http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/1/10/1690508/unravel%20the%20mystery.swf
(swfup has disappeared and I'm at a loss to find a functioning uploader, so I'll just have to provide the SWF to download)
This post is basically all the extra bits that I couldn't fit into the limited 1500 word report.
Firstly, as with the last time I encountered Flash, I experienced the see-saw effect; going from hating Flash to really liking it! The learning curve this time around was far higher than before, although the basic 'gotoAndStop' was still used a lot!
I am very happy with what I've made and think it's a good standard for an entry piece. My favourite bit is the home scene. It looks good to me being quite shady, especially with the shadow being cast on the wall. Furthermore, the idea of using a folder to contain all this, and making a character profile sheet just gives it that more 'confidential document' type look. From being a complete 3DSMax novice at the start of '08, I feel pleased in the progress I've made.
What worked well (once I managed to sort it, quite simply really - use a stop function at the end of each video!) was the video glasses, and being able to select what video to watch. I was restricted in Identities Part 1 as it was a straight forward AVI, whereas this time it was all about user interaction. We are beginning to enter an era of on demand video, and so I thought it quite a nice touch to be able to choose. Add to that the fortune of being able to maintain watching using the glasses viewpoint means it is all the more cooler.
One slight downside to this though is that a few of the intros used the letterbox effect, and meant that it sort of looked a little odd having the two black bars across the top and bottom, and then the fading grey effect on top. Never mind though -people might not notice anyway?!
Another favourite thing of mine was the logo section. Not only was I able to doodle and play around with quite a few designs, once I had hit on the design I liked, I decided to implement a style that is popular now - the faded reflection.
Strangely enough, the sketch for my final logo was a last minute, just chuck it down on the page one. This seems to have happened a lot in this project - ideas at the top of my creative output weren't always the ones I selected!
I feel the reflective technique gives it a sleek, shiny, glossy, modern look, and does so in quite a subliminal way. Of the examples I perused to practice this technique (Apple, AVON TV ad) I had never in my head been able to nail what I liked about it. It was only once I noticed the reflection and the way it imposes a sort of surface for the item to be sitting on that I thought I wanted to implement on my own logo. I really like my logo, the colours and circular shapes all blend and interweave nicely, and the bold 'ae' stands out, drawing attention. In addition, the sources of inspiration were of a good standard anyway, so by combining predicted a good result (hopefully!)
I really like playing around in Powerpoint and inserting motion graphics. Sometimes though it was quite frustrating: I'd find a look that all looped in, and synced on screen nicely, then I'd change something slightly and it would all knock it off and I'd already Saved the new version over the original. Luckily I'd recorded a copy of it so could refer back. This is one pointer I need to remember - save many, many times, under different names! I've been stuck in the habit of just pressing Save for the last how many years in my computer life, meaning it overwrites the good work. So like back in school, I'll set myself a target: Use Save As and append the file name!
I would have liked multi-faceted audio to accompany the motion, but as there is a lack of good quality and free sfx online, I edited on Audacity - reversing, slowing it down, fading it in. I am now content with the finshed AVI, and intend to continue developing my work in this area.
My favourite section of all is 'Crack the code'. I think it is an ingenious way of revealing aspects of my Identity. On the one hand you were required to sift through the information, using the descrambling method (something that I find fun and intriguing and really appeals to me). The poem also individually helps sell another fragment of my Identity (I like being creative with words and writing, probably due to being a fan of reading) and then once you find the word, it reveals another fragment of my personality! But what?! ...you'll have to find out!
For the main piece I included background sound from a mystery/detective genre (if at all there is one!), which hopefully helps building and signifying the theme of the piece. However, as the music isn't fundamental I decided to make available the choice to turn this on or off. - In my own experience, background sound can get annoying and tedious. User testing comments similarly shared this point of view, in that, if you need to focus, you don't want it on auto repeat and playing the same thing seven times over.
I did encounter a few downsides for Identities part 2. In my original designs for the MINI game, I wanted to use a countdown clock which would reduce the score awarded, depending on how quickly the user responded. - Pretty much a standard feature in online Flash games. However, I think I was slightly over ambitious in trying to achieve this, as the coding was complex and not really what you'd expect a noob to comprehend! As a result, I decided to leave this out, but if I were to do this project again, this is a feature I would definitely attempt to implement, so to reflect the standard of what competitors in the market are doing.
My intention for the code section was to be that the user found the letters, dragged them onto the answer area, and once all assembled it would display 'Complete'. Coding wise, this required using hit target areas or calculating x and y co-ordinate areas. I did try to get this to work, and received no 'Compiler Errors', but it simply wouldn't happen for real. The letters would just sit there! I managed to make a work around, a different input method - a text entry box, which works adequately, but it would have been nice to achieve what I intended.
Lastly, as we were loading our interactive pieces onto disc, my first trials of executing a working preloader just wouldn't work. It would just go straight to the main home page, completely bypassing the loading stage. It escaped me, as the coding was all correct and nothing erronous. On browsing through several preloader tutorials, I found the reason to be that the disc required no downloading! It wasn't on a server! So code with some var figures, posing as data that needed to be downloaded, meant that for the sake of the disc the preloader would work!
I tried to include a little animation of some finger prints appearing, or footsteps walking up the page, but my motion tweening technique are not as up to scratch as I'd like. The shape tween would let the heel of the shoe and ball of the foot appear, but it filled it in a peculiar manner, so I removed it altogether. I know that there is a technique of altering how it appears, but at this stage in time, felt that the interactive sections needed more focus.
As a side note, I chose to use the wording 'the answers you seek are LOADING' as other sites that I've visited used an enticing message and it spurred me on, increasing my interest. So hopefully using this technique on my site will have the same effects.
So all in all, I feel I have learnt a lot through this part of the Identity module - techniques, design processes, software skills. And add onto that my completed site! It has spurred me on to carry forward what I have learnt and experiment with Flash, making more sites, which I feel have the potential to be better than the standard html format. The interactive site has also confirmed (initially it made me seriously question!) my ambition to take up the Online Environment pathway next year. So here's to bigger and better things to come!
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