Chapter 5

In this chapter, a reorganized consolidation of chapters 12 and 13 from the first edition, I discuss strategies for building reusable code and design patterns.  I also cover some of the most basic principles any developer should follow when creating games.

Chapter 4

In Chapter 4, I give a crash course in ActionScript 3 programming, covering topics such as Classes, Events, and Errors.  While this is not a comprehensive course in AS3, but should be enough for developers coming from other programming backgrounds or earlier versions of Flash.  For AS1/2 devs, I also recommend this tutorial to aide in the transition.  There are also a number of great articles by Grant Skinner on topics like garbage collection.

Chapter 3

In Chapter 3, I discuss the elements of game design documentation.  It is important to be able to outline the features of a game before you ever begin to code.  I briefly discuss UML design and one program in particular, StarUML, that can be used to develop it.  In addition, there is a helpful tutorial, created by a Flash Player engineer, which shows how to use StarUML to generate AS3 code from a layout.

Chapters 1 & 2

To start out the book, I discuss Flash- and game-related terminology.  This covers different game types, programming terms, and Flash-specific groundwork.

In Chapter 2, I outline some of Flash’s strengths and weaknesses with regards to game development.  Where it is deficient, I recommend ways to augment and improve it.

Updates in progress…

I’m in the process of making updates to the site to support the 2nd Edition more fully. On the Files page, all of the source code for the examples has been posted. I should receive final PDFs of the new online content in the next couple of days and will post again when that’s live. Thanks to all those who have ordered the 2nd edition in the past week or so and thank you in advance for your patience while I get the site up to snuff!

Real World Flash Game Development, 2nd Edition is Out!

I’m pleased to announce that starting this week the 2nd edition of the book is available from fine retailers everywhere.  In fact, it’s out a whole week earlier than I anticipated so I’m behind in updating the site!  There will be new support files posted by this weekend, and hopefully and updated design by May 1.  Spread the word!

Flash CS5 given Hall of Fame Award from Game Developer Magazine

Every year Game Developer magazine recognizes the top technologies used for creating games in their Front Line Awards.  This year, Flash was given the Hall of Fame award.  The magazine contacted me in November to write the dedication piece.  Naturally, I was extremely honored and the piece was very fun to write.  Pick up a digital or print copy of the magazine to read the article!  Also, if you’re going to GDC in San Francisco, I am told free copies of it will be handed out there.

A lot changes in 6 months

Before I say anything else, I’d like to apologize to those who have left comments on the site or in the discussions area over the last couple of months.  The entire site has been on the back burner for me for a number of reasons, but I do feel very bad that people have reached out and gotten nothing in return.  I will be responding to all questions both on the blog and in discussions in the next day or so.

Here’s a quick recap of the last 6 months.

• June – My publisher and I decide that because of Apple’s stance on Flash CS5′s compiler, there is no reason to continue my 2nd book.  The suggestion is thrown about to switch it to be an Android book instead.  However, because of the amount of iPhone-specific material I had already written (because the process is very different), and because at the time the Android export path was still very much in flux, I decline this route.  Instead, my publisher shows interest in me working on a 2nd edition of my first book, which has been very successful.  We decide that the mobile material I’ve done so far would be a good enhancement to it, as well as updated some of the context for CS5.  It’s very important to me that there be enough new material to justify its existence – more on that shortly.
• July through November - At Blockdot, where I work, we get an opportunity from LEGO to do their first iPhone/iPad game, using Unity.  My role as head of the game development team doesn’t usually allow time to work on actual projects, but I jump at this one because I’ve been wanting to stretch my legs in Unity for a long time.  Because of a series of delays, the project takes 4 months instead of the originally projected 2.  Because of these delays, it often eats into free time I might normally apply to something like maintaining the blog. It has been available in the app store since November – download it today!  Quick side comment on rating apps in the iTunes store…
  1) If you download an app because of a misunderstanding about what it does (because you didn’t read the app’s description fully), and the app is free, don’t give it 1 star without an accompanying review explaining why.  It’s not the app’s fault that you didn’t know what you were getting.  That’s just lazy and does a disservice to everyone else in the community, as well as the developer.  In fact, I’ll go so far as to say such behavior makes you a dick.  Blockdot didn’t control the app description when submitting the game, but we did recommend to LEGO that they alter the description to be explicit up front that it is a guessing game, not a building game.  They have since done so.
  2) If you want to be a critic (and these days, everyone seems to want that), learn how to critique something based on its own merits, not just your own personal whims and biases.  Be a Roger Ebert rather than a Fox News.  ”I don’t find this game fun because I wanted to build with LEGO’s because I played with them in my childhood” isn’t viable criticism – it’s like saying you didn’t like Avatar because you went into it thinking it was a documentary on online personas.  ”I don’t find this game fun because there isn’t enough variation in the models or gameplay to keep me interested” is acceptable.  Think about how others will read, interpret, and make judgments based on your criticism.  Oh, and don’t be a dick.
• September – I kick off work on the 2nd edition of Real World Flash Game Development. I have so much material that the book, including appendices, is now in the upper end of 500-600 pages.  Because of publishing constraints, I make decisions about which material will find a permanent place online.  The new edition will be longer in print, but more content will be free and downloadable to the general public.  It is also important to me that people who buy the first edition a short time before the 2nd one is available don’t feel ripped off or like they got a bad deal.  All of the source code and examples from the 2nd edition will be available freely and will actually replace what is currently here on the site.  There will be no obligation to “upgrade” to the new edition, though if someone chooses to I will be very happy.  This 2nd edition will also be better categorized in stores like Amazon so that it hopefully reaches more people interested in game development and not just Flash.
• November - Through the book I’m approached by Game Developer Magazine to write an article that will appear in the January ’11 issue.  I’m honored and totally stoked.  I won’t say what it’s about, but I will definitely post on this again later this month when the issue is released.
• Present day – I’m getting close to wrapping up the 2nd edition and it will be available probably some time in March or April.  If you were considering purchasing the book, consider this your fair warning that the new one is coming.  I’m excited about it and was glad for a chance to freshen up and reorganize some of the material.  I’ll post more when I’m finished and it moves into the publishing phase.

As always, I’m pleased and grateful to see the response the book has garnered and I hope that reactions to the 2nd edition are equally positive.  More coming soon…I promise.

RWFGD selected by BoingBoing and Safari books for game contest

I was greeted with a pleasant surprise a couple of days ago when a friend sent me this link to BoingBoing.

My book is one of 5 game-related texts being offered for free for 30 days.  It is part of a game development contest being sponsored by BoingBoing and Safari Books.  If you haven’t picked up the book yet (and why not?!), this is a great offer to check it out.

Flash, iPhones, Androids, and my next book

Everyone and their dog has weighed in on the recent decision from Apple in their latest iPhone SDK to allow only apps made with their toolset to be approved in the App Store.  I’ve held commenting to see what Adobe would ultimately say.  Today, they said it.  No more Flash-to-iPhone.  I’m personally very disappointed by this, but the writing was on the wall.  Apple has no incentive to change their position and Adobe doesn’t really have any recourse, other than to go another direction.

…segue…

At the end of last week I was asked by Adobe (as someone who submitted a Flash CS5 iPhone app to the iTunes store) to port my game to the new AIR for Android platform that has recently been announced.  After getting resized art, it took me about 2 hours start to finish to port the game and get it running on a Google Nexus One.  You can see a video of it below.  If it weren’t for a known bug in the prerelease version of AIR for Android, it would have taken me even less time, but I had to swap out my use of TweenMax for GTween.  Tedious prerelease hurdles aside, this workflow is INFINITELY easier than Apple’s developer “initiation” process.  Once I had my SWF published, it took me less than a minute to package it with AIR and push it to the phone.  I’m sure this will get even easier as Adobe refines the publishing process in subsequent releases.  Performance-wise, the Nexus One seems on par or slightly faster than my iPhone 3Gs.  I’m looking forward to see how more intensive apps perform on this platform.

…segue…

You may have heard (since I announced it on this site) that I’ve been working on a follow-up book covering iPhone game creation in Flash Cs5.  Obviously Apple’s recent dick move has made this pretty much a dead topic.  I’ll post again when I have any further announcements regarding that book.  In the mean time, check out Three Card Monte on the Android, courtesy of YouTube.