Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Hands-On Training

Average customer rating:

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Hands-On Training

Terrible

Best book out there to learn Dreamweaver

I Was Forced To Read This For A Class, and Will Never Be The Same Again

The best thing out there!

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Hands-On Training
Garo Green
Manufacturer: Peachpit Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual

ASIN: 032120297X

Book Description

With its powerful combination of visual layout tools, application development features, and code editing support, Dreamweaver MX 2004 is sure to become the constant companion of many Web developers. Here to get you hands-on with it fast is the definitive project-based training on the topic from one of the master teachers at Linda.com training. Using a combination of project-based lessons, guided exercises, and QuickTime tutorials, veteran author Garo Green walks you through all the Dreamweaver MX 04 basics: navigating the new interface, creating and managing Web sites, and linking among pages. You'll learn about frames and forms, cascading style sheets, and Fireworks and Flash integration, and gobble up Garo¿s suggestions about best layout and typography practices. You'll also find extensive coverage of all of Dreamweaver's newest features: dynamic cross-browser validation, improved CSS support, built-in graphics editing, and more. Throughout, Garo shows you not just how to do something but why you¿re doing it and the results of your actions.

Customer Reviews:

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Hands-On Training.......2007-01-11

Good price, quick delivery, and brand new. All positive feedback. The only slightly negative thing is one of the corners of the book was damaged, but the book is fully usable.

Terrible.......2006-06-09

I had to buy this book for a class, it is terrible. All the author does is have you go click here and drag this to go through the exercises with no explainations. It's a waste of time and money.

Best book out there to learn Dreamweaver.......2006-03-26

I have taken several classes to learn Dreamweaver but still didn't handle to use Dreamweaver very well...until I found this book which answered all the questions I had to master Dreamweaver. This book is the best book out there so far for beginner; A must have.

I Was Forced To Read This For A Class, and Will Never Be The Same Again.......2006-03-12

This has to be the worst book ever written. Do yourself a favor, and spare yourself from the pain. The author thinks it's cute to make little quips that a 3 year might think of and put little wink things behind them, you know what I mean ;). The problem is they just annoy you to no end. The other annoying thing is that it takes the author a page and half to say "Hit the Enter Key". He spends page after page talking of inane things, hawking other books, and making stupid, juvenile comments. The book is a laborious 700 pages long, an agonizing 700 pages long. I have noticed that they have fired the dweeb who wrote it, Garo Green (who I always imagined him as a pasty white, fat 50 year old geek-you'll see what I mean if you have the misfortune of being forced to use this book), and significantly shorten the book, even though Dreamweaver 8 has many more features. I write this with the full knowledge that I will be selling my copy of this at the end of the semester, and that this review will adversely affect my selling price, but the book is really that bad. Unless you need it for a course, do not buy it. I promise you will regret it.

The best thing out there!.......2006-02-23

This book follows along with the online lessons offered at lynda.com. The exercises in the CD-ROM are the same as those used online. As complimentary tools to one another, they are without any doubt, hands down, the best thing anywhere for learning Dreamweaver from scratch, whether you learn best visually, by listening, or by doing, or all of the above. (Believe me, I over-research everything.) I can't recommend strongly enough that you consider getting both the book/CD and the online tutorials at lynda.com. They offer free samples so you can test it out. Have the book in front of you, download the sample exercises from the CD, and start the online tutorial. You can flip back and forth on your computer between the tutorial and doing the exercises, and follow along (and take notes) in the book. As good as an expensive class (or better, since with this you can rewind, skip around, and take unlimited bathroom breaks)!

Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design

Average customer rating:

Came in well
Describes more than Explains
Advances the field of game design knowledge
Review: Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams On Game Design
Essential reading for anyone interested in game design

Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design
Andrew Rollings , and Ernest Adams
Manufacturer: New Riders Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1592730019

Book Description

How often have you heard "anyone can design a game?" While it seems likean easy job, game ideas are cheap and plentiful. Advancing those ideasinto games that people want to play is one of the hardest, and mostunder-appreciated, tasks in the game development cycle. Andrew Rollingsand Ernest Adams on Game Design introduces both students and experienced developers to the craft of designing computer and video games for the retail market. The first half of the book is a detailed analysis of thekey game design elements: examining game concepts and worlds,storytelling, character and user interface design, core mechanics andbalance. The second half discusses each of the major game genres(action, adventure, role-playing, strategy, puzzle, and so on) andidentifies the design patterns and unique creative challenges thatcharacterize them. Filled with examples and worksheets, this book takesan accessible, practical approach to creating fun, innovative, andhighly playable games.

Customer Reviews:

Came in well.......2005-09-22

The book was great in condition and looked new and it came in fast like promissed.

Describes more than Explains.......2004-01-21

This book is enjoyable for anyone interested in computer game design. However, enjoyable and illuminating are two different things. Beginning with the obviously misguided analysis that computer games are not an art form because the process of designing them is not all a matter of creativity, but that of skill and calculation as well (which is the way it is for any art form), the authors begin a journey of, well, describing what computer games are like.

Overall, the book seems more to describe than explain, more to report than interpret. There arises no general, well defined thesis from its 500+ page volume. At best, this book can be said to raise a lot of issues which a designer ought to have in mind when designing a game.

However, the vast majority of the issues raised are either of secondary importance or generally irrelevant. It breaks down the process of game design into topics in a way which is neither natural nor logical, and proceeds to pursue a rather sizyphusian discussion of each of these topics in turn. These are: What is Game Design?, Game Concepts, Game Settings and Worlds, Storytelling and Narrative, Character Development, Creating the User Experience, Gameplay, and The Internal Economy of games and Game Balancing.

This division makes very little sense. These topics are all so closely related, some to the point of overlapping, that attempting to develop a theorem which deals with each of them separately would result in exactly the kind of negligible book we have before us.

Actually, it would be impossible for the authors to develop any meaningful discussion of their subject, because they fail to define a) what we are trying to create and b) how do we measure our success. Nor can such a definition be induced from this overflous and superficial book. Without this definition, there is nothing that binds the book's pieces together (and, actually, had the authors bothered to provide a rigorous definition, they would have realized that no reasonable definition could be found for the garbled mess they've created), and it remains a pile of expressions in the spirit of "some people did this in some games, and some people did that in some other games". In short, the book does an admirable job in showing how NOT to perform a critical analysis of a subject, not to mention attempt to construct a wholesome theory.

While the book can be interesting at times, mainly because it makes one think on how such a book SHOULD be written, it is chuck full of assertions obviously made on the basis of misunderstandings, like the authors' curious misuse of the term Suspension of Disbelief, or their suggestion of the Hero's Journey narrative template as an object of imitation rather than a tool for analysis.

The authors' goal with this book also seems questionable. At one point, they assert that, even were it possible, we wouldn't like our player to be tormented by remorse after taking an immoral action in the game. Why? isn't moral education one of the most important and unique roles of art? If it were indeed possible, and I'm sure it is, it would've been a glorious achievement for this medium, one which would put all its previous achievements far behind.

Or are the authors only interested in computer games as a source of pure fun? If so, I suggest they invest their impressive talent and enthusiasm in cooking or adult toy design - a medium's greatness lies not in the fun it offers, and these repeatable fields are all about fun.

An interesting book for raising a large scale discussion, but one which falls short of grasping the deeper principles of its subject, and is, therefore, unimportant.

Advances the field of game design knowledge.......2003-07-13

The first half of this book is great, and the chapter on *What Gameplay Is* alone makes this book more than worth it. Rollings and Adams propose a new definition of game - to replace Sid Meier's off-the-cuff definition "A series of meaningful choices" - that is more general, more liberating, and more true. So anyone who is annoyed by the fact that their favorite linear platformer supposedly isn't a game by the Meier definition can turn to this. It sounds like a small thing, but so many designers quote the Meier definition so often I expect that this small pebble will create ripples that will effect the kinds of games we see in the future. By focusing on challenges rather than choices, Rollings and Adams have changed the way I think about game design.

Also, while Rollings' other book is most suited for people making strategy games, this book really is general enough to be a worthy read for anybody working on any kind of game.

I only gave it four stars because, for me, the last half of the book--summary chapters of different game genres--was mostly throwaway, rarely going into very much depth or telling me information I didn't know already.

Review: Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams On Game Design.......2003-06-29

In writing a book review, it's important to realize the importance of "cover previews." In essance, the cover previews provide a contract for either what a book is about or what information the book will provide.

For instance, the back cover of the book On Game Design posits: "How do you turn a great idea into a game design? What makes one design better than another? Why does a good design document matter, and how do you write one? This book answers these questions and stimulates your creativity?"

It is important to note that the book does not limit itself to console video games or computer games. The essence of the rules discussed in this book are those of creating any type of game. Right away that should tell you whether or not you're going to find the book useful. Are you looking for a book that tells you, in general and abstract terms, what concepts are involved with creating a game, or are you looking for a book that actually works examples of concepts?

While this book does a good job of providing many checklists for consideration, advice for certain conditions, and a dictionary of possible ways to view game design, the writers do not follow through. There are few solid examples of checklist scenarios or of worked-through versions of a game scenario which a game designer would find helpful. Without a practical means to an end, there is little purpose in reading these examples except for reassurance that you're facing the same problem that other people have faced. There are many psychology texts available for that situation already.

If you're used to reading programming books, like I am, you're probably aware that they follow a standard format: Propose a problem, choose a method of solution, work through several to many versions of the solution, solve the problem. With only a proposal, it is rather unhelpful to not see why one solution is better than another when it comes to game design. For that matter, as you might have guessed, the level of abstraction to design presented in this book leaves no space for any code examples.

While the advice given in certain situations might be helpful to someone who knows nothing about game design, it is highly likely that whoever reads this book will have little need of it since the advice is so much common sense that a gamer of several years would already be aware of much of this. It's like a senior in college having to take freshman seminar.

But, aside from this little discussion of fault, there is much to be savored in this book. Don't let this review scare you off! Get a copy of the book. Read it. Keep it as a reference for when you might need a more formalized way of presenting a problem you face in game design.

And as I'm sure you know, once you've found a way to state a problem, you're almost ready to find a way to solve it.

Essential reading for anyone interested in game design.......2003-06-17

As the global computer games industry becomes bigger business, and games are increasingly recognised as an art form, it seems surprising that the process of game design is so misunderstood. Books like Rollings and Adams on Game Design help clarify the process of game design, and as such are a vital step in clarifying game design, and providing guidance as to what that process entails.

Rollings and Adams on Game Design (hereafter, `the book') covers in broad strokes the elements of game design, both in general terms, and in connection with specific genres. The book begins by identifying the common elements of games of all kinds, and then moves on to discussing the many different classes of game, and what they have in common.

The first section, The Elements of Game Design, is an excellent treatment of the broad-strokes components of game design - a novice designer will find much to educate in this section, and even an experienced pro will find wisdom and opinion well worth the time and money. Topics such as narrative design and game balancing - often ignored - are dealt with in a generalised but comprehensive fashion, and as such this section also serves as an excellent introduction to the role of a game designer.

The main body of the book is in the second section, which consists of individual chapters covering various game genres. Because no single standard for game genre exists, the choice of genres may raise some eyebrows with some people, but within the context of the book the genre choices are very sensible and provide a good framework.

The quality of the genre chapters is variable, but generally of an excellent standard. Some are truly exceptional however, in particular that on Sports Games and the sub-section on Games for Girls contain information very hard to gain from another source. Chapters on Action, Strategy, Vehicle simulations and Construction/Management sims provide a solid discussion of the key features of these genres, although Action has been defined in such a way as to seem biased towards shooters and against platform games. It may have been worth considering these two largely divergent genres as separate forms - but to do so would have been to risk fragmenting the focused nature of the material.

Chapters on Adventure Games, A-life and other minority pursuits are quite possibly the best summary of the forms available anywhere, and the chapter on online games (written with the assistance of Raph Koster) is a superb précis of a notoriously difficult to summarise area.

There are some drawbacks, but mostly due to the generalised nature of the work. Because the book must cover everything, it necessarily covers everything briefly. Many of the chapters end when you are just beginning to get a taste for the details. As the authors note, an attempt to cover everything in detail would be the work of several volumes.

Similarly, although much is said of the process of game mechanic design and game world abstraction, little is said of the process of design where it relates to the involvement of the team as a whole. Game design is often a process of `game design co-ordination' - managing the design of the game through the changing world of the development cycle. The book provides no help for this challenging task - which again would need a book of its own to cover thoroughly.

That aside, this book is an essential reference for any game designer with less than ten years of experience, and especially for anyone new to the practice of game design. People with an interest in games will learn a tremendous amount about the underlying mechanisms of game design, and need not worry about complex mathematics or other technical detail, as most of the book is written in very easy-to-follow prose.

Book Description

Games and other playable forms, from interactive fictions to improvisational theater, involve role playing and story--something played and something told. In Second Person, game designers, authors, artists, and scholars examine the different ways in which these two elements work together in tabletop role-playing games (RPGs), computer games, board games, card games, electronic literature, political simulations, locative media, massively multiplayer games, and other forms that invite and structure play.

Second Person--so called because in these games and playable media it is "you" who plays the roles, "you" for whom the story is being told--first considers tabletop games ranging from Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs with an explicit social component to Kim Newman's Choose Your Own Adventure-style novel Life's Lottery and its more traditional author-reader interaction. Contributors then examine computer-based playable structures that are designed for solo interaction--for the singular "you"--including the mainstream hit Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and the genre-defining independent production Façade. Finally, contributors look at the intersection of the social spaces of play and the real world, considering, among other topics, the virtual communities of such Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) as World of Warcraft and the political uses of digital gaming and role-playing techniques (as in The Howard Dean for Iowa Game, the first U.S. presidential campaign game).

In engaging essays that range in tone from the informal to the technical, these writers offer a variety of approaches for the examination of an emerging field that includes works as diverse as George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards series and the classic Infocom game Planetfall.

Second Person features three complete tabletop role-playing games that demonstrate some of the variations possible in the form: in John Tynes's Puppetland, players take on the roles of puppets in a land ruled by the villainous Punch; Greg Costikyan's Bestial Acts imports the techniques of Bertolt Brecht's theater of alienation into a dark role-playing structure; and in James Wallis's The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, the gameplay revolves around spinning elaborate tales in the style of the famous raconteur.

Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, and Playtesting Games (Gama Network Series) (Gama Network Series)

Average customer rating:

Excellent Practical Book of Game Design
good book for educational use
Not programming, Not Graphics, Overall Game Design

Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, and Playtesting Games (Gama Network Series) (Gama Network Series)
Tracy Fullerton , Chris Swain , and Steven Hoffman
Manufacturer: CMP Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1578202221

Book Description

As experienced teachers of novice game designers, the authors have discovered patterns in the way that students grasp game design the mistakes they make as well as the methods to help them to create better games.

Each exercise requires no background in programming or artwork, releasing beginning designers from the intricacies of electronic game production and allowing them to learn what works and what doesn't work in a game system. Additionally, these exercises teach important skills in system design: the processes of prototyping, playtesting, and redesigning.

Teaches the fundamentals of game design through the study of classic systems

Exercises will strengthen your understanding of how game elements work together

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Practical Book of Game Design.......2007-07-18

I consider this an excellent book on game design. As an amatuer board game and basic computer game designer, I found a lot of the material extremely useful in the *process* of coming up with a game from start to finish.

The chapter on prototyping did a great job in showing how to go ahead and create a prototype from a game idea, while keeping it simple and concentrating on the "core gameplay mechanism."

The chapter on "Playtesting" and "Functionality, Completeness, and Balance" builds on the prototype chapter by emphasizing the iterative nature of design where one go aheads and evaluates, tries new things, identify problems and keep evolving.

The next chapter following is maybe the most important chapter that discusses whether you game is fun, goes in to some theory of what makes a game fun, and relates various techniques of improving player's choices so as to make the game fun.

This is a great book that gives you the necessary tools to go ahead and be able to at the very least create a viable prototype of a game that is possibly fun and playable.

good book for educational use.......2006-06-04

This might be a good book for teachers looking for material in their classes gamedesign or gamedevelopment. It may also be a good book for selfstudy, if you have the discipline to do the exercises. You need to have played a lot of the classic videogames though, otherwise you might not be able to do the exercises, which are mostly about thinking about gamedesigns and making little designs or design alterations on existing games.

Not programming, Not Graphics, Overall Game Design.......2005-04-14

Few people realize just how big a business digital gaming has become. Think of it this way: It's bigger than the domestic box office of the film industry. The amount of time spent playing games by young people now exceeds everything but television in time spent on entertainment. The main factor driving the development of the new extremely powerful computers is gaming, slower machines are capable of handling almost all office tasks.

The authors of this book have a great deal of experience in both designing games and teaching how to design games. This has given them an understanding of how beginning designers grasp the structured elements of games, common traps they fall into, and certain developmental exercises that help the student learn to make better games.

Note that this is not a programming manual, nor is it a graphics design manual. It is on game design. What are the characteristics that make a game, how can you prototype and play test the game without a horrendous programming expense, and finally some input on the game industry and how to decide on how you might like to be employeed in that industry.

Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture

Average customer rating:

Fantastic ethnographic approach to MMORPGs
Could have gone further
For clarification
entire, elaborate, virtual worlds

Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture
T. L. Taylor
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0262201631

Book Description

In Play Between Worlds, T. L. Taylor examines multiplayer gaming life as it is lived on the borders, in the gaps--as players slip in and out of complex social networks that cross online and offline space. Taylor questions the common assumption that playing computer games is an isolating and alienating activity indulged in by solitary teenage boys. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), in which thousands of players participate in a virtual game world in real time, are in fact actively designed for sociability. Games like the popular Everquest, she argues, are fundamentally social spaces.

Taylor's detailed look at Everquest offers a snapshot of multiplayer culture. Drawing on her own experience as an Everquest player (as a female Gnome Necromancer)--including her attendance at an Everquest Fan Faire, with its blurring of online-and offline life--and extensive research, Taylor not only shows us something about games but raises broader cultural issues. She considers "power gamers," who play in ways that seem closer to work, and examines our underlying notions of what constitutes play--and why play sometimes feels like work and may even be painful, repetitive, and boring. She looks at the women who play Everquest and finds they don't fit the narrow stereotype of women gamers, which may cast into doubt our standardized and preconceived ideas of femininity. And she explores the questions of who owns game space--what happens when emergent player culture confronts the major corporation behind the game.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic ethnographic approach to MMORPGs.......2006-11-07

In her book on the MMO gaming world, Taylor brings an ethnographic approach to the game Everquest. Through interviews and personal experience, she gives an insight into the gaming world that portrays it for the rich, complex, social world that it is. A gamer herself, Taylor does an excellent job shining new light on the "frowned upon" gaming world. She also goes beyond the gaming world to show how things are connected through the internet and "in real life" to things within the game.

As far as this being too "basic" in covering the genre - this wasn't aimed to be a book only for advanced gamers. For those of the academic world, who have no experience whatsoever with games, the chapters provide sufficient information about the games to allow understanding. The summary/analysis is as comprehensive as it is rich. There are parts that she could have gone further and I do hope she does write a second book (although she does have articles on this topic as well).

All in all, this is an absolutely fantastic book for academics (or just interested people) who want an ethnographic approach to the gaming world that treats it not as a deviant, subersive "alternate" reality. Gamers and academics alike can appreciate it. Think Jenkins' Textual Poachers (written about the fan world) for gamers.

I sincerely hope this is the tip of the iceberg for this serious academic research into the community, social aspects of MMOs.

Could have gone further.......2006-08-08

I would term the first few chapters of this book to be MMOs for dummies. They were fairly redundant filled with the basics of the genre. I realize that to a certain extent she had to write about this sort of stuff to ground the book for non-genre players, it went on for a little to long I think. If you took away the stuff that explained how the genre worked, this book may very well have been about 75 pages.

Once you got past this point, the book was fairly good. I especially like Taylor's insight into the ownership rights in online games as I think this subject is currently of major concern to players. The women in MMO section was also fairly good, but again fairly redundant at the same time.

I would like to point out that Taylor is a woman and not a man as a previous reviewer implies. A point she makes quite clear early in the book, and a point which I do think offers a fresh perspective on the genre considering much of what has already been written has come from a male-centric point of view.

Overall, the read is pretty good. I think it would work best for those who are not familiar with online gaming, and maybe even someone who hasn't yet started really reading material on the culture of online gaming. As someone who has both been an MMO gamer for over a decade and someone who has read a number of theories and books on the genre I didn't really feel that this book brought much new to the table which was too bad.

For clarification .......2006-06-13

TL Taylor is a brilliant woman, and the thoughtfulness and scientific rigor of her research shine through in this book.

entire, elaborate, virtual worlds.......2006-04-17

For those who wonder what on earth online gaming is about, Taylor furnishes an education. He covers the history of how it sprang from the MUDs [Multi User Dungeons] and MOOs [MUDs with object orientation] of the 80s. When those were of necessity primarily text based. Then, in the 90s, with the advent of the Web and faster bandwidth and more powerful personal computers, multiuser online games emerged. Notably EverQuest, which is well documented here. Other games are also mentioned.

Taylor himself took part as a player in one of these. Partly of his own recreational interest. But also as background research for this book. He shows that these games became virtual worlds. Where players could build up their personas and environments. Even to the extent of trading these assets in the real world. Some players took these on as "jobs", building up characters that they would subsequently sell on eBay. Amazing indeed.

Important issues are aired. Like what rights, if any, do players have to sell these personas? Much of the value in a persona arises out of the creativity of its owner. Much more than just the passive watching of a film. Or even of playing a twitch game like Quake, which is not really about character development. The book reaches no definitive conclusion. Which is a good assessment of how things stand now, anyways.

Macromedia Flash MX ActionScript for Fun and Games (With CD-ROM)

Average customer rating:

Excellent Resource
Great for intermediate Flash users
Not good for beginners
Great transaction, but...
There's probably a better book out there...

Macromedia Flash MX ActionScript for Fun and Games (With CD-ROM)
Gary Rosenzweig
Manufacturer: Que
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0789727994

Book Description

Anyone with moderate Macromedia Flash experience who is looking to acquire or improve their understanding of ActionScript will find this book a valuable resource. Author Gary Rosenzweig is highly respected in the Macromedia community and pioneered the use of advanced programming techniques in Macromedia Flash. For this edition, he has updated the games from the previous edition and has added several new projects. Each chapter studies and then deconstructs a new type of game or gadget such as hunt and click games, catch and avoid games, or action and adventure games and the CD contains the project source code.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Resource.......2007-08-31

Even though this book was written for Actionscript 1.0, it still has plenty of life left in it. A reasonably capable Flash designer should be able to convert the script to AS 2, and probably even convert it to AS 3. If you're already a guru you may not find it as useful, but intermediate level Flashers should find plenty of inspiration. The game theory is light - just the basics - but I was more interested in the script, which it is full of. Well worth the money.

Great for intermediate Flash users.......2007-05-19

If you have even a little background in Actionscript or programming in general, you will find this book worthwhile. The author gives a few beginner's tips, but for the most part this is for the intermediate user looking to take the next step into Flash gaming. There are a variety of games covered and each game is included on the companion CD. The CD is probably the biggest selling point when compared to other Actionscript books as it's a huge help to see what the author is talking about on screen.

Not good for beginners.......2007-02-01

This book is not very well suited for beginner actionscript programmers.The author gives two or three brush off chapters on actionscript.Then bombardes you with math.random()* this that and the other.And starts using object type programming with little explanation of whats going on behind the code.He does comment the lines but the comments faintly explain what he is doing.I would have given this book 2 stars,but because you can take these games change them around graphics,little script or whatever and "make them your own" I am giving it 3 stars.I've owned this book for over a year and after reading other books it's making more sense what he's doing now.But for someone with little experience, be prepared to get lost very quickly.

Great transaction, but..........2006-03-19

The five stars are only for the price and quality of transaction for the distributor. The book, however, deserves 3 max. If you want to know how to create these specific games, then look no further. If you want to learn the theory behind the games so you can easily go on to create your own, buy another book. This is a good tool if you are interested in Rosenzweig's style of programming, but only that. If you wish to expand your knowledge of ActionScript on a more modular and appliable level, I would suggest Flash MX 2004 Savvy or an ActionScript Bible (for the more advanced topics).

There's probably a better book out there..........2006-03-15

The examples in the book are not updated and show an older method of writing action script. While it still works, it's not the best way to learn the current methods.

Macromedia Flash MX Game Design Demystified

Average customer rating:

Complete!
First glance is good, but when you delve deeper...
Excellent presentation. Honest coverage of issues
Definitely not for beginners
Good book only if u are good at Maths and ActionScript

Macromedia Flash MX Game Design Demystified
Jobe Makar
Manufacturer: Macromedia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Macromedia Flash MX ActionScript for Fun and Games (With CD-ROM)
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ASIN: 0201770210

Book Description

Macromedia Flash Game Design Demystified starts out with the basics: planning, adapting ActionScript techniques, using introductory Flash game techniques, and more. Then it gets down to the real business of building simple games. You'll tackle simple-logic and quiz games before moving on to multiplayer and complex-logic games (chess, for example)--learning about importing 3-D graphics, adding sound effects, and licensing your games in the process. The book's companion CD includes the source files for a number of games as well as the tutorials and lessons that go along with the book and XML server software to facilitate multiplayer games. If you're tired of the games that you have and want to make your own action, this book offers comprehensive coverage of sophisticated techniques--but put in easy-to-grasp, practical terms.

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