lol, a flash map probably won't be something that happens anytime soon, but I will certainly be looking into adding it in the future. We want our game to be the best it can be, so until it is there, we don't stop working on it. If flash would make the game better then eventually we will get to that point that we add flash.
Some of our members recommended it and I have been giving it some thought, and using flash almost like a picture actually shouldn't be too difficult. Just inputing numbers into the flash file, such as amount of troops, color of player territories, things like this. I am not great at flash action scripting, but if we found a flash designer I could work something out. This would allow us though to use any color just by passing a color code, currently if we want to add a color we have to re-create all the images in that new color, with flash though you could set the color as a variable and change the color easily. Perhaps even allowing users to customize what red/green/blue etc. they want to use, easiest to see. It also could allow color overlays on territories to show who owns what. At first I was thinking this is too difficult, but again you can just tell it which color to overlay as and only need one overlay. So if player red owns a territory, the territory will have a slight red overlay with perhaps a bright red border or something like this.
Making maps wouldn't be that much more difficult, we just make the maps with less color on the territories, so that a color overlay can work. Then put the image in flash and add a country shaped overlay that will change colors depending on who owns it.
The only problem now is we are still just in beta. Perhaps when we get going and start getting some premium accounts we can afford to hire a good flash designer. Unless someone has a friend who knows flash well enough to do this, perhaps I can afford it now if the price isn't too high? The guy I normally use for flash jobs is extremely busy and has pretty much ignored me.
If we are just using flash the same way we are using javascript, just to display a map, then hacking it wouldn't be an issue, because php blocks any out of order requests. So no matter what they make the flash do against our will, all of the real processing (rolls, attacking, moving troops, calculating reinforcements, etc.) still happens in php. So you aren't playing a flash game, but a php game that uses flash to make it look better and run smoother.
Also, flash maps could have a nicer preloader, giving percent finished etc. Also, normally once you load the flash file once it's near instant the next time, though I don't know how well it would work if it had to load new territory counts each time with the script.
lol, a flash map probably won't be something that happens anytime soon, but I will certainly be looking into adding it in the future. We want our game to be the best it can be, so until it is there, we don't stop working on it. If flash would make the game better then eventually we will get to that point that we add flash.
Some of our members recommended it and I have been giving it some thought, and using flash almost like a picture actually shouldn't be too difficult. Just inputing numbers into the flash file, such as amount of troops, color of player territories, things like this. I am not great at flash action scripting, but if we found a flash designer I could work something out. This would allow us though to use any color just by passing a color code, currently if we want to add a color we have to re-create all the images in that new color, with flash though you could set the color as a variable and change the color easily. Perhaps even allowing users to customize what red/green/blue etc. they want to use, easiest to see. It also could allow color overlays on territories to show who owns what. At first I was thinking this is too difficult, but again you can just tell it which color to overlay as and only need one overlay. So if player red owns a territory, the territory will have a slight red overlay with perhaps a bright red border or something like this.
Making maps wouldn't be that much more difficult, we just make the maps with less color on the territories, so that a color overlay can work. Then put the image in flash and add a country shaped overlay that will change colors depending on who owns it.
The only problem now is we are still just in beta. Perhaps when we get going and start getting some premium accounts we can afford to hire a good flash designer. Unless someone has a friend who knows flash well enough to do this, perhaps I can afford it now if the price isn't too high? The guy I normally use for flash jobs is extremely busy and has pretty much ignored me.
If we are just using flash the same way we are using javascript, just to display a map, then hacking it wouldn't be an issue, because php blocks any out of order requests. So no matter what they make the flash do against our will, all of the real processing (rolls, attacking, moving troops, calculating reinforcements, etc.) still happens in php. So you aren't playing a flash game, but a php game that uses flash to make it look better and run smoother.
Also, flash maps could have a nicer preloader, giving percent finished etc. Also, normally once you load the flash file once it's near instant the next time, though I don't know how well it would work if it had to load new territory counts each time with the script.
