AdvancED Game Design with Flash

Creating games in Flash is a never-ending journey of exploration, learning, and most of all, fun. Once you’ve mastered the basics, a new world is opened up to you, enabling you to take your existing skills to the next level and discover new skills that will in turn open new doors. This book is a direct continuation of Foundation Game Design with Flash, and is a complete point-by-point roundup of the most important skills a Flash game designer needs to know. You’ll increase your ActionScript knowledge and your game design skills while creating some excellent example games. You’ll learn advanced collision detection skills; professional AI and pathfinding; and how to load and save game data, create destructible environments, and build and switch game levels. 

• Each chapter highlights a new advanced technique illustrated by practical examples.
• Examples of games are given in a variety of genres, all of which take an object-oriented programming approach.
• Advanced game design topics are covered, including vector-based collision reaction, pathfinding, billiard ball physics, and modeling game data.

What you’ll learn

• How to use vectors to figure out where objects are going and how they should react to collisions
• Pixel-perfect collision detection for irregular shapes using hitTest and bitmapData
• How to use design patterns and abstract data models to manage complex games efficiently
• How to create advanced enemy artificial intelligence systems using pathfinding strategies in grid-based environments
• How to use XML to load and save game data
• How to use sound and music in games and create particle effects using blitting. 

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced Flash and ActionScript 3.0 developers who want to take their game design skills to a professional level. Readers should have a solid background in object-oriented ActionScript 3.0 programming, and may have attempted game projects of their own. If you have read Foundation Game Design with Flash, then this book will be a natural next step for you. The book covers game design strategies and techniques common to many game design platforms—not just Flash—and will help you create top-quality games that are quick to build and easy to maintain.

Table of Contents

1. Modeling Game Data
2. Vectors: Ghosts in the Machine
3. Collisions Between Circles
4. Collisions Between Polygons
5. Pixel-Perfect Collision and Destructible Environments
6. Explosions, Blitting, and Optimization
7. Make It Fun! Sound, Music, and AI
8. Tile-Based Game Design
9. Pathfinding
10. XML and External Data