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Table Top Map Maker
8/25/20
A while back I started keeping a web page to track of my D&D games. It made running games a lot easier to have all of my information in one place. The only real downside was making maps. For a while I would just carry my custom maps in a folder. Then, wanting to have all of my info in one place, I started taking pictures of the maps and uploading them to my server. While it worked, it was not an optimal solution.
After a while I though it would be more convenient to have an application to make maps, save them for editing, and export JPG files. Well, I started out on this a little over a month ago (working in my spare time) and have come up with the beginning of something that has a lot of potential.
Currently, the interface is simple enough. On the right side is a select menu with different tile sets you can pick from. Click on your tile set and then click where you want to set it. There are some simple features like zoom (in and out), a toggle for stacking tiles, a grabber and an eraser.
There is basic file management functionality that lets you create a new map, save a map for editing, load a saved map, and export a map to a JPG. The save files use a JSON format to store the SVG data and repopulate it on load.
One feature that I'm excited about is how the master SVG tiles get loaded into the application. In the ./tiles directory there is a file name tile_sets.json that allows anyone to include more tiles, thus allowing creates to make and share their own tile sets!
When making a tile set you can start with the mm_tiles_templates.svg (or .ai) make a copy and name it. Then you'll see several layers (<g> objects) each with an id that signifies where the tiles relative placement is. There is also a guides layer that will not render into a tile in the application. This is just to help tile authors line up their edges.
The application is in a usable state currently and you can make, save, and export maps. The next steps are making the design look better; I sort of slopped it together as I developed. Then I'm going to work on making it mobile friendly. After all of that, I plan of nailing down the Help instruction and committing it to my new Cyber Monkey GIT share so people get build new tiles and features.
Anyways, if you are interested making some maps or just want to play with the app, check it out here!
Action JavaScript
11/2/19
Now that ECMA 6 JavaScript standards are widely supported on most browsers I wanted to start a project that would help me explore the intricacies of the new capabilities. Being an old ActionScript expert and fan of game development I thought developing an AS3 like set of libraries would be a fun an interesting project. Currently, for lack of a better name I'm calling it ActionJavaScript ... at least until I find a better title. The project is currently running under GNU GPLv3 so, ya know, do as you will with it.
I currently have a good enough foundation to create web games with relative ease. My test game for the project is Mad Monkey and the Thunderdome which I plan on building up along with the AJS libraries.
Here is a list of the current libraries available.
Currently manages basic events and object hitTests.
Stage - scripts/ui/stage.js
Just as in Flash the Stage object is the main container for all other UI element and is essentially a glorified MovieClip.
MovieClip - scripts/ui/movieClip.js
An object with a set of frames and frame rate that and play or be controlled via script. The use of "ENTER_FRAME" events allows for easy control.
Frame - scripts/ui/movieClip.js
The hold the different "frames" used in movie clips and can consist of a group of text or images.
BitMap - scripts/ui/bitMap.js
A standard pixel based image similar to a JS Image object.
TextField - scripts/ui/textField.js
Used for adding and controlling text object.
Button - scripts/ui/button.js
An interactive UI component for click events. Buttons currently have four states that can be styled [up, over, focus, active].
So far creating my little test game took less than a day and one I get this project moved forward a little more I would like to start making move browser based games using it. I think the time is long overdue for a Skate-er-Guy 2.
If all of this sounds like something you'd like to play with you can download AJS along with my test game HERE.
Shadowrun: The Anarchy Wars
12/14/15
Since I was a kid I have been a big fan of the Shadowrun games for the Sega Genesis and SNES and cyberpunk things in general. In fact about a year or two ago I beat both of those classic games again, emulated on my PC. Around this time I was checking the net to see if there was anything new in the world of Shadowrun and I saw some startup called Harebrained Schemes had made a new shadowrun game on Steam!
It was grate to be back in the world of Shadowrun, with all of the cyberpunk art and culture. I had a great time playing Shadowrun: Dragonfall and after beating it several times with different charaters, I began looking around in the User Generated Content section and seeing that several people have made their own games using the content editor packed with the original game. A lot of these user uploaded games were also really fun to play. Eventually I beat all of the stories that interested me and started checking out the content editor.
What started out as just some simple experiments quickly turned into me writing a whole story. One of the things I liked most of the old (SNES & Genesis) games was that you could make a lot of different choices in how the game progressed and the worlds were very open. I wanted to try to make that the focus of my game. The result of my work is a game called Shadowrun: The Anarchy Wars
With out giving too much away,
"After a job goes south in Chicago you flee from the UCAS (United Canadian American States) Army to Pittsburgh, an area where there is no established government or UCAS control. You have a buddy there that says he can get you work and help get you set up in the city."You'll need to download Dragonfall in order to play my game, but trust me, it will be more than worth the $15!
Stelor Games
5/16/09
Well it turns out Stelor Producions has went under. For those unaware I worked for Stelor back in 2006-2007, makeing various mini games for children. Recently Stelor has went under and It just so happended that I came across a larg portion of the games I had made when working for Stelor. So I will share them with you!
I have uploaded 9 new games! That may seem like a lot but keep in mind they are all mini games. Some of my favorites out of the recently upped are GooLander, Spiral Maker, and Alphabuzz. So go click on the games section and play (that's the icon that looks like a game piece or joystick). Keep in mind they are ALL children's games so play them as (or with) a child for the optimum experiance!
Gootropolis On-line World
...old
Gootropolis is the new site that me and a team of developers have been creating. The site fallows the guidelines of the club Penguin world where you create you own little avatar and walk around a virtual world, talk to other people, and play games. All games on the site were either brainstormed and created by me, or converted into AS 3, by me. Jump in and play at gootropolis.com.
gootropolis.com is no longer active
Symphony City
...old
A project that I have invested many hours into, and many more it seems to come. My roll in the development team is the programmer. While I don't get to do any of the fun design work, my skills as a developer have been getting tested like never before and I am learning a great deal at the same time. The entire game is coded in AS2, with a little tiny splash page using HTML and JavaScript. This on-line on-line educational game is successful at helping children identify with symphonies and classical music. So go ahead and
Play Symphony City!.
I was the sole programmer for the site, and made the pass-code system for the login, that enables students to continue sessions, based off of the last level they have completed. This has been my first major web project I have ever tried to tackle
Update!Phase one of Symphony City is completed!
Update!
The game is no longer hosted but you can still play it HERE.