Customer Reviews

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Games Most Wanted

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Honestly this book is a steer clear. Sure it has some examples that are usefull but the explanation of the code is horrible. For someone like myself who has experience in Java, C++, PHP, VB.NET, HTML and more i found this book very difficult to follow and understand.

I have since got FlashMX game design Demystified by Jobe Makar and would have to say 5 stars for that book. That explains everything properly and even teaches you the basics in mathematics and physics which was a good brush up for myself. I also like his use of OO programming so that code is resuable and he also goes lightly into using xml for building objects such as levels.

As a physicist, I immediately turned to the parts that incorporate physics. Like the friction of a billiard ball on a pool table. I grew up on Pong, and the rich texturing here is so amazingly removed from that! The discussions on how to collide two balls may not be fully correct to someone who had to deal with impact parameters in classical and quantum mechanics. But it suffices well in the book's simulations.

Another chapter deals with using gravity, and will be useful to some of you. Takes the mystery out of incorporating at least a simple gravity in your games. Maybe it is nothing profound, but the results are very slick. And achieved with relatively little source code, which is thoroughly explained in the narrative.

The level of detail of the physical simulations here does not approach that of some games by Activision and Electronic Arts, of course. But those are games developed with multimillion dollar budgets and teams of programmers. This book is suitable for you to develop a game by yourself.

Good book but written more as a text book, also a little dated but still a good read when pertaining to gaming.