Official Anaksha 2 Game Development Blog
Just so you all know I’ve announced my new game project. The details can be found at www.arifgames.com
Believe it or not, the core game engine is complete so now it’s just a case of adding the gfx, menus, music etc.
Just a quick post regarding the offline version of Dark Angel. Some people have been having trouble running the game which is partially a small error on my part for not making the instructions clear enough. The mistake most people are making is to run the index file from inside the zip file. Now the index html file will run but it won’t be able to find any of the game or image files. So here’s what to do:
Once you’ve downloaded the main zip file (you can get it from here) create a new folder on your harddrive (or even on a USB thumbdrive if you like). It must be somewhere that’s easily accessible by you. A good example would be c:\darkangel
Once you’ve done that make sure ALL the files have been added from the zip file to the new folder you created.
Run index.html from the new folder. The game should run without any troube.
If it doesn’t then it’s most likely something to do with your internet security settings being too high. You can adjust them via the browsers menu. Also, if you’re using Mozilla and have something called ‘noscript’ installed make sure you allow local files (right click -> noscript -> Allow ‘file://’).
Well it’s still early to say, but so far most people seem to be liking the game. As for my own opinion, I think the main thing I’m most proud of is the story and cutscenes. I’m not really a good games designer (I’m getting better though) and there were a few minor game design flaws here and there but nothing too major. The most important thing regarding the game code was stablity. So far I’ve not had any complaints about the game crashing or anything which is good.
My strong point has always been cinematics and everything related, eg: cinematography, screenplays, directing and visuals. The story for me was the most important thing – more important than the game itself. I spent 6 months on the game design and the rest of the time was all spent on cutscenes. But I did what I set originally out to do which was to create a sequel on a very large scale and I’m real proud of Dark Angel being the first flash game ever to have a feature-length storyline to accompany it. 
Maybe next time round I might ask someone else to do the programming and game design so I can just focus on the story – it’ll probably get done a lot quicker too! Who knows where it could go from here.
Regardless of everything I’ve said, if you haven’t put your 2 cents in then I’d love to hear your opinions on what you thought. Please feel free to post your comments or reviews on the good points and bad points of the game (please be honest and constructive with any criticism). Feedback from the players is the only way I can improve and I’m always willing to listen.
Just thought I’d let you all know that Anaksha is a big girl now and has left the nest to take her first step into the great big wide world. That’s my melodramatic way of saying Dark Angel is now available on sites other than her home on anaksha.com.
Jayisgames have not only written up a positive, glowing review of Dark Angel but have also hosted it.
Here’s the review:
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2011/12/anaksha_dark_angel.php
Feel free to leave a comment there and also be sure to check out some of the great games on their site.
Want to learn how to write screenplays for games and film? I’ve started a teaching blog on the Arif Games website. My first series of articles will be a small course that teaches you how to write high-impact stories for video games and film, using everything I’ve learnt plus a lot of my own personal methods and techniques.
http://arifgames.com/blog/
I’ll be using Anaksha Dark Angel as a teaching aid throughout most of it and you’ll get to hear some of the back stories and stuff which you didn’t get in the game, along with lots of other things you won’t find on anaksha.com. The first article is already up, so please go check it out.
I hope you guys find this useful, and if you do end up using the info then I’d love to see what you come up with.
It seems I underestimated the power of achievements and so decided to add a hell of a lot more. Version 1.1 not only fixes a few minor bugs but also has a staggering 62 achievements which is pretty impressive when compared with the 26 it used to have. That’s way more than some commercial XBox titles. Anyway for those of you who are into achievement hunting you may want to head on over to http://darkangel.anaksha.com and give the thing a test drive. Hopefully I haven’t screwed up the code or anything with all this. :/ Let me know if it all works OK.
A full list of all achievements and final ranks can be found here: http://www.anaksha.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=540
Have fun!
Updated Dark Angel to v1.03. Dee has a friendlier, less commanding and more loving tone in her SMS messages. She sounds a little more like herself now.
Should have really nailed that before I released it, but it kinda slipped by me with everything else I was doing. :/
Some people have been having trouble with level 13. Am going to alter it to make it easier. Hold on for version 1.02 which will be coming today.
EDIT: OK all done! We’re now on v1.02. Level 13 is a lot easier now and Dee’s dialogue has been updated in the cutscene to reflect the new change.
OK I screwed up the flash countdown! Apparently when it’s running on the web server, it doesn’t read the current time from the web server. Instead it reads it from the user’s local machine! That makes no sense to me, given it behaves differently when it comes to reading in other files. For those of you who don’t get what I mean, let me explain.
The timer was set for midnight tonight, British time (GMT). My expectation was for everyone around the world to be able to play the game at the same time. But in reality, the game would have been available at midnight according to your local time! This means people in Australia and New Zealand would have gotten to play the game 12 hours earlier than Europe and almost 20 hours earlier than the US. This is unfair, not to mention the fact that you could potentially cheat by changing the time on your computer. Damn you Flash!! 
Oh well, at least I’ve learnt my lesson for next time.
So I’ve dropped the countdown code (I don’t have time to go recoding it to work with server time). I’ve given the game one last play test today and I’m happy with it so there’s no point holding out any more.
Go ahead guys. You can play it now. It’s been released early and the flash counter on the front page has been replaced with a link to the game.
Have fun.
PS: Even if someone did change the time on their computer and cheated they wouldn’t have been able to play it anyway as I’d password protected the web space. But anyway, it’s still the principle that counts. Fair is fair.
PPS: Please make sure you keep manual copies of all your save games as text files as often as you can, just incase I get threats from the host regarding over-use. I’ll be offering a download version soon, and all your save files should work fine with the offline version, so you won’t lose your progress.
Boy and girls, THIS IS IT!! This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for! Over 3 years of hard work and tireless dedication has come to an end!
The countdown to release is ticking away and you can watch it live over at the front page of www.anaksha.com. I hope your weekend is free.
I just have one request for you all. Once the game goes live, please go tell everyone about it. Let’s make Dark Angel a staggering online success! Tell all your friends, facebook buddies, family members, the walmart checkout girls, bus drivers, any stray cats and dogs… OK maybe not stray cats and dogs, but please spread the word everywhere.
This has been an incredible journey! I’ve learn’t a lot and have overcome many obstacles to get to this point, and now it’s finally happened. Although some people bailed on me despite their promises, I still got a lot of help from many important individuals who stuck by me, including all you guys. Thank you all for all your support. Once the game goes live, set aside a time when you won’t be disturbed and for the best effect put on a pair of decent quality headphones and turn up the volume! I hope you all love the game and please post any questions and/or achievements/final rankings in the Dark Angel forum (which has just been unlocked). And I’ve no need to say, if you find any bugs/errors please report them to me so I can fix them ASAP.
Now go watch the countdown.
Oh and one last thing before I forget, I’ve added a promotional Dark Angel wallpaper to the art and media section of the main site. It’s been ages since I released a wallpaper so I figured I’d throw one your way. So why not spice up your desktop with Anna’s gorgeous face glaring right at you every time you switch your computer on. She doesn’t look too happy in the drawing but hey, that’s just her usual pose and style! 
EDIT: I also forgot to mention something else. Not so long ago I wrote the screenplays for a set of small teasers which I was going to release as a promotional thing for Dark Angel. I never got round to animating them and I think it’s a little too late now given the countdown has already begun. So I’ve decided to release the screenplay for you all to read. It’s just a set of 3 very very short stories which kinda bridge the gap between A New Threat and Dark Angel. If you’ve played A New Threat then you’ll know about a character named Klaus Demetrinov. Well, the third story of this little screenplay explains what happened to him. You can find it here.
