Thinking about creating a game in flash.

[The Lillster]

I've always wanted to make my own game, but i've never been that interested in the programming itself. So I thought maybe Adobe flash is the best method for me.

 

I have very little experiance in Flash, all I know is action script is what is used to create games and dynamic content.

 

I'm also planning on using illustrator so I can draw unqiue content and then scan it in.

 

Now should I buy a book on action script, are there any particular books I should buy in general based on game design in Flash?

 

Also can Flash games support online muliplayer aka MMORPG's?

[Emasher]

I highly recommend doing it. Its actually quite fun.

 

Don't buy any books for learning flash. Look for online tutorials. Newgrounds has several in their tutorials section. Also, avoid ActionScript 3 its designed for Flex rather than flash and isn't that good in flash. Quite a few flash users are actually boycotting it. Go with Actionscript 2.

 

You could technically make an MMO type game, but it would require many years of experience with action script plus a server and adobe's flash media server software which doesn't come cheap.

 

Also, a word of warning with drawing unique content. The hitTest function in flash (for detecting collisions) will only work properly with rectangular objects so you might want to keep anything thats not a rectangle at least close to one unless you want to make your own collision detection engine from scratch.

 

A basic hitTest would basically work like this if you are interested

 

//this code should go in the actions for a movie-clip symbol. "Object" refers to the object you want to test if the object is touching.

onClipEvent(enterFrame){
if ( this.hitTest(_root.Object)){
 //What you want it to do goes here
}
}

[The Lillster]

Ok i'll definently look into it further. Another idea I had was maybe to create some kind of animated series. But there just ideas at the moment.

 

Also I take it you can use illustrator to create unique contet and then export it to flash?

[nightwolf]

You can, but the movement is done in flash, I'm only doing basic flash games at the moment, I found the movement wasn't exactly as I wanted it...and god forbid stay away from tweening, it's awful!

[Emasher]

Tweening has its place I guess. But its not really the best option for serious animation. Thought there have been some great animations created using them.

 

You can use Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks for creating the graphics depending on what you need, all of them can easily be imported into Flash.

[nightwolf]

Tweening has its place I guess. But its not really the best option for serious animation. Thought there have been some great animations created using them.

 

You can use Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks for creating the graphics depending on what you need, all of them can easily be imported into Flash.

 

I suppose it's a nice way to start and for some animation it's great, but you are right. Fireworks ftw!