This week I spent entirely too much time in front of my computer.  I really got into building the structure of the game and connecting all of the classes.  Theres a LOT of different pieces that have to fit together to make everything work.

Check out what I’ve done so far and then I’ll explain it:

Download .app for MAC | Download .exe for PC

To run the application on a Mac you need Adobe Air.

…or just look at the sample .swf (it won’t give the same effect as the actual application since but it’s good enough).

…or just look at a screenshot:

OK, so…this is the pre-build for the actual game menu.  The text in the very top left corner is an FPS monitor, which reads out your current frames per second, you can toggle this on or off by hitting the spacebar.  The icons directly under the FPS monitor are the main status icons, you can hover over them to see what they do. Right now they just read out a static message, this will be dynamic very soon.  Also, we have yet to make the hovering box appear below the icons

1. WiiFlash Server | Turns blue when Flash detects your WiiFlash server is running

2. WiiMote 1 | Turns blue when Flash detects your first WiiMote is connected

3. WiiMote 2 | Turns blue when Flash detects your second WiiMote is connected

4. Server | Turns blue when you are connected to the server for multiplayer

5. Active Players | Each square will turn blue to represent the players in the game

The WiiFlash server icon and WiiMote 1 icons are functional.  If you run WiiFlash, and then open the application, the WiiFlash status icon will be blue!  Also, if you can connect a WiiMote to your bluetooth-enabled computer, WiiMote icon 1 will turn blue as well.

BUILDING A GAME FOR FULLSCREEN

Since we want anyone to be able to play Fourmation at home (granted they have 2 WiiMotes, IR glasses, and bluetooth) we want everyone to have the best possible experience .  At first, we decided to make the game at a 1024×768 resolution, which is a bit lower than the average monitor resolution.  After testing this idea on my 1920×1280 monitor, I decided that it would be worth the effort to make everything dynamic (you’re welcome). 1024 was waaaayyy too small.

Everything in this application is is created relative to your resolution, so it should appear just as it does on any other monitor.  Also, to keep your FPS as high as possible, I have been slimming everything down and making sure there are no memory leaks.  There is a lot of code, and it is very easy for something to cause lagging.  Right now, it should run at around 25 FPS in your browser and around 30 in the actual application.

Soon, we will incorporate the head-tracking functionality…just this main menu example will be a really unique experience when everything moves in relation to your line of sight.