Create your own Virtual World – Step2

/

Welcome to second step for creating your own Virtual World. Last week we created our character, this week we will create the background for our room. My goal is to show you how to create a very simple virtual world with Flash. Step 2 – Rooms

Every virtual world has a collection of rooms.

I prefer rooms that do not scroll and allow players to see the horizon. The horizon allows the players to see the entire world, and encourages the player to explore. When creating a room consider the following:

  • Keep the center of the room open so players can move around.

  • Keep players away from the edges.

Considering we are creating a virtual world for Rubber Ducks a bathtub would make an excellent room

RubberDuck-Room1

RubberDuck-Room1

Let’s get to work!

Your room includes three key movie clips:

  • Background - The artwork behind your characters

  • Foreground - The artwork in front of your characters

  • Block - The area characters cannot walk

  1. Open Flash and create a new file.

  2. Create an empty Movie Clip and name it "background"

  3. Now position the "background" on your stage (0,0)

  4. Start drawing your background!

  5. Create another empty Movie Clip and name it "foreground"

  6. Now position the "foreground" on your stage (0,0)

  7. Start drawing your foreground!

  8. Create another empty Movie Clip and name it "block"

  9. Now position the "block" on your stage (0,0)

  10. Start drawing where your characters CANNOT walk.

Next week: We will use Actionscript to load the room and the character.

Create your own Virtual World - Step1

/

After thousands of requests asking "How did you create Penguin Chat?". I have decided to publish a series of posts on how to create a simple little virtual world. Here is a list of skills and tools that you will need to create a virtual world:

  • Adobe Flash

  • A Programmer (Actionscript)

  • An Artist/Animator

  • A Server (We will discuss this later)

  • Time

Step 1 - Characters

I start every world with the character. The character is what the player will become, and interact with every day. Your character must delight the player. Here are some ideas for selecting a character:

  • Keep your characters simple.

  • Select a character that can be both a boy or girl.

  • Leave room for the player's imagination.

For this series, I plan to create a virtual world based on Rubber Ducks.

RubberDuck-Character1

RubberDuck-Character1

Let's get to work!

  1. Open Flash and create a new file.

  2. Create an empty Movie Clip with 8 frames.

  3. Start drawing!

  4. Each frame is the direction your character is facing. Frame1: South, Frame2: Southwest, Frame3: West, Frame4: Northwest, Frame5: North, Frame6: Northeast, Frame7: East, Frame8: Southeast

  5. It is very important that your character stands on the (0,0) position. This is where their feet should touch the ground.

  6. Now position the Movie Clip on your stage (0,0)

  7. Give your Movie Clip the instance name: "character"

Trick: Frames 2-4 can be flipped to create frames 6-8

Feel free to post your questions, next week we will create the World!