ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University

 

Gary Rosenzweig's ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University shows you how  to use ActionScript, the programming language behind Flash CS3 Professional. The lessons teach you all the basics of ActionScript programming through game examples, but the code can be easily adapted to non-game-oriented projects, such as web training and advertising. Written by a real-world Flash developer, this book presents you with the source code of 16 complete games and lays the foundation for you to create your own games. Gary also provides a companion website - flashgameu.com,  which contains files, updates, new content, Gary's blog and much more.     

User review
Overwhelming and far to fast-paced.
Sadly, this book was a disappointment. I am new to ActionScript, and was assured in the first chapter of the book that it would not be a problem, but it was. I do have experience with Object Oriented programming, and in those respects, it was easy to understand, and that is not the problem.

The problem with the book is the pace of delivery. I was QUICKLY overwhelmed (couldn't make it all the way through chapter two) with the book, and gave up before I could get very far. Inconsistencies with explanations, lack of explanations, overall poor delivery. Case in point can be found when describing how to hard-code curved lines. There was no explanation of what parameters the function took (all that was mentioned was `It took me a while to get this right`). Yet right after throwing that at me, I learned (thoroughly) how to hard-code squares and squares with rounded corners (thoroughly, and well done). Another example would be with event handlers. I thought I had it down upon the initial explanation, but quickly found myself far overwhelmed with so many event:* occurrences that went un-explained, and I'd never seen before. It seemed that as soon as I finally learned how to x, I'd get y and z shoved in my face and I'd have to spend another hour trying to grasp how to use y and z.

I read in a comment posted by Gary on this book that he prefers to go through piece by piece and explain everything, unfortunately I don't see it. What I did see was ten or so lines of code, but only a third of these ever got explained. He would cover the main points, but I don't ever recall reading how or why he would use the rest. It grew tiring trying to spend an hour flipping back in the pages to try and see if he ever did explain the parts he breezed through, only to never find a solid explanation.

Overall, if you have a solid grasp of ActionScript, this shouldn't be a hard book to get into, but if you are looking to start developing with ActionScript, this book is not for you, many parts will leave you sitting there questioning how he came upon what he did, and you'll find yourself playing the matching game of trying to see if you stand a chance at having your source code even similar in layout to the FLA files provided, without looking at it first.

User review
The Book
This book taught me not only how to build games using ActionScript 3.0 but how to build games (deal with collisions, animations,,,,) The very best thing about it is that you learn ActionScript making games.
I had some prior experience coding in C an C++.
Really recommended it.

User review
A `must` for all but expert Flash game programmers
This isn't the most fancily produced book on AS3 game programming, but I'm glad I wasn't put off the cheesy-looking cover. It's easily the best of its kind. Gary keeps the theoretical side of programming to a minimum. While he says that you should have at least some programming background to understand it, I would guess that the average non-programmer would find the book readable and useful. It is very easy to take his files and build your games out of his examples just by creating your own graphics and substituting them for the ones the author uses. Then you might want to move on to changing a few parameters and variables, and finally you'll end up with an original game of your own. Meantime you'll develop a good grasp of how to use AS3 in a fairly complex application.

This is not a primer on AS3 Object-Oriented Programming, nor is it an introduction to the latest versions of Flash. (It is applicable to both Flash CS3 and CS4.) There are many other books that tackle those areas, and if you're looking at this one you probably already have some of those on your bookshelf. But if you know some Flash, and have worked with even a little bit of ActionScript (any version), you'll find this a thorough, friendly manual on how Flash games are assembled.

User review
AS3 Beginner - `I did this!` - but did I understand what I was doing?
I picked up this book because I had a project to do and I got it into my head that I was going to design a game -- not knowing Flash or Actionscript 3 at all (had some rudimentary Java.) I had started with Colin Moock's Essential ActionScript 3.0 (Essential) but found it too theoretical, too abstract.

Gary gives you examples (great way to learn) and when you get it working -- you get the `look mom! I did this!` feeling (it helps to enter the scripts yourself rather than using his downloadable code.) Modifying the scripts to customize it is a bit more challenging -- Gary doesn't always explain his design assumptions. And as another reviewer pointed out -- it's not the best example of Object Oriented Programming.

But by sharing his games, he gives you great ideas. I then picked up Russell Chun's Flash CS4 Professional Advanced for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide which does smaller interactions and explains the thinking behind the code better.

Gary's book made me feel I could it, Russell's book made me understand what I was doing *and* also made me feel like I could do it. I still recommend FlashU book for ideas and approaches to games -- plus he has a great website and discussion boards that are not intimidating. You can also download code examples.

Good examples, not the greatest explanations. Worth it.

User review
Potential Textbook
If I ever have a chance to teach a games course as a computer science elective, I would very much like to use this as a textbook. It is much better than the flash textbooks we use. It is perfect for the object oriented programming classes we have at my school.