I'm assuming that Palo is primarily interested in flash games. However, if anyone's interested in making games in other languages:
On the other hand, if you want to learn flash games for free, I can't help you out much, but I can tell you that Kongregate has tutorials for flash games, as well as links for a couple of free flash alternatives (although I don't think you'll have access to Actionscript 3, so you'll have to miss out on a few spiffy features).
Hm, nope, looks I'm a bit ahead of you on this one. FlashDevelop is a "3rd-party ActionScript editor"; it's just somewhere to write your code. It has code hints and lots of neat stuff for the job, and is opensource (yes, it supports ActionScript 3). Now all you need is a compiler. I downloaded Flex SDK from Adobe, also opensource. So it's not too fancy, just code, no integrated development environment like flash. Just code. But still, it's free, and (personally) I appreciate opensource programs.
Hey, by the way, has anybody heard of this?:
http://pushbuttonengine.com/
If so, can someone explain what it is and if it's actually useful?
A free compiler that supports Actionscript 3? Nice. (In addition to sharing your fondness for opensource, I rather dislike IDEs. SciTE all the way!)
Exactly, Earl!
Also, does anybody know of something like the Kongregate shootorials (http://www.kongregate.com/labs) for ActionScript 3?
As much as I love kongregate, Newgrounds is much better for Tutorials (IMO)
Go Here --> http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/flashtutorials.html
There are a lot of free tutorials you can google them. I don't think you will find many tutorials like the shootorials since most people don't want to make a flash game just for a tutorial.
You can torrent, in which case you get some free ware ones and some paid ones so use at your own discretion there are a few good open source free torrent on there.
Or google:
http://www.freeactionscript.com/
http://www.kirupa.com/
http://www.actionscript.org/
http://www.gotoandlearn.com/
http://www.cartoonsmart.com/free_index.html -- some free most are paid
I realize that most of these don't cover games in general but if you want a specific one you can just google it and a tutorial for it should come up.
@tman140 alice? is that some sort of 3d program?
Newgrounds isn't a very good place to learn flash they don't have that many tutorials.
Hm, I agree, they weren't too clear. Actually I'm learning by translating the kongregate shootorials from actionscript 2 to actionscript 3. Whenever I bump into something I can't figure out, I google (blackle) it, and just keep working my butt off. Pretty good practice.
@Darkroot yeah its more of a 3d animator. it sometimes can be posted online. its great for beginners.
To add to the flash game discussion, here's a new site that just popped up for making flash games.
I would like to ask Jay or Steve how you begin to develop a flash game I've been trying to but I always run into a barrier of not knowing where to start or where to start first. Should I make the game first or the art?, The preloader or the menu? Should I make a game design document?
start super simple with a really small manageable game. I'd say program with temp art first just to make sure the idea works. Once it's together you can update all the artwork.
art, pre-loader and menu are the final touches.
Game design document, if its just you making the game you don't need to get too elaborate with it. Just use it to keep all of your ideas in order.
Oh ok thank I've been trying to do too much at the same time.
Also whats the diffrence between working with a table and without? Every time I try to draw something with one it looks scewed even if I trace it with a paper being on top of the tablet. Any tips for try to concentrate on what your drawing and the computer screen?
It's really just practice, you have to train your brain to think of the computer screen as paper and not look at your hand while you draw.
When I first started I attempted the same trace off paper technique with horrible results. It's best if you abandon that path right now. Just start small, practice drawing circles while looking at the computer screen. Don't be scared to angle your tablet to compensate for how your hand works. I find the faster you draw the better, if you go too slow it sometimes gets jagged and inaccurate, get a flow to your line the same way you would on paper. I learned on the job at an animation studio, so it was sink or swim. I think it was probably a full week of practicing every day before I really got the hang of it. Now its second nature. A lot of the backgrounds in my game were drawn completely in flash without ever drawing anything on paper.
Also, another technique. Draw a really fast sketch just to get a nice flow to your drawing, don't worry about making it clean. Just get it drawn rough and messy. Then on a separate layer, turn the below drawing to an outline or onion skin it and then do a final line cleanup of it. That's how I approach everything I draw with a tablet in flash.
Just keep practicing, the bubble will eventually pop and you'll just see the computer screen as a blank sheet of paper.
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