Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Development

Book Description

If you want to take your Flash Professional 8 skills to a new level while learning how to produce games that rival anything available on the web, this is the book for you. Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Development is written by a professional game developer. Using the power of Flash and the most recent advancements in ActionScript, the book progresses through the entire development process to teach programmers and Web developers how to create professional quality games quickly. It teaches techniques for producing fast 3D effects that can be used with "cheat" techniques to produce powerful, high-performance results. It details the actual science of game development, including design, character development, the physics and motion of a game, and audio issues. And in this new edition, all of the latest features of Flash Professional 8 are covered, including the new sound channels, bitmap caching, texture pages, and more. The book covers many advanced topics in a simple, easy to understand way. It emphasizes the incredible power of the new BitmapData class and teaches how it can be used to take the performance of Flash games to a whole new level. It has never been easier to get right down to the pixel level and manipulate things at blazing speeds, making previously impossible games a breeze to make. So get to your computer, insert the CD-ROM, and prepare to begin your journey into the world of Flash Professional 8 game development.

Customer Reviews:

Good for the intermediate Flash programmer.......2007-07-30

The book provides several examples that progress the reader through the programming of gradually more complex games. The reader should have a basic knowledge of Flash and Actionscript, as the book brushes over beginner-level concepts. At the time, the book is fairly up to date, however there is supposedly quite a jump between Flash 8 and Flash CS3, which uses Actionscript 3.0. Nonetheless, the concepts taught in the book are universally applicable regardless of what Flash version you are using. The inclusion of a CD-ROM is an added bonus and a must with this kind of book.

Great Book.......2007-06-11

I found the book easy to read and very practical. The use of examples to explain things is great. And of course, examples that do work is great also!!!

It's the right book for those that already know something about flash and actionscript (doesn't need to be an expert), and want to learn to develop some games in flash, and perhaps aplly those technics on other apllications.

The book is great fun!!!

very limited discussion of incorporating physics.......2007-05-29

As a physicist, I looked at the chapter on "Physics for Games". It's very introductory Newtonian mechanics. Applying these in time-discrete form for moving objects in the game. Gravity is considered for vertical motion, and wind is incorporated to affect horizontal motion. Freshman level stuff. If you are developing a game where you need to seriously incorporate physics, there are entire books devoted to it, like Physics for Game Developers.

Though to be fair, the book is about learning Flash and its effects. Other chapters offer code fragments. Of necessity, these are all elementary, from a programming complexity standpoint. But they help explain how to apply Flash.

The most intricate part of the book seems to be when you model a 3d world. Nice rendering examples. Doesn't go very deeply here. Flash almost certainly has more advanced functionality.

In-Depth game Development!.......2007-05-17

I've bought this book with the purpose of starting to make flash games. Well, i couldn't have chosen a better way! The book is very easy to read and understand and the the examples are incredible. It explores the appropriate tools to create games like the BitmapData while giving other tools an explanation too. 5 stars!

Specifics for beginners, bad habits for mid-levels.......2007-04-28

If you've worked with strongly type languages like Java/C++/etc then this book might make you cringe a bit. First, the code is very terse with clever tricks to shorten the number of lines. Eventually it makes sense but methods like makeFader() don't really make a fader, they do other things like remove a game object from the scene.

So along with softreferences ( for i to 10, make a variable box_i=i ) - ew, and bad naming conventions, it plays out more like an Oreilly Cookbook that encourages bad habits. Granted, I ordered it and I'll keep it as a book full of complete examples. But I think any of the examples that I copy/type/study, I'll refactor later to be more clear and well-coded.

It's a fast ramp-up to ActionScript 2.0. If you're looking for smarter and more mid-level code then maybe wait for a book on AS3.0 that is more class oriented and less procedural like this book. Else, if you just want to see end-to-end examples as fast as possible the author does a good job of explaining code blocks as he goes even if he's encouraging bad habits.

Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Graphics

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Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Graphics
Robert Firebaugh
Manufacturer: Charles River Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1584504838

Book Description

Creating graphics for Flash games can be fun and rewarding, especially when you can channel your imagination into your art and provide potential players with a fun entertainment experience. Written for anyone creating games with Flash, Macromedia® Flash(TM) Professional 8 Game Graphics teaches the essentials of Flash game art. You'll learn all about what Flash graphics are, how to create your own, and how to import them into working game source files. The book covers vector and raster graphics and explains how both can be used to improve the performance of your game. Helpful tips and techniques are included throughout to help you become more efficient at creating user interfaces, game character sprites, and special effects. And several real-world game examples are used to teach about the development process for creating game graphics and preparing them correctly for a smooth transition to programming. You don't have to be an artist to use this book, because the graphic techniques taught don't require a painter's hand. So if you want to create awesome graphics for your Flash games, this is the place to get started.

Book Description

An in-depth guide to 401(k) plans—for the over 24 million Americans participating in them

As 401(k) assets accumulate, so do the questions about the plans—especially with regard to the investment options which typically include at least seven choices by employers. This much-needed book explains how 401(k) plans work, how federal regulations and company policies affect retirement savings, how to develop investment strategies that will benefit individual needs, and what happens when money is taken out of a 401(k) plan. It also compares 401(k) plans to other tax-sheltered retirement plans, including IRAs, 403(b) plans, and 457 plans, and provides comprehensive listings of Web and print information resources. Most importantly, J. K. Lasser's Winning with Your 401(k) helps readers to understand their company plan in terms of their own personal needs and goals for the future.

Grace W. Weinstein (Englewood, NJ) writes a weekly column on personal finance for the Financial Times and a regular column on tax issues for Investor's Business Daily. She has appeared on Good Morning America and the Today Show.

Book Description

Polymers and oligomers of fructose have been found in taxa as diverse as bacteria and flowering plants. They are one of the most widespread alternative storage compounds to glucans. As such, they are of major importance when they are found in plants of agricultural significance. This volume brings together papers on the fructans from the New Phytologist which were originally presented at a symposium in Aberystwyth in 1992. Several aspects of fructan biology are covered. The evolutionary origin in relation to their biogeographic distribution is discussed. A large section surveys synthesis of fructans in a wide range of species including Streptococcus and dandelions. The various structures of fructans and the roles they play in organisms are analysed, especially in important agricultural species such as wheat and barley. Finally the degradation and removal of fructans is examined.

Inulin and Inulin-Containing Crops (Studies in Plant Science, No. 3)

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Inulin and Inulin-Containing Crops (Studies in Plant Science, No. 3)

Manufacturer: Elsevier Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

The topics dealt with in this book cover a broad range of disciplines, such as agronomy and processing; analysis; chemistry and non-food applications; biochemistry; microbiology and molecular biology; and food and medical applications. Although emphasis is put on inulin and inulin-containing crops, the scope of the book is much wider, encompassing other fructans and fructan-containing plants, and even microorganisms producing and/or degrading fructans. It also deals with the possibiltiy of inulin-containing crops as alternatives in agricultural practice.

This volume is recommended to those working in such diverse fields as agronomy and process technology, food science, analytical and organic chemistry, biochemistry, biology, microbiology and molecular biology, and medical sciences, as well as to industries involved in the research and development of carbohydrate-based novel chemicals.

Book Description

Chronologically, this volume ranges from 1790, when the first US census reported 5% of the population living in urban areas, to 1990, when 75% of the American population lived in urban areas. Geographically, its focus is the continental USA. However, the context for the study of modern electronic communications in relation to cities transcends national boundaries just as the technologies themselves do; consequently the contents of the last two chapters in the volume range more widely around the globe. Among the issues discussed are the rise of the skyscraper, the coming of the automobile age, relations between private and public transport, the development of infrastructural technologies and systems, the implications of electronic communications and the emergence of city planning.

Book Description

He's back. By (and in some cases, despite) popular demand, Sir Apropos of Nothing once again stalks the pages of literature, leaving unmistakable footprints wherever he treads. Apropos is the unlikely noble whose life began in the lowest of ways: as the result of a gang assault by a group of drunken knights on a helpless tavern wench.

Last time out, Apropos attempted to seize control of his own fate, and ended up with, appropriately, nothing. Time has passed since he fled the kingdom of Runcible, and Apropos leads a quiet existence as a tavern owner. All that changes abruptly, however, when the sorceress Sharee re-enters his life with the forces of the warlike Lord Bellicose hard on her heels. They want something they're convinced she has stolen. She tells Apropos that it's not true. Thus the medieval era's most notorious antihero suddenly finds himself once again in the middle of events of which he wants no part.

Apropos, a helpless cog in destiny's gear mechanism, is hauled into the middle of another unlikely adventure that finds him dying of thirst and exhaustion in the gods-forsaken desert known as the Tragic Waste. But death is far too simple a fate for Apropos. When he awakens, he is astounded to discover that he is now a fearsome scourge of the land known as Wuin...a deadly and despised "peacelord" (the politically correct term for "warlord") with tens of thousands of troops at his command, cities filled with helpless people trembling before him, and an adoring and sexy consort. How he came to this, what he will do once he discovers the terrible price attached to his new station in life, and how the mystic gem called the Eye of the Beholder fits into all of it are just a few of the challenges our reluctant hero will encounter along the Woad to Wuin.

Customer Reviews:

Not as good as the first.......2007-09-10

Still a wonderful tribute to dark humor. However, not as uproriously funny as the first.

Filthy- dark- sad.......2007-02-10

Although I really enjoyed the first book of this series-- I was less than thrilled with the opening chapter of this book. the bawdy parody of the Lord of the Rings was really over-th-top when it comes to good taste. It is really sad--- And the book just gets darker and darker.. and soon, it drops into a tumbling free fall in which the reader could care less what happens to anybody.

David's strength abound in the puns.

His major weakness was trying to write a followup to the the first book which was a smash homerun as far as I was concerned. This one is little more than an infield fly out.

Arrgh! Left me shaking my head..........2006-07-18

I so much wanted to enjoy this book, having thought the first in the series was excellent. Book 2 started out so well, but then it got to the halfway point where Apropos woke up in the desert and took a nosedive for me. Not that there wasn't a lot of humor, but I kept waiting to find out it was a dream sequence or Apropos was going to travel back in time and repair the problems that had been caused. I don't want to give away too much, because the book is worth reading just for the first few chapters. But keep this in mind if you do read it: what happens in part 2 really happens (in the fictional universe, that is), and will never be undone. Had I know that ahead of time, I probably woulkd have enjoyed it more.