OwenCM.com
Flash Game Developer

Adobe Creative Suite

• Flash: Creating vector graphics or importing external assets and animating them through code or the timeline.
• Flex/Flash Builder: Developing applications by importing external assets, utilizing existing components, and creating new components with new skins.
• Photoshop: Creating and modifying images using a variety of tools and effects for use in web design or interactive multimedia.
• Illustrator: Creating clean, vectorized illustrations for use in web design or interactive multimedia.
• Dreamweaver: Used for creating slick website experiences and editing web based languages.

Game Engines

• Source Engine: Designing levels with imported models and custom textures, and developing scripted sequences.
• Unreal Engine: Modifying engine code to inject new functionality, designing levels with imported models and custom textures, and developing scripted sequences.

Languages

• Actionscript 2 and 3: Used in developing in the Flash and Flex SDK's.
• XML: Used for storing and retrieving information in a dynamic and flexible manner. Experience with applying XML to web services and Flex's MXML language variant.
• C++ with DirectX: Used to create 3D games with advanced graphics and game mechanics.
• HTML, CSS and JavaScript: Combined in various ways to create rich internet experiences.

Abscess

• Personal project.
• Languages used: Actionscript 3
• Tools used: Flash
• Development time: Feb. '11 - Apr. '11

Abscess is a tile-based puzzle game, where the player must clear the board of colors. This is done by selecting the color of the tiles adjacent to the area that is already clear. The game's medical theme assigns the player the role of a doctor injecting patients with a limited supply of immunizations to rid them of diseases.

This game was inspired by a similar game I played on a friend's iPhone. It was a lot of fun to play, and seemed simple enough in its design, so I decided to try making my own version. It was challenging at first, until I figured out how to build the tile engine in a way that allowed me to reference the tiles adjacent to each tile. The tile engine proved to be very useful, and I've used it in other projects since.

Play  •  Download (SWF, PC & Mac versions included.)

e-Learning Project

• Project at inXsol.
• Languages used: Actionscript 3, MXML, XML
• Tools used: Flash, Flex
• Development time: Sep. '10 - Apr. '11

This project was designed to fill a need in HAZMAT and crisis scenario training. The application had two parts: one part was a simulation engine for students to learn and be graded on their ability to properly and effectively command a crisis situation; the other part was for teachers and other facilitators to create these situations, picking from a variety of possible hazards, weather conditions, and other elements. This project was developed in-house with the goal of marketing to research insitutions and federal and government agencies.

Everything I know about working in Flex (now known as Flash Builder) I learned from this project. Extending and overloading Flex's components, as well as building a couple of my own, made for a very flexible development environment. This was furthered when I learned how to integrate SWF's made in Flash and XML from web services. A prototype of this project utilized Google Maps, so I became a bit of a guru with that API as well.

e-Learning Project

• Project at inXsol.
• Languages used: Actionscript 3, XML
• Tools used: Flash
• Development time: Mar. '10 - Aug. '10

This project was for a client that needed an e-Learning solution for teaching students how to prepare and deliver effective elevator pitches and business proposals. The program needed to have the ability to present information with an intuitive interface and an engaging, professional visual style. This program also needed to store quiz results and provide video and audio recording and playback functionality.

This was the project I cut my teeth on, working in a professional environment. I was the sole programmer working with a graphic artist. This was a great opportunity for me, as I gained many new skills such as working with web services to exchange information from a client instance to a server, and recording and streaming video and audio over the RMTP protocol. It also furthered my problem solving abilities and understanding of industry standards in development and design.

Zombiepalooza

• Personal project.
• Languages used: Actionscript 3
• Tools used: Flash
• Development time: Dec. '10 - Apr. '11

Zombiepalooza is a top-down action game with a classic arcade feel. The player must survive against waves of zombies in ever-increasing numbers and strength. A variety of weapons and pickups are at the player's disposal, obtained after dispatching the living dead.

Making this game was more a series of technical accomplishments than anything else. I learned a great deal about how to use and re-use classes, providing a more concrete understanding of object-oriented programming. I also gained new skills with better collision detecting, physics, and other core elements of Flash game design.

Null Grav

• Group project.
• Languages used: UnrealScript
• Tools used: Unreal 3 Engine, 3DS Max, Photoshop, Illustrator
• Development time: Oct. '08 - Feb. '09

Null Grav is a first-person shooter that takes place in the training rooms of an elite of a futuristic peace-keeping force. The game featured many unique mechanics including zero gravity, the ability to use any floor as a surface, class-based weapon loadouts, grappling hooks, and more.

Making this game was a blast! This was an ambitious group project for our final in the game design program that I was fortunate to be the team lead for. This project gave me a lot of great experience in working with and managing other people while staying on top of development. I was also writing documentation and handling a large portion of the programming. There were many sleepless nights, but the final presentation, given in front of the student body and members of the video game industry, was a huge success!

Paint!

• Personal project.
• Languages used: Actionscript 3
• Tools used: Flash
• Development time: Dec. '10 - Apr. '11

Paint! is a drawing program created entirely in Flash. Users can draw free-hand, drag out lines or shapes, erase existing work, and more.

This started as a basic lesson in class when I was still in college of how to work with Flash's graphics classes. I saw more potential there than to leave it as a mere example, and expanded on it greatly. Besides being an interesting project, it also taught me a lot about the Graphics, Bitmap and BitmapData classes.

ROFLcopter

• Personal project.
• Languages used: Actionscript 2, XML
• Tools used: Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator
• Development time: Apr. '08 - May '08

ROFLcopter is a "rotating stick" game, where the player must avoid crashing their helicopter while navigating winding paths and obstacles. Various items and objects found in the game can affect the helicopter, such as briefly locking its main rotor in place. This game was awarded Best Contemporary/Creative Idea Flash Game Design by peer vote.

This was my first serious attempt at designing and developing a game from scratch. There are storyboards and design documents associated with this project, which was a final for my Actionscript class in college. I learned quite a lot from making this game, such as implementing collision and using XML to store information for each level. I look back at this project now and then to remind myself of how much I've learned and how my skills have improved since then. I intend to re-do it at some point in Actionscript 3.