on the left is the original name, and on the right is the name I want. I tried using the PHP rename() function to achieve this, but I had no luck. My code looks something like this:

//PHP FILE IS LOCATED IN /ONE
$img = "image.png";
rename("/two/".$img, "/".$img);

The errors I come across is either "this file cant be found in blah blah blah", or "operation not permitted in blah blah blah" I have changed the permissions of everything to 777 to eliminate any stupid problem preventing success, but it didn't do anything.

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

At 12/18/07 02:02 AM, Fion wrote: Try and minimize how often you test for these collisions. Say for example, you group up the blocks into say four separate groups and depending on the distance between the object and a certain point depends on whether it checks for collision with the blocks in that group. Obviosuly you'd need to work something out that is practical for your engine but thats just a basic idea. Understand?

This is basically what I'm doing. My current collision test is taking the absolute value of the difference between the x coordinate of the particle in question and the x coordinate of the block in question. If they are both less than 25 (block width) then the collision progresses on to the same test with the y coordinates. If they are both true then the collision is true. I can't think of any way to improve the collision beyond this; it doesn't get much simpler than four operations.

At 12/18/07 01:35 AM, BoMToons wrote: ...if fancy-pants can pull off their giant worlds with super duper physics and not have lag, then there HAS to be a way to design your game to avoid lag.

I have no idea how Brad does that either... Anyway, this is generally what I think, and I usually don't come across much lag, but in my recent game concept I have particles all collision testing against about 200 blocks, which obviously means a frick-load of collision testing per frame. I've made my collision testing since the standard hittesting function has a more intense algorithm than I need, but I still can't shake the feeling that I can optimize it more; maybe cut out some trig functions, steamline the movieclip removals, or maybe something I haven't even considered yet. I'm still getting frame rates of around 24-27 on my computer which I would consider average so it isn't like I'm in bad shape, but I do feel like I don't have a whole lot of room to expand.

I don't mean to steal the stage from Luis' post, but I don't quite understand it (the next day as in the 26th? if so, no) but I have another topic.

Lag... Acceptable?
I'm working on a game right now and it isn't getting a perfect framerate, but through a lot of code rewriting I have gotten it down to what I think is 'acceptable'. However, acceptable is a very subjective term. For all I know my 'acceptable' may be someone else's 'cut my eyes out why am I playing this lagging turd'. And so I raise this question: when is a game too laggy? At what point do you cross the line from noticeable lag to annoying lag to unbearable lag? Has anyone else ever wondered this?

At 11/10/07 08:06 PM, lautan wrote:

At 11/10/07 05:51 PM, Ertyguy wrote: OnClipEvent(enterFrame){
i = 7;
trace(i);
}

You know you don't need an enterFrame loop to do that right..
var a = "1";
if(Number(a) ==1){
trace("condition done");
}
trace("variable a "+a);
trace(typeof(a));
trace(a.length);
trace(a == 1);

You know you can put all of that in a single trace command by concatenating "\r" or "\n" or newline and still keep the returns.

To the tutorials writer: Everyone knows what trace is, and this tutorial barely scratched the surface of its uses and abilities. You didn't even go beyond outputting strings. You should have included the limits of trace, the uses for trace, and tips when using trace (such as the \ commands, a few of which I mentioned earlier).

Ahh like x-ray vision. You can do that with a simple masking technique. I explained it in the Tutorial Collab '06 in my section on cursors, but I will explain it again here since it doesn't take long :)

Your cursor will be two movieclips, one is the actual cross hair graphics, the other is just the area of the cross hairs (in the example you posted the area of the cross hairs would just be black filled circle the size of the graphics). Your timeline will have four layers set up like this:

cross hair movie clip
cross hair area movie clip
hidden stuff
background

The hidden stuff layer is being masked by the cross hair movie clip layer. Now tell flash to set both movie clip's coordinates to the mouse coordinates and you should be set.

If I read what you said correctly, your problem is that you can't see your cross hairs because they go under a background?

A couple careful things to check are:
-The cross hairs aren't the same color as the background (hopefully this isn't the problem)
-The cross hairs have a higher depth than the background (an easy way to ensure this is to put the cross hairs on a layer above the background.
-The cross hairs aren't on a guide layer
-You aren't telling the crosshairs by code to not exist

That isn't the proper syntax for the duplicateMovieClip() function.

i = 0;
_root.duplicateMovieClip(Player_Shot, "Player_Shot"+i, _root.getNextHighestDepth());
_root["Player_Shot"+i]._x = 120;
_root["Player_Shot"+i]._y = 120;

Assuming Player_Shot is the name of the movie clip you want to duplicate and that it is on the main timeline, this is one of the many ways to express what you desire.

I as well had a game sponsored through Mo from MoFunZone. From my experience he was fine, maybe a little different than other sponsors, but different doesn't make him worse.

MoFunZone ++++
Really communicates to you as a person rather than a machine. Laid back, has experience, has good looking branding materials for your game (e.g. preloader, site button). His one downfall is that he is controlling. Personally, I am a take charge kind of guy so it was hard for me to say Okay to all of his orders, but it wasn't impossible, and it paid off in the end.

Seriousness++++
He runs a website for games, he sponsors games, he takes pride in what he does. He has a knack for being casual while productive which I find to be a good thing; I don't like to picture my sponsors as big business men in ugly suits.

Money+++++
Excellent money especially for such a small game. When no one else would sponsor my game, Mo was there to offer me more than I originally expected. Another plus was that he paid me on the spot, before the game was even on the web.

Efficiency++++
Since most communication was done through instant messengers, it only took a few days to get everything settled. He lost one plus because his manner of doing things may seem foreign to those who have sponsored through the bigger names.

Social+++++
Pleasant to talk to. I still chat with him every once in awhile about the flash scene.

Overall
I don't know if I would sponsor a big game through Mo just because if I'm holding the game close to my heart, I want as much control as possible. For small games I would definitely go back to him. Great money, and quick sponsoring make for a winning combination for mini games.

CS4
If you go to rotate the stage when you have a lot of stuff on it, it would rape your resources like no other. Cool, but not very practical. Personally I would still like to see array functions in the drawing tools. Polar Array and Array Along Curve mainly. Those of you who have used 3D software should know what I'm talking about.

YYYEEEESSSSS!!! I lose again! Two weeks of undeviating focus for less than 1000 views and and no prize package to make up for it. Oh well, this is what happens when you submit to contests. I tell myself this every time, but another contest comes buy and grabs my attention. Someone has to win, right?

</emo>

How big of a game are you looking at? Most flash games are made by only one or two people. If two people then one artist and one coder. To be frank, your game is very cliche, top down shooter and zombie theme, and your credentials are lacking quality.

Don't let me stamp out your hopes; there might be a someone out there willing to help you, but I am just saying what everyone else will say in a nicer fashion. Good luck with your game and practice practice practice :).

At 7/19/07 11:51 AM, Luis wrote:

At 7/19/07 11:49 AM, hashbrown wrote: lol i found this cyanide and hapiness, it was pretty funny

babummm pshhhhhhhhh

Predictable from the first panel.

At 7/18/07 01:03 AM, BlackmarketKraig wrote: Damnit.... the new redesign does not agree with Opera. Now I'm using Firefox, that's going to take some getting used to.

Don't worry it's a change for the better. Opera is a nice browser and all, but firefox is larger and much more compatible. Even if it does have a few too many pop ups now. Once you get all the plug ins, theres no need to go back.

You would start with animation movie clips where each body part is another movie clip. In those body part movie clips are all the different selectable body parts, one per frame. You would change these frames when customizing your character and since the animations exist based off the movie clips themselves, not the graphics they obtain, all movements are maintained.

Body MC < Body Part MCs < Different options for the parts on each frame.

At 7/17/07 08:53 PM, Pezboy440 wrote:

At 7/17/07 08:50 PM, Rudy wrote: Maybe, you went to the wrong page. This is the right and new page with Level Icons:

lalalala here.

I love you....... so so much.....

Dont love him too much, the page doesnt show level icons for 31-60. If you check the statistics page, even Pimp is only level 50 (golden shirukens mmmm....)

At 7/17/07 08:29 PM, Gi-go wrote: Yeah I know, but that thing sucks.

I would much rather have it right on the main profile page, all flashy and such. It gives alot more to the award experience. I mean who wants to click on your profile, then your flash then scroll to the bottom just to see which of your movies have awards? I just think it kind of sucks.

If you go to your account settings it looks like you will be able to custimize the locations of stuff on your user page so it still might be possible to bling out your trophies right on top in the near future.

At 7/15/07 10:34 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote:

At 7/15/07 10:28 PM, Mogly wrote:

At 7/15/07 10:25 PM, zippe6 wrote: ya this thread is huge

Its prety huge isnt it

almost as huge as my cock

I was debating about whether I should say that or not. I decided better of it. But then again... I don't have ban immunity...

At 7/15/07 10:17 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: What's your GPA/SAT score. I need to know what my competition is

Chances are a college like that will look at more than statistics, but if you want to hear, I can tell you.

I'm a horrible child and haven't taken the SATs or the ACTs yet so I have no score. But my GPA is 4.06 at my school because of weighted classes. Without weighted classes its just your average 4.0.

Colleges

Thats funny Glaiel, Im looking into Digipen as well, and I'm going to be a senior this year also. My problem isn't in finding the schools though, it's finding the money. My family isn't anywhere near able to afford college for me so I need to rely on making money on my own or getting too many scholarships to hope for.

And as far as colleges for game design, I don't believe there are any good ones other than digipen (which is part of the reason why they get away with having such a massive tuition) if I was you I would look into schools with good computer science programs as well.

In my latest game, just submitted today, Rudiments , I'm using bitmap data to snapshot the _root scope to use it as a transition effect as it falls and the new frame is shown behind it.

My problem is that the transitions only work with Flash stand alone player. When viewed on the web, it is just a white box falling ): Would anyone happen to know the solution to this problem?

Code below:

import flash.display.BitmapData;
var screen:BitmapData = new BitmapData(600, 300);
screen.draw(_root);
_root.createEmptyMovieClip("slide", 100);
_root.slide.attachBitmap(screen, 1);
_root.slide.onEnterFrame = function() {
this._y += 20;
this._rotation += 1;
if (this._y>=400) {
removeMovieClip(this);
}
};

Thanks in advance.

If you wrote the code yourself, then you should know how to use if statements. I'm not going to give you the code, but I will tell you what needs to happen: The enemy needs to check the distance between it and whatever it is following. If it is less than the distance it moves in a frame, then it needs to not move. This can all be done with one if statement around the movement code.

For the picture, try making the lines darker shades of the fills instead of all black. That will make it look more natural and the characters will stand out more.

Not sure what else you wanted to get feedback on, but I will just say some things, discard them if you wish.

The text at the beginning that says your affiliation, play around with it some. You don't want a boring Arial font face because, well, its boring. Use some colors and something unique to interest your audience.

The cracks on the walls also stand out a bit too much and don't look like they have much depth. You can fix this by duplicating the crack (ctrl + d) and locating it right next to the first crack. Make one lighter than the base color and the other darker.

Your atom apple is looking around for a bit too long, your audience will lose interest.

All in all it seems to be turning out alright so far. Just one last tip, make sure some of your background is animated as well because nothing in life sits still forever.

The problem with running through an array for your hit testing is that isnt very efficient. The best way to do it is to use shape flags and opposing forces. This way you only have a couple hit tests to get your vector and one result dependent on your vector.

But to keep it simple, just add the walls into your if statement:

onClipEvent(enterFrame) {
if(this.hitTest(_root.wall) || this.hitTest(_root.wall2)) {
this.gotoAndStop(2);
} else {
this.gotoAndStop(1);
}
}

The reason why people aren't answering is for two reasons. The first one being that you are being much to picky. The second being that you have already given everyone the impression that you are a demanding jerk.

The first step to receiving a review is to be open minded. You are going to get crap and you are going to get quality feedback. Im sure you know how to differentiate so what is the problem with posting in the forum? Back to being open minded; the last thing you want to do is shut down peoples ideas. This defeats the purpose of the critique.

If you upload your work I will gladly give you feedback, just remember that a critique is different than praise.

This sounds like fun, and I would join if it wasn't such a bad time for me ): I'm gone for a week starting tomorrow.

note to self: start posting more often

Bodily Statistics

Height: 5' 7.75"
Weight: 130lb
Shoe Size: 9.5 - 10
Distance between nipples: 8.75"

No problem, I'm glad I was able to help.

At 5/24/07 03:30 AM, dELtaluca wrote: for the rendering, i just create the vertex and fragment shaders for per-pixel lighting - shadowing, normal mapping and everything.

Oh is that all? :P