Advergaming Developer's Guide: Using Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and Macromedia Director MX (Game Development Series)

Book Description

Learn what Advergames are, how to use them, and how to create your own! Welcome to the world of Advergaming! Interactive games are one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment and theyíre on track to exceed movie ticket sales. Using them as an advertising tool, however, is a relatively new idea that is catching on fast. Advergames are created not only to entertain, but to sell a product, brand, or company. More and more companies are using these free, brand-centric games to supplement, and even replace, traditional branding methods. If you are a Web designer, graphic designer, or game developer, youíll want to learn more about Advergames. They're showing up everywhere, on the Web, cell phones, CD-ROMs, even embedded in email. The Advergaming Developer's Guide teaches designers and game developers the ins-and-outs of this innovative new form of advertising. It shows you how to create a variety of Advergames from the ground up, even if you have no prior game development experience. The book begins with a detailed overview of Advergaming, branding, gameplay, and the two main creation tools, Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and Director MX. From there youíll learn how to conceptualize, develop, launch, and track the success of your Advergame. In the last part of the book, you'll create your own games, including a linking, matching, puzzle, memory, pinball, makeover, arcade, and whack-the-mole type game. And finally, youíll learn about the business realities of Advergames through case studies with leading companies, including Blackdot, YaYa Media, Inc., and AGENCY.COM. This is the one resource you'll need to get started with Advergames, whether youíre a Flash/Director developer already involved in advertising and game creation, a game developer looking to expand your development channels, or a Web designer looking for an innovative new tool.

Customer Reviews:

Horrible for Beginners.......2007-07-18

If you are an advanced Flash or Director user this book might be tolerable, but as a beginner it is HORRIBLE. I have spent 3 hours so far on the first tutorial. Not because the concepts are difficult, but the descriptions in each step are so awful. Most simply, they don't explain the basic principles of how to do things, but then just jump into tutorials telling you to do things like " Set up a new layer and type this into the actions panel". How do I set up a layer, where is the action panel? The book never told me.

Even if you are an advanced user, the tutorials are very poorly set up. For example on one step they tell you to place a bunch of items on the timeline. After placing all 15, in the next step they start referring to different layers that the items are on and how to manipulate them. What they didnt tell you at any point before is that you were supposed to put all the items on specific layers and that the layers have to have specific names that they refer to later. How could this book possibly have gotten past any editors?

Conceptually: Great idea. Could be a very handy book.
In execution: Don't know how it ever got published.

Great book!.......2004-03-18

I love playing the games and this book tells the story behind some of the greats! Blockdot has a game site called www.kewlbox.com where you can play all of them!

Average customer rating:

OOP training is an after-thought
more of a tutorial than reference
GET THIS BOOK!

Foundation Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Sham Bhangal , Kristian Besley , and Sham Bhangal
Manufacturer: friends of ED
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Foundation ActionScript for Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Foundation Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004
Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Games Most Wanted
Linux: The Textbook
Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 Zero to Hero

ASIN: 1590593030

Book Description

If you have never used Flash before and you are looking for a book that will give you a rock solid grounding in Flash MX 2004, then this is the title for you. This book uses a series of structured exercises to give you the broad, solid foundation knowledge you need to start your exploration of Flash from scratch. Foundation Macromedia Flash MX 2004 uses a proven sequential, detailed, and accessible tutorial style to ensure that you'll retain your learning and be able to draw on it throughout your Flash career.

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 is an exciting product, providing rich creative opportunities for Flash designers and developers at all levels of ability and experience. No single book can hope to provide adequate coverage of all aspects of Flash MX 2004, which is why this book focuses relentlessly on the core skills that you need to get you started: understanding the interface; familiarizing yourself with the creative tools and their capabilities; grasping the relationships between the different components that make up a Flash movie; getting insight into how to put all the pieces together and hook them up with ActionScript. All these aspects (and much more) are covered in detailed tutorials and exercises, reinforced with a case study that runs throughout the book to apply everything in a real-world context.

Customer Reviews:

OOP training is an after-thought.......2006-01-20

I purchased this book to learn the latest OOP programming techniques available in Flash MX 2004. However, the author spent the bulk of each chapter explaining how to do something using techniques appropriate to versions prior to MX 2004, then made a statement about there was a better way to do it. He then spent very little time telling you what to modify to make it more OOP oriented or more efficient. You can't skip ahead and just look at the "better way" since all explanations of the "better way" were based on modifications to the original example.

Obviously, the author just did a "quickie" upgrade of a previous version of this book so he could sell more copies. I don't need to waste my time learning how to do something the hard/inefficient way. With the cost of the book, the author should have written a new version appropriate to the upgrades made under MX 2004 to support OOP instead of just adding a few OOP comments here and there to a previous version of the book.

Avoid this book if you want to learn good OOP techniques!

more of a tutorial than reference.......2005-03-09

If you want a beginners guide to learning Flash, this is a good one. Explains steps in detail, and rather clearly. There are a few frustrating errata, but they are well documented on the publishers website. If you are looking for a reference text rather than a hold-my-hand guide, look elsewhere. I rate this 4/5 stars.

GET THIS BOOK!.......2004-04-20

If ever you wanted to learn Flash® the quick and simple way, THIS BOOK IS IT!!
It'll be your bestest buddy from start to finish. And don't let the thickness of "Beaker" (yep, I gave it a name) put you off ... if you're like me and you have extensive knowledge of Illustrator®, Photoshop®, GoLive®, plus the now defunct LiveMotion®, and all their terminologies, you can be forgiven for skipping certain sections.
Flash® is here to stay and, from what I am hearing, it gets even easier to use with each product update.
Come on. Jump on board! You wont regret it!

Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004: Complete Guide and Reference to JavaScript Flash

Average customer rating:

JSFL Bible
JavaScript + Flash + Extensions = WOW
Great book for teaching how to create Extensions
Extending Flash makes your life easy

Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004: Complete Guide and Reference to JavaScript Flash
Todd Yard , and Keith Peters
Manufacturer: friends of ED
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Foundation ActionScript Animation: Making Things Move! (Foundation)
Object-Oriented ActionScript For Flash 8
AdvancED ActionScript Components: Mastering the Flash Component Architecture (Advanc)
Foundation XML for Flash (Foundation)
Foundation PHP 5 for Flash (Foundation)

ASIN: 1590593049

Book Description

Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004 introduce a new extensibility architecture. This is not an upgrade to an existing feature, but a brand new concept that nobody using an earlier version of Flash has seen or used before. With the extensibility tools, which include behaviors, custom-made tools and commands, the JavaScript API (or JSFL), and the XML-to-UI API, you can literally extend Flash to do things it cannot do out of the box. Things such as adding new custom commands to the menu and customizing the tool bar, adding brand new, custom created tools. The commands could be as simple as drawing a commonly used shape on the stage, or as complex as creating an entire new Flash movie from scratch. Tools take into account mouse actions and property inspector parameters. This allows you for custom shapes much as are seen in Microsoft Office, for example, stars, callouts, arrows, etc.

These new features will not only allow users to share code and effects more easily within the community or a production environment, but will also allow developers to package up and reuse more within Flash than was ever possible before, increasing productivity and decreasing production times. Some simple commands, tools, effects and behaviors will be included with Flash MX 2004, but the possibilities of what one could do with these are staggering. Virtually anything you can do in the authoring environment can now be written into a command or behavior.

Customer Reviews:

JSFL Bible.......2006-02-07

If you have ever thought of a feature request for Flash then this book is for you. It teaches you how to make your own! Flash MX 2004 is in the title but it's just as useful for Flash 8. This book is worth the price just for the JSFL reference alone.

JavaScript + Flash + Extensions = WOW.......2006-01-29

This book has gone under the radar based upon its title. It truly does not explain what this book can teach you.

Basically it teaches the basic Flash user that you can extend what Flash normally does for you in its normal authoring environment. Like create new drawing tools, create commands that perform complex real-time tasks instantly (similiar to custom macros), create custom user interfaces, add timeline effects (scripted tweens) to any object, and create scripted behaviors (prebuilt code components) to help almost automate your Flash development.

If your an exisiting Flash developer who knows how code with ActionScript and needs a way to streamline your development environment and development time, this is a book you shouldn't pass up.

Great book for teaching how to create Extensions.......2004-07-25

If you are an advanced Flash user, Extending Flash MX 2004 may be just the right book for you. Written by veteran Flash developers Keith Peters (bit-101) and Todd Yard (ego7), this book introduces you to the world of extending Flash MX 2004 by teaching you how to create custom functions and features for the Flash MX 2004 authoring environment.

At first I had never heard about 'Extending' Flash MX 2004, but hopefully my following explanation may help you to understand this concept if you are new to this term. Imagine Flash MX 2004 being a customizable browser such as Firefox. In Firefox, you can download snippets of programs called extensions that add some cool, extra features to your browser. Creating new extensions for Flash MX 2004 is similar to developing extensions for your browser. Using a new language called JavaScript Flash (JSFL), you have the ability to create scripts, commands, behaviors, etc. that add new functionality to not a Flash animation, but to your actual Flash MX 2004 application itself.

This book teaches you how to use JavaScript Flash to create extensions - custom commands, menu items, and others things to help make repetitive tasks easier and enhance your Flash MX 2004 program. You start with the basics and progress towards complicated techniques. Early on you start by creating a command that, for example, allows you to take any shape and automatically arrange them on a user-defined grid. Towards the end, you move beyond simple commands and learn how to modify Behaviors, create custom interfaces using XML, and more!

Another great feature of this book is the expansive JavaScript Flash (JSFL) reference. The JSFL reference section contains all of the various items of the JSFL language that you can refer to when creating your own JSFL extensions. For any JSFL code item or property, you will find a description, the types of values it accepts, and a code example.

If you use Flash MX 2004 extensively and are interested in automating some of the repetitive tasks or adding new, useful features to Flash, you will find this book's coverage of this new topic excellent for intermediate and advanced users.

Extending Flash makes your life easy.......2004-06-30

Keith and Todd command a huge knowledge of one of the more interesting and productive new features of Flash MX 2004, extensibility. The authors guide you on your way to learning about these new features starting off with easy concepts and then moving into more specific areas. This book is essential for anyone who develops with Flash MX 2004, the skills and tools that you get from the book will streamline your work flow and improve your productivity. From JSFL commands, xml to UI, custom behaviors and custom tools this book will load your Flash IDE with tools and widgets to get the job done faster and smoother. Excellent book!

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Games Most Wanted

Average customer rating:

They may be most wanted but you won't learn Flash
Very disappointing!
Nice physical effects

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Games Most Wanted
Sham Bhangal , Glen Rhodes , Kristian Besley , Brian Monnone , Steve Young , Keith Peters , Anthony Eden , and Brad Ferguson
Manufacturer: friends of ED
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Game Programming | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

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Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Design Demystified
Building Great Flash MX Games
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Beginning Flash Game Programming For Dummies
Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Development

ASIN: 1590592360

Book Description

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Games Most Wanted is the latest title in the popular ‘Most Wanted’ series from friends of ED. This book presents the definitive selection of game design techniques using the latest version of Macromedia Flash – now the industry standard for creating multimedia applications, used by over one million professionals.

Each chapter covers a distinct area of online gaming, describing the design and development of a finished Flash game. The book delivers as many complete example games as possible and is packed full of the most wanted tips, tricks, and techniques to demonstrate exactly how to produce exciting and interactive games. This is an inspiring sample of all the very best techniques that professional Flash game designers are using today.

Customer Reviews:

They may be most wanted but you won't learn Flash.......2007-08-06

I am currently learning to program Action Script and have been buying multiple Flash books. This particular book has several games you can get the source code to for copying, pasting and modifying. It "tells" you how each game was made without actually teaching you how to do anything.
So the title is correct- these are generic games and highly useful source code and therefore (in 2004 at least) most wanted.
If you are a beginner seeking to learn flash, start with Flash Game Programming for Dummies or the very well written O'Reilly book on Action Script.
Check the web- there is tons of good newer source code out there if you need something to start with and just need to hack a prototype together.

Very disappointing!.......2005-06-24

Honestly this book is a steer clear. Sure it has some examples that are usefull but the explanation of the code is horrible. For someone like myself who has experience in Java, C++, PHP, VB.NET, HTML and more i found this book very difficult to follow and understand.

I have since got FlashMX game design Demystified by Jobe Makar and would have to say 5 stars for that book. That explains everything properly and even teaches you the basics in mathematics and physics which was a good brush up for myself. I also like his use of OO programming so that code is resuable and he also goes lightly into using xml for building objects such as levels.

Nice physical effects.......2004-06-07

As a physicist, I immediately turned to the parts that incorporate physics. Like the friction of a billiard ball on a pool table. I grew up on Pong, and the rich texturing here is so amazingly removed from that! The discussions on how to collide two balls may not be fully correct to someone who had to deal with impact parameters in classical and quantum mechanics. But it suffices well in the book's simulations.

Another chapter deals with using gravity, and will be useful to some of you. Takes the mystery out of incorporating at least a simple gravity in your games. Maybe it is nothing profound, but the results are very slick. And achieved with relatively little source code, which is thoroughly explained in the narrative.

Book Description

Flash guru Sham Bhangal brings us the third edition of everybody’s favorite beginner level Flash scripting book: Foundation ActionScript. With the release of Flash MX 2004, scripting in Flash has moved from being a desirable asset to an essential skill in the world of web design and development. ActionScript is, quite simply, the key to real power in Flash. Flash is now both a design tool and a development tool, and ActionScript can easily scare designers. This book is for anyone who has ever looked in awe at a cutting-edge Flash site, then taken a look at some code, and run in the other direction. Learning ActionScript with friends of ED will not turn you into a boring programmer, it will turn you into someone who finally has the power to achieve what they want with their web design, and can liberate their creative urges.

This book will take you from knowing nothing about ActionScript to a firm knowledge that will allow you to exercise a previously unimaginable amount of power over your Flash movies. It does this with fully worked examples throughout, and a case study that will leave you with a cutting-edge Flash site by the end of the book.

Customer Reviews:

Bhangal thinks beginners are what?.......2005-07-07

I am sorry , reading the reviews I thought this would be great , so I bought it.I must say editing is horrible , no online help(wrote 5 mails not even 1 answer),lot of mistake in book.The code style changes often so the beginner is bit lost.Then Bhangal suddenly introduces heavy coding without explaining much often (Math.random()*5) +3 or Math.round()...he didn't explain the parameters of random no. selection in AS.
only thing I can say you need to do this book more than once to get hang of AS if u r really a total beginner like me.
If looking a fast way don't get into it if u r a total beginner

Foundation ActionScript for Macromedia Flash MX 2004.......2005-03-29

Mr. Bhangal's wonderful teaching style and excellent writing make this a truly easy and painless experience.

Explained in plain english how to actually *do something* with action script.

Great examples and analogies really drive the concepts home. I think its a big help that Mr. Bhangal is a designer and can speak to a person on a visual level.

And, I had a question, e-mailed Mr. Bhangal, and he got right back to me.

I am currently reading Foundation Dreamweaver MX 2004 and am also very impressed. The Friends of Ed is a great tool for designers looking to learn multimedia and web software.

Well done for beginners, slow for programmers.......2005-01-30

This book was done well for *not* programmers. I'm a relatively seasoned (6+ yrs) Java & C programmer--I found it incredibly slow.
Bhangal spends a ton of time convincing the reader that things such as "event handling" and "classes" are good. Anyone who has written a GUI for the Mac, Windows, X or Java will find a majority of the content incredibly tedious.
The last chapter on "Advanced Actionscript" starts to touch on the areas I find most valuable--specifically scope, sub-classing, the differences between AS 1.0 & 2.0. But that was really it.
Again, for non-programmers or designers (for whom I'm assuming this was designed) I think this might be a great book. Bhangal goes to great lengths to explain the "why's" of programming concepts. For programmers, I'd suggest Macromedia Press's "Flash MX Professionsl 2004 Application Development" by Jeanette Stallons.

Informative but a bit sloppy.......2004-07-19

Overall I found this book helpful in taking me to the next level of ActionScript. The main project of the book from beginning to end is the building of a website called Futuremedia. This web page makes use of many cool tricks the author takes you through step-by-step with pretty good explanations. To teach the reader how to implement these techniques, several smaller coding projects are used to introduce programming concepts that will be later used in the more complex Futuremedia project. Each chapter has several of these smaller examples which is very fortunate. About halfway through the book, due probably to some sloppy editing, the Futuremedia project gets derailed by missing steps and references to earlier explanations which never made it into the text. Being that I didn't find the Futuremedia project all that interesting, I eventually abandoned working on the book's main project and concentrated on the smaller projects contained in each chapter. These are all complete.
The author's writing style is easy to follow and he tries to explain concepts so non-programmers can grasp them, which is the main reason I stuck with it to the last chapter.
If you are looking to move from the simple coding of buttons, movie clips and basic timeline animation, this book still has some good information to offer.

Informative but a bit sloppy.......2004-07-19

Overall I found this book helpful in taking me to the next level of ActionScript. The main project of the book from beginning to end is the building of a website called Futuremedia. This web page makes use of many cool tricks the author takes you through sep-by-step with pretty good explanations. To teach the reader how to implement these techniques, several smaller coding projects are used to introduce programming concepts that will be used in the more complex Futuremedia project. Each chapter has several of these smaller examples which is very fortunate. About halfway through the book, due probably to some sloppy editing, the Futuremedia project gets derailed by missing steps and references to earlier explanations which never made it into the text. Being that I didn't find the Futuremedia project all that interesting, I eventually abandoned working on the book's main project and concentrated on the smaller projects contained in each chapter. These are all complete.
The author's writing style is easy to follow which is the main reason I stuck with it.
If you are looking to move from simply coding buttons and simple timeline animation, this book still has some good information to offer.

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Development (Game Development Series) (Game Development Series)

Average customer rating:

Probably one of the best Flash books I've read so far.
Teaches you things tutorials simply cannot
An amazing book especially for beginner
Flash games
Not Worth the Price

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Development (Game Development Series) (Game Development Series)
Glen Rhodes
Manufacturer: Charles River Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Design Demystified
Foundation ActionScript Animation: Making Things Move! (Foundation)
Beginning Flash Game Programming For Dummies
Macromedia Flash MX ActionScript for Fun and Games (With CD-ROM)
Advergaming Developer's Guide: Using Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and Macromedia Director MX (Game Development Series)

ASIN: 1584503092

Book Description

Creating games with Macromedia Flash MX 2004 is a rewarding endeavor for aspiring and seasoned programmers alike. With its quick download time, cross-platform deployment, ease of use, and power, Flash is quickly becoming the program of choice for online game development. The use of vector graphics also makes the games scalable for any resolution from full screen to cell phone. Intended for both game and Web developers, Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Development teaches developers how to maximize Flash for the creation of online and standalone games. The entire development process is covered, from design, story and character development, to the physics and motion of a game, audio issues, optimization, and deployment. As you work through the book, you'll create eight fun games as you learn and apply the tools of Flash. After completing these projects, you'll be ready to produce your own high-quality games, and you'll have the skills needed to take on more complex games.

Customer Reviews:

Probably one of the best Flash books I've read so far........2007-07-01

In the early chapters, this book uses a tutorial styled approach with numbered steps. However, discussion and examination of game code is the approach utilized for the rest of the book. As the book states, this is a "look at and learn" approach. Some of the topics discussed include: sound, physics, optimization, and games for mobile devices. The included CD has the usual .fla sources files, trial software, images and other miscellaneous game files.

The book starts with an interesting and quite original history on gaming. Although a short section, I have never heard a history described like this before. The first game, a standard mouse clicker, is introduced in Chapter 3. In general, this book used fun and historically familiar games like block breakers, memory and various scrolling and shooting games. Only the basic foundation of each game was covered. Nevertheless, expanding the games with levels, modes of play or options should not be a problem for most. Chapter 8 on "Saving Data" covered some more useful and new material for me. Sadly, this was the first time learning that Flash uses browser like cookie files (.sol) to save data. When it came to physics, the chapters were straight to the point with what equations to use and what they do with plenty of short examples. There was no Trigonometry overview (sometimes from the beginning) that some books commonly use. While not for everyone, I actually preferred this direct approach to physics and math. Two chapters were dedicated to handling basic 3D using 2D imagery, including the final and most complex game in the book. This game, called "Asteroid Run," brought Flash to its limits while demonstrating a simple 3D shooter. All the code and concepts in the chapters were explained clearly and included plenty of screen shots. Surprisingly, it seemed as if every line of code had at least a sentence or two of related explanation. Many books might just reference a previous page or CD to save space. This book, conversely, would never hesitate to repeat code to make it easier to read and understand.

I only came across a few issues and problems with this book. First, the steps provided for creating the graphics were a bit inconsistent. Early on, they assume very little knowledge (think baby steps). Eventually, however, the graphics increase in difficulty and just become too time consuming to create. Typically, I prefer blank or codeless project files with the graphics already created as is the case with most books. In the chapter for saving data, the path listed for the .sol files was incorrect. It probably varies by system, but on my Windows XP SP2 machine it was in: "C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Macromedia\FlashPlayer\#SharedObjects\KDXDVGHB\localhost\)." Also, the shuffle function for the "Sound Hunter" game in Chapter 7 did not work based on either the printed code or on the CD. Finally, sometimes code snippets, that were supposed to be the same, differed a bit when repeated throughout a chapter (i.e. a function call appearing or disappearing). Ultimately, this is another book where a companion website with an errata sheet would have helped.

Although the difficulty level changed at times, this book is probably fine for beginner to intermediate level users as the back cover states. An overview on ActionScript was actually included as one of the last chapters. Even though placement was questionable, this ActionScript primer was a fairly long and thorough chapter. Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Development did have a few minor problems, but it had far more positives and included a few original topics (at least for me) as well. In the end, though, it turned out to be among the best of the Flash books I have read so far.

Rating: 4.5/5

Teaches you things tutorials simply cannot.......2007-01-06

I originally bought this book because I wanted to get better at actionscript. I, like many, had originally learned basic actionscript from tutorials. But that simply did not do it for me. So after buying this book I can happily say that I am a decent actionscripter. So far I have coded two video games since then, the first one wasnt very good, because most first times arn't, but the second one already has over 1 million views total on various different websites. This book teaches you the code, and how to code it properly. I will say that there are a few typos and errors in the book but I have noticed that in every programming book i've bought so far so no big deal. I think it was clearly worth the money and still use the book to this day.

An amazing book especially for beginner.......2006-12-14

I had never made a game with Flash before and had barely had any experience with Actionscript. But the chapter "Actionscript for Games Primer" helped me learn almost everything that I needed. The3 rest of the code that I needed to make games, I learned from the exapmles of the games. The book does an amazing job of show how to use Actionscript to make fundamental features like jumping, shooting and gravity. I can make my own games with confidence now, and rarely need to refer back to the book, but when I do it is always very helpful. It also has cool things like an ASCII chart which is very helpful. Gken Rhodes is a great author.

Flash games.......2006-12-04

I found this book very useful for me as a new beginner in game programming. Good examples. It teaches you the basics - all you need to start.

Not Worth the Price.......2006-10-19

I am an industry professional and have worked with Flash in varying degrees and versions from Flash 5 on up to Flash 8 Pro for the past 10 years. I inquisitively bought this book with the intention of learning game coding (specifically to learn an intro to 3d coding). While the book does contain an extensive amount of code and examples, the author fails to give satisfactory explanations within each tutorial. For instance, the author uses words such as "frame" in a sense not to suggest the frame on the timeline (as every Flash developer and designer would understand it to be), but rather to describe the line portion of a box one draws on the stage (as in a 'picture' frame). It took me a few moments to realize he meant the frame surrounding the box, and not the timeline. I was hopelessly clicking the frame in the timeline attempting to follow the tutorial. This is but one example of the confusing way the author designed his tutorials. If the tutorials contained detailed graphics of each step, they would also be less confusing. One would see, for example, that the frame of the box was at issue, and not the frame on the timeline. The book does not contain enough graphic materials to support the tutorials for someone who is not very VERY familiar with Flash.

Also, the code examples when followed exactly fail to produce the expected results. For example, the Sound Hunter game included in this book. While it is an interesting twist on the 'old-school' card game of Match, (utilizing sound instead of imagery), the code given does not work properly. The random function 'shuffle' fails to shuffle the boxes around, and instead produces a box which, if clicked twice, disappears without making a match. And the author in no way discusses HOW to apply the sounds bites to each box - the code simply does not suffice. I spent an hour trying to get the sounds to attach to the random boxes without success. If I use the Flash file contained on the CD it works, but if I attempt to create my own file, it fails.

Also, the code is sloppy - not at all the code of a professional (i.e. no documentation). Each tutorial should stress the use of documentation - again, as a professional in the industry, I cannot tell you how important it is to document your code! No one lives forever, and no one stays at one job forever - and only you know what is going on inside your own head. Document! Therefore I can better understand you when I need to make changes to your work 3 months from now....

This book is not worth the price - better to purchase it used and thusly cheap, or to borrow from a friend or the library for free. Better yet, find another book! The Lynda series offers better choices for learning ActionScript.

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