Flash MX Games: ActionScript for Artists

Learn the professional skills you need to make the best use of Flash for creating interactive animation and producing exciting, dynamic Internet content. Nik Lever, writing as an artist for artists, takes you through the entire process from creating the art and animation for games in Flash, to adding the interactivity using Flash's ActionScripting language. He also provides valuable extra coverage of how Flash integrates with Director 8.5 Shockwave studio and C++.

As a designer using Flash you will see how you can apply your creative skills to the many stages of game production and produce your own interactive games with this versatile package. As an animator you will be able to add interactive functionality to your own animation and produce a game. As a web developer you will see how to make the best use of the sophisticated development environment Flash offers for the production of both artwork and code to create low bandwidth, animated web content that sells!

The free CD-Rom includes all the code and files you need to try out each tutorial from the book so you can see exactly how each game was created. Learn from the many different types of games provided as examples, from simple quizzes to platform-based games. High score tables and multi-player games using sockets, vital to higher level online games, are also covered in detail to ensure you have the complete skill set needed to succeed in this competitive arena.

"Superbly written throughout, this is the Flash MX book that all aspiring game designers have been waiting for. After a walkthrough of the Flash MX interface and some first steps with the ubiquitous bouncing ball, the author then effortlessly explains the intricate detail of the ActionScript language.

Other Flash books have attempted to explain the ActionScript environment, but this has always been within the context of design for interactive Websites. This book's total focus is on game design. With chapters on quizzes, mazes, board games, platforms and sport sims, your chosen game genre should be adequately covered. Later chapters delve a little deeper into Flash MX, with good introductions on integrating it with C++ and Director for some amazing results.

If you have ambitions to design your first Flash game, or need to push your existing skills to the next level, this book will show you how. With a CD packed with all the tutorial sample files, as well as example games for you to dissect, this is the perfect companion for all budding game designers."

Computer Arts magazine, 5/5

"If you are looking into how to create online games and getting a better understanding of the powerful language that Actionscript is, you could do a lot worse than this book. The examples and explanations are clear and thorough... Nik does a good job of keeping the pace upbeat and making the reader feel involved... for those people who are interested in how to make games and how to improve their coding, it is a worthwhile investment."
Adam Tracksler, CreativeCow.net