The final curtain!

This is it... the final module submission date is here.  I have just got in from work and I am now going to drop my submission to Herts.

I had a nightmare again last night with some technical problems. I finished the practical work and only had to link the files as I had worked in two seperate Flash files in order to keep the file sizes down.  I was going to use the loader component but I located some loader script online and decided to use that instead and I was really happy that it linked all the files appropriately with what I initially thought was no problems; but then as I tested it, one of the links would not work.  Suffice to say, I spent a few hours trying to find what was wrong. I worked out that it must be because I was loading a .swf into the timeline of the Fla file, it was getting confused with the script because I had it embedded into a MovieClip - I tried linking it directly to the .swf, but it kept linking back on itself. After a long slog of problem solving, I tried to copy the frames from the .Fla file and put it into a MovieClip, but this caused a multitude of problems with frames being where they shouldn't be etc., so then, even though it was by then around 4.15am, I applied simplified logic and took the tweens and masks out of the MovieClip and just used straightforward script within the main timeline... and hallelujah it worked! 


I feel that my folder will seem light due to writing all my reflections, evaluations, discussing current debates and key figures within animation and interactivity digitally within this blog, I hope this is taken into consideration. This is it now though, so I will take my weary bones to the Uni and come home and sleep!

I am happy with the end product, although it really is a longer term project that I will continue to develop. I will create a wide array of links, from within the linear track and sideways within these. I am excited about this project and am looking forward to continuing with it, as there are so many more scenarios that I have planned and also improvement and development of what has been created so far. There are a few adjustments that I have made to the intro animation (due to feedback from testers). I added another tear to emphasise Kara's dispondency and I tweaked the CatBot smile to appear a little later during his movement across the room, and added a low 'drone' sound to the glide movement of the CatBot.


The user should traverse around the scenes thoroughly as there are many invisible interactions.  I have left some pages more simpler in order to get to the more complex pages quicker and to change the pace.  I have added a subtle click to some of the buttons that move the user onto the next scene, but I left some without this to provide a little aporia, to make the user momentarily doubt where to go next, but on other occasions I made it very obvious - this was all done to create a less rythmic journey and to encourage them to dwell on some of the scenes.