Actionscript for Fun & Games

TITLE: Actionscript for Fun & Games PUBLISHER: QUE ISBN: 078972524X PAGES: 432 b/w CD: Source files on the web AUTHOR: Gary Rosenzweig Get it now at Amazon.com

Why make games in Flash? The answer is obvious: 90% distribution of the Flash 4 plugin (65% Flash 5). No other plugin can compare and Flash has got it all: streaming, interactive and programmable rich media. What kind of games can be made with flash? Almost any kind and this book by Gary Rosenzweig will get you up to speed fast.

The book is accompanied with a cd-rom full of source files. Even a non programmer should be able to use these games, by just changing the graphics. The games included are niceand fun games, but most are rather simple. If you have a programming background, you'll be able to take these basic concepts even further.

One thing should be made clear: this book is no attempt to make actionscript book. What this book is aiming for is rather to teach you the concept of creating games. The book starts with a 60 page walktrough of the Flash authoring environment and a very quick tour of actionscript fundamentals.

This part is very rough and should be seen as a list of what you should know before changing the games included with the book.

The next part gives you the basics of movieClips, how to control them, collision detection and keyboard input. Gary's language is good and his explanations are good, as one should expect from a author that has already published 5 books on Macromedia Director. The focus is always on describing the concept and how to apply this to Flash.

Before starting on the games, Gary explains how to do stuff like text effects and small actionscript 'toys'. The games are sorted in categories starting with simple click and shoot games and expanding on the concepts learned here. 'Ball and paddle' games, quizzes and puzzles and casino games are covered as well as Arcade games. The coding is nice and clean and a seasoned programmer will understand it right away.

The book also discusses important matters as copyright, copy protection and highscores.

This book is the first highly specialised book on ActionScripting. In the coming months, you can expect to see more books like this one covering server interaction, XML and more. I am amazed by the quality of this book. Even the graphics are nice, even if they are simple. The littl e red fox appears everywhere in the book in various situations. Not too exciting maybe, but it serves it's purpose and you wouldn't buy this book for it's design either...

There's even a nice chapter on the history of games hidden in the appendix. This book can easily make you some money, even if you are not a programmer. All the games are free to use, but the author suggests you change the graphics. This alone makes the book worth it's $45 price tag.

 

 

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