I have never, ever programmed with Flash in my life. I just figured that now it might be the time, as I just signed up for the Global Game Jam. As programming with Python is kinda awkward (and not the best when you want to do games) and with Unity it quite often falls down playing with 3D graphics and getting them to work properly. Besides, 2D games are faster to make and can be (actually some are) way better than fancy 3D games. I think Flash is also nice, because everyone has it installed on their computers, so playing my games does not require extra installs and uninstalls (why would you uninstall my games!?). Also, I like learning new stuff and challenges are welcome.
Well, so much for the motivation. Now, to the big deal.
How to get started?
Well, first you need to get the Flash SDK, right? umm… it is pretty expensive when bought from Adobe and I don’t feel comfortable stealing it. Luckily, there is an open-source option called FlashDevelop. Installing everything was not that big of a deal and the wiki site has pretty decent guide for that. So, just follow the guide and in few minutes you are ready to get started!
Oh- but wait! WTF? What am I supposed to program? They have Action Script 2, Action Script 3, and HaXe? WHAT ARE THOSE MONSTERS!? Well, yeah. The wiki does not explain anything about these, but this is what I found out quickly: AS2 is the older version which was used programming Flash. AS3 is the newer, faster and (I assume?) better one. And HaXe seems to be some multiplatform language, that allows you to make one code to be javascript, php or flash. I myself did not see the reason for going all the trouble and finding more about that. At least, it seems to me that I can get quite nicely AS3 tutorials with Google.
So, choose AS3
HelloWorld! (or Flash)
The FlashDevelop site did not have any information on how to get started with the coding. The forum had lots of posts, but I felt anxious to start browsing through them for beginner info. So, google again and vóila! Thanks to DevMag post, I was watching the Hello World in no time 🙂 Go and check out the site (http://devmag.org.za/2009/04/02/flash-for-free/)
Okay, now I had the hello flash showing up. Time for some real action (to learn some basics!). Google google google…. and I found: http://prototyprally.com/making-games-in-actionscript-3-using-flashdevelop-part-1-the-setup/. This link starts with the same how to install, but then quickly moves to introduce some basics of Flash, like sprites & bitmaps, moving objects, clicking and events. Although the shown code is not very well explained on where to put, it is still worth your time. At least I got hang of the thing already.
So, what are you waiting for? Get your hands dirty! (more posts to follow in the future)
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