As a designer using Flash you will see how you can apply your creative skills to the many stages of game production and produce your own interactive games with this versatile package. Creating games for mobile devices is now also covered! As an animator you will be able to add interactive functionality to your own animation and produce a game. As a web developer you will see how to make the best use of the sophisticated development environment Flash offers for the production of both artwork and code to create low bandwidth, animated web content that sells! The free CD-Rom includes all the code and files you need to try out each tutorial from the book so you can see exactly how each game was created. Learn from the many different types of games provided as examples, from simple quizzes to platform-based games. High score tables and multi-player games using sockets, vital to higher level online games, are also covered in detail to ensure you have the complete skill set needed to succeed in this competitive arena.

Confused by ActionScript? Want to get to grips with creating interactive graphics and animation in Flash quickly? Whether you are a new user or a professional illustrator, designer or animator experienced in other animation and effects packages, this highly visual, color book will be all you need to get you up and running with the latest powerful upgrade - Flash MX 2004. Birgitta Hosea uses tried and tested material based on her teaching, breaking down the software into its main components and providing lots of screenshots and simple step-by-step instructions. This encourages you to get the most out of the programme and fully develop your skills, whilst allowing those with particular needs to 'jump ahead'. The structure and style, influenced by her commercial and creative expertise, allows you either as a student or professional to dip in and out according to the needs of your specific projects, but also allows the exploration of the programmes capability when you have more time. It is a generalist, accessible, visual and a truly introductory guide, written from the perspective of a designer with a thorough coverage of the basic features of Flash MX 2004, without going too in-depth into coding with ActionScript. Birgitta Hosea is a motion graphics artist and Course Director of the London Animation Studio at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Her experience ranges from designing idents and promotional materials to working as an Art Director on pop promos and short films.

* Learn the new, powerful features in the new release of Flash. Covers all new areas of extensibility: commands, tools, timeline effects, behaviors, and advanced topics. This book will allow you to streamline day-to-day development by showing you how to custom-build your own commands and tools. Plenty of useful examples are included throughout to demonstrate each area. * Two books in one: first part will actually get the person to understand and be able to use the Extensibility features, not just copy and paste the code in the book, but have a conceptual understanding of how it works and be able to create their own extensions. The second part of the book will be a complete reference guide, that one will want to keep around to look up commands, syntax, parameters, etc. * At this time, it’s the only book covering the subject, and this book actually covers extensibility in both Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004. * The reference content and example files will be available from the book’s companion site, www.flashextensibility.com – this site aims to be the premier site for designers and developers to go to for Flash extensibility material.

* Competitively priced, comprehensively illustrated in full color, with in-depth content featuring the very best techniques for online game design. In keeping with the tradition of the Most Wanted series, plenty of "finished products" are included. Each chapter in this book represents the detailed step-by-step tutorials describing the design and construction of a complete game, ready for the reader to customize or incorporate the principles within their own games. * First Flash MX 2004 title to focus on Flash game design. And, as Flash is relatively simple to learn, this book provides an ideal entry point for aspiring online games developers. * All authors are active web community members and renowned web designers/games developers. They will provide personal technical support for the book direct to the reader via the Friends of ED support forums (http://friendsofed.infopop.net/2/OpenTopic?a=cfrm&s=989094322). * Covers both Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004.

Flash MX 2004 Game Design DemystifiedYour comprehensive guide to creating games using Flash MX 2004. It will take you through the process of creating a game in Flash MX 2004. The first several chapters introduce general processes for creating games, while the second section looks at the important concepts for creating realistic games. Such concepts include math, physics, collision detection, and collision reaction. A third section delves into more creative concepts: tile-based worlds, 3D visualization, artificial intelligence, using graphics, and using sound. Later chapters provide an introduction to multiplayer games, creating a high score list for games, and a selection games for which the authors share the development process, including code. The accompanying CD will provide the code for each function discussed in the book as well as working versions of the games.

* Practically orientated, and assumes no previous knowledge of coding, making sure that the reader can actually use ActionScript to build a working website via real and detailed examples and case studies. * Previous best seller—successful writing style and tone from an author that has proved to be popular with readers of previous editions. In fact, this is the middle book in an integrated three-book Flash series from Beginner to Advanced, all written/co-written by the same author (Foundation Flash, Foundation ActionScript, and the Designer’s ActionScript Reference) – no other publisher provides this sort of unbroken coverage from a single voice. * Covers both Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004.

You're not a still-wet-behind-the-ears Flash developer, but you're no pure-ActionScript wizard either: At last there's a book that addresses your needs as a budding Flash master. If you've mastered Flash basics and have a good understanding of animation, symbols, and basic ActionScript, this project-based tutorial from the folks at Lynda.com Training is the answer to your prayers. As you follow along with the book's exercises and the CD's QuickTime tutorials, you'll build an entire Web site in Flash--in the process exploring all of the intermediate-level Flash techniques that you've been dying to get your hands on. You'll learn how to dynamically load text and images, create scrollable text, build a preloader, add music and video, build a dynamic slide show, produce a feedback form, create a Flash plug-in detector, and more. Also covered are a slew of workflow enhancements, ActionScript 2.0--the improved ActionScript language introduced in Flash MX 2004--and more.

Through step-by-step instructions and illustrations, accompanied by a loaded CD, designers learn to create Web sites with animation, audio, and special effects, while developers learn to build advanced Web applications with scripting, forms, and server-side connectivity, all features of the latest version of Macromedia Flash.

The real power behind the throne in Macromedia's wildly popular Web animation software is its programming language: ActionScript 2.0. Offering a more robust programming model and better object-oriented programming support than ever before, ActionScript 2.0 allows users to take Flash MX 2004 designs to new levels. In addition, a posse of Flash and ActionScripting luminaries contributes articles on a range of topics--from converting ActionScript 1.0 to ActionScript to using design patterns in Flash.