Flash – The Best 2D Videogame Software?
Is Flash The Best 2D Videogame Software?
I recently read a post on a games industry website from a journalist involved in the sector, stating that due to EA Games acquisition of social network game developers Playfish, and the forming of EA2D’s Flash game studio, that Adobe Flash was fast becoming one of the most accessible and popular forms of 2D videogame software and allowed developers to ‘push the boundaries of game innovation more than the current generation of consoles could”. Sure, the graphics won’t be up to par to say, Modern Warfare 2, but the medium is a creative and easily accessed platform for interested and experienced developers alike, and is a great place to start if you’re thinking about forging a career out of game making. Now, getting to the title of the article – is Flash really the best 2D videogame software creation tool available to us at this moment in time? Taking into consideration the need to learn the program’s built in coding system ‘Actionscript’ (which can be used to create simple or amazingly complex game engines with varied amounts of knowledge), I’d have to say personally that it is. It’s easy to grasp and there are a wealth of tutorials available on the web written by both experienced and ‘just learnt that’ users alike. It’s an artistic creation tool and a programming platform built into one, and the pair usually go hand in hand if you’re interested in making your own simple game by yourself.
The fact that you can click on animation and graphics symbols that you create and can apply code to them individually makes it great for starters and as you get more experience, you can employ more advanced techniques and even emulate popular games that can be seen on Xbox 360 Live Arcade. Did you know that Castle Crasher’s animation was created in Flash? It’s a great platform and can reach out to both sides of the fence – programmer or artist.
You can even use the program in your spare time, and it’s a hobbyist’s dream. As the software is vector based, you can resize the images you create without image loss and export them for use in programs such as Adobe Photoshop. So whether you have experience in creating games or the in-game assets in other software, Flash shouldn’t be too hard to grasp, and with future support to convert your Flash applications to iPhone’s native format I can see many developers flocking to the program to create the ‘next big thing’. So to answer your question for creating 2D games, is Flash the best videogame creation software? Besides a few flaws seen in the versions since Adobe’s take over from Macromedia, and the slow running process of said later releases, you really can’t go wrong if you optimize your workspace to how you like it, knuckle under and learn actionscript for a little bit and really get involved. As an introduction to newcomers and experience game and application creators alike, it’s really a great place to start. Hope to see your 2D videogames around!
(7 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5)
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Agree mostly! But …
“making your own simple game by yourself.”
Why do many people think you can only make simple games with Flash? 8bit and 16bit home computers featured some very complex and intricate games and Flash is much more powerful then these now. I don’t see why someone couldn’t make for example a medium-complex RPG or Strategy game in Flash!
“As the software is vector based, you can resize the images…”
Vector graphics are Ok as long as they are drawn extremely well. but how many Flash games have you come across that look downright cheap thanks to the vector graphics it used? People seem to forget that bitmap graphics often look a lot better, particularly for 2D games.
One reason why Flash suffers the ‘only simple games’ reputation is because it has been used mainly to create simple and cheap games for advertising purposes by companies that otherwise have nothing to do with games. But, luckily, recently Flash is catching up and gets it’s foot somewhat more into the professional game dev domain.
Well first of all I’m not suggesting that simple games are the ONLY thing that can be made in Flash. I’m just stating that as an introductory learning curve to aspiring game designers, it eases you very well.
In regards to your suggestion that “vector graphics are ok as long as they’re drawn well”…this of course applies to everything, including bitmap graphics which you suggest look a lot better. A game with amatuer vector graphics will look alot better than a game with poor spriting.
I’m aware of the capabilities of Flash and have recently seen some very impressive 3D work, including a fully funtioning FPS and a 3D RPG, all looking like disc based PC games and I hope with this article it could clear up some of the introductory points needed for anyone looking to get into games design and help them make a more educated decision about the software they’d like to start with.
Thanks for posting!
~Chaz