Flipping graphics in Flash Lite: The graphic designer’s view
In mobile Flash Lite games where an object moves to several directions (ie. the main character), graphics need to be drawn for all directions. Usually the graphics look _almost_ the same for different directions, like in a side-scroller where the character moves left and right.
It would be tempting to flip graphics in the code of a wireless Flash game, and save a few kilobytes, but there are problems with that (not the least the problem that it doesn´t work, like we wrote in earlier post):
- if shadows are drawn to certain side, when flipped the shadows would go to the opposite side, which breaks the realism
- weapons or other items that the character holds in his/her hand would jump from one hand to the other when the character turns to the opposite direction
The simplest solution is to draw graphics for all directions manually and add them all to the Flash library and create the animation in Flash without flipping. This of course adds the size of the wireless Flash Lite game (quite limited amount of kb can be used for single game), but creates a much more finished and believable result.
To make your graphics generally better, one of the oldest tricks in drawing is to flip the graphic you´re making from time to time during the drawing/designing. This is the easiest way to spot out any irregularities or mistakes, and will make your graphics look more finished and believable.
Luckily not all types of Flash Lite games need this and the graphics can be designed without shadows or items on certain side of the character. Design your game with these points in mind from the beginning.
Eero
April 20th, 2006 at 11:25 am
[…] I follow Aniway`s blog for sometime. It is a very good blog to follow, due that it is mostly about their experiences on producing games. Thats is a unique and very important information in my opinion. Their last post some days ago is : Flipping graphics in Flash Lite. They mentioned some problem about flipping images proviously, but this is not that kind, more conceptual. They state common problems, pitfalls and simple solutions and tips for them. Pretty benficial. […]
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