majicassassin
11-01-2007, 06:15 AM
So I've encountered about 20 threads where people ask this question... hopefullly this will capture the attention of these people...
So its basically a multi-step process, where unfortunately "I have a great idea" is not where to start. Basically I recommend that the order you go in is:
1) Learn Actionscript 3.0. To do this I recommend you look at:
The tutorials included in the flash IDE. They're actually pretty good, I promise! A bit slow, but especially if you've done no software development, I recommend you start here. A bouncing ball and a clickable button are not trivial in any programming language.
After you're a little familiar with the language, pick a personal project and go for it (simple things, like maybe two bouncing balls that collide). For help with these, and concepts of interaction try these sites:
actionscript.org's own tutorials
http://flashkit.com A plethora of resources... not all necessarily great, but there's a lot
As you get more advanced, the goto site is
http://senocular.com/
and also
http://kirupa.com/
You may see this guy around the forums... and the rumors are true, he pretty much knows everything. His site is amaingly open, with source files free for download for you to look at and in-depth tutorials.
2) Start to work on simple parts of a game. Try building a small library for yourself. For example, make an object that moves based on keyboard input. Try out some collisions and making objects react. Make a text box increment based on these events. Try to get some time-based motion going. The list goes on, but the more small projects you do now, the better off you are later. Its much easier to problem-solve and ask questions when working on isolated parts
For explicit example, its easier to ask how to make a square interact with a circle instead of asking how to make a charcter get hit by a bullet, trigger a death animation and bring up a game over screen.
3) "I have this great idea." Now that you have an idea how long programming part X and doodad Y, you can estimate how long of time your game will take. Please, please, please do not even joke about starting with an MMO. Those types of games require programming skill in not only actionscript, but also a servierside language plus an understanding of many advanced concepts. Work your way up... making a quality single-player game is pretty difficult, much less when making a multiplayer game. Even harder is making a persistent multiplayer game (very few people have made good headway on any 'real-time' in Flash, there are a few, but most projects have died in flames of frustration).
4) Sustainability. It costs money to maintain a website. Prices are cheap now, but you also have to take into account your own time. If you're putting a 200 hours/month into something, you need to get something back... unless you're still living with your parents... in which case I envy you :(. But for this I'd check out
www.flashgamesponsorship.com
For a good overview of the common way to go with games.
Hope this cleared up a few things. If you have any questions and such, feel free to visit my personal forum and ask qustions at http://majidesign.com/forum (I'm much more willing to put out source code and such in a bit more controlled environment than the 50k user forums here XD... even in my limited distribution I've recieved a handful of complaint e-mails about X not working and I should do a better job with what I put out...)
So its basically a multi-step process, where unfortunately "I have a great idea" is not where to start. Basically I recommend that the order you go in is:
1) Learn Actionscript 3.0. To do this I recommend you look at:
The tutorials included in the flash IDE. They're actually pretty good, I promise! A bit slow, but especially if you've done no software development, I recommend you start here. A bouncing ball and a clickable button are not trivial in any programming language.
After you're a little familiar with the language, pick a personal project and go for it (simple things, like maybe two bouncing balls that collide). For help with these, and concepts of interaction try these sites:
actionscript.org's own tutorials
http://flashkit.com A plethora of resources... not all necessarily great, but there's a lot
As you get more advanced, the goto site is
http://senocular.com/
and also
http://kirupa.com/
You may see this guy around the forums... and the rumors are true, he pretty much knows everything. His site is amaingly open, with source files free for download for you to look at and in-depth tutorials.
2) Start to work on simple parts of a game. Try building a small library for yourself. For example, make an object that moves based on keyboard input. Try out some collisions and making objects react. Make a text box increment based on these events. Try to get some time-based motion going. The list goes on, but the more small projects you do now, the better off you are later. Its much easier to problem-solve and ask questions when working on isolated parts
For explicit example, its easier to ask how to make a square interact with a circle instead of asking how to make a charcter get hit by a bullet, trigger a death animation and bring up a game over screen.
3) "I have this great idea." Now that you have an idea how long programming part X and doodad Y, you can estimate how long of time your game will take. Please, please, please do not even joke about starting with an MMO. Those types of games require programming skill in not only actionscript, but also a servierside language plus an understanding of many advanced concepts. Work your way up... making a quality single-player game is pretty difficult, much less when making a multiplayer game. Even harder is making a persistent multiplayer game (very few people have made good headway on any 'real-time' in Flash, there are a few, but most projects have died in flames of frustration).
4) Sustainability. It costs money to maintain a website. Prices are cheap now, but you also have to take into account your own time. If you're putting a 200 hours/month into something, you need to get something back... unless you're still living with your parents... in which case I envy you :(. But for this I'd check out
www.flashgamesponsorship.com
For a good overview of the common way to go with games.
Hope this cleared up a few things. If you have any questions and such, feel free to visit my personal forum and ask qustions at http://majidesign.com/forum (I'm much more willing to put out source code and such in a bit more controlled environment than the 50k user forums here XD... even in my limited distribution I've recieved a handful of complaint e-mails about X not working and I should do a better job with what I put out...)