Project: Be-Bratz Social Network

(www.Be-Bratz.com MGA Entertainment has recently deleted our test account.) View an early Bratz build.

For end client MGA Entertainment, I worked remotely with Ann Arbor, MI, interactive agency Enlighten on many aspects of this large project and a related project, MyePets.

The first engineer on the project, I created the doll avatar model (Flash structure and code, not the artwork), wrote the Salon module, and worked with three animation houses to specify and integrate the character animation and various assets (clothing, furniture, etc.).

The doll is a very complex Flash movie clip using component clips. It is loaded as a separate SWF and is portable among and communicates with all Be-Bratz rooms.

There was no project functional specification. Rather, tidbits of spec arrived weekly in the form of client calls. I evolved the site architecture through several iterations, beginning with Flash libraries and the Shared Object, moving toward independent loading of SWFs for the doll, the navigation, and individual rooms. Working with other engineers we eventually arrived at a system of completely independent assets loaded via XML web services to maintain state and personalization between player sessions.

The next step would have been to develop a Flex architecture to maintain the business logic.

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