Posts Tagged ‘game design’
Flash games have became increasingly commonplace in recent years but despite this, the creators of them seem fairly resistant to any real form of change. This is evidenced by virtue of the fact that they are continuing in producing the same tired material with no thought of expansion. A part of this can be explained by the fact that Flash games and the creation of them is a difficult process.
One of the major hurdles to cross in relation to the creation of Flash games is that you need to be proficient at Flash coding, in addition to a multitude of other skills. For example, the Flash game developer will need to cultivate their proficiency and experience with the creation of graphics as well as the development of audio. The following is a breakdown of the cycle that a Flash coder should adopt for the creation of a game.
In short, games are very demanding items and they require a significant amount of hard work and commitment to ensure that they are successfully fulfilled. Not only is there the skeleton of the program (which is the code itself) but there is also the multimedia as well, such as the graphics, the sound files.
Given that there are so many different components firmly in play this means that if you move headfirst into the coding stage you will not only make poor progress, but end up with a very mediocre result for your efforts. I will always begin my game creation with a brainstorming exercise to list and identify the things to cover. It is only by listing all of these assets and items that I will be in a stronger position to actually make progress.
Once you have successfully developed the draft version the next logical step in the chain is to actually make a dummy version of the Flash game. This stage will identify the best ways to write code which will render the game functional and which will also pinpoint particular areas needed for improvement. Please note that I DO include holder graphics at this particular stage (if only for completion more than anything else) although on the other hand I will keep audio out unless it is critical.
Once I have completed the mock-up stage and I am satisfied with it I will then proceed to try and introduce the graphics and the audio to the program. The design stage is very important indeed for it will directly impact upon how the graphics and audio will “fit in” during this stage. I often get the artist to work on the graphics and audio during the mock-up stage to save on time. When ready, I then integrate their work with my own and when satisfied I make sure the entire product is tested once again.
I only start to add the fancy extras if I am totally satisfied that the remainder of the course has been duly finished. All the little extras which are attractive to the user are great for winning them over, but include them too early on in the process and you will make more work for yourself.
As can hopefully be seen, even a very basic Flash game can be a fairly demanding task to achieve. Therefore, careful and strategic planning is essential in all instances in order to keep the workload to an acceptable median. Break down the work into manageable chunks and you will be able to make more progress quicker. Delegate when and where necessary!
Please note: if you have never actually made a game entirely by yourself then the best thing maybe for you to simply focus purely upon modifying existing code to achieve a desired result because this will provide you with a much needed boost in experience.
Writing Flash games can be highly rewarding both to your ego, sense of achievement as well as to your wallet. However, a common mistake committed by aspiring coders is that they try to run before they crawl and so they set their goals too high.
Find thousands of great Flash arcade games at Arcade Plazza, or download Flash Games Source Code at Viral Flash Games.
Over the past few years casual gaming hsa taken the Internet by storm. Browser games, an in particular Flash games are now more popular than ever, and with that increase in popularity comes an increase in demand. If you’re a Flash designer or developer, here are 7 ways in which you can cash in on this growth in the market.
Developing games for clients might be the most obvious way of earning money as a developer, but it’s surprising how few companies offer the service. I’ve been developing games for over 8 years now, and I’m constantly asked to work on new projects. There are lots of companies out there ready and waiting to pay you money to design and develop games for their marketing campaigns.
If meeting client deadlines isn’t your style, and you would prefer more creative freedom, then sponsorship deals might suit you better. This allows you to develop a game in your own style and at your own pace, and allowing a sponsor to embed branding and links into your game before it is published. This is often a win-win situation as the sponsor will market your game getting you extra exposure.
The next optin is to monetise your games yourself. These days several advertising networks offer the ability to embed adverts directly into your games, earning you money every time they are played. The networks usually have publishers who will distribute your games for a share of the revenue making it easy to get your game noticed.
You can also monetise your games by simply hosting them yourself, and displaying adverts on the same page. Banner adverts, Adsense blocks or affiliate promotions are all viable ways of monetising the traffic that a good Flash game will generate.
Recently several companies have introduced micro-payments and in-game currency. This allows players to buy upgrades and items, and is a new and fast growing way to monetise games. While this method is still in its infancy, I predict we’ll be seeing more and more of this in the near future.
Finally, and perhaps most obviously, a good Flash game can be ported to a more commercial platform. You can offer a downloadable version for a few dollars, an iPhone version on Apple’s App store, or you could even port to a console platform such as Xbox live. In fact, once you’ve learned the skills of a Flash games developer, the doors to the games industry are wide open to you!
So what are you waiting for? There’s no doubt that developing browser games can be very profitable, and there are some great opportunities right now to enter the industry during its growth phase. If you haven’t done so already, start working through some tutorials, pick apart some existing game source code, and learn to become a successful games developer.
Find Actionscript game tutorials, articles, book reviews, game source code and more at FlashGamesClassroom.com or download Flash game source code to learn from, modify, edit, rebrand and create brand new games at ViralFlashGames.com