Frequently Asked Questions
General
What does the IRA acronym stand for?
Iván Rodríguez Asqui. It's my name.
What does IRAGINATION mean?
It's a pun formed with the words IRA and Imagination. It stands for the creative nature of this site, but honestly, being ira a common spanish word, I was looking for a name that search engines would index easily and uniquely. It worked. Can't remember the address of this site? Just type iragination on your favorite search engine and you'll be here. IRAGINATION is also a context free name, one year I may be drawing anime, the other developing games, that was the idea. I'm not bound to any specific theme, it's just my personal site.
Wait. Isn't IRAGINATION a Mega Man site?
No. The content may lead you to think that, but the structure is open to any theme. I don't have character profiles, game guides or character databases, official multimedia galleries, neither mega man related news or release dates. Instead it's my artwork, my game experiments, my comics, my projects, my news of my stuff. I used the personal sites of other artists as model for mine, not other mega man sites, I neither pretend to compete with them. The closest thing I had to a Mega Man site was Fire Man Vive, but then I reinvented it to this site. I don't even recall to have ever claimed to be a Mega Man site or fansite. Oh, but I'm fan of the Mega Man series.
Can you help me with <insert Mega Man related question here>?
Please, don't ask me Mega Man questions unless it's related to my works. In the best case, I know as much of the Mega Man series as the average fan. Visit the links section for more specialized sites with up to date information.
Aren't there like BETTER series than Mega Man out there? Why do you keep at it?
Ha ha. Well, if you want me to convince you that Mega Man is the best series ever, I won't. Of course there's better stuff out there, I just didn't happen to have time to check them, or felt motivated enough to draw them. My work load has been so high during these years that the Mega Man series, with its yearly games (at best) are the only thing I've been able to keep following. The pace of other anime/game series is just too fast for me to catch them up all, the amount of material too huge to check. I know them, but very little. I'm drawn other stuff for professional works, though. Here I'm just having fun.
Personal
Who am I talking with?
My name is Iván Rodríguez Asqui. I am from Guayaquil, Ecuador. I was born on october 20th of 1977. I'm an Electronic Engineer who happens to draw and currently develope web applications.
What languages do you talk?
My first language is spanish. Fell free to write me in spanish if you wish. I understand plenty of english too. I'll do my best to reply you in proper english if that's the case, but I might make some grammar mistakes or something I sad might be interpreted improperly . Fell free to let me know if something I said didn't sound correctly or was not clearly understood so I'll elaborate further my phrases. I try to talk in boring, neutral english at first with everybody just to avoid misunderstandings that migh arise with more informal slang that maybe even I don't fully understand or use.
How fast/often will you reply my mails?
Well, I understand many of you have broadband internet connections on your desks, and are used to communicate very fast. In my location the situation is rather precarious. Broadband internet connections are just arising and they are expensive, so the same level of connectivity would be too costly for me.
Flash troubleshooting
Why can't I see any game or animation?
You need to install the Macromedia Flash Player. Get it
here and try
again reloading the page. The player is free.
What is Flash?
The Flash Player is a browser plugin that allow you to play
Flash content on your browser.
Oh no, I'm not downloading anything that may contain viruses or spyware!
Okay. Goodbye?
I'm able to play Flash content of other
web sites. Why can't I play just YOUR movies?
Usually I use the latest version of the Flash Player in
my projects. The one pre-installed on your computer is an old one. Please
upgrade your
Flash Player version and try again.
Ok, the game has loaded, but when the game
starts the character doesn't move when I use the keyboard. Why?
Click on the movie to gain focus.
I have a broadband connection. Why does the movie
run so slow?
Once loaded, your network speed has nothing to do with the movie perfomance. It's your system speed (proccesor, memory) the one who can't keep up with the movie. Try in a more powerful system.
I can play DOOM 3 at 150fps on my computer.
Why do YOUR movies/games run so slow?
Flash content is interpreted. It doesn't run like DOOM 3. The Flash format has been designed to be played in many
platforms. The same movie might be played on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, game
consoles (PS2, Xbox), set top boxes, Pocket PCs, PDAs, mobile phones,
and virtuallty any device where a tailored version of the Flash Player
is avaliable. Therefore, it's meant to be platform independent. This beauty comes with a cost. When you
play a Flash movie, your locally installed Flash player translates it for your specific
system. This process might be very intense for your system, and therefore
the speed lost compared to other applications who has been designed
specifically to take advantage of your current platform.
Therefore, the only comparison of my Flash movies that I'm interested, is against other Flash movies.
Are there any tips to improve the speed
of the movie I'm playing?
There are several tricks:
- Usually the latest version of the Flash Player is fater than the previous
ones. So, upgrade.
- If you have Flash movies running in other browser windows, close them
all.
- If you have other applications running, close them all too. The point is to free your system's resources.
- On Windows systems, Internet Explorer can play Flash movies faster
that other browsers.
- Change your display resolution to 800x600 or less.
- For the ultimate speed trick, try the Stand Alone
Flash Player.
Is there a way I can download your movies
to play them offline?
Yes. Just as images are downloable JPG files, you can also
download Flash movies, wich are SWF files. SWF stands for Small Web Format.
Without any other special tool, download SWF files might be a bit tricky, though.
If you're using Internet Explorer, it's very likely the
movie you just watched was downloaded to a temporal folder called Temporary
Internet Files. Look for it by doing a Search on your system, and retrieve
any swf files you may suspect belong to the game (yes, flash games/movies can be made of multiple files). Then, you can drag the
file to any open brower window in order to play it.
On the other hand, you may want to use a download manager,
then you need the URL of the file. Something like this:
http://www.somesite.com/somefolder/somegame.swf.
This URL has to be build by hand. It's somegame.swf
the tricky part to get of the URL, because the rest is usually already
on your address barregarding the web page you're watching.
http://www.somesite.com/somefolder/page.htm
So, in some Notepad window, I might just paste this:
http://www.somesite.com/somefolder/
To look for the name of the SWF file, you have to peek at
the page's source code (View->Source Code). A lot of HTML code should
be displayed in a new window. Then do a search (Edit->Find ... ) for
the .swf string. Your best bet will be when you find something
like this:
... <embed src="somegame.swf" width=
... bla bla bla....
Then there you are. Just copy the portion after src=" wich is the name of the file ( somegame.swf) and paste
it on Notepad to form the full URL. Use this URL to download the SWF file
with your favorite download manager. Refer to your download manager documentation
for how to do that. As you might have guessed, you can apply this for
any SWF file on any host, and works 99% of the times (specially in flash portals).
That sounds like too much trouble. Can
you just send me the swf file to my mailbox?
No.
I've seen Flash movies packed on EXE files
ready to reproduce any time with no need of a web browser. Can you convert
your movie/game to an EXE file and place it for download/sent it to my
mailbox?
No.
I've opened a SWF file on a web browser,
but the movie resized to fill the browser window getting bigger, and now it plays too
slow. What can I do?
Resize your browser window. Smaller.
Is there some sort
of SWF media player? You know, I'd like to just double click on an SWF file to play
it, with no need of a web brower, and at the size the movie was authored.
Yes. You can do this with the Stand Alone Flash Player. A way to get it is by installing the
trial version of the Macromedia Flash authoring tool. Download it from
Macromedia's products page.
Once installed, all your SWF files will be associated with
the Stand Alone Flash Player (SA Flash Player). They'll have a nice icon too. So you can double click
your SWF files to play them. Not only that, but also you'll note a boost
in speed wich in no way can be achieved by the web browser plugins. And despite being a
trial version, the SA Flash Player doesn't seem to expire. So, for the
serious Flash gamers, this is the best solution by now.
The only drawback is that you have to download a huge authoring
environment tool (around 50MB, and register to Macromedia's web site before
downloading last time I checked) just to get the tiny SA FLash Player. If that's not a
problem, then download away. May I suggest you to spend some time learning
Flash now that you've donwloaded it?
Can you send me/post for download YOUR SA Flash Player?
No.
Is there a way to play your games with
a Joystik or a Gamepad?
Yes. There are utilities that trick the Flash movie making
it think your gamepad commands are the (usually required) keyboard strokes. You should look first
on the website of your gamepad's manufacturer for such tools, but you
can still use a generic tool like JoyToKey.
Game Making
Is it easy to make games with Flash?
The short answer is no. The long anwser is, it depends of a lot of factors like the type of game you want to make, your current knowledge about programming and plenty of other disciplines. If you are thinking about make a Mega Man game in a week from scratch with no previous development background, the answer is a certain no.
Can you help me to make a game?
I'm really sorry but when I'm not developing, I'm researching. But if you mean to hire my services, then contact me and let's talk about it.
Is Flash the best tool to make games?
It reallly depends of what you mean by best. As a starting platform, it's a really good and reasonable option to try game concepts, prototyping and even develope full 2D games. Then you can move to more advanced options like Director, Game Creator or Direct X.
I'm totally clueless about Flash. Can you teach me how to make games?
Sorry but you have a long way to go and contact me won't help. Try the following steps:
- Read the Flash Help.
- Learn to make some animations.
- Once you're familiar with the timeline, library and the basic Flash tools, learn ActionScript.
- Read tutorials on internet about basic programming topics. Advance as you progress.
- Try making a Pong clone.
- Once you're familiar with coding, download source files (.FLA files) of games from sites like FlashKit.com. Examine the code, experiment and keep researching.
- Math and Trigonometry are also very encouraged to master.
- Buy some books about Action Script or game making with Flash. None of those books will tell you the exact steps to make a full game. The idea is to catch the general concepts and adapt them to your requirements.
Please note we're talking about a time span of months/years here considering how much time you can devote to this process daily. Even I haven't tried everything that has arised in my mind.
I know a lot of Flash. Actually, I've researched so much about Flash and programming that I know that the only way of improve is keep researching and reading at my own pace. There is enough documentation and forums out there. Tutorials are as easy to find as type "Tile Based Games" in Google. I can spot parallels in game tutorials/articles written in other programming languages that can be implemented in Action Script. So this, wich was going to be a question, actually doesn't exist.
Yeah, the funny thing is that the more you know about programming, the less you'll feel like asking for help, because the answers are already there, or you have to create them, heh. Create is very rewarding, but don't underestimate to research, really, always avoid to reinvent the wheel if you can. Programming is a very neat discipline.
Can you give me your source/FLA files?
No.
Ok, I totally can't do this programming thing, but I have EXCELLENT game ideas. Can I still make them somehow?
Certaintly there are options. You may have a friend who knows how to code and free time, but lacking game ideas, so you could team up or something. The other option is to actually hire a programmer. Fair deals with clear rules where everybody wins keeps projects sucessfully running and finished. Have a budget? Contact me.
My game is not working, can I send you my FLA file so you can fix it? My code is not working, can you check it?
I'm sorry but there are endless ways to code the same effect in screen, so I'd have to learn how you are doing/modeling it in order to spot the errors in your logic. It's not realistic to think that I'll have the time to do that for everyone who ask. I'm afraid I don't have time to give Flash support.
Can you review my game?
Unless you're my friend of years, probably I won't. Really, I check a lot of online stuff and appreciate a lot of others works but it's hard to me to find time to write reviews, specially in english. I'm too busy, sorry.
Schedule
When are you going to make your next game/comic/illustration/update?
When it's done. I try to have fun doing this site. Force myself to schedules or deadlines would make this site another job, and I have enough stress in my professional life. Please be patience.
Using Content
Unless otherwise noted, by content I mean anything like comics, illustrations, games, tutorials, articles. Anything hosted here.
I'm making a website. Can I use your content on it?
First I need to check your site. Usually the answer is yes for everything but games. I prefer to host my games. Also I require full credit and a link back to this site. Thank you for your interest.
Sending Content
Can I send you content to be published on your site?
Currently I only can host illustrations (JPG, GIF, PNG files). There are some guidelines though. For something that is too large like games/music but somehow meets the aftermentioned guidelines, please, host it yourself and I'll link back to it from, uhm, somewhere (I really haven't considereded to open a derivative works section).
What are the guidelines to get my artwork published on your gallery?
Currently I only upload artwork on the Guest Far Art section.
- Your work has to be related with my original characters: Necro, Delia, Balandra, etc.
- I'm not publishing there works about Fire Man or other copyrighted characters, unless mines are present.
- Please provide the following information: Your name/nickname and the address of your website if applicable. I'll post nicknames instead of real names unless otherwise noted. I won't publish your e-mail unless requested.
- On doubt, just check what already have been published. If your work meets those parameters, everything will go nice. Actually I love this stuff because of the intention behind them.
And you agree with this:
- If you send me fan art, but you don't want it published, please state it explicitily. I'll assume you want me to publish it unless otherwise noted.
- I reserve the right to not publish anything for any reason. You know, offensive works or mere advertising will be filtered out (but I'll keep them, ha ha). I'm trying to keep a gallery that lives up its meaning. :)
- In return I'll publish your artwork and a link back to your website.
- I'll publish as soon as I can, please be patient if this takes longer than what you expect.
- I don't have problem with the file size of the orignal image. Actually I can take high resolution pictures (PSD, BMP) for printing purposes, but they can't be published that way for the web. I'll have to make some resizing and file conversion in order to publish it on the site. Don't worry, I know how to do this without hurting too much the file.
- If you want some of your credit info changed after published, let me know. I'll do my best to update the info as soon as I can, but please I can't guarantee you this will happen fast if you have, say, ten entries, since I have to search and update everyone of them by hand. So please, don't abuse this option and send me the accuratest info in first place :)
Why do you only take artwork related to your characters, Isn't that like egocentrical or something?
Well, I had to create those guidelines in order to keep update rates reasonable. I wouldn't be able to keep up with an all-open gallery of all sort of content, I'd have to check/upload/review tons of images every week of themes that maybe I don't even know, and that is just beyond the scope of my site. Guest Fan Art if something more personal where artists send arwork of my characters because they felt like it, and I'm very impressed for the response of these years. Really, back then I just started to get them without me asking them. It's spontaneous and I love it. And it perfectly match the goals of a personal site.
Furthermore, currently it's ridiculously easy to find hosting services to publish your artwork not related with my characters. Deviant Art, Sheezy Art, Flickr are good options. If that's what you're aiming to, then open your gallery there now. There's no excuse.
I'm linking you back, so actually I'm interested that my visitors find more of your works anyway. That's traffic for your site, probably you'll meet artist with related interests. I think it's a win-win scenario where everyone is happy :)
Also, I'm not demanding you to push yourself too much on to meet high quality standards of artwork, neither requiring any special technique. Really, I appreciate a lot the emotive side of these pieces, and I have happily published artwork of artists from all ages who use all sort of media.
I have a pic for you. How do I send it?
The easiest way is to use your e-mail and send it to me as an attachment, with the information required.
Other option would be publish it at the Art Corner of my forum as many have done before. I don't find this easier because you'd have to register and host the image in some remote server. But if that's ok, then go ahead.
Wait. What is all that e-mail, attachment, hosting talk? I just have it drawn in paper here in my hands. How do I send it to you?
Well, the details of using a scanner and a e-mail client are beyond the scope of this document. Please ask someone else close to you with access to the required equipment to help you.
On the other hand, you might just send me the physical sheet on a traditional letter. At the contact page you can find my physical address for the envelope. This might be a bit costly for you, it may take several weeks to arrive, and I'm too busy to reply through this channel. If that's not problem, then go ahead. But by all mean try to go for the e-mail way.
Ok, it's fine if you don't publish my pic of, say, Goku. Will you at least reply an opinion of it, some tip?
Probably yes, if you sent me a pic to give you my opinion, that's something that is very likely I can do.
What about fanfics? Will you publish them if they are related with your characters?
I'm sorry, I really don't have any fanfic section.
Online Activities
Will you join my forum/yahoo group/mail list/community?
Even if I do, I don't think I'll be very active, wich you might find sort of rude, so I prefer to not. Please, take no offense of this, I just have to be realistic with my free time. Thanks.
Do you MSN/AOL/ICQ/IRC or chat in any messaging service? Can I add you to my buddy list?
I really only use MSN Messenger as a job tool to talk with clients or old university friends, in the rare times I'm connected. That's the only use I give to those tools, I've never been very chatty on them. Let alone that write in english in real time is not my best skill, heh. Again, please take no offense of that. |
