PandaDate.com Launches
May 1st, 2007
On the Web: PandaDate.com
Skills: Flash 8, ActionScript 2, XML
Because of renewed interest in panda breeding surrounding the artificial insemination of our female giant panda, the web team at the National Zoo asked me to take the “PandaDate.com” game I built in the Science Station kiosks and turn it into a real Web site.
I turned around this little Flash, ActionScript and XML piece in a little over two days. I dropped all the video features from the original and was able to salvage most of the ActionScript. The Web experience isn’t nearly as thorough as the kiosk, but I can live with it.
The only thing particularly interesting about this application is the ability for the Web folks to update and add panda mating pairs to the game by editing a little XML. I simply copied the kiosk XML and reused it.
It was interesting working on a Flash piece for the Web again. Stand-alone kiosks have dedicated hardware with all their media on the hard disk and dedicated bandwidth to their dedicated servers. I sometimes have to rethink my approach for recycling applications built as kiosks.
I wish a designer had also been assigned to the project to make it look a little nicer.
