What I Do For a Living, Part 312: Dr. Facilier's Parlour

I recently completed a new application. This one is a collection of three games associated with Disney's upcoming animated film, The Princess and the Frog. This one requires a Facebook account: Dr. Facilier's Parlour. (Dr. Facilier is the villain of the movie.)

This is my first completed project using certain technologies:

• Facebook API
• Spark components (Flex 4 beta)
• Code Igniter PHP framework

Also see the Shadow Shakedown game therein for an example of how DisplacementMapFilter can be useful. (I also got to do a tiny bit of character animation there.)

I have to say I was very pleased with all of these new technologies. In particular, the Spark component set is a huge improvement over the previous Halo components. Skinning components is so easy now it's hard to imagine that it was ever difficult. Adobe has acted on the "Favor composition to inheritance" maxim, and it has paid off. Also, props to Code Igniter, with its flexible tools and strong emphasis on the MVC pattern, for making PHP development (something I had all but sworn off) actually kind of fun.

Enjoy!