How to randomize movieclips?

[Guest]

Hi, I am new with Actionscript 3. I'm creating a Trading Card Game, but I want to generate a random card (from a specific deck).

We suppose we have four places, and these places will be filled with the four random cards. And I don't know if the cards should be in a movieclip but in differents frames or in differents movieclips.

I do not know how to use Math Random or Array. That's why I need a detailed explanation.

And, could you tell me how to do an action depending what card you got?

I would be very grateful with you if you can help me.

[JoãoCésar]

Hi.

I tried to keep things simple, but dynamic at the same time.

As you getting started with AS3, I think using frames is the easiest way. No special properties or classes.

FLA download: Here.

Code:

/*
1 - The function 'getRandomFaces' return an array with the amount of numbers that we set. In this case,
each card has 10 frames, so it will fill an array with numbers from 1 to 10.
2 - The 'randomSort' function is used as a parameter to the default array.sort() function, so we can get a random order from the original
array. See more at: https://help.adobe.com/pt_BR/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/Array.html#sort().
3 - The 'setFaces' function gets a randomized array and a deck Movie Clip and set the currentFrame property of each card
to the current value of the array inside the loop.
4 - The 'callActions' function call a corresponding function in this frame based on the currentFrame property of the sorted cards.
*/
function getRandomFaces(total:uint):Array
{
    var array:Array = [];
    for (var i:uint = 0; i < total; i++)
        array = i + 1;    
    return array.sort(randomSort);
}
function randomSort(a:*, b:*):Number
{
    if (Math.random() < 0.5)
        return -1;
    else
        return 1;
}
function setFaces(array:Array, deck:MovieClip):void
{
    for (var i:uint = 0;i < deck.numChildren; i++)
        MovieClip(deck.getChildAt(i)).gotoAndStop(array);
}
function callActions(deck:MovieClip):void
{
    for (var i:uint = 0; i < deck.numChildren; i++)
        this["action" + MovieClip(deck.getChildAt(i)).currentFrame]();
}
function action1():void {trace("action 1 executed");}
function action2():void {trace("action 2 executed");}
function action3():void {trace("action 3 executed");}
function action4():void {trace("action 4 executed");}
function action5():void {trace("action 5 executed");}
function action6():void {trace("action 6 executed");}
function action7():void {trace("action 7 executed");}
function action8():void {trace("action 8 executed");}
function action9():void {trace("action 9 executed");}
function action10():void {trace("action 10 executed");}
setFaces(getRandomFaces(deck.card0.totalFrames), deck);
callActions(deck);
trace(""); // set a space between each execution in the Output panel.

I hope it helps.

Regards,

JC

[Guest]

Thank you very much. I'd like to open that .fla file to understand better, but I use Flash CS3. Can you save it for previous version? Sorry for the disturbances.

[JoãoCésar]

Hi again.

No problem.

It seems that Animate CC won't give me legacy options for FLA files. The only option is to save as a .xfl (Animate Uncompressed File). I've updated the previous link with this .xfl.

If you still cannot open the file, don't worry, because the FLA has a very simple setup.

- There is a main Movie Clip on the stage called 'deck' in a layer called 'cards'. The code above is located on a layer above called 'actions'.

- There are four Movie Clips named 'card0' to 'card3' inside this 'deck' Movie Clip.

- Each of this 'cardn' Movie Clips has 10 frames with text fields from 1 to 10, a actions layer with a stop() function and a single shape on a layer on the bottom.

Like this:

Please tell me if you still have any questions.

Regards,

JC