Just increase the framerate and avoid framerate lags.

There is no such thing as "mouse lagging before framerate". Unless your AS is broken, the cursor should update it's position at each frame. If the framerate lags, then obviously the mouse will lag, there is no way around it.

At 6/2/08 06:21 PM, ThePeasant wrote:

:1) I want to make a variable associated with a movieclip without having to direct it to an existing movieclip. How do I do that? I read something about assigning classes but I can't for the life of me figure it out. Wouldn't it just be:

newClip:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
newClip = CreatedClipClassType;

for existing MCs, just do:
var movie:MovieClip=target.of.movieclip;

For creating and controling movieclips, 1st create it in the stage, then assign a class name for it (in linkage window, just click the right button in the library and namr it as a class) and then use this class whethever yoiu want it.

2) is there any way to change the framerate of a sprite's animation? Like for example, under such-and-such conditions the clip should play fast and under such-and-such conditions the clip should play slow?

No. You can only change the framerate of all flash movie. You can, however, create an actionscript to do that, or slowing your animation by using many frames per draw.

3) is there any way to make an object slide across the screen (instead of jerk across the screen) without having to turn it into an animation file?

sure. Just turn it into a MovieClip instance and apply some tween on it. Or draw it frame by frame (using MovieClips are obviously faster and better)

4) does anyone wanna animate my game? please? pretty please??

Don't think so.

You should at least show some skills in something before trying to convince people to help you. If you don't have it, then no one will join you.

We can, however, help you here in the forum, with Any questions you might have..

At 4/21/08 10:50 PM, 8Blaze wrote:

At 4/21/08 10:20 PM, PyroflameProductions wrote:

Because with a button you have 4 frames: normal(can't remember real name), over, mouse down, and hit area. His game is an animation of this buttons fadding away. When your mouse is over top of them the mouse down frame is "active" so you can see the path, eventually you will make it to the button at the end.

Interesting. Hadn't though of that :)

You can do more complex stuff using behaviours, though, like swap depths, creating MCs, loading and unloading external MCs, dragging stuff, and so on.

We could do a much better game with that. :)

At 4/21/08 10:20 PM, PyroflameProductions wrote: His little, press and hold thing used actionscript... on (press){ is still actionscript. Also, how would he detect that the mouse wasn't touching that line without using actionscript?!

They probably uses behaviours and a lot of MovieClips as hit collisions areas.

Damn, it is hypnotic. I am seriously thinking in posting a flash of it :D

PARTY HARD!!! (PAC MAN WILL EAT YA!)

At 4/21/08 03:10 PM, Skeik-Sprite wrote:

At 4/21/08 02:21 PM, Pixelwelder wrote:

At 4/21/08 11:47 AM, iyeru42 wrote:

Using _root/root in the first place is a bad idea.

How so?

_root/root and parent/_parent, although useful in the animation point of view, is a very bad design idea in Object Orientation. A child instance from another instance should not be able to control it's parent. The parent is the one who should control his children.

To OO point of view, If you, for any reason, need to use "root" or "parent" then there is something very wrong: the Movie/property you are trying to access should be inside where you are using it, not outside.

Nonetheless, AS3 DO allow you to access parent and root, and all their properties. You just have to use type cast for it (explicitly stating the type of parent and root, like I've showed in my previous post)

What are you guys are talking about? If you turn off the strict mode in AS3 the "root" property will work almost exactly like _root!

And for scrict mode just use

MovieClip(root)

or

(root as MovieClip)

I really don't understand why you people whine about things you CAN do on AS3.

Just use flash and abuse it's tween/shape animation tools

How do I change my nick here on NG?

That's what happen when you help lazy delusioned people.

I forgot to mention: Kajenx solution also have a flaw: as it declare ro.ot as a MovieClip, it won't be able to access children on it by their names. Same problem as using the DisplayObject variable "root". (the only advantage is that you can use animation stream functions, like stop() or gotoAndPlay()).

You can always do a little of both: typecast it as a static property of a class (and start it somewhere, perhaps the Movie's class) and then use it at will without typecasting it again.

I confess I am a bit worried about the engine's speed, thought. You are creating squares inside a bitmapped shape. Over time (and running collisions+ AI behind it), it may become VERY slow.

At 4/20/08 02:36 AM, Moonkey wrote:

And note his "ro" class will also have to be imported to be used.

No it won't.

It will. Not by the scripter, but by flash's compiler.

At 4/20/08 02:15 AM, Kajenx wrote: @ sspecter: Look, I never do anything more complex than for loops and if statements. Timeline programming is cheap and easy, and a dream for integrating with animation.

Then try to learn about AS3 buttons and listeners. That's the worst difference between non-strict AS3 and AS2.

It have a very good reason: AS2's button triggers are a really mess. AS3 just threat button listeners as any other listener in the language (example, AS3 allows mouse events and key events in a MovieClip, instead of button and a textbox, respectively, As2 didn't allowed it), but sadly it is not transparent in the Flash user interface, as in AS2 buttons.

If you don't like about AS3 buttons and listeners, you should stick with AS2, as thinks will not go any better.

At 4/20/08 01:23 AM, Kajenx wrote: Oh, thanks for pointing that out. Strict mode is probably what's been killing me...

The main thing that's been holding me back with AS3 is the strange elietism that's grown up around it.

That is because people usually don't apreciate learning things that already works the way they do. AS3 is usually a more strict code (unless you disable the strict check). For people who only do animations, it may see as some unnecessary burocracy. But the changes in AS3 have pretty good reasons to be like it. For example:

- AS2 is too condescending with code errors, it may simplify things, but it also mean a really hard time tracking them.
- AS3 comply with the ECMAScript standard, same as Javascript and JScript, meaning it is accessible to any programmer from these languages. The standard also guarantee all OO programming is consistent and respect all OO paradigm, and make the language rules predictable by any 3rd-party tools and future Flash releases.
- codes spreaded randomly through timeline are too hard to read, track and organize. Making classes in separated as files is way better to keep track of some heavy code.

At 4/20/08 01:23 AM, Kajenx wrote: I'm realizing now that I can do pretty much everything the same way I have been, whith virtually the same code, but I've been avoiding it because all of the "real programmers" have come in and said OOP is the only way to go. It's like everyone suddenly forgot Flash was an animation tool.

The problem is that Flash is not just an animation tool. It is also a very powerful creator for interactive applications. But AS2 was just way too underpowered for code organization, speed optimization and debugging.

Adobe, however, did a wonderful job at allowing AS3 be used easily and unrestricted in animations in the timeline lust like AS2, by just unchecking the strict mode. The problem is that people learning it don't know the hidden check in the AS properties.

At 4/20/08 01:23 AM, Kajenx wrote: Is there a case when I'll have to worry about root related errors if I'm not importing anything?

Yes. If you try to access some unexistant variable the compilation will only complain at runtime (and only when the variable contents is accessed. The error don't say which line it happened and is hard to track). The compilation will completely ignore it.

In AS2 it ignore even at runtime, allowing errors to be run. And with strict mode it detect these errors promptly at compile time.

At 4/20/08 01:08 AM, Moonkey wrote:

At 4/20/08 12:28 AM, sspecter wrote: I don't think so. this solution may help anyone as misguided as Kajenx.

It may be misguided, and I wouldn't use it myself, but it's a fair bit faster (and arguably more readable) than doing a fresh cast to MovieClip every time :p

I don't think so (but not sure. At least in C it isn't). Considering a DisplayObject reference as a MovieClip in the memory is a very straight and low-level thing to do. There are no complex conversions or operations working below type casts. And type cast is the proper way of doing polymorphism between a parent class and a descendant. The only problem with it is that wrong type casts are ignored until runtime.

And note his "ro" class will also have to be imported to be used.

And, come on! Do you think "ro" more syntactically legible than "(root as MyMovie)"??? :P

Anyway, it is not like you would use it at each frame: codes in timeline are highly discouraged in AS3, so your code in timeline will resume to button calls and shortcuts.

I guess you guys never played Worms or Lemmings. You could make similar games with this engine.

There are many ways. Here is 2

1) create both objects in run time, and do something like this:

obj1._x=obj2._x;
obj1._y=obj2._y;
obj2.removeMovieClip();

2) make one object in each frame of the movieclip, then change the frame when you want to change the object

Looks like a flaw in your game planning. You are the one making the game, so you should be the one to figure it out.

Few suggestions:
- Add a little randomness in the enemy's movements
- Add different enemies which try different things to get the player
- Try to make the enemies be aware of each other, and work collaboratively to get the player
- Don't allow enemies to overlap each other (by making hit tests against each other)

Sounds interesting.

You should post a swf example of it, so your big words aren't empty.

You must specify what problems are you having.
The flash menu don't give it a clue. I don't even know what the hell are you trying to do.

I don't think so. this solution may help anyone as misguided as Kajenx.

I know i had many issues when I started learning AS3, as root didn't seemed to work (because of the strict mode, it couldn't access child movieclips)

You should prepare the bitmap as you want it in a program like Adobe Photoshop.

Using trace bitmap convert the bitmap into un-optimized shaped vectors, which will make your MovieClip a lot slower.

Create an array tracking all wall MovieClips. in the player movement code, do something like this:

walls=new Array();
speed=5;
//add all wall objects in walls

playerMoveRight=function(){
  player._x+=speed;
  for (itr=0;itr<walls.length;itr++){
    if(player.hitTest(walls[itr]){
      player-=speed; //or calculate the exact distance for the player to be a pixel of distance from the wall
    }
  }
}

How!!! Completely useless and cumbersome solution!!!

AS3 DisplayObjects (including Shape and MovieClip) have a "root" variable which works just like AS2's "_root". The only differences is that the MovieClip must be included in stage before referencing root, and it can't access properties and methods not native of DisplayObject (as the instance root is of type DisplayObject).

If you want to access custom variables in root (like a child MovieClip), there are 2 ways:

1) instead of using

root.myMovieClip;

, use

import myPackage.MyMovie;
(root as MyMovie).myMovieClip;

, where "myPackage.MyMovie" is the MovieClip class linked to the root.

2) disable "strict mode" in the actionscript properties, in publish settings. Then you can use "root.myMovieClip" as you wish, without errors.

The 1st option is better as you don't turn off the strict error checking in AS3 (with strict mode it get a lot easier to track errors). But if you want the flash as condescending to errors as AS2, turning of "strict mode" is an option.

At 4/6/08 06:56 AM, ProfessorFlash wrote:

At 4/6/08 05:46 AM, Bum-Secks wrote: maybe he's gunna spend a year working on it

If he works a year on it, it will be spring again :).

Maybe he gonna work 1 year and 8 months in it, then :)

If I understood you right, you want to evaluate a target relative to the root, but not in the root. I think there are 2 ways to do that:

With eval:

eval("_root.All.P1.P1.Bullet"+_root.bulletCount+".whatever");

with brackets:

_root["All"]["P1"["P1"]["Bullet"+_root.bulletCount]["whatever"];

Both codes are awfully slow. You should avoid using it in onFrame functions.
Note i didn't tested the codes, but, if it don't work, should be something like this.

Try to find some drawer who is willing to draw while you animate it. I suggest making some animations portfolio and posting it here for artists to see it.

You can also steal some sprites and animating it. But it generally sucks unless you have a very good idea for it (there are outstanding exceptions, of greatly animated sprite flash, like MK vs SF)

Just to fix my phrase, so there is no misunderstanding:

For obvious security reasons, Flash don't allow you to write server-side files from client side.