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First up, I am intending to use Flash with actionscript 3.

I like to consider myself a decent programmer, familiar with several programming languages. My tertiary education was in computer programming.
However, I have not worked on a large scale project before, and don't know how to set up the structure to support it. I believe I will need to make some sort of state machine, but I cannot find a decent tutorial on how to actually make one. There are lots of websites explaining the theory, which I already know. I absolutely hate it when a project gets messy, which happens when planning was inadequate. I really want a clean and elegant solution.

A link to a decent tutorial, or a example game, or any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

When, how or if. If the human race does not destroy itself (most likely through nuclear war) before properly becoming space faring, then the odds of human extinction become virtually zero.