In part one, the focus was on building the server logic for a multiplayer game. Now, we’ll get to work on a PushButton Engine client that will connect and communicate with ElectroServer. If you’re completely unaware of how PushButton Engine works, I’d urge you to spend some time checking out the documentation to get yourself up to speed.
Let’s get started!
There are many options available when deciding on which Flash engine or framework to use before development begins on your next single-player project. Should you decide to add multi-player capability, the list gets shorter. This is especially true if your game crosses over into the MMOG or Virtual World domains. Code reusability, game asset management and premium performance are all key to successfully reaching that goal. PushButton Engine satisfies these criteria and more by offering a component-based architecture, dependency injection, a robust engine core and a strong community.
When deciding on which server technology to use it’s quite a different story. The list of viable options is much shorter. Scalability, maintainability, extensibility and price all come to mind when shopping around for the right product. The RedDwarf server (formerly Project Darkstar) is tempting due to it’s cost (free) but developers who are interested in simply writing their game code may become discouraged due to it’s steep learning curve. Enter, ElectroServer. When I recently started exploring ElectroTank’s flagship product, I was hooked on it’s highly-polished API and how dead-simple it was to get up and running. Couple that experience with it’s potential to scale to hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users and it’s difficult to find a better option.
Not too long ago, I struggled with embedding fonts in my AS3 app that I build with Ant. Building my .swfs with Ant has been my practice for quite a while but embedding fonts wasn’t. It took some time but I finally figured it out. Everything was fine until I tried to build using Flash Builder which kept reporting transcoding errors.
So how do you enable proper transcoding of fonts in Flash Builder? Add the following to your compiler options.
-managers flash.fonts.AFEFontManager
If this doesn’t work, let me know. Docs on embedding fonts seems to be in short supply so I’d like to collect as much information as possible.
Week 7 is here! This has been the most difficult week so far. Trying to juggle family, work and S’troidz! proved to be difficult and thus, S’troidz! had to suffer. The good news is that it wasn’t totally unproductive. I managed to implement the majority of code needed for the final alien type and that alone represents a pretty important milestone on the horizon: The completion of all major game objects!
Week 6 has arrived along with hyperspace jumps and shields! I struggled with how shields should work but ended up settling on the most destructive method (destruction usually equals fun). This means that when shields are up, your ship becomes a weapon allowing you to smash through anything.
It’s been an incredibly busy two weeks. Unfortunately, not so much for S’troidz! The good news is that I accomplished the goals I set for myself, was mega-productive at work (or my “real’ job) and managed to retain some semblance of a life outside coding. As difficult as it was to stay away from S’troidz!, the break actually served me well and the batteries are charged for another push.
OK, so what’s new in S’troidz! r5? Let’s see!
I’m continually amazed at how difficult game design is. I was reminded of this during the r4 dev cycle when I started implementing power-ups and other goodies. Given the platform I’m building on, it was easy. Adjusting the game play so that it was still fun was tricky and required a change to how the ship moves.
I learned more than I produced this week. This wasn’t by choice. I had planned for a lot more. What started as a leisure session to create some explosions (among many other things) ended up being a complete rewiring of nearly half of the classes that make up S’troidz!
This week’s update is bittersweet. I added some cool stuff but had to dump dynamic game balancing. (It’s not you, it’s me) Deep down I knew it wouldn’t last. I just didn’t think I’d be killing it so soon. It’s still something I’d like to work on some day but for now, I’ll be rocking a more linear approach. It’s easier to test and much easier to change. Onward!
I’m posting this as a reminder to myself and as a beacon of hope to others who need to embed a font in ActionScript 3 and build using Ant. It took me forever to find a solution (shown in step 3).
The documention didn’t provide enough information. What I’d like is a chart similar to what they have in the livedocs for mxmlc options but whatever… at least the source code was included. The answers always live there.
