This is a guide to how I make platformer games on macromedia MX (came out in 1993) and above. If anybody else has some unique or usefull tips on how to program for flash games, please comment.
This is a guide for beginners on how to program a game most similar to say, link or mega man.
1. Symbols:
buttons and movie clips are the back bone of what is used for programming in these games. You will probably be familiar with programming buttons to carry out simple tasks, such as a play button. For platforming games, you can attach keyboard buttons to activate the buttons to go to a specific frame in the animation. Movie clips are used for aspects of the game that are not interacted with by the charicter. The scientist in the game spewer (on newgrounds) is a perfect example of this.
2. Making your first level:
The level being made will be a simple room with an exit, where the charicter can only move left and right. First off, create the room (of corse) and animate the charicter going from the leftmost side of the room to the exit. The animation doesn't have to be smooth, just uniform. On every frame of the charicter's layer, add the command stop, exept for the last frame, which will have the command go to next scene. Add another layer on top of that for the two buttons (left and right). On the first frame, command the right button to go to and play next frame on key press right. in the next frame, keep the same programming for the right button and command the left button to go to the previous frame. When you test this out, you should have a level with the charicter going left to right. You can incorporate this type of moving to make the charicter go in 4 directions from a bird's eye view.
Note: the controls have an initial short delay, and immedeately stop after letting go of the directional button.
Oscinian
