Website design

Having learnt the basics of CSS and PHP, i have now started to make my community website for this terms project. Here is the first design for the layout..

The website is going to be called FYB (Find Your Buddy), where people can log into the web site, add their profile and search for other people within the website. I want the website to be easy to navigate and simple to use.

Idea and development of banner..

After numerous hours of thinking of a seasonal product to advertise for my banner, ive decided to advertise a leaf blower. I want to include interactivity with the viewer whereby they have to use the blower to blow away leafs to reveal the name and price of the product.

Ive decided to go for a 468x60 size banner for this one (making this the smaller one of the two), as i feel this will work best with the design idea. My idea is, once the leafs are completely blown away (as of yet, im not sure how much control the user has of this and will look into this), the banner will then go on to list the features of the product in greater detail.

I was going to use a known manafacturer for the product, but have decided to make one up. This will involve creating my own brand (logo, name).

Things to do.. Gather and prepare images in photoshop for flash. Images i need; Gravel Background, Leafs, Leaf blower.

Flash tutorials. two lessons so far

Just completed the first 2 tutorials on flash and am so far finding it very helpful as am a newbie to the program. Have experimened with motion tweens and am more confident with working with the timeline and basic tools.



In lesson 2 i created a sparkling water animation using shapes and motion tween animation.

Main things learnt - how to fill a shape with a bitmap file, and how to animate graphic symbols at different times in the timeline.




The motion tween have give me an idea for designing a flash game - a game where the player has to keep their eye on a ball underneath a shot glass (or just a circle) while they move around the screen. The game could include levels where the speed and complecity is increased after each round. Ill look into actionscript for this and try to develop the game..

Things to do..

• Look around for a festive product i can create a banner for


• Start brainstorming ideas for the project. Bannerblog ideas?


• Lesson 3 in the flash tutorial


• Look into flash game idea. Ask David Downes


• Read up database stuff from today

My lessons today..Databases

Today was the first of my database lectures and seminars. We had to implement a database back end for a website associated with a concert venue. The main question that needs to be asked when thinking about setting up a database is

'what do we need to store information about?'. Refer to notes if need to in future.

New pathway..Web

After serious thought, im glad i have swapped to Web design and i can finally get stuck into the new work set. So far 2 new tasks set:

1. make a game in flash (no hand in date)

2.To make web banners for a seasonal product and also a country.

I intend to brainstorm and research some seasonal products tonight. Im going to look on Bannerblog.com for inspiration. I aim to pull my finger out and start blogging everyday about new ideas and new things learnt. Im also learning from 2 new books - Adobe 'classroom in a book' series - Flash and Photoshop cs3 as of tonight..

Pro Evo Developer Shingo 'Seabass' Yakatsuka

Having been a fan of the Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) series since PES1, i felt that it would be intersting to look into the makings of the game, and also the man that is responsible for the game Shingo 'Seabass' Yakatsuka.



PES and its rivals..

This is the guy that is responsible for the ever improving Pro Evolution Soccer series. It is very popular and it is developed by Konami. As a result of EA sports' affinity to purchasing exclusive rights for their FIFA series, Pro Evolution Soccer games have historically lacked the sheer volume of licences present in EA's offerings, with the most notable absences being the FA Premier League, and more recently, the German Bundesliga, which has been discluded entirely.

Despite this, it is acnowleded by many fans of the game for its advanced realism and and editing advantages over fifa football. The general consensus is that the Pro Evo series has superior gameplay, borne through attention to detail, while FIFA Football is regarded as more of an arcade game, allowing a wider variety of gamers to enjoy its offerings.

Moving on from that, i wanted to look into the makings of the new PES - Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. I found an interesting article on IGN.com, where Seabass was interviewed and asked the following questions..(questions are broken down)..

The main additions to PES2008 and PES6?..

First PES to be released on a next gen console. Most notable difference is the beauty of the graphics. The menus have been re-designed (as in my opinion they wernt too great in PES 6)
The A.I has been completely re-done where the it learns from the player. This is called Team Vision.

How does the Teamvision A.I learn from the player?..

If it is attacking A.I, it will learn from the way you attacked, so the next time you attack the computer it may attack in a different way..may be passing the ball differently or the timing of dummies etc. The A.I learns how a player attacks and reacts accordingly. For example, if a player attacks down the wings often, the will get their defenders to cover the wide areas.

New moves in the game?..

Moves are not just about a single move. Instead they are subtle things such as the timing of passes and start of runs. Weve tweaked and altered these, so much so that sometimes they do feel like new moves.

What new modes are there in the game?..

Two new things.. 1st is world tour mode.. this is where you play teams from around the world and different missions are set. E.g 'score a hat-trick', or 'score from a set piece' etc.
2nd is Community mode..this is where you can play your friends and it keeps a detailed record of the games you play. E.g 'games won/lost', 'goals scored' etc. You can also keep track of 2 v 2 games to see who is the best pairing.

Seabass' last words of the interview..You will have a greater PES experience, and a great time with your friends..

After reading the details of the new game, i am extremely excited.
I am interested in seeing how the new A.I affects the way the games play when you are playing the computer as this has never been done in a footie sim game (or any games that i know of in fact..) It sounds like konami have invested alot of time in increasing the longevity of the game in making the A.I better in 1 player mode and making new game modes (which sound very exciting).

Having said this, i feel that PES is primarily a multiplayer game and am hoping that this aspect of the game has also been improved as much as 1 player mode..