Activetuts+

Weekend Lecture: Juice It or Lose It

Michael James Williams — Sun, 27 May 2012 16:45:23 +0000

Got 15 minutes to spare? Watch Martin Jonasson and Petri Purho explain how to use the concept of “juiciness” to turn a boring old Breakout clone into something way more exciting. Watch the Video Martin Jonasson runs Grapefrukt, where he posts a selection of his games, webbfarbror, where you can contact him to do work [...]

FlashPunk UI Components: Advanced Graphics, Extra Skins, and Polish

Abel Toy — Sat, 26 May 2012 06:00:37 +0000

In this tutorial we’ll finish what we started in the first part of this UI with FlashPunk mini-series. We’ll learn how to customize the graphics of our components, and make a few adjustments to make our UI perfect. Final Result Preview Let’s take a look at the final result we will be working towards: Make [...]

Create a Facebook Graph API App in Flash: Setup and Design – Tuts+ Premium

Sebastian Bratu — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:30:03 +0000

In this new mini-series of Premium tutorials, you’ll learn how to use Flash to build a Facebook Graph API application that can create slideshows for your public pages. This first part covers getting set up with the Facebook AS3 SDK, loading API info into Flash with JSON, and designing the app with Flash Professional. Premium [...]

Workshop: Google Calendar – Critique

Ashish Bogawat — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:00:02 +0000

In this week’s critique, Ashish Bogawat gives us a detailed rundown of Google Calendar – specifically, its web-based front end. Introduction When it comes to web based calendar apps, pretty much the only name worth mentioning is Google Calendar. A number of contenders have taken a swipe at this category of apps over the years, [...]

The Math and ActionScript of Curves: Drawing Quadratic and Cubic Curves

Kah Shiu Chong — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:30:40 +0000

We see lines used in a lot of scenarios. Curves are also used, although perhaps not as frequently – but that doesn’t undermine their importance! In this tutorial we shall take a closer look at curves, particularly the quadratic and cubic curve, along with some of their commonly used mathematical features. Final Result Preview Let’s [...]

Weekend Lecture: Understanding Games, a Flash Game About Game Design

Michael James Williams — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:30:04 +0000

Interested in game design? This weekend, we feature a set of four interactive lectures: games that are about game design, by Pixelate. Play the Games Bub and Bob, two little 8-bit guys, will talk you through the basic concepts of video games. The games themselves are more like interactive tutorials, with smaller games interspersed throughout [...]

Workshop Coding Challenge: Fix This Breakout Game

Michael James Williams — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:00:42 +0000

It can be tricky to sit down and practise new coding techniques, so here’s a fun exercise to encourage you to play with collision detection and reaction, as covered by Kah Shiu. Update: I’ve added an HTML5 version to go alongside the existing Flash version – enjoy! The Challenge This breakout game is broken! Flash [...]

Enable the Latest AIR SDK in Flash Professional CS5.5+

Daniel Albu — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:00:50 +0000

New versions of the Adobe AIR SDK are often released between Flash Professional release cycles, using this tutorial, you’ll be able to always use the latest Adobe AIR version in your IDE. This will allow you to enable Stage3D development within Flash Professional for both AIR and SWF projects. Flash Professional CS5.5 Guide (Flash Pro [...]

Quick Tip: Versioning Your Files With Dropbox (via Webdesigntuts+)

Michael James Williams — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:00:19 +0000

Ian Yates of Webdesigntuts+ has posted a great Quick Tip explaining how you can use Dropbox or Google Drive as a simple, automated version control system. It’s worth checking out for web app and game developers too, so check it out below. Introduction Having a version history of your graphics documents may save you from [...]

Workshop: Nuclear Outrun – Critique

Porter — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:30:01 +0000

This week, Matt Porter critiques another recently released game: Nuclear Outrun, developed by Nerdook Productions. Play the Game Click to play Nuclear Outrun on Kongregate Overview With 2012 moving along, it’s no surprise that we’re starting to see more and more “end of the world”-themed games. Nuclear Outrun is one such game, and while it’s [...]