Recent work
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Design, Lonely Duck, Mobile, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
Well, so much has happened since the last post I’ve made on this blog that I don’t know where to begin. Anyway, I have now moved to Stockholm and I really like it! An awesome city full of creative inspiration. It also feels great to work more closely with my coworkers at Lonely Duck.
Back to the interesting bit. We have been working with a couple of different projects since April and I thought a couple of them deserves to be mentioned. Back in August we released Darkroom Music a retro themed full flash video website for the digital music company Darkroom. The sits lets the user experience the digital music creations of darkroom while full screen videos makes you wanna move even more. The site lets you share or embed the music of Darkroom through Facebook and other social sites.
Apart from a couple of various flash projects we at Lonely Duck have continued working with the iPhone and have recently released two apps. The one that we invested most time in is Tower Attack, a game that takes the Tower Defense genre and gives it a little twist. The goal is to plot the ultimate way to make it past the towers, make sacrifices on the altar of altruism and synchronize the attack. The goal is to let the grey alien with the mysterious briefcase reach the castle. See a couple of screen shots and read more here!.
During my vacation I found the lack of an app that contains drinking songs quite frustrating so we decided to fill that gap. The app is simply called Snapsvisor and contains 99 schnapps songs sorted in various categories. The user can choose to create his/her own songbook that will come in handy during festive occasions. Read more here!
So this was a short summary of sorted highlights since last time. We´re currently working on a number of exciting projects both for the iPhone and the web and I will present the final projects when it is possible.
Take care!
The bird is the word
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under 2d, Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Lonely Duck, Portfolio, Work
Lonely Duck just released the new website for Peacock Advertising Agency. A full flash website featuring their clients, news as well as prior and current projects, all with a whisper of box2d physics. Check it out at www.peacock.se!
Also, to everyone out there, happy easter from us at Lonely Duck.
Newly hatched
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Design, Lonely Duck, Mobile, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
Just prior to easter Lonely Duck released a project that we´ve been working on. The project is a digital facelift of 7-Eleven. To do this we have created an iPhone application and a brand new website. The application helps people locate the nearest 7-Eleven store and even throws in great offers exclusive for people using the app. It is of course free to download but sadly it only works in Sweden. The app has in only 1 week entered the top 10 free apps in Sweden. Happy easter!
Box2d: Bringing 2D physics to screens everywhere
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under 2d, 3d, Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Interaction Design, Lonely Duck, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
What I´m going to write about here is physics in Flash, AS3. And since I like keeping it old school it is 2D physics. Lonely Duck has just finished a small game that you will soon be able to catch in a banner near you. The physics are handled by Box2D, a physics engine ported from C++. When doing physics in AS3 you have a number of different engines to choose from. Even though you are planning to use physics with lets say Papervision3D or any other flash 3d environment you can still use a 2D physics engine, if you keep your objects in one plane with interactions along 2 axis. This means that you won´t be able to support 3d interaction (e.g movement in x,y,z) but in some cases this isn´t really needed.
Anyway, I first gave APE (Actionscript Physics Engine) a go. It was really easy getting started with and the setup of the 2d world and the objects I was going to use worked as expected. After a while (about 50% done) I however found that it was lacking some fundamental stuff that I really wanted. Things like collision detection, a way to avoid tunneling issues and an environment with a more complex collection of different joints and springs. The answer was as I already mentioned Box2D, and even thought the fact that is was a port from C++ first scared me a little (different ways of organizing code, positions and values are on a meter basis, which means that one meter is equal to 30 pixels) now feels great to have started with. Not only because it could be used in many upcoming AS3 projects, it is also possible to use Box2D when developing applications for the iPhone.
There are a number of popular apps out there that uses Box2D for the physics.
These have all been done through porting box2d from C++ to Obj C. Which means writing their own renderers and touch listeners for interaction. Good times however, now there is a released port of the Box2d testbed with working interaction from the touch sensors and the accelerometer. Check out this post explaining things a little bit better here.
Take care!
Hugs for the lonely
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Design, Lonely Duck, Portfolio, Work
Lonely duck are joining forces with the Red Cross to support the lonely this christmas. Make a difference at www.redcross.se/kram
Recent projects
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Design, Interaction Design, Lonely Duck, Portfolio, Work
Since last post I´ve been really busy working on a couple of different projects. It has been hectic but it feels great. Even though we´re still a small firm we done some major projects and employed some of the latest techniques. Today we release the new slutasnacka.se, a place for everyone that is done with talking about change and now is ready to act! It is a full flash site with a .NET back end. It uses the cairngorm architecture which has been a joy to get to know. I can easily say that it will be used in coming projects as well. Yeah.. another project that we recently released was the full flash site for RPM investments. This site lets the user navigate in multiple ways and also incorporates deep linking, interactive video and flash cookies.
So.. take care until next time! Back to work, just lost 5 minutes :S
Lonely Duck hatched: THE LIST
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Lonely Duck, Portfolio, Work
Today Lonely Duck hatched the first of many eggs. It is called THE LIST and the objective of this campaign site for technical consulting firm ÅF is to recruit 100 programmers and developers. To get on to The List you need to program your way thru a couple of files filled with currupted code.
Be sure to check it out at www.welcometothelist.com
We make digital!
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Design, Interaction Design, Portfolio, Work
As I mentioned before I have a new job. In the middle of all the projects going on right now we have managed to create a site of our own. It’s just some basic information, but displayed in a fun, kinda “new project” manor. Check it out at www.lonelyduck.com
SIGNAR: Soon in 3D
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under 3d, Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Design, Interaction Design
I’ve been writing about trying PV3D for a while now and with the start of my new job it’s time. And when you’re starting to look at the available technologies avaliable like APE, WOW, Away3D, Alternativa 3D and of course Papervision that started the whole thing it’s just mindblowing. It feels like I’m seeing a whole new side of the flash community that I havn’t seen before. It is exciting and I feel great. I am no 3D guy so many of the terms used I’m unfamiliar with but I think I’m starting to get a small grip on it. When I have something to show you guys, I will post it, and try to write how I did it. Until then, take care!
New Job!
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Design, Interaction Design, Mobile, Web 2.0
Yep! Tomorrow it starts, a new job as a Flash / new media developer! Unfortunately this means that I won´t have the time to finish the PaperKing3D project (read below), but hopefully I´ll have some sparetime in the next coming month to realize my ideas. As soon as the new job starts kicking butt I will write a more thourough post explaining everything. Until then, keep coding!
Lonely Duck HQ
...