Organization

	Extended Time For Education Project

	Ain't You Lucky?		Due Wednesday, May 14th. Class time spent on project. Have your questions ready! Homework later than today will be downgraded :(


	Storyboarding

	The Development Process		If it doesn't work on paper, then it won't work when you build it. Stages Thumbnails/sketches Storyboard Review Revise Animatic/Layouts/Blocking/Prototype Review Revise Develop Software Review Revise Debug & test, test, test "Test early, test often" Deliver Support

	What Is A Storyboard? Example		Project Documentation! Common Contents Overview of project High-level text description of the project, like: "An interactive maze game based on the characters from the Matrix film series and character" Platform specifications What operating system What browsers What version of the Flash player Description of project goals A text description of the goals the project needs to meet to be successful, like: "This project should engage the player in an immersive game experience, recreating the atmosphere and character identities of the movies." Description of target audience A text description of the end-user, like: "16-24 year old males with overloaded testosterone levels" Pictorial storyboard

			The storyboard should include text descriptions of the following when relevant: Frame Number Important for group presentations, especially over the phone Title Description of interactivity Description of Animation Text On Screen Important for proofreading and spellchecking Interactive Flow Diagram Issues A great place to keep track of outstanding issues in the process of developing the storyboard. No storyboard is ever done on the first pass. Project Milestones Your promise to the client about when you'll deliver parts of the project for review, when you need the reviews back, and when you'll have it finished.


	Why Storyboard?		Project Documentation! Common Contents Overview of project High-level text description of the project, like: "An interactive maze game based on the characters from the Matrix film series." Platform specifications What operating system What browsers What version of the Flash player Description of project goals A text description of the goals the project needs to meet to be successful, like: "This project should engage the player in an immersive game experience, recreating the atmosphere and character identities of the movies." Description of target audience A text description of the end-user, like: "16-24 year old males with overloaded testosterone levels" Pictorial storyboard


	ActionScript Flowcharting If it doesn't work on paper, then it won't work when you build it

	Ambivalent Feelings		Some love it, some hate it, real programmers do it. A survey of associates yields various opinions: "I often do flow charts and other design documents for my complex projects. It helps the client understand the technical processes better, and more importantly, it impresses them into thinking you know what you're doing ;). Seriously, they have really helped me get up to speed when updating an old project. I wouldn't get bogged down trying to follow a particular format too closely; as long as everyone can follow it, it's better than not having something at all." "Very rare when I us it, but when I needed it, it's indispensable. "I do flowcharts all the time." "I occasionally chart out stuff when I'm trying to get my head around something or if I need to explain a process for another to implement. It can be useful for very complicated things OR for explaining things to a client (or making sure you are on the same page as a client)."


	Basic Symbols		Process block Represents a set of linear actions that occur one after another Decision block A junction in the program. You can either go forward or turn, depending on whether the answer to your question was true of false (yes or no) Event or stop Represents the event that initiates or finishes a particular flowchart


	An Example		Control Buttons We want to build some buttons to control the timeline of the movie. The Stop Button The Play button is pretty much the same, but plays the movie from its _currentframe The Pause Button Two events, press and release The Fast Forward Button Makes a decision based on the _currentframe and resets the animation to its beginning


	Links		Flowcharting Examples Here's a better tutorial than mine Flowcharting software The industry standard: Microsoft Visio Cool Mac folks I know prefer: OmniGraffle


	Organizing Code

	Encapsulation...		...is one of the great things about object-oriented programming. Example: Control panel movieClip Source Example: Same clip, multiple controls Source


	Exercises

	1. Enhance the controls		Take the "multicontrols.fla" source file and enhance the buttons so that buttons that shouldn't be available are dimmed out and disabled. Hint: Review Class 10's Button Object example for a method to dim and disable a set of buttons. Source for button object

	2. Add some controls		Take the "controls01.fla" source file and add a rewind button and a reverse play button that rewind the movie 5 and 1 frames at a time, respectively. Hint: Borrow the logic from the Fast Forward button Remember: The "gel" buttons are under Window:Common Libraries: Buttons. Advanced Flash Graphics Challenge: The two new gel buttons are green. Change them to the same color as the other button.

	3. Advanced: Add some more control		Take the file from exercise two and make the reverse play button keep reversing the playback when you release the button. Hint: Strategic removal and placements of the onEnterFrame=undefined statement Advanced Challenge: To get the pause and play buttons to work correctly, you'll need to set a flag...