The Fantastic Guide to Flash!

[Eiliosdraye]

Eiliosguides production.


TABLE OF CONTENTS!
What is flash?
Your first animation.
Motion guides!
Your first "game".
Learning Actionscript
Animated backgrounds.
A real game!
Credits


What is flash?
Flash is a program used for making 2d animations and games. It is THE highest form of 2d animation, and THE greatest 2d game maker around. It is also like 700 dollars, but the free trial should be enough to convince you if it is worth it. In my opinion, it is, because of the sheer quality of it. Some TV shows are made with flash. Pawngame is made with flash. Most websites are made with some flash. Is that enough to convince you? No? Well, flash is part of Abode CS3, which is arguably THE greatest computer development package. If that doesn't convince you, get the free trial. You will see why it is so popular.


Your first animation.

After a long download, you will see this.

Okay, to start, see the boxes with the red line going through there? Go to about frame 40 or so, then right click and select insert frame. If you did it right, it will look like this.


Not too shabby, click Modify, then Document, then from there set the background to black. Get the paintbrush, and select the colour that looks like a 3d ball, or a gradient for graphics people, then on frame 1, draw a ball on the top left corner of the screen, on frame 40(or so), right click it, then click "Insert Keyframe". Then, use your black arrow tool and move your gradient ball to the bottom right corner. Now, click and drag a black bar to ONE frame before the dot(keyframe), and right click, and choose "Create Motion Tween". Now view your animation by clicking Control, then Play. Congratulations! You made a simple animation!

Your first "game".

Please try this "game" out. http://flashfilezzzzz.bravehost.com/Dot%20wars.swf
I made it in like 10 minutes.

Now remember, and this is VERY IMPORTANT.
MAKE IT ACTIONSCRIPT 2.0!

To start, make a dot. Then, select it and make it a movie clip. Right click, then click edit.
Now, add frames, and draw a shape tweened animation of an explosion(Shape tweening is EXACTLY like motion tweening, except it uses shape), on frame 2(frame 1 is just the dot) make it super small, frame 2 make it big. Now, on frame one, right click it in the timeline, and click actions. Type

stop();

STOP: If you have NO clue what that is, read my guide to coding in the tech section. It will give you a BASIC idea on how functions work. After that, come back.
If you want, frame 2-whatever make a shape tween of it getting redder, then exploding.
Now, add one of those dots to your game. Right click it, and select "actions". Now, type this in.

on (press) {
	gotoAndPlay(2);

}

Let's break this down for you noviced.
on(press)= When the mouse button is pressed.
{=A value. It tells you when the event is played, do something.
gotoAndPlay(2);=It tells the movie clip to play frame 2 of the movie clip. Without this, the dot WILL not explode. The ; it there to end that one statement.
}=The end of a value. Tells the script NOT to do anything beyond that.


Now, copy and paste those dots everywhere.
Test it out. You have a bunch of exploding dots.
Let's make a title page to make it more interesting, shall we?

Add a new frame to the scene(not movie clip), and put it before the real game.
STOP.

stop();

Put this in frame 1 and 2, otherwise the game WILL not run properly.

Now, in frame 1, draw the title. "Dot wars", then draw a button that says "play". Convert the button to a movie clip. Right click it(More actionscript), and type this in.

on (press) {gotoAndPlay(2);

}

You should understand this by now. After all of this, play your game. It should work perfectly. Congratulations. You have made a "game".

Learning Actionscript.
Let's try making a spaceship game! YAY!

[xThEMazEx]

Dl link?
Google is slow for me for some reason...

[Eiliosdraye]

Thanks for the rating noob
No offense.


I'll skip motion guides cause i'm feeling bored of animation.

[xThEMazEx]

Originally Posted by eiliosdraye

Thanks for the rating noob
No offense.


I'll skip motion guides cause i'm feeling bored of animation.

Did you buy flash, or did you 'not buy' the full version?

[Eiliosdraye]

I'm on free trial right now. I've used it before with like flash 5, but then I realised it was time for an upgrade.