Small real-time Web based Sims-like application?

[Mechphisto]

I have a client that wants to have a sort of training and tutorial
application where users can go through it something like WoW or The
Sims.
Is this even possible, Web based?
Is there a name for this kind of technology I should search for?
Is there even a customizable off-the-shelf software package I can look
for?
Thanks for any suggestions!
-Liam
PS: Is there a better newsgroup to ask this question in?

 

[J.O. Aho]

I have a client that wants to have a sort of training and tutorial
application where users can go through it something like WoW or The
Sims.
Is this even possible, Web based?
Is there a name for this kind of technology I should search for?
Is there even a customizable off-the-shelf software package I can look
for?
Thanks for any suggestions!
-Liam
PS: Is there a better newsgroup to ask this question in?

Flash is one option, but that will only work in a few of all the worlds
possible combination of operating systems and cpu architecture as adobe don't
support more than Linux on x86, microsoft on x86, OSX on x86/PPC, in the rest
of cases you have to look at java applets which can run on a more platforms as
long not using some closed source java calsses developed for one platform only.

 

[Travis Newbury]

Flash is one option, but that will only work in a few of all the worlds
possible combination of operating systems and cpu architecture...

Horse shit. Tell the whole story, those FEW it will run on make up 95%
+ of the computers that access the web in developed markets.

 

[Mechphisto]

Horse shit.  Tell the whole story, those FEW it will run on make up 95%
+ of the computers that access the web in developed markets.

Heh, that's what I was thinking.
I thought of using Flash, it'd work...but would take a LOT of work and
TONS of actionscripting.
But then, maybe any other option would also have as much programming.
I was hoping for some kind of customizable off-the-shelf thing, like
Lively except one can create multiple "rooms" and "encounters" with
multiple-choice responses.
That can be done in Flash, but without the multi-player/trainee
interaction.
Guess I could always just add a chat box at the bottom of the page.

 

[Mechphisto]

Heh, that's what I was thinking.
I thought of using Flash, it'd work...but would take a LOT of work and
TONS of actionscripting.
But then, maybe any other option would also have as much programming.
I was hoping for some kind of customizable off-the-shelf thing, like
Lively except one can create multiple "rooms" and "encounters" with
multiple-choice responses.
That can be done in Flash, but without the multi-player/trainee
interaction.
Guess I could always just add a chat box at the bottom of the page.

Now that I think of it, Cartoon Network's Adult Swim's "5 Minutes to
Kill Yourself" game is exactly what I'm looking to do (except...has
nothing to do with violence) and may be more complex in that more
options are available to handle encounters.
http://www.adultswim.com/games/game/index.html?game=fiveMinutes
But, this kind of environment is exactly what I'm looking for. Except,
having a multi-"player" feature would be great but impossible in
Flash.
Would something like this have to be built "by hand" from the ground
up, or are there basic customizable packages available for something
like this?

 

[J.O. Aho]

Horse shit. Tell the whole story, those FEW it will run on make up 95%
+ of the computers that access the web in developed markets.

As we don't know what the clients requirements are, they could have a setup of
think clients, of many runs on PowerPC without OSX, you could then calculate
how successful the project would be.

Don't forget that Java do run on more platforms and gives you an endless more
options than flash and even if java is CPU intensive, it don't get up in the
same level as flash.

 

[Travis Newbury]

Don't forget that Java do run on more platforms and gives you an endless more
options than flash and even if java is CPU intensive, it don't get up in the
same level as flash.

Horse shit again. Do your homework before you open your mouth and
sound like a fool.

 

[Travis Newbury]

Now that I think of it, Cartoon Network's Adult Swim's "5 Minutes to
Kill Yourself" game...

I wrote the Actionscript classes that maintain the state of the floors
in the Aqua teen game a few years back. Short project contract, but
the offices at cartoon network are great. Tough working crowd, and
very smart people there. Some of the best Flash developers I have met
work there.

Would something like this have to be built "by hand" from the ground
up, or are there basic customizable packages available for something
like this?

There are plenty of classes out there you can find and steal. With
CS3 you can actually make your animation in the time line and tell
Flash to turn it into AS code. Also between the tween class and the
transition class, there is very little that you need to do create
Actionscript animations.

 

[Mechphisto]

I wrote the Actionscript classes that maintain the state of the floors
in the Aqua teen game a few years back.  Short project contract, but
the offices at cartoon network are great.  Tough working crowd, and
very smart people there.  Some of the best Flash developers I have met
work there.


There are plenty of classes out there you can find and steal.  With
CS3 you can actually make your animation in the time line and tell
Flash to turn it into AS code.  Also between the tween class and the
transition class, there is very little that you need to do create
Actionscript animations.

Thanks for the reply!
I was thinking, though, of needing the AS in order to deal with the
interactions with the elements in the animation. When the character's
avatar interacts with a mob/NPC and is presented a question and a
multiple-choice of possible responses to select from, and the
accumulation of points for the right response...all that would have to
be AS code, no?
Thanks.

 

[Travis Newbury]

Thanks for the reply!
I was thinking, though, of needing the AS in order to deal with the
interactions with the elements in the animation. When the character's
avatar interacts with a mob/NPC and is presented a question and a
multiple-choice of possible responses to select from, and the
accumulation of points for the right response...all that would have to
be AS code, no?

There is a ton of code you need to make this. I could not imagine you
being able to do it without code. But for the individual pieces I
believe you could piece together enough code to get you started.

This game you propose is not a simple task.

 

[Els]

Travis
Flash Crap: http://travisnewbury.blogspot.com

I clicked that link, expecting sort of a fully Flashed Flash site with
lots of Flash on it. I even waited for the picture at the top to start
moving! ;-)

But where you write "Here's the player:", there's a big black gap - no
FLV player. I don't have anything disabled that I know of, using
Firefox 3. I can see FLV players on other sites just fine...
Same for where you say you are displaying the code for the object tag.

 

[Ari Heino]

But where you write "Here's the player:", there's a big black gap - no

FLV player. I don't have anything disabled that I know of, using
Firefox 3. I can see FLV players on other sites just fine...
Same for where you say you are displaying the code for the object tag.

I see it just fine with FF3/XP SP3

 

[Els]

I see it just fine with FF3/XP SP3

Good. I don't
FF3 on XP as well, SP1 with all the updates, doesn't make it SP3
though, does it?
Any extensions that I would need to see it maybe?

 

[Neredbojias]

I clicked that link, expecting sort of a fully Flashed Flash site with
lots of Flash on it. I even waited for the picture at the top to start
moving! ;-)

The one of Travis? Don't he remind you of one of them small-time hoodlums
that was in some b-gangster films about 20 or 30 years ago? He-he, he
might not be _able_ to move.

But where you write "Here's the player:", there's a big black gap - no
FLV player. I don't have anything disabled that I know of, using
Firefox 3. I can see FLV players on other sites just fine...
Same for where you say you are displaying the code for the object tag.

I see it fine, too, like Ari and with the same stuff.

 

[Travis Newbury]

Good. I don't

You probably have the wrong version of Flash. I don't do version
checking and it is published with the latest and greatest.

 

[Travis Newbury]

The one of Travis?  Don't he remind you of one of them small-time hoodlums
that was in some b-gangster films about 20 or 30 years ago?  He-he, he
might not be _able_ to move.

Na, I was thinking young Paul Newman

 

[Neredbojias]

Na, I was thinking young Paul Newman

Like in that flick "The Silver Chalice" where he goes running around in a
loin cloth with as much buns hanging out as 50s Hollywood would allow?

 

[Els]

You probably have the wrong version of Flash. I don't do version
checking and it is published with the latest and greatest.

That probably explains why I do see the other site's videos, as they
used an older version of Flash specifically so that more people could
see it ;-) (version 8 iirc).

So, as I don't know much about Flash and stuff, which version should I
download where to be up-to-date again? My Firefox plugin says it's
Shockwave Flash 9.0 r124.

 

[Els]

Els wrote:

That appears to be the current one:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

Yup - I suppose something else is wrong somewhere, noticed another
site where I can't play a Flash mp3player.

Searching the web, I found this "explanation" for it:
http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10027752-12.html

Maybe I'll just reinstall FF2 again