Whatever you do, don’t click on any squares.
Prepare to be musically attached to your computer forever.
2
Category Archives: Flash
“I am convinced that whenever fanboys get together in large crowds, two will try to do a handstand race.”
The above quote is from when we went to see Dark Knight at the midnight showing.
You may have noticed some changes to the site (unless you’re reading this three weeks later when Facebook imports it)(or you’re a Russian feed stealer. To you I say a hearty, “Nyet!”).
There are certain causalities (and sometimes casualties) to blogghing:
- I always upgrade to the newest WordPress.
- When I do, I want to try out new things and load a new theme.
- Upon loading a new theme, I browse through older stuff that wasn’t as prominent in the older theme.
So, to celebrate the new WordPress and the new theme (and an agent who liked my query letter and first five pages so wants to read the next 50), I present to you:
The Birthday Game
Plucked from the depths of The BLOGgh, help the Super Saiyan fight off hordes of nerdery’s deadliest monsters (or at least the Clip Art I could find online). Who cares about score – can you make it past Phil Collins to hear Sephiroth’s song? (Yet another phrase never typed in Internet history.)
Progress in voice recognition
It’s not just your voice, but now sounds:
Voice Gesture from didier.brun on Vimeo.
All programmed in Flash. Pretty cool. Watch the circle in the top-right corner. He hasn’t programmed in the sound of a can hitting the table yet.
Chuck Norris in a Shopping Cart
I taught how to change X,Y values for a movie clip and how to create a HitTest event handler.
With this kid’s final project, though, he added in cheats/Easter eggs. I had shown him Verb Volley (and how if you airball 11 times it shows @VafeR’s and adds $.42 to your score).
See if you can figure out how to unlock multiplayer and how to switch the cart rider into Chuck Norris.
Verb Volley
I thought that this file had been deleted and I had been kicking myself.
Setting up an old external hard drive tonight, I found this:
I uploaded it immediately, because we all know the BLOGgh will outlast my corporeal state.
Is that a default?
Last night at Harkins San Tan I was watching trailers and such. Then the ads came on their mini-screens in the lobby. What did I hear? Broadcast_News_Medium.aif followed by Medal_Ceremony_Short.aif. I can spot them anywhere because I just finished three weeks worth of iMovie classes with students and staff.
The big question: are these used just at San Tan because it’s new or are these songs throughout Harkinses everywhere? Crazy to think about.
Also, if you want to see what I taught a kid about ActionScript, check out his game. (Great, more GarageBand!)
The Haiku
It is tough to find
Good songs to use, like right now
when default won’t pass
Vote Unleashed vs. Force Unleashed vs. Zamzar Unleashed
Vote Unleashed
So I got some texts and e-mails yesterday and today about my friends recommending who to vote for and all that. Once Brownback was out of the running, I was in the air.
Then I remembered sites like vote-smart.org and ontheissues.org that break down quotes, promises, and actual actions of politicians. I’m leaning strongly towards Huckabee right now, but not because of trendiness. There’s some cool stuff out there:
It’s the old Boy Scout rule of the campsite: You leave the campsite in better shape than you found it.
Even though I’m not a BS (depends on who you talk to) this has been my take on stewardship of Earth. His stance on life, pro-life not just before birth but then once the baby is born, and the need to leave a lasting legacy all strike a chord with me. To my knowledge Huckabee has voted like this, too. Improve the educational and online standing of Arkansas doesn’t hurt, either.
To be completely honest, one of my detractors is that he looks like the evil president from 24.
Once again, check out vote-smart.org and ontheissues.org to check out what the voting record says and what the candidates have historically said. (And on the record: when did immigration become a violent national concern?)
I am even less of a fan of traditional media. My vote is UNLEASHED!
Force Unleashed
Force Unleashed continues to look awesome. This much is true. But to fully understand what you will see in the trailers that I link to, you first need to see Penny Arcade’s take on them.
Basically the new AI programming makes people try and rescue their buddies as they are being flung into oblivion. I agree with Tycho – hanging on to crates is cool. But I diverge when I say that the Leo diCaprio/Kate Winslett spinning style into a glass explosion is very Harrison Bergeron-esque. (My dad would be proud of my Vonnegut reference, having spent an entire section of college tracing his steps.)
Here’s the new Star Wars Ultimate Power trailer.
Haden Blackman actually makes the Wii version sound fun. I want it to be. I really do.
Haden Blackman has actually written some weapon guides, comics, and the Ruins of Dantooine novel. He’s the project director. Woo! Actual Star Wars fan creating Star Wars games.
Things you will not find in the game:
- Slaughtering younglings
- The appropriate use of Knowledge() skills
Things you will find in the game:
- Princess Leia
- Stuff exploding
- Actually user-controlled Star Destroyer destroying
Zamzar Unleashed
If you haven’t seen zamzar.com yet, you need to check it out. It will convert any file, whether uploaded or URL referred. No more incompatibility of music/picture/text/video files. The site doesn’t require you to download anything. It e-mails a link to the server where your file is stored. This includes turning FLV files into MOV files. Yes, you can capture YouTube videos. The new Napster, essentially.
The Haiku
Good resources are
tough to find and hopefully
don’t get district blocked
Sprout Flash Widgets
Have you seen the new Flash widgets maker, Sprout?
You know those galleries, video players, calendars, and news readers that you see in facebook and The Unmentioned Enemy? Now there’s a web-based app to create those widgets on the fly.
Boom, baby!
Gallagher Academy Entrance Exam
I’m pretty excited with how my one hour project turned out for the Gallagher Academy in Love You, Kill You. I have to select 200 students to see Ally Carter. The students will watch the quick movie and then be taken to a login for a spy school entrance exam.
The Haiku
Spies are great watchers
but lack the tact to tell you
your tail is showing
King Brian in ‘The Defense of Elrod’
The site was running slow with the game embedded (awesome soundtrack, though) so here is the link to:
Get to Frog-Mania
Grammar Ninjas Abounding
I think I’ve been schooled by a high school student.
Wiicade.com has an API (programmer code stuff) to be able to program for the Wii. (Yeah, I know!) I like the game Grammar Ninjas. It was made by a high school student and his English teacher. It reminds me of Verb Volley. As everyone knows, ninjas love grammar.
Li Mu Bai and Dragon Fist
There is a crazy flash game called Dragon Fist. You can be almost any cool martial arts guy, complete with signature moves. (Almost meaning no Chuck Norris, Stephen Segal, and Jean-Claude VanDamme.)
Booyortovich and the Fight for Perestroika
I believe that the hope for the long line that everyone hopes for to break down the wall represents the switch to capitalism after the Berlin Wall fell.
Here is the most recent game of The Realm, Booyor and the Fight for Perestroika.
Enjoy. I would love to know high scores. (I’m trying to figure that out in flash. The tutorial that I looked at crashed when I ran it. You can thank me later.)
Here is the swf just in case you are a crazy guy from New Jersey who likes to play my games on big screen TVs with Surround Sound.
Jeff’s Birthday: The Game
To celebrate his birthday, I made a game of epic proportions.
You can play it online here.
If you have a slower connection (or if it’s just too massive to be logical on the Internet) you can also download it for: