ISBN: |
1903450675 |
Authors: |
Sham Bhangal Glen Rhodes Justin
Everett-Church David Doull Igor Choromanski Thomas
Poeser Kevin
Sutherland |
Price: |
US
$49.99 |
Pages: |
800 |
CD Rom: |
No |
Published: |
2001 | |
|
Flash Games
Studio
These days people are looking to the Internet for its gaming
possibilities. Whether it's real-time role-playing you're after with
30,000 of your closest friends, or just a solitary round of crazy
golf, the most versatile piece of web animation software just made
itself more approachable for designing games!
This book takes
us deep, deep down into the realms of game design, and hunts out the
features that are really going to evolve your Flash skills into
full-on game wizardry. We are going to discuss what makes a good
game – and what makes a great game. We grapple with the concepts of
3D and how to get Flash to produce cutting-edge game environments,
while keeping our sensible shoes on by reducing those file sizes and
download times. We conduct a battle of wits with artificial
intelligence, and have a good crash around with some collision
detection in platform games. All in all we are pushing Flash to its
breaking point to see what lies beyond.
What this book covers
The Studio
series assumes you already know your way around Flash's basics, and
it aims to boost your knowledge and help you master some advanced
techniques. Flash Games Studio draws its inspiration from the full
spectrum of Flash's capabilities. Amongst other things it looks
at:
- Refining methods of graphic creation to speed up
game performance
- Using ActionScript techniques for player control
and environmental reactions
- Mastering the sound capabilities with interactive
soundtracks
- Using data packets and sockets to develop
multiplayer games
Who this book is for? If you
want to turn your open-ended Flash animations into challenging,
high-quality games, then this is the book for you. You will benefit
from it if you are:
- A Flash user who wants to get comfortable with the
most important and useful ActionScript commands
- Flash users who want to push the software to the
edge of its capabilities, and stretch their knowledge base to its
limit.
- A Flash-savvy game designer who wants to venture
into the realms of web-based gaming
Summary of Contents
Chapter 1
– Introduction to Gaming Chapter 2 – Optimizing Graphics for
Games Chapter 3 – Flash's Built-in Objects Chapter 4 – Event
Handling Chapter 5 – Turn-Based Games and Advanced
Logic Chapter 6 – Structured Real-Time Programming Chapter 7
– Designing a Platform Game Construction Kit Chapter 8 –
Interactive Sound Chapter 9 – Let there be Music Chapter 10 –
Understanding Artificial Intelligence Chapter 11 – The Third
Dimension Chapter 12 – Real 3D Chapter 13 – Ultimate
3D Chapter 14 – Online Data Chapter 15 – Multiplayer
Applications Afterword – Director for Flash Users
Reviews
MacFormat
Feb 2002
"Flash has had its fair share of detractors. However,
this is due to poorly thought-out use rather than the software
itself. On the web it's easy finding awful implementations of Flash,
which can leave one subscribing to the "less is more" theory.
Conversely, in the hands of a skilful user it's a great way of
increasing a site's stickiness. There's no better example of this
than Flash games.
If you're already au fait with Flash, this book is a
good way of extending your skills in this direction. Helpfully, it
guides readers through different genres, what makes a game good and
how this can be achieved. If you've always fancied trying your hand
at games design, this is a fine place to start."
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