Beginning Flash Game Programming For Dummies [Paperback]

Andy Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0764589628 | ISBN-13: 978-0764589621 | Edition: Updated

You can start game programming in a flash

Here's how to create five different cool games - no experience necessary!

Ever think you could come up with a better computer game? Then this book is for you! No boring programming theory here, just the stuff you need to know to actually make something happen, and all in plain English. Build a brain-teasing math game, go classic with Pong, create monsters and mayhem, and much more.

Discover how to
* Build and control basic movie clips
* Make text appear and change
* Generate random numbers
* Add sound effects
* Create cars and space vehicles that move realistically
* Blow up stuff onscreen

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

I'm Andy Harris, the author of Beginning Flash Game Programming for Dummies. I'm very excited about this book. It's something I've wanted to write for a very long time. I love games, I love programming, and I love teaching. You'll see all three passions combined in this book.

I grew up inventing games long before ordinary people could own a computer. When I got ahold of my first computer, I wrote games on it (and did some serious stuff too.)

My first career was teaching severe disabilities special education. I really enjoyed that job, and it taught me a lot about how to explain things clearly without being insulting. While I was working as a special education teacher, I kept programming. I wrote some games for fun, and did some serious freelance programming, as well as teaching programming part time at the local university.

Now I'm a full time computer science instructor at Indiana University / Purdue University - Indianapolis. (Yes, that is the longest university name in the world.) I teach all kinds of programming languages and styles, but I never forget to have fun and enjoy teaching.

I've written several other books on various programming topics, but this one is special. First, I'm thrilled to be writing in the landmark Dummies series. It's an honor to be associated with such an established title. At the same time, it's fun to work with a publisher that encourages me to write bad puns. That turned out to be no problem, as you'll see. The best part is I get to write about my passion.

Computer games are a lot of fun. So why is it that books about writing games are so painful? I wanted to write a book that was fun, but also teaches you the stuff you need so you can write your own games. If you sit down and work through this book, I promise you you'll be able to make good games.

I can't wait to see the games you make. Get writing some games, and drop me an email some time!

-Andy

From the Back Cover

You can start game programming in a flash

Here's how to create five different cool games — no experience necessary!

Ever think you could come up with a better computer game? Then this book is for you! No boring programming theory here, just the stuff you need to know to actually make something happen, and all in plain English. Build a brain-teasing math game, go classic with Pong, create monsters and mayhem, and much more.

Discover how to

• Build and control basic movie clips
• Make text appear and change
• Generate random numbers
• Add sound effects
• Create cars and space vehicles that move realistically
• Blow up stuff onscreen

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; Updated edition (November 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764589628
• ISBN-13: 978-0764589621
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 8.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I live near Indianapolis, Indiana.

I am a lecturer in computer science at Indiana University / Purdue University - Indianapolis (Yes, that IS officially the longest university name on the planet... we call it IUPUI)

I was an army brat. I grew up in many parts of the Eastern United States and in Japan.

I've been interested in computing since the early eighties, when my brother and I took the money we were saving for a car and blew it on a TRS-80 model 1 with the built-in Japanese character set. (That machine is still in my garage. Don't tell my wife.)

My first career was as a special education teacher. I taught young adults with severe disabilities for several years. I really enjoyed my job and my students. I learned a lot about teaching through that experience.

While doing special ed, I kept my interest in computing, doing some freelance programming and writing about computer topics. Eventually, I became a lab instructor in the computer science program at IUPUI.

I moved to IUPUI as a full-time gig in 1995. Since then, I have been involved in creating a certificate of applied computer science. I have also worked on building a distributed education program. I especially love designing curricula using emerging and interesting technology and ideas.

I have taught many applied CS topics, but there is always more to learn.
Right now my focus tends to be on applied computing in programming languages, game programming, and mobile computing.

My favorite part about writing is hearing from readers. It's great when somebody sends me a link to a game or project they've written using one of my books. I'd love to get a line from you about one of my books, what you'd like to see me work on next, or just to say hi. I hope my writing feels like a conversation, and I'm looking forward to hearing from your side of the talk.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A diamond in the rough, December 28, 2005

By 

Daniel Fabulich "Dan" (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning Flash Game Programming For Dummies (Paperback)

This book is a really excellent *programming* introduction to Flash; apparently the only one of its kind on the market!

I consider myself a "programmer" type, and had been turned off by most of the other introductory Flash material that I'd encountered, which was mostly designed for graphic designers who wanted to avoid programming. Even the most basic introductory ActionScript books out there begin by assuming you already know how to make a pretty good Flash movie, which is really terrible, because you have to unlearn a lot of so-called "advanced" Flash-animation techniques to get good at Flash programming.

As a programmer, you should be able to read through this book in a day... Then spend another day or two working on the official exercises. You could then easily blow weeks on this book's ten "starters" (available for free on fordummies.com): unfinished games whose final implementation is left up to your imagination. These are a fantastic resource; finishing the exercises and starters will prepare you to read the other Flash introductory in a new light.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A few things would make this book perfect, August 9, 2006

By 

Another Weekend Warrior "armie" (Purdys, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning Flash Game Programming For Dummies (Paperback)

I've programmed for years, but actionscript was different enough for me not to be able to pick it up easily. This book helped immensely in learning basic concepts like the timelines, layers, movieclips, etc. I'm close to completing one game as I write this, as a matter of fact, so the book did it's job.

There are two things that need improving, however. First, the code for pong needs improvement. I noticed, when following the author's suggestions that the ball would sometimes bounce into imaginary walls. Specifically, near the top of the screen the ball would bounce within a tiny confined location in an up and down motion, even though there is no bottom wall at the point where it starts going back up. So I downloaded the author's code. Sure enough, he had the same problem in his code as well. I'm sure I could look through the code and figure out the bug, but this should have been caught by the author.

Second, since multi-player gaming is soooo hot right now, I feel that at least two chapters should have been devoted to this. I've searched and found out that you're supposed to use the XMLSocket object. However, the intricacies, like making sure that what one user sees on his screen is the same thing another user sees, network latency, etc, are subjects that would have been much appreciated.

The good thing with this book, however, is that for single player games the author whets your appetite enough so that whatever he doesn't show you you can at least google and find a solution.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horribly Outdated, September 17, 2008

By 

James R. Ivie "uber geek" (Lindon, UT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beginning Flash Game Programming For Dummies (Paperback)

This book teaches you how to program games using Flash MX 2004. Unfortunately, that product is no longer available and hasn't been for quite some time. Newer flash programming environments are very different, so many of the samples and techniques in this book will be useless unless you already have Flash MX 2004.