

Ask YC: How do I get Started Making Games in Flash? - tocomment

I've got a couple cool ideas for simple web games.  How do I get started learning to code them up?<p>I'm a strong programmer, just never used Flash before.<p>One idea I have if you're curious is you're a local Police director and you have to set up speed traps and cameras to make the most revenue.  Sim Speed Trap?
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riffplay
I'm currently working on a flash game of my own. I didn't want to pay $700 for
CS3 (or even $250 for flex builder,) so I'm doing so using only free tools.

The flex SDK is located here: <http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/sdk/> It
looks like the documentation there is quite good, though admittedly I haven't
used it much. Any text editor would be fine; I am currently using SciTE with
these options files: <http://arthurdick.com/projects/as3/>

Regarding graphical stuff, SVG graphics can be embedded
[http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/201/html/wwhelp/wwhimpl/commo...](http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/201/html/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=LiveDocs_Book_Parts&file=embed_082_6.html)

I haven't attempted any complex graphics creation yet, but one program I'm
looking into is Inkscape: <http://www.inkscape.org/>

I'd highly recommend the Tweener class for animations. I only recently
discovered it, and it has made my life much easier:
<http://code.google.com/p/tweener/>

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tocomment
What tools are you using exactly? What generates the flash files?

..Actually maybe start over at the begininng :-) I have no idea how flash
works or how one makes it.

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riffplay
The flex sdk contains a program called mxmlc, which is what I use to compile
actionscript into the flash swf files. I did a search for an introductory
guide, and found one I remember from when I was starting out. It's for the
Windows version of flex, but I think it's pretty obvious what needs to be
modified if you are using a different OS.
<http://www.senocular.com/flash/tutorials/as3withmxmlc/>

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reitzensteinm
From my experience so far doing <http://www.rocksolidarcade.com>

A few people in this thread have said to, but do NOT buy Flash. Trust me on
this. If you're a programmer, you won't be able to use the IDE - it's just not
up to scratch. It's great for doing animation and such, but for structured
code writing games more significant than pong, you'll want to use Flex.

The Adobe Flex IDE is pretty cool, however, the new version which I feel is
worth getting is still in beta. Flashdevelop is fine for the most part.
Flashdevelop + Flex is all you need to create .swf files.

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tocomment
So you recommend I start with FlashDevelop? I'd prefer to develop on Linux
though, is there a linux alternative? Maybe Scite + flex like Riffplay
mentioned?

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reitzensteinm
Oh, definitely - I'm just saying Flex is the way to go, any editor (that you
like) will do. I use Flash Develop but I'm (increasingly) neutral on that. :)

Though you might want to try Adobe's Flex Builder alpha on Linux. The Windows
version was rock solid, but apparently the Linux version is further behind (I
haven't tried it on Linux). It's based on Eclipse so it's a memory hog
(slightly uncomfortable even on my c2d 3.16ghz + 4gb), but the debugger,
profiler, visual editing tools etc are top notch.

<http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex/flexbuilder_linux/>

Since it just uses the command line compiler, you can migrate to another
editor when it gets released non free (or buy it).

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byteCoder
At the risk of stating the obvious:

1\. Obtain Adobe Flash CS3.

2\. Pick up a couple books like _Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Classroom in a
Book_ and _ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University_.

3\. Read, learn the Flash time line paradigm, and experiment with the examples
in the book.

4\. Code, test, and distribute your new Flash creation.

5\. Profit!

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tocomment
Obvious is what I'm looking for. That and tips the YC crowd has learned.

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e1ven
I'd take a look at Flex and BlazeDS- They're two OSS releases from Adobe
(Form. Macromedia) that allow you to come at Flash development using a
traditional IDE (Eclipse) rather than the animation-style timeline that the
Flash MX environment uses by default.

Flex and BlazeDS are free and Open Source, and worth a look.

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tocomment
So I don't need to buy CS3?

Can you still do graphical stuff with those environments, EG animated cars,
etc for my speedtrap game.

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cdr
Flex is for data, Flash is for graphics. (I haven't tried Flex.)

You're going to need a way to create the graphical assets for your
application, and as far as I know that means Flash - especially if you want
vector graphics.

The Flex SDK is free, but you have to pay for the GUI builder.

I tried going "completely" open-source last year for a project with the FAMES
(osflash.org) stack. It was a pain, but it had its benefits (mainly an actual
IDE). It was still just for ActionScript, too - need flash for any kind of
remotely complex graphics.

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menloparkbum
You need CS3, unfortunately.

You can try to do it with free tools (I did) but your game will ultimately be
second-rate.

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tocomment
How do you mean? What happened to you?

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Mugurm
The Flash IDE is very important on setting up graphics properly. There is a
lot of functionality to be gained from the timeline. Program in whatever you
want: Flex, FlashDevelop, Eclipse + FDT plugin etc, but you still want your
symbols in the library to be able to be accessed and updated/edited easily.

Flash developers know quite a few tricks to get stuff to act as intended, so I
would highly recommend a book on flash game design. I read one a few years
back and it helped a lot with the intricacies.

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mig
\- Get CS3. You would waste more time figuring out how to get the stuff done
using free tools. Plus you might not be able to avail use of adobe's help
lists/groups. Your time is valuable.

\- Instead of trying to create from scratch, get .swf/.as files for some
free/open source flash game and hack your way through. With your strong coding
skills, it would be a lot easier to hack through an existing piece of code.

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bprater
If you are a strong programmer, go with Flex Builder trial, later you can
ditch it for a basic text editor like Textmate and use the command-line
compiler.

Dive into some Flash Game Programming books and Actionscript 3 books and look
at free tutorials online.

The thing you'll have to figure out is what tool to draw your "sprites".

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icky
If you do want to play with free tools, try haXe and swfmill.

