I'm looking for a free AS3 particle engine that can render effects such as smoke, fire, water ripples, waterfalls and more. I need something robust like Partigen 2.5, only available without licensing.
So far I've found:
Flint Particle System
Stardust Particle Engine
Any other recommendations?
I've made great use of www.flintparticles.org/ in the past. Its really flexible, easy to use, and has a lot of nice features built in.
#OP - the engine you linked (Partigen) looks quite nice. But, with some "massaging" Flint can do just about everything there.
Was it so hard to google it? http://flintparticles.org/examples
Related
Is there anywhere a GOOD tutorial page where I can learn ActionScript 3 ? Or can you help me out ?
I don't use a GRAPHICAL DESIGNER and I don't want to. All I need is code.
For example: things I need to learn quick:
Buttons and TextFields (basic form stuff)
Drawing canvas (like the html5 canvas)
Using FlashDevelop + Flash SDK, no plugins, no nothing. I just got it to work (compile, build and start a blank piece of nothing) and now I need to see what I can do with the ActionScript code.
Solved: Thanks to Dannyw the 2 items above could be solved directly (with minor additions)!
Julian's answer is very helpful too. Since I also wanted to browse through all standard classes in Flash:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/index.html
I have some tips for you to become a great flashdeveloper:
Drop everything you know, start fresh. You have strange assumptions of how the workflow should be. If you want to become professional, you should be open for other workflows.
If your coming from actionscript 2, Dont think as2 is like as3, so don't try to do the AS2 thing with AS3. Again, drop everything you know.
Read & Learn the Adobe LiveDocs
Learn how the display list works.
Learn AS3 coding standards, learn to write clean readable code, later try to learn design patterns.
Learn how to use common actionscript libraries, TweenLite, Gaia framework, RobotLegs, Temple Library, Pure MVC, Away3D, as3corelib etc.
Dont try to reinvent the wheel, dont create your own framework, because you think there is none like yours, most starters step into that trap.
Code never inside the Flash IDE actionspanel, there are really nice actionscript editors like FlashDevelop, FDT, FlashBuilder, IntelliJ. But dont lose yourself in code, there is a lot visual stuff that can faster be build using the Flash IDE, so find a nice workflow, instead of limiting yourself.
if you like video tutorials; videos on gotoAndLearn.com, most have common practices.
If you like to learn from opensource projects: find as3 projects on github.com or wonderfl, check out how they did it.
if you like to read blogs: feeds.adobe.com is full of nice relavant blogs. Learn from the best.
Last but not least: there is no ultimate guide to become a flashdevelop-code-only-flash-developer. Like sport, you have to train and just experiment right away. So be open, use google alot, try to challenge yourself with excercises and fun experiments.
For buttons:
http://www.how-to-code.com/as3-actionscript3/as3-buttons/as3-button.html
For Textfields:
http://www.republicofcode.com/tutorials/flash/as3text/
For Drawing:
http://www.republicofcode.com/tutorials/flash/as3drawvectors/
I learnt actionscript the same way you intend to, just by reading tutorials on the internet and picking bits up as I went along. I eventually bought myself a big old actionscript bible too (Essential Actionscript 3.0 by Colin Moock), but can safely say that the internet was my most valuable resource!
Have fun with the tutorials :)
Use this:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/index.html
BTW, You should almostly declare this website as holy when programming in AS3.
Using adobe flash or macromedia is recommended, follow these tutorials I learnt everything about flash from this website.
http://www.lynda.com/Flash-CS5-tutorials/flash-professional-cs5-essential-training/59964-2.html
I've got a good amount of experience with 2D rendering on <canvas>, however there is a project coming up where I need to have a 3D object rotating left along its centre (I believe z-axis). Luckily this is all I need to achieve. The page will run on iPads at an upcoming event.
I'm not experienced with any 3D software/libraries aside from minimal playing around with Papervision 3D in Flash.
I can pick things up pretty easily, so:
Are there any frameworks I can use to take care of the initial stuff?
Are there any open-source projects that include the code to do the above? If not, tutorials to do it are fine.
How do I create the 3D object? Is this the same as a BitmapMaterial in Papervision?
Threejs can be a good library to start with too.
Their "getting started" article is awesome.
There's a GLGE, for example.
GLGE is a javascript library intended to ease the use of WebGL; which is basically a native browser javascript API giving direct access to openGL ES2, allowing for the use of hardware accelerated 2D/3D applications without having to download any plugins.
The aim of GLGE is to mask the involved nature of WebGL from the web developer, who can then spend his/her time creating richer content for the web.
Three.js is pretty awesome, just wanted to point you to this github repo as well
http://lamberta.github.com/html5-animation/ check out the examples in part 4.
Billy Lamberta authored Foundation HTML5 Animation with JavaScript, which is a great book teaching you the math/etc. behind doing things like this if you are interesting in getting a little deeper understanding.
I am entirely new to learning programming, and my father recommended this site to me. I wanted to learn Actionscript 3.0 to possibly make my own flash game. There is alot of things I need help on because I am completely clueless. What kind of things should I download, do I have to pay for any of this?(I don't have money to spend, sadly.) Where can I find some good tutorials? Do I need any kind of client to play around with actionscript 3.0 and learn the language? Sorry if some of these questions don't really make sense, like I said, entirely new to the programming world, but I really want to make my own MMORPG,(completely unrealistic dream), and I want to start small, try making money off flash games, get some programming experience, any help anyone can provide would be great. All I ask is please do not tell me how unrealistic my dream of making an MMORPG is, just mentioned it to give a little insight as to why I wanted to learn programming. I know it's crazy, but that's why it's a dream, a goal I'm hoping to achieve one day.
I highly recommend downloading Flash Develop (requires windows) for development, its a free, and also IMO the best, AS3 editor. It'll get you up and running. If you are on a mac you might want to start with free trials of the Adobe code editors.
For resources & tutorials, the web is full of free stuff to get you started. A couple are 8bitrocket & gamedev.stackexchange The first thing to do is just pick a simple game (perhaps a true/false trivia game) And just build it. For getting started with general AS3 programming look here for a variety of docs & tutorials.
Good luck, and have fun!
Flex is a free product made by Adobe itself, and uses ActionScript 3.
Here's a link to a game dev site with tutorials on how to make a game for free using flex:
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/92205-making-flash-games-for-the-non-flash-developer-part-i/
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/92293-making-flash-games-for-the-non-flash-developer-part-ii/
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/92746-making-flash-games-for-the-non-flash-developer-part-iii/
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/92893-making-flash-games-for-the-non-flash-developer-part-iv/
If you read through the link article carefully, you can use eclipse (free) with a flex plugin, instead of having to use the flex builder.
I want to develop a game. It would draw a stick man, and edit his pose.
I think what I need to learn are bones animation and physical engine.
Anyone can introduce good resources to learn both?
edit1:
My question may be ambiguous because of the bone tool of the Flash Professional.
What I mean is a as3 framework which add a skeleton to a game character.
Might be of help:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-flash-professional-cs5/using-spring-properties-with-ik-bones
A long time ago (Netscape 4-era), I wrote Javascript-based games: Pong, Minesweeper, and John Conway's Life among them. I'm getting back into it, and want to get my hands even dirtier.
I have a few games in mind:
Axis & Allies clone, with rugged maps and complex rules.
Tetris clone, possibly with real-time player-vs-player or player-vs-computer mode
Breakout clone, with a couple weapons and particle velocities
In all of these, I have only a few objectives:
Use JavaScript and HTML 5 - it should run on Chrome, Safari, or maybe an iPad.
Start small and simple, then build-up features.
Learn something new about game design and implementation.
So my questions are:
How would you implement these games?
Do you have any technology recommendations?
If you've written these games, what was the hardest part?
N.B.
I also want to start from first-principles - if you recommend a framework/library, I would appreciate some theory or implementation details behind it. These games are different enough that I should learn something new from each one.
Depends how much you want to start from scratch. To answer your direct questions:
1) How would you implement these games?
A: JavaScript + Canvas. Canvas is the 2D drawing surface from HTML5. Performance is pretty good on desktop machines, not so great on iOS and Android devices (as of the date of this post). If mobile is your utmost concern, you need to use the DOM and CSS3 3D transforms which trigger the GPU on those devices.
2) Do you have any technology recommendations?
A: This is sort of answered by the first question. JavaScript is a must, but I would ignore jQuery. You are targeting HTML5 devices, so no need to compensate for legacy browsers. As you are probably using Canvas, no need to smooth over the DOM interaction, either. There are some higher level libraries which make interacting with Canvas easier, such as Easel.js. WebSockets are useful for bi-directional streaming communication. And Box2D is useful for a physics engine. Local Storage is simple key/value string data for things like level progress, but for anything complex, you'll want WebSQL DB. For large binary assets you'll want to look at the File System API. Finally, don't be afraid of WebGL, as it is extremely fast and useful for 2D games.
3) What is the hardest part?
A: Almost certainly the hardest part is the debugging. WebKit's Developer Tools can make this easier, so don't leave home without them.
Put simply use Canvas for moving lots of stuff around the screen and SVG for prettier, slower, vector graphics.
One of the first things you should do is write a speed test program to see what can be done with Canvas and then play with it.
I wrote a blog post about Canvas & writing HTML5 games
edit 2019-02: processing.js is old and not well supported. Instead, try p5.js, which is equivalent and up to date.
Don't forget processing.js, which is a pretty well tested full-stack graphics and interactivity javascript framework, which has substantial (if not comprehensive) support for most I/O, sounds, graphics, and even WebGL. If you write vanilla Processing code, which is basically Java syntax compiled to JavaScript, you can use many open-source debuggers out there, including the native Processing environment. Other than that, you can integrate any other JavaScript code you have a mind to include.
Here is a guide for the JavaScript developer, explaining much of what you might want to know.
Check it out. Good stuff.
The hardest part, for me, was that there were no tools to help make the graphics, as there is no Maya export to canvas, for example, so, everything is done manually, with primitives, unless you want to take bitmaps that you will modify as though they are sprites.
At the time there was no real support for text in canvas, so my solution didn't work using excanvas, but worked fine on Safari and Firefox.
So, you may want to look at what HTML5 features you want to support, such as a built-in database, and then decide which browsers you are willing to work on.
How to implement these will largely depend on how you want to create the graphics, and if you want to do 3D graphics, as then the bitmapped sprites would not work.
Tom here from Scirra (Construct 2 game maker). We make an HTML5 games engine called Construct 2, it exports purely to HTML5 no Flash in sight!
Construct 2 uses an event based system to add logic to your games and does tons of the repetitive/difficult legwork for you. For example adding polygon collision to objects without some visual editor is a difficult task to undertake sometimes.
Anyway we think it's worth a look and you can get results very quickly from it as well. It's an alternative to coding the entire game you might want to take into consideration when developing HTML5 games.
Take a look at ChromeExperiments The examples are from around the world using the latest open standards, including HTML5, Canvas, SVG, and javascript.
Maybe this is not what you wanted to hear, but have you thought of starting with a good book?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=html5%20game
A good book will save you a lot of time, and start you off right at the basics.
A good question when I also started to learn HTML5 I also came across this question, finally after lot of research I found best way to do is by using some engine or framework. I learned canvas and made my own game but that took hours of logic and 100+ lines of code.
Better go with scirra, it might reduce your work.
I'm currently working on a series of blog posts explaining how to build a Javascript game using EaselJS and Box2D for physics. Here's Part 1.