I did a bunch of stuff this week. First thing I did was write up a new tutorial on how to position all your peripherals since it’s kind of confusing the first time you set it up (as I figured out from the look on Jervo’s face when I was giving him everything.)
Check that out over [HERE].

Earlier in the week after we finally migrated all our code together I was playing around with the game and realized we needed a new control scheme, because I was not having fun grappling with the D-pad.
Read all about it [HERE].

Then of course, I fixed the control problem by implementing the Nunchuk to our game. Sorry Jervo, now I guess we have one more piece of hardware to give you. Now the game plays and feels just like a real Wii game. It’s pretty nifty.
Along the same lines we decided to use the accelerometer in the WiiMote + Nunchuk as the method of stealing planes from your opponent, so I worked on building that all up.
Read all about it [HERE].

I also added a switch so that when you start the game the default controls are just mouse and keyboard (basically WiiMouse control and headtracking are disabled, you can still use the D-pad or Nunchuk though.) To enable each WiiMote simply press the One (1) button on whatever one you want to use. This can also disable it if you press it again. So now you can test the controls without using headtracking and vice verse.

This week, I updated the game manual using Jared’s latest demo. All the screen shots included are straight from the demo. You can download/view the PDF here.

I also had a gameplay discussion with Jared and Kyle regarding the stealing aspect of the game. Since Kyle was able to get the shake aspect of the wiimote working, we decided that it would be neat way to have players steal pieces from each other. Players press and hold A on the piece they want to steal with the wiimote. They then shake the wiimote to “wiggle” the platform out of their opponent’s library. The opponent can contest this by quickly pressing A on the platform that is being stolen. If the player stealing the platform shakes the wiimote for 3 seconds, they platform appears in their library.

I also worked on a few Adobe Air features. I found out that you can easily change the icons for the application within the flash file. Its also possible to manipulate the system tray or dock with simple animations. However, I think we’ll stick to the icons for now.

I coded the libraries into the game this week. But since a lot of the library functionality depends on multiplayer, I will be holding off on any more functionality until Chau and I have a coding party and get all the multiplayer integrated into my code. This party will happen sometime early this week. You’re all invited.

This week i started integrating the server But since a alot of the server functionality depends on the base code, i will be holding off on any more integration until Jared and I have a coding party and get all the base code integrated into my code. This party will happen sometime early this week. You’re all invited.

Unfortunately, this week has been riddled with family emergencies. I spent the majority of the week either in a car driving between Philly and NJ or in a hospital in NJ. I did happen to be able to briefly look over the new code system as well as integrate some of the basic features of my code into it. The player can now connect (into the new dedicated server) and control his own player individually. However, nothing is globally updated yet so the other players can not see your actions. The upcoming weeks will be a pow-wow of coding, frustration, and suspense. Stay Tuned.

This week I spent time on trying to finish the website functionality and some content. I worked with Todd on the site again. We optimized the code from the previous week making it easier to modify, and the game also ran better. We fixed the problem with the perspective on the planes or rotation, and figured out why the site chugged so much. Changing the camera zoom fixed the problem with the rotation and also made the animation run better. We also reduced the files size so it will be able to load quicker.

I also added planes to make the sub-navigation so when one item is clicked, it rotates and reveals the other links, and those links go to the correct spot. All sections are connected and have appropriate panels for the content, and also have the appropriate “enter” and “leave” camera and plane animation. I also made the tutorials into pdf’s so they can be linked from the site. My work can be seen in the link in Todd’s post.
hrs: 14

We made many changes to the website. I worked closely with Tom and we got much of our content in there. Tom covered all our updates in the previous comment, so I won’t bother to reiterate.

http://www.toddsmedia.com/fourmation/upload/example.html