I don't know anything about anything, but want help

(Tessa Nice) #1

Okay, so let me break it down for all y’all:

  1. I barely know what flashpunk is.
  2. I barely know what Adobe Flash even is.
  3. I want to make an online in-browser game.
  4. I don’t know how flash language works.

Picking up from #4, how DOES flash language work? Do you just get a website, type in a bunch of code, and POOF! Something appears? My only coding experience is with HTML and BB. For example, I know that if you type codes with <> tags on them in the right text box on a website, stuff can appear. Like pictures, music, backgrounds. Basically, no more experience do I have than a kid who uses Neopets.

I have lots of ideas for a fun chat website and I want to put them to good use. But I don’t know where to start with the coding.

What I want to create is an in-browser ‘game’ like what some other sites have. Like the Towns on Gaiaonline. Or Selfy Town on TinierMe. I want to create a place where multiple people can hang out with an avatar, with walking motions, sitting motions, standing motions.

Break it down for me in simple kinder garden terms.

If I write something in Actionscript, like… I don’t know. Writing the script for a foot to move if you left click your cursor somewhere. Then would it do it? Where do you type your actionscript?

[Also, I have FlashPunk on my computer, but it doesn’t open. It’s a swc file. I don’t have anything that opens swc files.]

(VanderJamesHum) #2

Flash basically has its own language called Actionscript 3, and Flashpunk is a game specific set of “Helper Code” written in and for Actionscript 3. Actionscript applications (SWf’s), run in the Flash Player, locally on your computer, or from a website that has flash content. But the sites themselves are built with multiple different languages like html, php etc. As a beginner i would just focus on learning how to write basic Actionscript 3 using Flashpunk, and not worry to much about web code yet as it can get pretty advanced.

Check out the great tutorials on the main page for getting started, Zach Lewis has done a series called Coin Duder Saga which is great for beginners.

I would also recommend reading up on the basics of Actionscript 3 and the Flash Player.

(Darrin) #3

Hi, I love your post. A few years ago I was in the same boat. I knew a little bit of coding as I had a class or two in procedural programming. The bad news is you are going to have a long learning curve depending on the complexity of the game. And I’m saying this as Flashpunk is one of the most best engines. The good news is you are at a great community that is very helpful.

Here are the things that I found hard starting out.

  1. First I needed an IDE. This is the software that tracks the code, helps with syntax and compiles it. There are very expensive ones and then there is the awesome FlashDevelop one for free.

  2. I then needed to do set up my idea to actually say hello world. http://useflashpunk.net/getting-started/setting-up-flashdevelop.html I had a similar tutorial but it still took several hours.

  3. Then I had to start learning how to code, how to understand object oriented programming. This is a big task and it takes a decade to master but you can break it down into smaller parts. Actionscript uses almost the exact same syntax as Java, C# and JavaScript. Zach put up a great link here to start understanding coding. http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/javascript Notice it is a 10 hour course but the syntax is almost identical.

  4. Now there are tons and tons of books about programming and game programming even those in ActionScript. ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University, Essential ActionScript 3.0, ActionScript 3.0 a Beginner Guide, Real-World Flash Game Development.

These are great for understanding and reinforcing actionscript but they don’t exactly teach you that Flashpunk is a framework that already manages many of the things games need to do For example, you have a level which is called a world flashpunk. It loops through the update function 60 times a second.

You can add one or more objects to it called a entities. Entity also has an update function that is called 60 times a second. One entity can be the player, one can be a cloud, a bullet, an enemy, etc. They all get updated and do something.

The magic of Flashpunk is there are awesome controls for the art, the rotation, the movement, the size, the animation, the camera, the alpha, etc. You can move them around and manipulate without have to rewrite these controls. That is the huge time save but the expectation is you know a bit about programming.

  1. Anyway I hope that helps. There are tons and tons of code samples and full games done in flashpunk. Chevy Ray used to have a great 5 minute demo with code that showed off the engine, demonstrating platformer, shooter, rpg, etc all on one code. Check out Lumdum Dare for many games made in only a few hours.

Darrin

(Darrin) #4

Once you get FlashDevelop up, I found an early version of Chevy’s demo. You will just need to recompile to see the different games. Chevy’s demo from Ludum Dare

Woot I found it. Check out this keynote from Lumdm Dare 23. Cool Demo