Flash & AS3 info, source, & experiments
Archive for March, 2008
We’re Hiring: ActionScript 3 Engineer
01882 days
Well, we’re basically always hiring (so apply even if this ad goes away), but given that the OSFlash Job Board just had a relaunch, we thought we’d try our luck at using it.
Here’s the contents of the job posting:
ActionScript 3 Engineer
DigiDeal Corporation, Spokane Valley, WA
Deal yourself a winning hand! Join DigiDeal and develop digital games for the gaming industry! DigiDeal is the worldwide leader in electronic table game development. Our Digital Table System and game portfolio are recognized around the world for engineering excellence and innovation. We offer fully paid benefits, matching 401k plan, and competitive salary/incentives. DigiDeal is an EOE. If you’ve got what it takes, get in the game and work with the most creative and dynamic casino game developers.
DETAILS
-Develop multi-player Flash-based games
-Write Flash apps for touch screen technology
-Code exclusively with ActionScript3
-Join a team that is always trying to push Flash to its limits!
REQUIREMENTS
-3+ years software development
-BS/MS in CS or equivalent experience
-ActionScript 3 (preferred), AS2, Java, or C++
-Strong OOP skills is a must
-Game development is a plus
You can also apply be e-mailing me directly: natejc at this domain name dot com.
Adobe MAKE SOME NOISE
21890 days
I was also having problems with the SOUND_COMPLETE event. I discovered Andre Michelle‘s post petition about it and promptly added my name to the list. There have been multiple other people posting about the problem also. Unfortunately, the only response that I could find from Adobe was by Brent Baker on a bug report for the issue that states:
“FlashPlayer issues should be reported here. Also you will need to provide much more information on the issue: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform”
It seems that the bug was closed without actually looking into it. Bummer.
Automatic Flash X,Y Wireframe Preview
01893 days
At the company I work for we use Functional Specification documents for any new Flash game that we make. Before any of the developers start any coding, the design team puts together a simple frame by frame Flash file to make it easy to see what things will look like in the various states of the game. This will eventually become screen shots put into the spec. There will be an additional section put into the spec that includes all of the top-left and center x,y coordinates for each MovieClip on the stage during each frame. That was usually a tedious part of the job that none of the designers liked doing. When they brought this to my attention, I decided to make a quick script to do this for them. Here are the results:
USAGE:
- Copy and paste the code into frame 1 of any Flash file
- Make sure all objects that you want wireframes for are Symbols (for some reason, the x,y is off if they aren’t)
- Run the swf
- Use the arrows keys to change frames
- Use space bar to toggle wireframe view
- You may press the space bar multiple times to get new random colors
- You can click and drag on the x,y text to move it to a new location
SAMPLE:
Web Collage – Cool Idea
01896 days
I stumbled across a site today by Jamie Zawinski that randomly pulls various images from the web blindly (I do not know the workings of the algorithm) and throws them together every 60 seconds or so into a collage. If any of the images spark your interest, simply click on it to go to the website. Pretty fun idea and a nice thing to have running in the background while you’re doing something else. I know that people have done similar things with flickr before, but it’s nice that this is not limited and that it doesn’t require any browser plugins. Here are a couple of sample screenshots:
Warning: Unfortunately there seems to be occasional “rated R” pictures. It would be better w/out that, but still a nice idea.
mouseEnabled and mouseChildren Affect CPU Load
41897 days
I was reading a post from Keith Peters today and noticed a comment made by Ryan Taylor mentioning that mouseEnabled and mouseChildren affect the CPU load. I had to know if this was true or not so I promptly created an experiment app. The app randomly creates 700 parent sprites and 700 nested children sprites. You press the SPACE bar to toggle .mouseEnabled and .mouseChildren for all of the objects.
I couldn’t believe it. Although disabling these properties did not seem to affect the FPS, it definitely affected my CPU. When tested on my WinXP,SP2 machine with a P4 3.4 HT CPU, the swf was taking 13-16% of my CPU. When I set mouseEnabled and mouseChildren = false, the CPU load dropped to 4-6% total! It cut down the CPU usage by about 300%! Very good to know. Thanks for the tip Ryan!
I now have Adobe AIR on Linux!
31898 days
by Nate Chatellier
in Adobe AIR
Adobe accepted me into the AIR on Linux Alpha tester program! I just finished downloading everything and will let you know how it runs shortly. On a side note, I’m hoping it will fix the long-standing “while connected over an XML socket to a server, play a sound file and the network connection gets dropped” bug. More info as soon as I’m permitted to give some-stay tuned!
Update: My initial tests have shown many of the AIR-specific features running excellent! Way to go Adobe!