Hey all,

thought I’d post a current personal project I’m working on as it’s just about playable, glMonsterMaze (http://www.antonmills.com/stage/webgl/glMonsterMaze/).

It’s a HTML 5 / WebGL experiment based loosely on the way, waaaaaay, old 3D Monster maze on the Spectrum (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKvd0zPfBE4). I used to love this game as a kid so I thought I’d breathe some new life in to it with the current web technology we have available.. plus I get kicks from working with JS/HTML5 at the moment so any excuse really :)

There’s still a whole bunch of items on my todo list, including:

• Texture normal/bump mapping
• Collada’s for Monster and Exit
• Intro page
• Mouse lock (Come on Chrome, you can do it)
• Possibly a live map with explored areas (alaa Doom)

If you can think of anything you’d like to see in this feel free to hit me up via the usual channels oh and I’m using twitter an awful lot now too (https://twitter.com/#!/antonmills) so that’s probably a good way to keep in touch!

@anton

Still alive, just keeping busy since the relocation to Sydney.

Here’s a quick clip of something I’ve put together for an internal Visual Jazz Exhibiton:

Unity + C# scripts (okay so the holding script needs a little work!). OpenNi/Nite drivers, 3ds model rigging.

anton.

I’m in a constant dilemma about Windows Phone 7. On one hand C# is perhaps my most favourite language, ever. I really enjoy using it for games, infact XNA being pretty basic (no flames please!) compared to AS3 has really freed me. I’ve created my own Sprites wrapped around Textures and SpriteSheets with animation support, collisions with points, distance and collision bounds, buttons, thumbsticks, it’s been an truly awesome experience! Then the downsides…

Yes, the platform has some serious downsides; no custom shaders (argh!). When I purchased my first account I was forced to cancel it, apply for a refund and set up another account simply because GeoTrust wouldn’t authorise my ID as I signed up with my Australian address though I’m a British citizen. I feel the Microsoft legal team have made a total f&$k up when it comes to this side of the platform. I still have to get my passport verified by my solicitor, get a US tax file number and numerous other things before I can claim any money from app/game sales. I really don’t like Apple but I think MS can learn a thing or two from the way they handle this aspect of the platform.

All this may sound negative, but I still feel really excited about it all! My private framework is coming on leaps and bounds. Heres an uber simple example of a hSprite and a hSpriteAnimated at work, showing their CollisionBounds, scaling etc. When a collision occurs the top hSpriteAnimated changes color:

anton.

I’ve written a new tutorial up at the ActiveTuts+ website for the HYPE framework by Branden Hall and Joshua Davis. It’s aimed as an introduction to the framework in general and will give you an overview of building a composition and some of the core features such as Rhythms, Vibrations and ObjectPools.

You can find the tutorial here.

anton.

I’m a little slow posting this, as some may have already seen from the ActiveTuts+ news post that I have recently joined the the ActiveTuts+ team as a staff writer!

I’m really excited at being able to contribute to such a great team that provide high quality tutorials and tips to the developer community. I’m going to be covering ActionScript 3 as usual but we’re hoping to be covering a series of Windows Phone 7 based tutorials very soon as I’m still developing with and absolutely love the SDK.

I’ve just completed a tutorial on the HYPE framework similar to the one I wrote for Computer Arts mag over Christmas but with the extra space I have I was able to explain the details of the framework in a lot more depth. I’ll post a link when it’s added to their website so feel free to have a butchers!

ps. Windows Phone 7 update coming very soon :)

anton.

Aww c’mon you must have been expecting this one, poor old Flash always has it’s nose pushed out when it comes to a new platform!

I totally missed the launch of the Windows Phone 7 SDK in the rush of the emigration, so I was really excited when we had our first few Windows Phone 7 handsets here in Sydney and there’s a good buzz surrounding the new platform. It gave me a kick up the arse to stop slacking, get it installed and begin creating something. I don’t usually take much persuading to jump on board a new platform and the fact I get to develop with C# is an awesome bonus, it’s right up there alongside AS3 as my language of choice.

So for the last few weeks I’ve been buried in books regarding XNA and a smattering of Silverlight (I’ll be honest, this is my least favourite bit at the moment) trying to get as much experience as possible in order to decide on the platform and you know what….. I like it :)

I’ve focused primarily on the XNA/Games front as I’m enjoying that the most and I currently have the basics of a tile engine using the XML Tiled provides for the levels. It’s very much work in progress but a little more depth and video after the break…

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I have just finalised a new Flash tutorial on behalf of Computer Arts magazine and I was really excited about this one so and had to introduce it before it’s officially available yet!

Its focused on generating random art/designs using the AS3 HYPE framework from Joshua Davis and Branden Hall. It’s a fantastic framework and hopefully I’ve done it enough justice in the limited space we have in the tutorial section to arouse your interest in generative art.

I’ve included a teaser after the break and be sure to stop over at the HYPE homepage (http://www.hypeframework.org/) and have a look at some of the awesome examples on show.

anton.

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So I had a few minutes this morning to knock up a quick example of how to use Native Events with AS3Signals. While this example is ‘billy basics’ it should hopefully give you an idea of how to use Signals to handle regular AS3 Event’s, if not, give me a shout and I’ll put something else together! There are a number of benefits for using a Signal Event even though we have to still use a Native Event such as the Signals ease of adding, removing listeners, passing data and of course the impressive speed increase of using Signals over Native Events which you can read about here: http://alecmce.com/as3/events-and-signals-performance-tests.

So in this example we’re going to look at how we use Signals to interact with the Native MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN when invoked on a Sprite.

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