Flanture

In previous example, our hero has constant speed set to 2. Speed is defined inside doTween function, as 6th parameter for xT and yT tweens. Off course, this speed doesn’t have to be constant at all. We will use Numeric Stepper component just to show how to change speed parameter. Instance of Numeric Stepper is "step". We change mentioned parameter from "2" to "step.value".

download hero_v2 source file.

Flash game characters doesn’t have to move only in standard way, press left arrow key to move left, right arrow key to move right, space to jump etc. In this new flash game, main character (hero) will move differently. Hero will be dragable and on click, he will perform elastic move. Start position and destination position will be symmetrical in relation to Stage center. Enemy can be destroyed only if mouse is not pressed, otherwise, hero health will decrease.

import mx.transitions.Tween;
import mx.transitions.easing.*;

We need to define simple onPress, onReleaseOutside and onRelease methods for movie clip of our hero, mcHero. Method onRelease has two functions, findSimPoint() and doTween(). It is obvious that findSimPoint() calculates symmetrical point of hero x and y in relation to Stage center. DoTween(), well, performs the tween! Code comes with comments.

Download hero.fla

For a very long time, there was opinion between game developers that Flash Platform is not so good game development platform. Right now, with release of Flash Player 10, this might change just a little bit in another direction.

 Flash Player 10, code name Astro is still in beta, but already brings some very interesting new features. Native 3D effects, available to anyone, is the first reason why we should pay attention. Enhanced drawing API for easy runtime drawing and visual performance improvements with extended hardware acceleration with GPU Compositing and GPU Blitting take advantage of new ActionScript3.0 Virtual Machine (AVM2) introduced back in Flash Player 9.

Don’t forget Dynamic Streaming that automatically adjust to changing network conditions, Dynamic Sound Generation and File Reference Runtime Access that let’s you load/save files from/to server without knowing server language or have access to server. This is not all! Check all new features at Adobe Labs, but from this summary you get my point when I say it is time for reconsideration.

Mobile World Congress 2008 is over and winners are announced. Winner in best mobile game category are Call of the Pharaoh by Cellufun and My Hangman by Glu Mobile. Here is description of Call of the Pharaoh.

"Call of the Pharaoh is modelled after viral pyramid schemes, so the game was designed using a pyramid scheme algorithm and, in an effort to follow the pattern, was then made about being a pharaoh and building a pyramid. By requiring recruitment and cooperation, the game drives viral exposure and traffic. Call of the Pharaoh is compelling and innovative because it engages the entire community of Cellufun users and requires participation and communication from all parties in order for any one gamer to advance to a next level. The community aspect and pyramid scheme design of this game help it stand out from the rest."

Beside highly popular flash games, smaller amount of flash platform cake goes to flash cartoons. They exploit funny, bizzare and popular themes like thisBritney Spears flash cartoon from FlashCartoons.org and many others. Authors of flash cartoons are very often flash dev beginners and enhusiastics, but this doesn't always have to be the case.

Some learning help comes from huge number of blogs out there, but also as traditional learning tool from books (yes, real books!). One of those books is Flash Cartoon Animation by Tim Jones, Barry J Kelly, Allan S Rosson and David Wolfe. With this book you can learn how to effectively plan an animation project, how to put together storyboards, how to create elegant character libraries, how to set up your .fla file, ready for animation to commence, how to make more efficient use of your time with plugins, where to find good plugins, and how to create your own, how to animate, frame by frame, or using tweens, why After Effects can be better than Flash for some tasks, effective After Effects Techniques, such as camera mechanics and how to make Flash not look like Flash.

 

 Here is Contents of the book:

Chapter 1 The Project Plan
Chapter 2 Character Libraries
Chapter 3 StoryBoards and Animatics
Chapter 4 Setting Up Your FLA
Chapter 5 Plug-ins and Extensions
Chapter 6 Frame by Frame Animations
Chapter 7 Animating With Tweens
Chapter 8 Animation Special Effects
Chapter 9 Why Use After Effects?
Chapter 10 After Effects and Camera Mechanics
Chapter 11 Making Flash Not Look Like Flash
Chapter 12 Tips and Tricks

book details...