FAQ

Tell Me More About Anaksha

Here's a quick bio:

Name: Anaksha (अनक्स्हा)
Age: Unknown (estimated around 20s/30s)
Height: 5 foot 9 inches
Date Of Birth: 24th August
Birthplace: Agra, India
City of Residence: Santa Lina, USA
Visual Features: Wears a gold nose ring (for cultural reasons). Has a tattoo of her starsign (Virgo) on her upper left arm. Has been known to occasionally wear a decorative 'bindi' on her forehead (again, for cultural reasons).
Background: Came to Santa Lina at the age of 12. Was adopted by a foster family.

What Inspired You To Create This Character?

The character was inspired by (and is based upon) the main character from the original feature length screenplay, "Anaksha: Angel Of Death". The screenplay in turn was inspired by neo-noir movies such as The Crow and Sin City.

The game doesn't work for me! The screen just flashes and acts weird. Whats wrong?

You'll need the latest Flash player. Visit http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer

Why can't you smash the windows when you fire at them?

I didn't have time to add this feature. Maybe next time.

Is Anaksha some kind of hardcore, militant feminist?

No. Anaksha does not take 'sides'. She only believes in equality, and whats right. Remember, Anaksha is a fictional character and most most people are mentally secure enough to accept the game as a harmless work of fiction. If it honestly made you feel like a loser, then my guess is you probably have a few skeletons in your closet!

So then, why does the storyline only focus on helpless female victims?

The original game had an equal mix of both male and female targets. But the small animated figures were male and it took me a LONG time to get them to look, move and react realistically. Adding females would have meant spending months re-hashing the game's framework (those of you who work with Flash will understand how painfully slow things can be). I wanted to release the game sooner rather than later, so I rewrote the storyline to accomodate only male targets. I'm a beginner with Flash and this screw-up was my own fault for using the wrong technical approach because if I had planned it properly I could have not only had both genders, but multiple clothing, skin colours, etc. I've learn't from that mistake and I know what to do, if there's a next time

So what you're saying is, you were too lazy too add women?

No, not too lazy. Too tired would be a better answer. It took a LONG time to get the game to look how it does and I wasn't about to go through it all again. The truth is, most people who call me "lazy" are usually those who've never gotten off their backsides to learn how to create a flash game. And yet according to their logic, I'm the one who's lazy! :)

Well OK, but why do most missions focus on crimes such as rape, wife beating, etc?

A viglilante deals with social issues and criminals not governments and inter-gang warfare. Theres far too much focus on politics with these kind of games, and what people don't realise is that society has some very serious problems. A lot of those stories were inspired by ACTUAL events reported by the BBC, CNN and national newspapers which exist in a thing known as "REALITY". All I did was select a bunch of them and put them in the game (some were so nasty I couldn't even include them). If those crimes happen to be committed by males, then I'm sorry, but facts are facts. I'm not mentioning her name, but the casino level is based around a true story. (Yes its a good friend of mine, she was sold (yes SOLD!) into marriage at the age of 13, and beaten and child-raped for months by a 40 something year old pervert before being rescued! Thankfully she is OK now). So before you go pointing fingers, throwing sticks at me and accusing the game of being sexist, try opening your eyes to things which are happening in your own town!

I wanted to create someone who wasn't motivated by politics. If you want to be a government assassin, then theres plenty of games out there where you can kill honest, hard-working family guys that you don't have a problem with.

The other point I want to make is that its part of the story and her character. For the first 4 missions she is emotionally screwed up over her friend who was killed at the hands of a violent spouse, which is why she is so 'selective' at first, with her targets (until someone knocks some sense into her).

Why couldn't you have put as much effort into the storyline as you did with the graphics, etc?

The story you are following is not the original storyline which I had in mind before writing the game. It was scrapped because it didn't fit well within the game's flow (e.g: 1 min mission + 5 min cutscene + 1 min mission + 2 hour cutscene + 1 min mission + 30 sec cutscene). There was too much emphasis on character development rather than gameplay (players want to play the game, not read a novel). The game's current story was quickly knocked up to fit neatly around the game's structure. Hopefully next time, the story will be a bit more carefully thought out.

Are you going to release a sequel?

There's one currently under development. I can't say when its going to be released but you can track its progress here.

The game AI sucks!

Thats because there is no AI. The NPC's behaviour pattern is really dumb (casually walking past blood and guts, etc)- another issue to correct for the sequel.

How come you can only shoot the guys in the head?

I felt that shooting the body would be far too easy. Its a larger surface area and you could probably hit it with your eyes closed, so I restricted it to headshots only. But I think I've more than compensated for this by adding damage zones to the head. :)

Believe it or not, I actually added kneecap shots to the game a few months before its release as an experiement. This was so that you could disable one person whilst you chased the other one. In the end the code had to be removed because it somehow interfered with the headshot code.

How long did the game take to develop?

Between 7 - 8 months

Do you have a soundtrack listing for the game?

Yup! Right here.

How long have you been using flash?

I started learning properly around early September 2007. As soon as I understood how AS3 worked I immediately started writing a sniper game. Anaksha is the first game I've made in Flash (although I did make and finish a few smaller, simpler games during Anaksha's production but they were all for the sake of clients, websites etc).

Did you illustrate all the noir-style artwork and intro cinematics?

Yes I did. I'll admit I'm not the best illustrator in world (I had to quickly learn what I could from books) but I thought I'd at least gave it a try. This is my actually first time illustrating comic book art. Despite all the failed attempts, I'm reasonably happy with the result (although there are a few drawings in there which make me cringe when I see them!) :P

I've created some Anaksha fan art! Will you publish it?

Of course! There's a special section on the forum for fan art. You can find it here. I look forward to seeing what you make. :)

I have a few story/gameplay/artistic suggestions for the sequel

Sounds good! Feel free to post all your suggestions (or opinions) over at the forum. I look forward to reading them!

What's your background?

Over 10 years in the film industry

Will you be releasing any official merchandise?

Its a possibility. I really don't know.

Can you email me the movie screenplay?

Sorry, I can't do that for legal reasons... plus its currently being given a total rewrite.

Will you help me with the artwork/story on my project?

As much as I'd like to help, I'm an extremely busy guy so the chances are I won't have time. But feel free to tell me about your project anyway. If I can offer any advice I will be happy to do so. :)

Can we get Anaksha to officially support our group/organization?

Sorry, no.