Animator Game - the Interview
After creating two hit videos
based on a stick figure who rebels against his animator, Alan Becker
took the next logical step -- he collaborated with the talented game
developer Charles Yeh to turn his concept into an interactive experience. After all, you can only watch someone else abuse a stick figure for so long; pretty soon, you'll want in on the action too.
We sat down with Charles to get an inside look at what it takes to turn a hit vid into a kick ass game.
What's it like working with the stick figure? Has his ego spun out of control now that he's a bona fide internet sensation?
My experience with the stick figure was amazing. I had lots of fun
playing around with the little guy. He has a life of his own, so
sometimes he just doesn't listen to me, but after much time devoted to
him, he'll do what I tell him to.
What was your greatest challenge while developing the game?
The
greatest challenge may have been coming up with tons and tons of ideas
to turn the many tools of Flash into weapons. One of the most annoying
tools to bring to life might have been the Lasso. I tamed it, of
course. The result is amazing.
Where/how did you learn to develop Flash games?
I taught
myself magically... Yeah, right, if only learning was that easy... I'm
actually still not sure how. I poked around in Flash and mostly learned
by doing projects. As I made each game, I figured out how to deal with
the problems and learned a few things during the process. I also picked
up a few tricks in the book Flash Hacks.
I learned a lot when I developed the game Space Skirmish 2. It's a
simple arcade game but I gained a lot of experience making it.
Got any gameplay tips you can offer?
Going through the tutorial and practicing against the victim should
help. The Brush and Pencil tools are your friends. Drawing with the
brush can shield the timeline and any new guns you're in the process of
creating with the pencil.
What's cool about the game is that (as the animator) you're given a
lot of creative freedom in choosing ways to destroy the stick figure.
Did you discover techniques for beating the stick dude during gameplay
that you didn't even consider while creating the game?
Yup.
Don't you love picking your own method of torture? Even after the game
was launched, I kept finding really cheap ways that completely render
the Animation powerless. I mean, who knew you could... wait, oops,
sorry, that's my secret. One last change I did before launching the
game was the Hand tool. When my mom played it, she got a rather high
score using only the Hand tool because it sent the victim flying,
making him harmless. Yes, I fixed that and reduced the damage.
