Customer Reviews

Macromedia Flash 5 ActionScript for Fun and Games

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Of all the Flash 5 ActionScripting books in my collection (and I have them all), this one has the most pages flagged with post-it tags, and the most highlighted paragraphs. It offers clear, easy to understand instructions, with friendly tips and advice. The exercises helped me grasp key concepts of working with ActionScript. Gary shares the full scope of how to create games and activities; he doesn't just flash bits of esoteric code for effects you will never use. Although the book's focus is games, it's an excellent resource for learning basic ActionScript. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn ActionScripting.

If you're wanting to create games with Flash then this book is for you. Here's a run-down of the games you'll find in the chapters:

1. Flash Elements Used to Makes Games and Toys

2. An Introduction to ActionScript

3. ActionScript Elements Used to Make Games and Toys

4. The Game-Creation Process

5. ActionScript Design Effects

6. Toys and Gadgets

7. Construction Toys: (Drag and Drop, Click-and-Switch, Sketchbook, Music Mixer.)

8. Hunt and Click Games: (Find-A-Fox, Shoot-A-Fox, Whack-A-Fox.)

9. Catch and Avoid Games: (Apple Catch, Apple Letter Catch, River Rafting Game.)

10. Aim and Shoot Games: (Move and Shoot, Aim and Shoot.)

11. Ball and Paddle Games: (Wall Ball, Paddle Ball, Paddle Bricks.)

12. Quizzes and Word Puzzles: (Flash Quiz, Flash Trivia, Hangman.)

13. Picture Puzzles: (Jigsaw Puzzle, Sliding Puzzle, Matching Game.)

14. Brain Puzzles: (Memory Game, Deduction, Pegs.)

15. Casino and Card Games: (Slot Machine, Video Poker, Simple Blackjack.)

16. Arcade Games: (Space Combat, Space Rocks, Maze Chase, Moon Lander.)

17. Advanced Techniques: (Performance and Optimization, Loader Screens, Copy Protection, High Score Boards.)

This book is full of usefull games and ActionScript techniques. Also, the accompannying website has all the working source code for the examples in the book. I was surprised by how much information is packed into this book and I actually e-mailed the author to tell him how pleased I was with his book. He emailed me the same day and told me to get the word out on Amazon.com, so here I am! I totally recommend this book! Go and Get It!

Having mastered flash basics - this was the first Actionscript book I bought. It's nice to get straight into making cool programmes instead of having to master hundreds of commands first. Gary explains actionscript in a really easy to understand way and you end up with some really good programmes that you will probably use again and again. 5 days later I'm churning out work like I've been using Flash all my life. Thanks Gary!

This book is certainly the most fun way to learn ActionScript ! The examples are great and FUN ! Even if you're not interested in games, I would recommend this for beginners wanting to work with ActionScript. I also bought Moock's book, which was a quite boring read and is only useful as a reference. This book is the kind that you go through from cover to cover (you can't put it down until you finish it !)

The book that i am currently reading ( Flash 5 fun and games ) is way out awesome. The concepts behind game programming have always interested me as a student in my final year in Software engineering. Anyway, LOTS of of concepts have been made so simple yet effective with the use of this book. This book has the ability to keep the user interested, and at the same time being ultimately informative and interesting to read both for leisure and also as a reference guide. Game programming concepts have never been made simpler..... It is a must for those interested into venturing into the ever exiciting and fun world of game creation. Gary Rosenzweig is very skillful at intrepreting technical programming jargons into very down-to-earth sentences. This book is a personal favourite ( I've been purchasing LOTS of programming books throughout the years ) and would remain one in the later years to come.

I bought this book after flash mx was released, so I spent a great deal of time rewriting the code from this book to be more "mx-like". Such as having the code more centralized and creating clips instead of duplicating. If you stick to the flash 5 ways of doing things, this is a great book...however, some of the techniques in this book are now considered bad technique with MX. As far as gaming goes, this book is really good. Just wish I waited on the mx version!

If you like Gary's "Advanced Lingo for Games," book you'll find yourself right at home. This is not necessarily a book for beginners, but if you already know a computer language and you want to dive into learning Flash's ActionScript you should seriously consider buying it. This book reveals the underpinnings of the thinking and problem-solving required to develop a variety of interactive games with ActionScript. Every line of code in the book is detailed with Gary's easy to read narrative style. Though the book does not include a CD, all of the code examples are available online.
I found this book to be just what I needed to better learn how to apply ActionScript to real world game development, and in this respect it's worth every page and every penny.

I am a digital artist and one of the things I love about digital art is the relative ease with which I can apply it to other projects. I have long had an idea to do a simple game using some of my online art as a way of generating interest and traffic to my homepage. However, not being a programmer, I lacked the foundation to bring this idea to fruition. I had some simple computer science back in high school, but that was so far back that there was no comparison. I had been learning Flash on my own though and realized there was the power there to use, if I could only figure out ActionScript.

Then I found Mr. Rosenzweig's book!!! The grail for my need! Amazing stuff! I read the entire book over three days while on a business trip. His language and examples are clear and informative. His approach to introducing the non-programmer (myself) to the baffling world of computer languages was reassuring and encouraging. Yes, all I essentially did was cut n' paste his code into my project, but I felt very confident tweaking areas of it to custom fit my needs because I had been given a thorough grounding in all the arcane bits n' pieces by his book.

I am already thinking ahead to games I can make for my children and other projects to design for my website to add continued interest to it. In addition, I can see extreme value for some of his copyright protections to add to my Flash animations as well as extra things I can do to optimize my existing work. I have no aspirations to be a Flash artist, but it never hurts to dazzle a prospective client either ;)

Very useful right from the start! Explains what you need to know without fluff. And takes you right where you want to be if you want to use FLASH for games or toys. Money well spent!

The book was a very simple read. Good online examples, but I was looking for something a little deeper.