Animator needed for RTS flash game!

[FatalFuryX]

Hey!

I'm looking for a skilled animator to collaborate with in making an RTS (Real Time Strategy. Ie. Starcraft) game coded in AS3.

Here is a link showing the base movement and unit selection engine.

Click "a" make the units move to where your mouse is pointing. Click and drag your mouse over the units to select them. Make sure caps lock isn't on.

Turtles?

I started an RTS game before this, but AS2 just wasn't powerful enough. It could barely handle 30 units without slowing to a snails pace. As you can see, AS3 is quite powerful, and is capable of calculating positions, organizing, and analyzing over 200 different units at once with little or no lag therefore once again provoking me to test its limits.

I'm looking for someone reliable and fun to work with. Having prior experience with making a game is a plus.

Please post here if your want to team up and leave a sample of what you can do.

Thanks

FatalFury

[blah569]

I'm not the greatest animator, I do programming, but I wanted to say that looks pretty nice :).

[FatalFuryX]

Thanks, as a programmer you probably understand the difficulty in making this type of game so wish me luck!

[Jephz]

i know i'll sound like a total newb saying this, but what is AS3 and whats th difference between AS2 and AS3 AND how do you write AS3? is AS3 the same coding as AS2 for example on(release) { etc. Can I get AS3 for Flash 8? I know its a lot of questions, but I'm curious.

[FatalFuryX]

At 1/19/08 08:14 PM, Jephz wrote: 1. what is AS3 and whats th difference between AS2 and AS3
2. how do you write AS3
3. is AS3 the same coding as AS2 for example on(release) { etc.
4. Can I get AS3 for Flash 8?

1. I used this excellent tutorial to get myself acquainted with AS3. I managed to become familiar with it within a week.
2. See 1
3. Somewhat. AS3 is much faster because of various reasons. Most are explained in the tutorial but the main difference (in my opinion) is that it is much more strict. You'll get what I mean once you start programming.
4. Not that I know of. Get CS3, AS3 is worth it in my opinion. The speed is great =).

[gankro]

you need to be able to select more without un-selecting by holding down shift aswell! but very nice regardless.

[FatalFuryX]

At 1/19/08 08:49 PM, gankro wrote: you need to be able to select more without un-selecting by holding down shift aswell! but very nice regardless.

I had that in mind before and was actually in the middle of implementing it right now lol.

[FatalFuryX]

I added the shift function.here it is.

[blah569]

This may be a minor bug, but it starts selecting as soon as the SWF runs. Anyway, I am about to start my first major AS3 project (I've done minor ones). I'm more of a PHP person, but I also do many other programming languages.

[FatalFuryX]

It's not a bug, I put it there so that when it loads and the mouse is out of place they can just follow it back to the main location. It was just for this demo.

AS3 is pretty easy to get used to if u do java or c. Good luck!

[M1KES]

I would be interested in helping, if you wouldn't mind using 3d... I can make 3d units and vehicles and animate them. You can check out my 3d work on my profile.
1 problem would be, i couldnt work on it this month. I'll only be free for some projects on febuary.
But before i would also like to know more details, and i am sure it would interest anyone else that wants to help.... What are you aiming for? A futuristic setting? a ww2 type of setting? If sponsored, will you divide the $$, and if so.. how much %? And when do you need it to be done? How much credit would be given to the artist?

[FatalFuryX]

At 1/20/08 12:45 AM, M1KES wrote: I would be interested in helping, if you wouldn't mind using 3d... I can make 3d units and vehicles and animate them. You can check out my 3d work on my profile.
1 problem would be, i couldnt work on it this month. I'll only be free for some projects on febuary.
But before i would also like to know more details, and i am sure it would interest anyone else that wants to help.... What are you aiming for? A futuristic setting? a ww2 type of setting? If sponsored, will you divide the $$, and if so.. how much %? And when do you need it to be done? How much credit would be given to the artist?

That's great! You have the exact style I was hoping for! Well, I'm aiming for it to be a post-apocalyptic setting while the world is in anarchy but I don't want to spoil the story. The animator will get 40% and I will get 60% unless they do an excellent job in the art in which case it will be 50/50. No due date is specified yet, and the artist will get coauthor.

[masterock]

I am a good animator but not with flash. I just started at flash. Can somebody help me?

[GustTheASGuy]

At 1/20/08 08:35 AM, masterock wrote: I am a good animator but not with flash. I just started at flash. Can somebody help me?

I find that hard to believe because animating requires brain usage which would make mastering Flash trivial. Also you should be able to realise that learning cannot be done for you. And that you shouldn't post irrelevant requests in others' threads.

[redroy99]

i'm i good animator

[El-Presidente]

At 1/20/08 09:02 AM, redroy99 wrote: i'm i good animator

No you're not. Nor are you a good actionscriptor. You've been spamming up the Forum yesterday and today with all your lies. It's gotta stop man.

[hyper111]

yes i think i could help a little im not the best but im alright fo a rookie

[Fion]

Just a bit of feed back on your engine.

You should make it so that the scrolling is only in the very far edges of the screen because having it all over the screen based on distance from the center is fucking annoying, imagine trying to click something in your nifty little control panels and having the screen scroll off in some other direction. I'd suggest doing it as most RTS do it and only scroll if the mouse is in the outer most edges of the screen.

Another thing I noticed is the formation of the units. For example you select a bunch of units from a spread group and move them to a certain area, they form a small formation, the problem with that is sometimes you have units from the far side of the formation walking all the way over to the other side of the formation just to even it out. I'd just find that annoying if I were playing the game.

Good luck with your project.

[Fickludd]

More Feedback:

The engine looks solid, and the turtle formations are very nifty. Question though: are you planning on using terrain? If so: do you have any good plans for pathfinding?

And another thing: the select-circles seem to be changing size every time i give a selection a command. Intentional? Am I imagining?

And for curiosity, I'm programming a RTS too, a somewhat old demo is here.

[FatalFuryX]

I'd suggest doing it as most RTS do it and only scroll if the mouse is in the outer most edges of the screen.

Taken into consideration. Thanks.

sometimes you have units from the far side of the formation walking all the way over to the other side of the formation just to even it out

That's intentional, It's in order to make the groups organized. I had to choose between increase in performance or a very minor change.

Are you planning on using terrain? If so: do you have any good plans for pathfinding?

Yes. Buildings, bridges, water, dirt roads, etc. will all be part of it. I was thinking of implementing the A* algorithm but it might be too much for AS3. I'll work at it when the time comes.

And another thing: the select-circles seem to be changing size every time i give a selection a command. Intentional? Am I imagining?

No you're not imagining, the circles redraw themselves when you select them using the drawOval() function. The oval radius is determined by a Pythagoras calculation (a^2 + b^ = c^2.... a being width, b being height and c being hypotenuse). So when the units rotate slightly, the height and width of the displayObjectContainer (the restraining movie clip) is changed, causing the hypotenuse to be slightly different, resulting in a different Oval size. In any case, the Oval is still drawn to always tightly surround the unit from it's longest side.

And for curiosity, I'm programming a RTS too, a somewhat old demo is here.

C
Either it doesn't work, or I don't know the controls. XD. Can you post them here?

[Fickludd]

At 1/20/08 12:27 PM, FatalFuryX wrote: Yes. Buildings, bridges, water, dirt roads, etc. will all be part of it. I was thinking of implementing the A* algorithm but it might be too much for AS3. I'll work at it when the time comes.

A* works fine in AS3, although since you seem to want large amounts of units you probably need some clever optimising.

No you're not imagining, the circles redraw themselves when you select them using the drawOval() function. The oval radius is determined by a Pythagoras calculation (a^2 + b^ = c^2.... a being width, b being height and c being hypotenuse). So when the units rotate slightly, the height and width of the displayObjectContainer (the restraining movie clip) is changed, causing the hypotenuse to be slightly different, resulting in a different Oval size. In any case, the Oval is still drawn to always tightly surround the unit from it's longest side.

Why ovals? I think you could save some processor time using circles instead.

Either it doesn't work, or I don't know the controls. XD. Can you post them here?

Lol sorry :D.
Click selects, shift+click to move the group. Arrows to move the camera.

[FatalFuryX]

A* works fine in AS3, although since you seem to want large amounts of units you probably need some clever optimising.

I'll do my best =P

Why ovals? I think you could save some processor time using circles instead.

Yeah my bad, I meant the drawCircle() function, I was tired XD.

Click selects, shift+click to move the group. Arrows to move the camera.

That's pretty cool! So it's squad based? That's some interesting path finding you got there, it doesn't seem like A* though. What is it? If it's custom please explain how you did it.

[OOGIDIBA]

i might be able to do some animating, also the scrolling is a little sensitive, otherwise awesome engine. even if it isnt done

[Coolio-Niato]

just have to mention, as others have already, thats some darn good coding =) U might though have problems when u take into account bounds for buildings, and when u cant form full circles like that.

Good luck mate!

[FatalFuryX]

At 1/21/08 09:09 PM, Coolio-Niato wrote: just have to mention, as others have already, thats some darn good coding =) U might though have problems when u take into account bounds for buildings, and when u cant form full circles like that.

Just want to say thanks to you and OOGIDIBA. Well for the circles, I've decided to use the A* algorithm (most likely) in which case, the units will find their way to their locations and if a building is in the way, they will move next to the building.

[PostTimeskipSam]

I am at a medium experience level with animating. I haven't worked with a game that require Units. So I made a Tank.

[FatalFuryX]

At 1/21/08 10:37 PM, DarkMana wrote: I believe he's referring to how units will orient themselves when you command them to a location where their traditional formation would overlap on impassable terrain.

Hmm.... Well first of all I'm going to likely limit the number of selectable units at once to reduce the load from path finding, therefore allowing me to use what I like to call "Depth based organization". So the units whose target is the impassable terrain will move themselves to a depth deeper into the circle until their destination is walkable. This is just a theory and I am certain their will be much more to consider later in the process.

[Fickludd]

At 1/21/08 08:17 PM, FatalFuryX wrote: That's pretty cool! So it's squad based? That's some interesting path finding you got there, it doesn't seem like A* though. What is it? If it's custom please explain how you did it.

Thanks! It's squad based, and does use A*, but only on a squad level. A* is used to find the best way for the group to pass around terrain. Movement for the individual units is then made smooth using force based steering. It's a bit complicated :D.

[Nqkoi1]

Animation is something Im working to perfect right now but check out my graphics work if you want.

Indestructo Copter

Santastic Santa

S.T.A.R. defence

Indestruc2Tank

Armor Academy

CattlePult

And there is always my Deviantart.

[Patareco]

I would like to participate by making something =)