Using Flash Productively

In the long term I want the Between The Lines series of interactive books to be online. This means that file sizes need to be small to keep loading time down. The way that I have made the template enables it to load in separate files of art work and dialogue as and when it is needed. This means that at the start when it loads initially, All that will need to load is the frame its self (which is well below 10kb) and the first part of dialogue along with the accompanying artwork, which again are both small in size. If everything had to load at once, the file could end up being huge and wouldn't work effectively on the net. Also because of the nature of the book and the fact the user chooses what to do. Some parts would be missed out and it would be a waste of time having to wait for these parts to load.

I have used empty movieclips in the template. One called art_loader and the other called dialogue_loader. The action script for the links in the artwork looks something like this:





door_btn.onRelease=function(){
_root.art_loader.loadMovie("ART/CLASSROOM.swf");
}




_root. means that the command is being sent up from the art work movieclip to the template where the art loader is located.

This process enables me to have folder full of all the artwork movieclips, one full of all the dialogue movie clips and one simple movieclip (the template) that when opened calls up and opens everything from the folders as and when it is needed.

Navigation

Because all of the dialogue for each section of the story might not all fit in the dialogue box in the template, I have made buttons to take the user from page to page. The benefit of this is that it is better that scrolling and clicking next can be a trigger for something to change in the artwork.

The evil mechanical Killing Bears!

For this story the Baddies (for want of a better word) are mechanised bears. At some point int he story these will be released!

Unfortunately I cant upload swf files on this, But the bears eye will be flashing.

Selection

When the user rolls over an area of the image which is interactive everything else in the image darkens slightly. This is an effective way to clearly show what the user has selected.

The image that you can see here is a class room. The user will be able to look in each desk or break into the experiment room!

Template

OK so this is how the story's layout will look. The frame and style would look different for each genre. For this story it is in a futuristic style because it is a science fiction story. For a crime story the frame might have finger prints on it and the dialogue could look like it has been written on a typewriter.

As you can see, the artwork (now it has all been done in flash) looks much cleaner. The artwork gives the reader choices. In this case they can click on either the door or the trap door. The trapdoor has a hazard triangle on it so there is some danger if they choose to go this way. It depends on how the user wishes to go through the story.

Ideas for art work

For the artwork in the story, I initially wanted to use 3D Studio Max. Because the story that I am doing is one about alien abduction, I have modelled some simple Alien Pods for an example. I have used the 'Ink & Paint' material to make it look cartoon. I am not overly impressed with the results. There are to many nasty looking edges and Because of this I have decided to do all of the artwork in Flash, as I am very competent with drawing in this programme and it will also considerably decrease the file size of the artwork.

Identity

Because there are so many genres to choose from, It was silly to just make one story which suits every one, As this simply isn't possible. I have decided that a series of books would be much more appropriate. For this project I will only be making one, but it will be designed not as a one off, but as part of a series. Above is the logo that I have created for the series.

When designing it I had in mind an image of a rubber stamp in a library book. Please let me know what You think!

Major project workbook

As I go through out the practical stages of the major project I will update this blog to show how the interactive book will develop.

Incase you are reading this and you don't know what I am doing for my major project, I am producing an interactive book to help encourage 14-16 year old student to read. The book will provide exiting visuals to enable the students to choose the story as they go along.