Air is the Earth’s atmosphere which is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earth’s gravity.
Adobe Integrated Runtime. It is a system that lets you use HTML/Ajax, Flex or Flash to create rich desktop applications. I don’t know much about Flex or Ajax, but I’m going to show you how you can use Flash to build a proper desktop application as easy as you would create a game. First you’ll need to go here and click on ‘Download the Adobe AIR update for Flash CS3 Professional’. *Note: this is only for users with Flash CS3 Pro.

You’ll need to quit Flash to install the update, so open it again. Create a normal Flash file, then go to File>Publish Settings>Version>Adobe AIR 1.0. Now when we export, a swf won’t be created, instead Flash will take you to a real desktop application. To make a permanent application, go to Commands>AIR - Application and Installer Settings, fill out the required information then press ‘Publish Air File’. You’ll notice you have to save the FLA before this, and the necessary AIR files will be created in the same directory as the FLA. Open the ‘*.air’ file, this will install the application to a destination of your choice.

I’ll soon post extra info on using AS3 commands especially for AIR, and other features you can use to create a good application. For now, keep experimenting and see what you can come up with.

Both my games Zwingo and Squidgy use elasticity for the main control. Elasticity is the effect of making a MC follow the mouse while keeping it’s momentum if the mouse stops. Picture holding a yoyo on a string, looking straight down on it and moving the yoyo about. View the example here.

Create a circle on the stage and convert it to an MC, instance name ball. Add the following code to the main timeline:

var xspeed:Number = 0;
var yspeed:Number = 0;
var fric:Number = 0.9;
var ease:Number = 10;
function EF(event:Event) {
	xspeed += (mouseX-ball.x)/ease;
	yspeed += (mouseY-ball.y)/ease;
	xspeed*=fric;
	yspeed*=fric;
	ball.x+=xspeed;
	ball.y+=yspeed;
}
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, EF);

The variables we set are xspeed, yspeed, fric (friction) and ease. Alter these later if you want.

Each frame we add the difference between where the ball is and where it needs to go divided by ease on to the speeds. We then multiply the speed by friction, in other words friction has an effect on the ball. Finally we relate this speed to the ball’s properties, and the effect is complete.

Say at first, xspeed = 0, the difference from the mouse to the ball is 100. This means the resultant speed is (0+100/10)*0.9=9
The next frame, xspeed = 9, difference = 91 so resultant speed is (9+91/10)*0.9=16.29
As you can see, as the ball gets closer (difference gets smaller), the speed increases. Now lets see what happens when the ball passes the target:

xspeed = 20, difference = 0, so resultant speed is (20+0/10)*0.9=18
Then xspeed = 18, difference = -18 (the ball has passed to the other side), resultant is (18-18/10)*0.9=14.58

Now that the ball has passed the target, it starts to slow down.

Flash game sponsorship has been going around for a few years now, and it has grown from portal to portal. There are hundreds of websites out there that are willing to sponsor games. So what is sponsorship? The most basic type of sponsorship is when a website pays a developer an agreed amount so the developer will put the website’s logo and link on the games, before it is released. It’s kind of like when before TV shows they say ‘This program is brought to you by Kraft’. Even though Kraft didn’t make the TV show, they would have payed to put the message on. Likewise, the websites pay you to say ‘presented by …’ or you can make other agreements such as to have links to the website.

Websites want to do this because they know (or assume) they can earn more money from your game than they paid for the sponsorship. When people click on their link in your game, they get more traffic and more people click on their ads, earning them money. This is like Kraft hoping the viewers of that TV show will buy their product. The amount they pay you depends on how good your game is, and the agreement you make with them. This can be anywhere from $200 to $2000, even higher in some cases.

What you should never do Read the rest of this entry »

This set of tutorials with take you through the basics of how to create a simple shooter game. Note that this is the way I do it, not the only way, and feel free to change things as you read as every game maker has a different style. The first part of the tutorial will show you how to make the main player and how you can control it. This tutorial is done completely is Actionscript 3.0, so if you only know AS2, see this post and if you don’t know actionscript at all, go here.

The first step is to draw the main character. We’re going to be controlling him using the WASD or UP, LEFT, DOWN, RIGHT keys to move him, the mouse to aim and mouse click will fire bullets. This is what you’ll be able make after you do this part. After you’ve drawn the character, put it on the stage and give it an instance name of ’ship’.

Now add this code to the main timeline: Read the rest of this entry »

This post should help you convert from Actionscript 2.0 to 3.0. AS3, in my opinion, was the biggest jump for Adobe from Flash 8 to CS3. It’s shown to be heaps faster than AS2, with a whole new bunch of classes and features. I won’t teach you everything there is to know, this is just a small step for you if your facing this dilemma. If know nothing about AS2, don’t bother reading.

Firstly the properties are represented differently, there is no more underscore when you are setting properties:

//AS2
this._x = 100
//AS3
this.x = 100

The next thing you need to notice is that you can no longer add code to movieclips directly on the stage, all coding is now done from the timeline. Also, no more using ‘_root’.

If you are not already into defining variables or classes properly, AS3 forces you to do this or an error occurs. This is the correct format:

var name:Class = value;
//eg
var i:Number = 0;

A big difference in AS3 for game development is the use of event listeners. Now, instead of calling a function like ‘onEnterFrame’, you create a custom function that will execute on the event, then add an event listener to the MC you want the event to listen to. Here’s a quick example with the enter frame event: Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, welcome to my new blog!

This new blog will make it tons easier for me to keep you posted on news from Kabomb, as well as flash related news from around the web. I’ll also be able to post open source tutorials, prototypes, and flash experiments that you can follow. You’ll be able to comment on all my posts and I’ll try to reply to the ones that need a reply, if not just email me.

If you have no idea what flash is or you want to get into it, you can download a free trial from the Adobe Website where you’ll also need flash player (you should already have it) to see all the examples on your web browser.

Okay, let’s get down to business - my first tutorial - Cursor Effects. This lets you create effects like those in my Cursorized series where MC animations continually come out at the cursor which creates a really cool effect.

Here’s what I did.

Now I’ll explain how I did it.
Read the rest of this entry »