circuitsense

Well I got controllers to work on this sequel, I would recommend using xInput for XBox controller emulation. My Dualshock 4 wouldn't work too well without something like Input Mapper, but hey, that's the standard for most gamepad supported desktop games! And yes, I know controller support implies that I will have to make the menus controller friendly.

Speaking of which...

Let's not cluster the game and all the menus together shall we? Taking advantage of the top level frames to seperate the preloader, intro, menus, and game. Not only should that keep away the unwanted sprites taking up memory, but it's also great for debugging. I pretty much designed the first to make me see the preloader, intro, and menus before finally testing something out in the game. Lol XD

I won't say much to spoil the surprise, but I'll say this. Clouds and rainbows. With similar fluidity as the first.

So far this has been a fun challenge to work on. Can't wait to finally release it...but of course I must wait or I'll start rushing.

Quick question before closing, should I stream? I've never done it before, but to help my awful stage fright, maybe I should.

See you guys in the next update!

I remember a time long ago when I played a Flash game that supported gamepads and being able to map buttons based off of it. After that, I wondered how I could do that in RDSP 1.

Well looking up the documentation for it, I found it was an Adobe Air class. Assuming it was ONLY for Adobe Air, I gave up trying to implement it.

Recently, I looked into it a little more and found that I actually CAN use the class for Flash, so I hope I can get it to work. Haven't quite tested it out yet, but I think it will.

Its likely to be able to detect any gamepad around as long as it has analog sticks and buttons for Windows to see. Like the last game, I'll surely make buttons remappable for keyboard and gamepad.

Animating RD would be pretty easy. Just make some labels and loops out of graphics to get the job done, right? Well it's a lot more challenging when accounting for OC customization. I plan to give as much animation to the OCs as any of the pre-made ponies, so I have to try and make the whole thing out of scriptable MovieClips so I can change their colors. Only thing that makes me feel uneasy about doing that is syncing, but that wasn't much of a problem with the first game. Wanna know how I colored the ponies in the first game? It couldn't be one MovieClip since changing the color would change the outline as well. I did it with two MovieClips, one for fill, and one for stroke. Tedious to say the least, and unfortunately, I don't see any other way of doing it.

One thing I hope to accomplish with OCs is how they're built. I'm thinking of just having the game build the pony layer by layer with position offsets. This way I can change the layering, and therefore put on accessories that need to be behind or above the mane or whatnot. Allowing players to move the offset will help them fix problems that I may not fix myself until later. It would also be nice to allow for sprite sheet reading so pony artists have a lot more freedom customizing their pony. Cool ideas, but I haven't put them into action yet. Still trying to make Spike's fireball look like fire! XD

Right now I'm getting the basics down first. Backgrounds, Sprites, etc. So far I haven't imported anything from the past files, starting from scratch.

Hey guys, well it's Summertime so if there's any better time to get this started, now's the time!

I finally came to the decision to make RDSP 2 a Flash project to upload here and here's my reasoning:

- I know how Flash works
- I know the language a lot better
- I'm trying to bring you guys an improvement, not another noob experiment.
- First project was for education on how to do it. Now I'm gonna do it right.

So I've sat here for a while, complicating the idea with a story and such, but I think I'm going to set that aside for now. We'll start with the improvement before the expansion, arcade survival.

Leaderboard support? Might as well implement it, but Player.IO has moved to Yahoo and probably somewhere else. So much has changed in that area I'm not sure where the leaderboard is. XD

OC Creator? I believe that's what you guys like the most of this project, so it's a must for this one. Like I said, I did it, but now I'm gonna do it right.

It's really too early to say much about the project as I've just picked it up and now planning out its structure. More updates to come if I get hooked and not stuck somewhere.

Hey guys, time is still running, and somehow I'm still getting more attention. So how about a progress report to know I'm not a dead horse, huh? (Did I already make that joke? It's been too long...)

I'm trying to figure the best way to approach RDSP 2. I've been learning some Unity because if I used RDSP 1 to learn Flash, this sequel will be for a bigger engine.

My biggest complication is how I'm gonna make the sprites. I wanted to use a runtime SVG renderer to write the sprite to a texture for crisp graphics, and that would've been a plus for character customization. However, SVG renderers cost money, and their runtime stuff is experimental, so I'm looking for an easier approach.

So then I thought, why not just use premade sprites and release generic sprites for players to draw on? Make a file import system so players can share their creations rather than ask me to provide the pony parts they want for their OCs. "What a great idea!" I said to myself. So that's the way I'm thinking of approaching the sprite system. Sprite sheets for each part of the character, and fine tune it with a built in editor. If not a built in editor, then maybe a little app I make to put the sprite together with a manifest. Not sure.

Another thing I'm wondering is the gameplay. I wanna make powerups and buyable upgrades to make things more interesting, as well as some bonuses. Not much has been done on the game yet, it's practically still an idea. However, I did recreate RD's sprite to have a lot more quality. Then again, I might ditch RD and the other characters completely and make my own OC set. This can be an Android game, and Google Play doesn't like copyright infringement. With the idea up there to mod the character though, there would be a way to play as RD or any of the characters you like.

In other things, I've been trying to pull off a big music visualization project. I've been making music videos and visualizations in my head ever since I've put on my first headphones, so I'm along with RDSP 2 I'm trying to pull off a dream project. Only problem is...well...copyright. Still trying to do it though, like I said, dream project.

Other than that, things have been pretty busy around here, looking for the time to work on my own projects. Not much else to say. I'll be posting if RDSP 2 takes off though.

See you guys!

It's been something I've been kicking around for a year or two. RDSP is the first game I ever made which I started up as a learning experience, then I began adding more features to it so I can learn more about Flash. As I went, I've looked back and thought maybe I should start from scratch again, but I kept going until I couldn't go any further.

But the people like it, I'm still seeing lets-plays being uploaded, and my watchers have recently jumped up for I can assume is because of the game. Every time someone favorites it, comments on it, or watches me because of it, I feel like I could be making something even better these days. It goes back to high school days, making really bad and confusing design and programming choices to make what I'm trying to make on it.

I recently had some ideas for what I would make of a sequel. Better graphics (like actually using more references instead of trying to draw it all myself), better animations, and better mechanics altogether. Maybe actually adding a story line to it instead of making people go through a few bosses and then getting stuck in survival mode wondering when the game is gonna end. I actually crack up a bit when I hear a complaint about that.

This would be a new learning experience, a more advanced experience in animation and programming. I've never used a single abstract class in that game, and I attempted to cut down on enter frame events. Pausing was all by a boolean var, in an enter frame event, for EVERY SINGLE ELEMENT IN THE GAME!!!

I would also take it as a learning experience with sound. I would remix the song on the main menu, and would probably learn to make some sound effects.

And honestly, who wants a better OC Creation menu? That was pretty much what set the game apart from the others, but even I find it difficult to navigate and customize through it.

Learning to segment and organize things would be a key lesson in all of it.

Sooooooo, RDSP 2, could it happen?

It could, it really could. Hell, I'm still in college, I don't have to make any big, money making productions yet. Nor do I think I should because I'm still learning. I tried making a Live Wallpaper that costed a couple bucks on Android, it didn't sell very well, and it kept crashing. That's the thing with bringing out something that costs money to download, I NEED to know what I'm doing and know that I'm doing the right things. A project like this, nah, no need to sell it. Donations maybe, but not a requirement to purchase unless I really feel ready to do that.

This could also expand to Android for me to build on my OpenGL engine to support 2D. Like what if I could export the assets as SVG and load them as textures to make super crisp graphics to put on there. I would have to change up the game assets and names to keep from copyright infringement, but it would be the game for a platform it was meant for, time killing smart phones.

So we'll see, it could happen.