WaterLife Flash Site

WATERLIFE - NFB

 Top 10 Best Flash Websites of 2013

I found this site from the link above, it was ranked #8. After exploring this site I think that my favorite part is the way that the navigation functions, the collage of small pictures moving and rotation giving sense of depth is a nice attribute. It really gives you the feeling that you are under water with the moment of everything, the darkness, the choice of music and the navigation bar on the bottom is animated to behave like a wave. And then, how the left navigation coincides with the other two navigation tools, all three move and interact with each other very well, really mimicking being deep into the water. I also am impressed with being able to have a choice of background music, after being on a site for a few minutes I tend to get bored with the music, but by having a choice of what music I want to hear makes me want to stay on the page and explore longer. This site has a lot of information that it is portraying and trying to teach it's viewers and I feel that it has been well organized and portrays the severity of the lack of drinking water.

design exploration (cont)

For my second site I found that actually WAS built in flash is here at Incredibox

This site has an awesome intro outro effects leading up to the main content area. The designer who made it came up with many versions of 1 animated guy and used a random generator in AC3 so when you click the "add more animated guys to stage" their sizes come at random heights. I also like the nested movie clips setup for the individual sounds possible to make. Also I have to say the simplicity in its animations and effects  along with the music really make this addicting.

 It reminds me of a game called World of Goo which is a physics based puzzle/construction game

Wonder Wall Inc.

For my blog exploration I stumbled upon a portfolio site for an interior design firm called Wonder Wall Inc.

 http://wonder-wall.com/#project/en

I believe it to be a good site for exercise three, it is a good example of a simple interface built around a one main piece. In this interface the main focus is a wall the scrolls the length of the page, this wall is every changing and displays all the projects the user wants displayed. The transition between pictures and list is very clean, simple, and still amazing. The navigation is smooth and content can be accessed in a moments time. Go to Wonder Wall In.c and see for yourself, its worth a 10 minute look over.

Flash Site Exploration

http://www.chromazone-imaging.co.uk/flashindex.html

This site doesn't feature a whole lot but for being a showcase for a printing studio, what little it has is actually really pretty and done well. The music and color choices used really compliments the animated sequence of flowing in and out of space/dimensions.

Ultimately, it gets the job of advertising done in a  chic modernistic fashion.

Studio Artist Exploration: Lance Priebe

Lance Priebe is an interactive flash game designer from Kelowna, Canada. I have the privilege of knowing Lance. Although, we have not yet met in person, Lance has been a mentor to me as I am learning about children’s virtual worlds.

Lance is an inventor who utilized the flash platform as a springboard to create one of the most popular virtual world’s for children to this date. He is one of three co-founders of Club Penguin. Since Club Penguin’s inception, Lance led the creative direction and managed the development of technology. Using flash animated cartoons, children can create their own penguin avatar and enter into a world where they can safely play and chat with other children from all over the world. 

In 2007 the Disney Company purchased Club Penguin. Many people hear the Club Penguin success story about how they started in 2005 and sold to Disney in 2007. But not many people hear the back-story.

Lance began his own studio, “Rocket Snail Games” in 1999 as a hobby to create online games and web-toys for several companies. This is where the development for Club Penguin as a safe social world for children began. There was a time when Lance ran out of money and had to take a break for a whole year, but he stayed at it. Finally in 2005, an entire team was put together, and not long afterward their efforts were hugely successful.

Lance’s talent and achievements impress me, but I am also by impressed by his character. The fact that he persevered at his goal is inspiring to me. Lance and his partners care about the children and families they develop their products for. They consider their work as a way to serve others, and I find that very refreshing.

Lance left Disney a couple of years ago. He has returned to Rocketsnail and is currently a partner at Hyper Hippo Games.

this is my presentation  sorry It was posted on mat 150
This is the flash presentation I would like to submit to the class
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/new-fantasyland/

As I was surfing for a good flash example I was not sure if some where flash or not
I liked this site because of it simplicity, and its magic appealing effect.
The sense of hierarchy is very strong through all the scene as the end comes only when everything was revealed.
It is a very easy site to use as its navigation is catered  for young viewers.
The pictures are very   artistic and blend easily with the static background as it interact during the
video or the slides show.
There is a good consistency in the use of navigation with the special effects and the active commands that take the viewer from one story to the other
The design is well balanced and in harmony as it goes from peace to drama, to tension and magic effects.
The videos have a good interaction with the main frame and background and blend perfectly as they
are playing.
Great drama effect with the storm, the lightning, the fire bobbles and the symbols of each stories
Even though it is a simple example of what can be done with flash I feel that the overall effect was
pleasing, interesting, amazing and well done.

Design Exploration

As I was making my rounds "stumbling" through StumbleUpon I found an interesting website here. This Soleil Noir 2012 site is pretty amazing. When I first came to it I loved the animated drop down content and ghost navigation that pops up on the side that you don't really notice till after the drop down content completes and you're scrolling your way through the sites pages. After acquainting myself with the site I right clicked the screen to see if it was done in flash and to my surprise it wasn't. I believe it was coded in HTML5 or Java or a mix of both. I checked out the page source. I am pretty sure this website could equally be made in Flash. The only issue I see when making this site in flash is at what time each nested video starts playing because the transitions between each clip is pretty solid and smooth.

ABC Mouse

Studio Exploration - www.abcmouse.com

I chose ABC Mouse's Age of Learning’s production and creative team as 
my studio exploration.  I use the program several times a week with my 
children and have found the site to be very inspirational in showing what 
Flash based programming can do to create educational interactive programs 
designed for young children to be used with the help of there parents.  The 
site is designed for young users to become ready to enter elementary grade 
school.  The creative team consists of over "40 visual artists, designers,
writers, composers, musicians, voice-over artists, and programmers" to create 
the site that holds thousands of "online books, educational games, puzzles 
and art activities."   (www.abcmouse.com/about-us)

From a user perspective the site is well organized and offers an amazing amount 
of games and activites to choose from.  Through the use of sounds, music, reading, animated teachers, and your own self-created Avatar you become engaged as 
being part of the program both as the parent along with your child.  This type of programming and design is very effective in achieving a fun user experience that
helps the child learn through fun interaction and positive reinforcement by earning 
"tickets" that they can spend on items like aquariums, pets and even decorating 
there own "room". 

From a technical perspective I can see why it takes so many people and so much
talent to create a site like this one.  Mainly because you have to build it in a way that 
is so user friendly that a small child can learn to master a mouse, and a parent
doesn't go crazy trying to teach there little one how to click, hold down and move a 
mouse all at the same time.  (This happens in the exercise of working on a puzzle.)  
When creating this, the programmer would have to build it in such a way that the user dictates where the puzzle piece goes and then learns from the outcome whether or 
not the piece fits or needs to be moved to the correct place.  This is where I can see 
the use of Action Script comes into place because it no longer is controlled by the 
designer but rather the user.

Please check out www.abcmouse.com to see for your-self how much Flash can do!