Topics
This section will contain proposed changes to the existing CS215 syllabus with lectures and homework assignments in Flash.
Syllabus
The syllabus will be similar to that of CS215. Grades breakdown is at the discretion of the instructor, but the criteria will remain the same (functionality, design, creativity, diverse use of media, efficiency). There will be minor readings on design principles and the Flash user guide (optional), with relevant articles or Flash applications to consider, critique, and discuss. Students should come to class familiar with the user interface knowledge needed for that day's lecture. A great resource for reading about ActionScript is the Digital Media Primer (DMP) Chapters 8-11. There are many books out there on ActionScript, and should only be perused when looking up specific functions.
Lectures
The lectures will be Powerpoint-based for design principles, and hands-on experience will be guided by the instructor on a screen projecting the Flash program. The lectures will cover content required to complete the homework assignments. The current course schedule will generally be kept intact, with some changes to reflect the below suggested homework assignments. Lecture notes on ActionScript will be complemented with excepts from the DMP, and Director manual readings will be replaced with Flash user guide readings.
Suggested Homework
This homework list, derived from the current CS215 homework page, is suited for learning Flash with some background on design principles. The following list assumes a 12-week semester, with one homework assignment per week. Content can be changed to reflect experience and learning of the class.
1. Basic Animation
Students will become acquainted with the Flash interface by creating and animating simple shapes. See Tutorial 1: Basic Animation. (Bonus: Create a simple story with characters made from basic shapes.)
2. Basic ActionScript
You can only do so much with animation, but with some basic ActionScript knowledge, you can start to have more control over your applications. This assignment will teach the basics of AS3, such as adding mouse event listeners that will allow you to control playing the movie. Movieclips and buttons will be used in conjunction with AS3. In this course, event listeners will probably be the foundation for a lot of the interaction in future projects. Using keyboard event listeners for this assignment is recommended for students with a stronger programming background. See Tutorial 2: Basic ActionScript.
3. Navigation Structures
Event listeners go hand-in-hand with using the various navigational structures available in Flash: scenes, frames (names and numbers), even other Flash applications. See Tutorial 3: Networks.
4. Story Animation
With the tools from the first three homework assignments, students can now create just about any kind of story animation using bitmaps, vector graphics, AS3, and navigational structures to move between the scenes. See ARTS255: A Walk Through the Forest.
5. More ActionScript/User Interfaces
This assignment will introduce some more ActionScript, such as variables and loops, dragging movieclips, and using boolean to keep track of states and events. Textfields will be introduced so that students can know how to keep track of scores for games. Students will not be required to create their assignment from scratch, but instead will be asked to implement a small game with an existing structure or goal. An example would be the current CS215 puzzle interfaces for Scott Kim's Page-A-Day puzzle calendar. See Tutorial 4: Simple Game.
6. Sound
This assignment will teach how to use sound in Flash, from importing into the Library and dragging it to the timeline or coding interaction using ActionScript. Preloaders will be created so students can add them to this and future assignments. Students will be given a silent, short animation (or they can use their assignment 4 story animations), and asked to add a soundtrack and sound effects. ARTS255: Annual Giving is an example, but the resulting animation does not need to be the same length.
7. Target Game
This assignment will allow students to combine the last two assignments by adding sound to a small simple game similar to CS215's Too High, Too Low. This game can have a template, or can be designed from scratch, and would ideally make use of the ENTER_FRAME event listener to update the state of movieclips. The result would be a dynamically-updated game, but something simple, like shooting moving targets.
8. Linking Classes
This assignment is more focused on programming in AS3. Students will need to create some kind of animation, or a simple game, by creating their own classes (.as files) and linking them from the main Flash file. The lecture preceding this homework assignment will also include how to create instances of a class that is linked to a movieclip within the Library. See Tutorial 5: Space Invaders. See Pat.as for a sample ActionScript class file (for more info on Pat, see Project Description).
9. Final Project
The final project will be similar to the current CS215 final project, where students will design a game from scratch and include sound effects. There will be individual due dates for the storyboard, testing, and the final product. Recommended timeline is 3 weeks. See ARTS255: Final Project and Tutorial 5: Space Invaders.