Heya folks. Some time ago I was quite an active flash game programmer, but I stopped about a year ago I guess. I was wondering, if I were to make a comeback in browersgame development, what programs do you guys use nowadays? Should I just get back to flash with as3 + flashdevelop, or has the game drastically changed?
Hope you guys can help out a bit.

At 1/8/13 11:57 AM, tomdeaap wrote: Heya folks. Some time ago I was quite an active flash game programmer, but I stopped about a year ago I guess. I was wondering, if I were to make a comeback in browersgame development, what programs do you guys use nowadays? Should I just get back to flash with as3 + flashdevelop, or has the game drastically changed?
Hope you guys can help out a bit.

Most of us use FlashDevelop/FlashBuilder/FDT. Mike uses Sublime Text (matter of preference). AS3 for sure.

At 1/8/13 12:05 PM, MSGhero wrote:

At 1/8/13 11:57 AM, tomdeaap wrote: Heya folks. Some time ago I was quite an active flash game programmer, but I stopped about a year ago I guess. I was wondering, if I were to make a comeback in browersgame development, what programs do you guys use nowadays? Should I just get back to flash with as3 + flashdevelop, or has the game drastically changed?
Hope you guys can help out a bit.

Most of us use FlashDevelop/FlashBuilder/FDT. Mike uses Sublime Text (matter of preference). AS3 for sure.

I've always used the actual flash program to manage the art 'n stuff, but I've always kind-off hated it. Is there a way to not use it? I recall exporting an extra file with the swf (forgot the name, swc maybe? artist does this) and you can load this in flashdevelop.

At 1/8/13 12:13 PM, tomdeaap wrote: I've always used the actual flash program to manage the art 'n stuff, but I've always kind-off hated it. Is there a way to not use it? I recall exporting an extra file with the swf (forgot the name, swc maybe? artist does this) and you can load this in flashdevelop.

Yeah, just export your fla as a swc, add that to FD's library, and you're set. You can also go the spritesheet route to avoid Flash Pro completely (my artist is using MSPaint). Look up "blitting" if you're interested in that, it's basically copying images from the spritesheet and pasting them onto the stage to simulate animation.

At 1/7/13 09:43 AM, Spysociety wrote: ...
Some users like egg82 also develop some tutorials for FD, you should check out.

Alright, I'll take a look at both.

I love it when the writer doesn't only check his pms/emails once a day since I have a question about how an if statement should resolve about 5 times a day.

My new semester...holy crap! I'm taking the minimum number of hours while still being full time, and I'm gonna be busier than last year when I had an extra class. My advisor told me this one class is where people decide to leave ME because it's so much work. Tomorrow, I get to disassemble an electric toothbrush and write a 4 page report on it. Thankfully, it's a group effort each week, but still. Then I have fluid dynamics, where they expect me to have taken def bods and thermo, def bods, and thermo. Plus research, which I'm getting paid for (yay!).

taste the goddamn rainbow

that is all.

At 1/9/13 11:53 AM, egg82 wrote: taste the goddamn rainbow

that is all.

Wow nice

At 1/9/13 04:57 PM, Innermike wrote: Also, my favourite soundtrack, what a unique blend of quirky electronic and orchestral music (the latter is more predominant after the first game): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjGxXK_ltcs

Oh god yes. I still have the first 4 games. I'm really tempted to buy a PS2 just to play them, but I've been thinking about getting a PS3 for a while now so I may just get one and buy the remastered.

Nostalgia everywhere :(

At 1/10/13 10:17 AM, Sam wrote: but I've been thinking about getting a PS3 for a while now so I may just get one and buy the remastered.

I've heard a lot of people have problems with the DRM on the download versions you can buy of older games. Personally, I'd stick with a PS2. In some areas you can get one of the slim ones with a couple controllers and a memory card or two for < $50 at pawn shops.

god damnit, the flu that's been going around here finally got me. I'm tired and I ache everywhere :(

At 1/9/13 04:57 PM, Innermike wrote: Was there a game that kicked off your fascination with the actual creative process?

pretty much every game, which is part of the reason i'm such a terrible gamer. I get distracted by the tiniest things, think about how and why they were built into the game, then try and finish as quickly as possible because an idea hit me.

At 1/7/13 09:43 AM, Spysociety wrote: To work in FlashDevelop isn't really so different at all from the IDE, despite that FD is a better software for programming flash. I would recommend this tutorial: http://chrismweb.com/2011/01/26/creating-an-asteroids-game-p art-1-setting-up-flashdevelop-and-planning/

Just something I've noticed in that tutorial - he seems to be using the "new" keyword a lot in a way that would be dangerous in C++. For example, in one of the rendering functions of a particular class he uses "new Rectangle" and "new Point" every time the function is called - wouldn't this keep using up additional RAM, or does AS3 handle this itself?

At 1/10/13 07:04 PM, WizMystery wrote: Just something I've noticed in that tutorial - he seems to be using the "new" keyword a lot in a way that would be dangerous in C++. For example, in one of the rendering functions of a particular class he uses "new Rectangle" and "new Point" every time the function is called - wouldn't this keep using up additional RAM, or does AS3 handle this itself?

To be efficient, you'd want to avoid that; but it's not too big of a deal in AS3 unless you're making something performance-critical or if you instantiate a ton of stuff all at once.

At 1/10/13 07:31 PM, MSGhero wrote: To be efficient, you'd want to avoid that; but it's not too big of a deal in AS3 unless you're making something performance-critical or if you instantiate a ton of stuff all at once.

I see. I'm OCD with that, though so I think I'd use a variable instead :P

Speaking of AS3 flaws, I really hate that I can't define variables in an interface. Getters/Setters are significantly slower, and it matters when I'm calling something 60 times per second.. This means I need to use hacky workarounds. Barf

At 1/10/13 12:35 PM, pirateplatypus wrote:

At 1/10/13 10:17 AM, Sam wrote: but I've been thinking about getting a PS3 for a while now so I may just get one and buy the remastered.

I've heard a lot of people have problems with the DRM on the download versions you can buy of older games. Personally, I'd stick with a PS2. In some areas you can get one of the slim ones with a couple controllers and a memory card or two for < $50 at pawn shops.

I was planning on buying the physical copy for around £25 - but yeah, a PS2 might be the way to go considering the next gen consoles are being released soon and I'm not a massive console gamer anyway. However, a friend's offered me a PS3 with like 20 games and 2 controllers for 170 EUR so that's quite tempting.

We'll see :)

At 1/11/13 04:07 AM, PSvils wrote: Solution: Use Haxe!

As if AS3 is not an obscure enough language to have too much knowledge of. If I ever want crazy performance I will probably just go C++ / SDL or SMFL.

Adobe made the whole CS2 free. I'm gonna practice my art after I'm done with this game (soon). As far as Flash games, do people use photoshop or illustrator at all, and what for if they do?

At 1/11/13 02:58 PM, MSGhero wrote: Adobe made the whole CS2 free. I'm gonna practice my art after I'm done with this game (soon). As far as Flash games, do people use photoshop or illustrator at all, and what for if they do?

Unless they reversed their decision, Adobe was saying that you're only "legally" entitled to download CS2 if you already own a legit copy. Though they also said that they aren't going to waste time suing people who download it without owning it. (So get it quick, they could conceivably remove the download link and serials at some point.)

My preference for art is to use Gimp and/or Inkscape.

At 1/12/13 11:15 AM, pirateplatypus wrote: My preference for art is to use Gimp and/or Inkscape.

I have both of those as well; Inkscape's interface kinda scared me away. GIMP doesn't fit on my computer screen - though it might now that I have another monitor. I'll play around with them and see which I prefer, I guess.

At 1/12/13 12:54 PM, MSGhero wrote: I have both of those as well; Inkscape's interface kinda scared me away.

I had the same problem the first time I used Inkscape. It's kind of like a new pair of underwear; at first, it's tight and constrictive, then it becomes a part of you.

I'm not using the newest version, but I read somewhere that they either have released a version with a revamped UI or are currently working on revamping it.

At 1/12/13 01:11 PM, pirateplatypus wrote: I had the same problem the first time I used Inkscape. It's kind of like a new pair of underwear; at first, it's tight and constrictive, then it becomes a part of you.

I recommend getting a larger size underwear.

At 1/12/13 01:18 PM, egg82 wrote: I recommend getting a larger size underwear.

I would, but I'm holding out for Spongebob in my size.

I started playing dark souls for the first time.

Fuck. Everything.

At 1/7/13 09:43 AM, Spysociety wrote: To work in FlashDevelop isn't really so different at all from the IDE, despite that FD is a better software for programming flash. I would recommend this tutorial: http://chrismweb.com/2011/01/26/creating-an-asteroids-game-p art-1-setting-up-flashdevelop-and-planning/

Some users like egg82 also develop some tutorials for FD, you should check out.

Why does embedding a bitmap make absolutely no sense in Actionscript 3? I got it to work, but what is even going on with #10 in that tutorial?

At 1/12/13 08:34 PM, FantasticAxiom wrote: Why does embedding a bitmap make absolutely no sense in Actionscript 3? I got it to work, but what is even going on with #10 in that tutorial?

At a glance I didn't notice anything odd or confusing. If you were a bit more specific I'm sure multiple people here would be willing and able to help make sense of it. (I'd be willing, I can't vouch for my ability though.)

I did notice one thing he absolutely shouldn't be telling people to do. Just 'finding' images online for use in your game is a great way to get sued. He really should have either made original art for the tutorial, or used royalty free art.

Though the NASA image is probably in the clear. Works made by US government employees while conducting their normal tasks are in the public domain int he US.

At 1/12/13 09:26 PM, pirateplatypus wrote: At a glance I didn't notice anything odd or confusing. If you were a bit more specific I'm sure multiple people here would be willing and able to help make sense of it. (I'd be willing, I can't vouch for my ability though.)

I did notice one thing he absolutely shouldn't be telling people to do. Just 'finding' images online for use in your game is a great way to get sued. He really should have either made original art for the tutorial, or used royalty free art.

Though the NASA image is probably in the clear. Works made by US government employees while conducting their normal tasks are in the public domain int he US.

I understand what's going on macroscopically, but don't see why a number of things work in the language itself. I'll list what seems confusing in that example:

1. The fact that Embed and source aren't keywords in FlashDevelop, which has every single keyword imaginable
2. The fact that you're creating a variable of a certain data type and then assigning a completely different data type to it
3. The fact that the image is automatically stored in that variable without you telling it to do so
4. The fact that suddenly that variable becomes a class with variables inside it that you never specified were there
5. The fact that there is no semicolon or anything resembling a normal syntax on the embed line

Mind you, I'm used to low-level programming, so the fact that something is this easy kind of raises my suspicion.

At 1/12/13 09:56 PM, FantasticAxiom wrote: 1. The fact that Embed and source aren't keywords in FlashDevelop, which has every single keyword imaginable
2. The fact that you're creating a variable of a certain data type and then assigning a completely different data type to it
3. The fact that the image is automatically stored in that variable without you telling it to do so
4. The fact that suddenly that variable becomes a class with variables inside it that you never specified were there
5. The fact that there is no semicolon or anything resembling a normal syntax on the embed line

Mind you, I'm used to low-level programming, so the fact that something is this easy kind of raises my suspicion.

Well, I have no clue how it works but
1) They aren't AS3, per se. I think they're flex
2) "MyImage" is a reference to a class, and "Bitmap" is a class. Not a bitmap; the word "Bitmap" is a class. Through magic, embed tells MyImage that it's a "Bitmap"-type class.
3) Magic
4) "Class" is an Object in AS3, so variables can hold references to classes.
5) Magic

At 1/12/13 09:08 PM, Innermike wrote: But seriously, I love that game, I love the fact that you can totally fuck yourself over and cut out pretty big segments of the game by killing off characters (and certain giant birds)

I just wanted to pop in and say.

Dark Souls FTW

That is all.

At 1/12/13 09:56 PM, FantasticAxiom wrote: 5. The fact that there is no semicolon or anything resembling a normal syntax on the embed line

AS3 doesn't actually require the use of semi-colons. Admittedly, I don't know to what extent that applies because I think code without semicolons looks terrible.