Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Design > Adobe Creative Suite

Like this article? We recommend

Breaking the Barriers with Flash

The main focus for any game is rich game play. Game players are now too comfortable with games developed for Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation 2, and Nintendo's GameCube. Games such a Pong (shown in Figure 3) just don't cut it.

Figure 3 Figure 3 A basic version of Pong allows you to bounce a ball around the screen.


Flash MX brings developers the tools they need to build games for online audiences. To successfully achieve this, Flash needs to support the following:

  • Rich, engaging graphics

  • Files that can be easily and smoothly downloaded over the Internet

  • A playback device that can interpret the download movies

Vector Graphics

The first, and arguably most important, asset any games program must have is the capability to deliver rich and compelling graphics. Players want and expect to be transported to worlds such as those played in Myst, EverQuest, and Halo. These worlds are, for want of any other word, gorgeous.

From the first version back in 1996, Flash was developed to deliver broadcast-quality graphics over slow Internet connections. Flash allows for a huge number of graphic formats to be imported directly into it. Designers working in Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, or Fireworks can keep working with the tools they are comfortable with, knowing that their work will be usable in Flash.

However, Flash does have a favorite format. The core foundation of Flash's graphics engine is vector based. Vector graphics differ from the traditional graphics found on the Internet. When you arrive at a Web site and view an ad banner, you are interacting with either GIF or JPEG graphics. These two file formats were the first to be used extensively on the Internet. They are raster graphics, images built up pixel by pixel. Vector graphics are created mathematically.

The quality of the graphics created within Flash has prompted many cable and television studios to create their broadcast animations using Flash. This is a strong statement about the quality that you can expect with Flash graphics; Flash truly delivers broadcast-quality images over the Internet.

Small File Size

Inherently, the Internet is slow. Flash MX addresses this with compressed movies that can be easily slowed down through dial-up connections (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 Figure 4 The collision detection used in this games utilizes very little ActionScript—the final file is only 10Kb.


Typically, a game consists of a number of components: the core Flash movie, sound clips, video clips, code, additional Flash movies, and graphics. Packaging all of these components into a single file makes for a large movie. A way around this problem in Flash 3–5 was to build a lot of Flash movies with chunks of the game embedded. These additional Flash movies then could be programmatically imported directly into the main Flash movie. The concept was good but not very efficient.

Flash MX allows you to chunk out not only the main movies, but also the different media types for your game. This means that each file can be downloaded on demand. The end result is a more efficient game designed for an online community.

The types of files that can be downloaded on demand within your Flash movies are as follows:

  • Sound—MP3, AU, and AUF audio files can now be loaded into a Flash movie through ActionScript.

  • Video—Video, such as Shock Video and DAT video, can also be loaded directly into Flash.

  • JPEG graphics—Arguably the most important improvement to the Flash Player (the tool that does all of the loading and unloading of files on the client's computer) is the capability to pull in JPEG graphics. Unless you have been using Generator, a server tool that creates dynamic Flash movies from database content, you previously had no way of dynamically linking JPEG graphics into a Flash movie.

  • Code—You can break up your code so that you can reused it repeatedly as files that can be downloaded off your Web site. This makes it easier to work with code (see Figure 5).

Figure 5 Figure 5 These are just some of the files you will use to construct a Web site.


Small Plug-In

Compact graphics, movies, and components are all great, but they would all fall on their knees if the playback device could not play all this great material. The Flash Player is the guts that does all of the donkey work for the client. It is often referred to as a plug-in, a device that extends the performance of the users' Web browser.

The success of the Flash Player goes completely down to the player's small file size. If your users are running Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the Flash Player can be downloaded and installed for less than 500Kb; Netscape Navigator users have only a 750Kb file to download. Typically this takes less than a minute to download over a standard dial-up connection, and it is almost instantaneous for faster connections.

The staggering speed at which the Flash 5 Player has penetrated Web users is an example of how effortless it is to download and install. More than 414 million people today have the Flash Player installed. Remarkably, it went from 0 installs to more than 200 million installs within 6 months of Flash 5 being released. The Flash 6 Player did the same results in three months. This means that more than 98% of all Internet users can access the games you create. If they are using Netscape Navigator 2–6 or Internet Explorer 2–6, they will be able to view your content (see Figure 6).

Figure 6 Figure 6 Shockwave.com is a great place to find out about new online Flash and Shockwave games.


The Flash Player also is not just for PC users. In England, nearly 50% of the country was projected to be accessing the Web through digital TV systems by the end of 2002 (Forrester Research). Each of these systems is Web-enabled with, you guessed it, a Flash Player.

PDAs, the side companions of executives everywhere, now also support the Flash Player. Several versions of Windows PocketPC have the Flash Player embedded as a standard feature. The list of potentials seems to go on and on.

Flash games can be developed for Web sites, interactive TV, and handheld devices—no need to learn multiple languages.

Consistent User Interface

Being comfortable with the tools you use is paramount to the success of any project. This is largely why Macromedia has a consistent user interface among all of its products. Online games are developed not only in Flash; you will need to move among a series of tools, such as Freehand, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks, to execute the complete online solution. The types of tools you will use fall into the three main areas of game development:

  • Game design
  • Game development
  • Game hosting

Game design

Creating the graphics for a game is often the first step. Both Fireworks and Freehand are tools that you can use for this. Fireworks is a graphics program that focuses on the development of GIF, JPEG, and PNG graphics. Freehand focuses on the design of vector graphics. The interface is similar in both products. Some of the differences center on specific panels. For instance, Fireworks has an additional panel named Behaviors that enables designers to add JavaScript effects to the image. Overall, however, it is easy to move from one tool to the other (see Figure 7).

Figure 7 Figure 7 The construction of the jigsaw game.


Game Development

Most of the game development you will be doing will take place in Flash. This is because Flash has the tools that enable you to import graphics created with Freehand and Fireworks and then place them into a movie.

Flash movies themselves can also be imported directly into Director, which in many ways is a parent tool to Flash. What Flash cannot do, Director generally can. There is a price to this, however: Director files tend to be much large than Flash movies, the Shockwave Player (the device used to play back Director movies) plays on only a limited number of platforms, and the player itself is much larger to download. With this said, Director can be leveraged to build impressive interactive presentations (see Figure 8).

Figure 8 Figure 8 Director uses a cast instead of a library to manage assets in a game.


Game Hosting

The final stage in the development of a game is hosting. With a CD-ROM or console game, the game is run from the system. With Flash-enabled games, your system is a Web server.

Dreamweaver MX is the definitive tool you will need to create the Web pages that will host your games. Again, as with Freehand and Fireworks, you will see that the interface is similar to Flash (see Figure 9)—panels and tools cross over. Here, the focus of the product is to build Web sites.

Figure 9 Figure 9 Here you can see Dreamweaver being used to edit ActionScript.


Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020