Tags – gui.

WebExpo 2010: Preparing Data for Performance-Critical Apps in Flash.

In case you’re going to attend WebExpo 2010, I’d love to invite you to my talk.

Some people don’t like Flash because they experienced it in the form of annoying Flash banners and intro animations. But this format is groundbreaking and it’s possible to create almost anything with it; from simpliest animations to very complicated and sohpisticated applications.

Flash has given me absolute creative freedom for 13 years now. I learned how to use it effectively and created my own process which I will introduce to you…

I’m illustrator, graphic designer and also a programmer of Flash games. Most of our games are designed for Facebook. They have to be fast, small and very attractive. I will share my experience with development of these games.

I will show you my workflow from application design to execution. I use self-made framework that is available as opensource. I will also talk about more general process of preparing and optimizing data.

Pokud jdete na WebExpo 2010, rád bych Vás pozval na svou přednášku.

Flash může být někým vnímán negativně po zkušenostech s otravnými bannery a intro animacemi, kde bývá tato technologie použita. Přitom je tento formát naprosto přelomový a je v něm možno vytvořit takřka cokoliv, od nejjednodušších animací, po velmi komplikované a propracované aplikace.

Mě Flash dává už 13 let naprostou tvůrčí svobodu. Naučil jsem se ho efektivně využívat a vytvořil si řadu vlastních postupů, které Vám představím.

Jsem kreslíř, grafik a v poslední době také programátor flashových her. Navrhujeme hry hlavně pro Facebook, které musejí být rychlé, malé a velmi atraktivní. I o zkušenosti z vývoje těchto her se s Vámi chci podělit.

Představím vám svou workflow od návrhu aplikace po realizaci. Používám svůj vlastnoručně naprogramovaný framework, který jsem publikoval jako opensource a je tak k dispozici i vám. Kromě toho se budu také zabývat obecnými postupy přípravy a optimalizace dat.

Bzoonkbar Preview.

Here at Falanxia we’re just about to publish a new Facebook game.

Here you can see a panel where you can buy (or sell) drinks, fruit, receipts etc. The whole concept and pixelpushing of the panel is done by me, however icons are done by Michal Hotovec and Petr Stefek.


Bzoonk Bar – Sidebar panel


Don’t miss the tiniest icon ever: “HI” in the header

For your consideration here is another mockup I created for the facebook game we’re going to release very soon. All unread notifications are stored here – until the player clicks the button in the middle (label translates to “Erase all messages”). There are obviously three levels of messages: info, warning and error, each with an icon.

On top there’s an info bubble with the player’s current money amount and current guests and current VIPs in their bar.

The buttons in the footer turn modals on and off. “Notifications” is the current one, while the second one is a Drinklist.

Don’t worry, of course the game will be in English (and other major languages). For us it’s much easier to maintain locales in Czech, since it’s our mother tongue.

I hope you’ll be able to play the game live on facebook soon.


All unread notifications are stored here – until the player clicks the button in the middle

Bzoonk
Use arrow keys to go to the bar, drink beer and run to the toilet before time is out. How many beers could you stand? This is the first game by the Falanxia team I currently work with.
Year:
2010
Client:
Falanxia
See it live at apps.facebook.com
Clarion Hotels Panorama Viewer
Clarion Hotel in Prague provides conference rooms for a wide range of events. I was asked to create a panorama viewer where potential clients could see the halls exactly how they look when prepared in several styles and settings.
Year:
2010
Client:
WDF
See it live at cchp.cz

MumboJumboT: Day 2.

Ok, here’s a weather forecast for today: coding coding coding, since main graphics of the MumboJumboT project is done done done.

MumboJumboT body

Here’s MumboJumboT’s body.

The space in the middle will be canvas for all audio controls and displays. I am not entirely happy with his head, so I’ll revisit it at some point. I planned to make it in 3D (rotating while playing), but maybe I’ll keep it static, while making it richer (I think robot needs ears, antennae etc). PSD is here.

Screencast

While drawing I recorded a movie you can watch here:

Now what

So now let’s jump into coders’ world. Don’t forget to follow @MumboJumboT on Twitter!

Update

MumboJumboT project is done. Read more here.

MumboJumboT.

Since today I’ll be working on a small one week project, something like a workshop. I’d be glad to prepare an application for realtime visualization of audio.

I love this kind of projects: you got a limited time – 7 days should be enough to prepare a small application. Game, audio or video stuff, you name it. When you work alone, you could manage your time more precisely, there’s no one who tells you what to do and what you should avoid. It’s solely your work and you can do whatever you want to – but it has to be done before the deadline, which can’t be moved in any circumstances.

This time I’ll prepare a small audio application. No business plan, no desires to sell it. No visible sight of making money of it. Just simple fun. This app was on paper for too long and this contest made me start it.

The app will mix samples in a never-ending stream of blabs. Everything will be mixed randomly from predefined settings, adjustable by you. And most importantly you’ll be able to make your very own generator by recording audio from your computer’s Line In or Microphone input.

I want to show you some of technologies I developed during last few years. GUI widgets with loadable skins, audio processing (I made few multitrack sequencers and mixers), a slice of 3D rendering. All Model-View-Controller via PureMVC.

I want to use these technologies if you’re interested to know:

If you want to take a few lessons from ActionScript and these areas, this project is a lovely place to start. I did not tell you? Everything I am going to produce here will be licensed as Creative Commons, open for everybody. And that doesn’t apply only to source codes, I am talking about assets, source PSDs, illustrations, samples etc.

So if you’re interested in what I am going to come up with in next 6.5 days, enjoy me on the voyage. It will be a rather fast, but very fun trip. Watch this place and Twitter stream at @mumbojumbot.

Update

MumboJumboT project is done. Read more here.