Macromedia director game development

Now You Can Use Director® to Build Awesome Multimedia Games!

Just take a look through this book and you'll instantly realize this is NOT your typical Director guide! This is far more than a basic rewrite of the user's manual.Macromedia Director Game Development: From Concept to Creation is comprised of 15 exciting examples of Director in action. From the artists, animators, and programmers at the epic software group, you'll learn how to create multimedia games from the conceptual stage through development and release. You will begin with a quick introduction on game design and Director basics. Then, buckle your seatbelts and learn the secrets of Lingo^TM programming for each of the 15 arcade-style games included in the book. Every chapter illustrates a different aspect of Director game development and includes all source code and graphics. A multimedia CD-ROM is included so you can enjoy playing the games and then incorporate the code into your own creations.

Learn How To:

• Manipulate graphics and sounds through Lingo
• Use film loops to create custom animations
• Create a Shockwave paint utility
• Apply realistic physics to your games
• Export Web content and digital video

What's on the CD:

• Trial Version of Macromedia Director
• 3D Animated Interface
• Archive of 15 complete Shockwave® games
• Fully commented source code for each game
• Collection of useful Web resources

Table of Contents

Introduction
A Different Approach
History of Macromedia Director
Advantages of Using Director
Overview of the Chapters
Using the CD-ROM
Getting Started

Chapter 1: Designing Games
Approaching Game Development
Focusing Your Game
Developing a Story Line and Characters
Designing the Interface
Formulating Good Gameplay
Developing the Logic
Writing the Code
Checking for Errors
Preparing Your Game for Distribution

Chapter 2: Using Director
Using the Stage Window
Using the Property Inspector Window
Using the Score Window
Creating Bitmap and Vector Graphics

Chapter 3: Scramble: Manipulating Graphical Sprites
Approaching the Scramble Game
Opening the Scramble Game's Template
Understanding the Scramble Game
Adding the Scramble Button
Applying the Generic Button Behavior
Comparing and Changing Sprite Locations
Changing a Sprite's Cast Member
Creating a Soft Blink Behavior
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 4: Painter: Painting with Sprite Trails
Approaching the Painter Game
Opening the Painter Game's Template
Understanding the Painter Game
Painting Smooth Lines
Adding the Paper Mask
Keeping the Paint Inside of the Mask
Adding Randomness to the Paint
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 5: Monk Mania: Playing Sounds
Approaching the Monk Mania Game
Opening the Monk Mania Game's Template
Understanding the Monk Mania Game
Adding Sound to the Score
Puppetting Sounds Lingo
Using Other Methods to Play Sounds
Interrupting Sounds to Speed Up the Game
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 6: Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge: Elaborating on a Simple Game
Approaching the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Game
Opening the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Game's Template
Understanding the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Game
Creating the Introduction Screen
Applying the Take Turns Behavior
Building Artificial Intelligence
Tweening the Winner and Loser Bitmaps
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 7: Gremlins: Generating Random Motion
Approaching the Gremlins Game
Opening the Gremlins Game's Template
Understanding the Gremlins Game
Randomly Rotating Sprites
Randomly Moving Sprites
Randomly Changing Cast Members
Adding a Crazy Gremlin Behavior
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 8 Go: Providing Two Methods of Play
Approaching the Go Game
Opening the Go Game's Template
Understanding the Go Game
Updating the Game Boards
Allowing the User to Move
Activating the Large Game Pieces
Placing Random Pieces on the Board
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 9: Smac-Man: Utilizing Keyboard Control
Approaching the Smac-Man Game
Opening the Smac-Man Game's Template
Understanding the Smac-Man Game
Detecting Keyboard Events
Confining Smac-Man's Movement
Creating a Walking Animation
Adding a Secret Cheat Command
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 10: The Great Erudini: Animating with Film Loops
Approaching the Great Erudini Game
Opening the Great Erudini Game's Template
Understanding the Great Erudini Game
Setting Up an Animation Sequence
Converting the Animation into a Film Loop
Displaying the Film-Loop Animation
Editing the Film Loop Animation
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 11: Old-Fashioned Pinball: Applying Realistic Physics
Approaching the Old-Fashioned Pinball Game
Opening the Old-Fashioned Pinball Game's Template
Understanding the Old-Fashioned Pinball Game
Creating Moveable Objects
Applying Gravity and Friction to the Objects
Applying Magnetism to the Objects
Changing the Magnetic Attraction of the Objects
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 12: Backyard Brawl: Creating Dynamic Characters
Approaching the Backyard Brawl Game
Opening the Backyard Brawl Game's Template
Understanding the Backyard Brawl Game
Assigning Characters to the Fighters
Inflicting Damage on the Fighters
Activating Bot Control for the Fighters
Indicating Fighter Pain with Ink Effects
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 13: Covert Mayhem: Animating in Three Dimensions
Approaching the Covert Mayhem Game
Opening the Covert Mayhem Game's Template
Understanding the Covert Mayhem Game
Generating Walls in a Three-Dimensional Field
Translating an Entity's Properties into Movement
Checking the Map for Obstacle Collisions
Allowing Movement Control on the Z-Axis
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 14: Martian Dogfight: Producing Complex Vector Graphics
Approaching the Martian Dogfight Game
Opening the Martian Dogfight Game's Template
Understanding the Martian Dogfight Game
Creating a New Ship Component
Implementing the New Ship Component
Fine-Tuning the New Ship Component
Editing Shape Vertices through Lingo
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 15: Froggy: Publishing Internet Content
Approaching the Froggy Game
Opening the Froggy Game
Understanding the Froggy Game
Previewing in a Web Browser
Publishing with Custom Compression Settings
Publishing with Custom Dimension Settings
Publishing with a Preset Loader Game
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 16: Robo-Pong: Exporting Digital Video
Approaching the Robo-Pong Game
Opening the Robo-Pong Game
Understanding the Robo-Pong Game
Exporting MOV-Format Video
Exporting AVI-Format Video
Exporting Sequential Bitmaps
Applying Your Skills

Chapter 17: Epic-Sketch: Incorporating Flash Movies
Approaching the Epic-Sketch Game
Opening the Epic-Sketch Game's Template
Understanding the Epic-Sketch Game
Importing the Knob Movie
Anti-Aliasing the Screen Movie
Adding the Background Movie
Manipulating the Knob Movies through Lingo
Applying Your Skills

Conclusion
Congratulations
Online Director Resources

Appendix A: Lingo Programmer's Guide
The Evolution of Lingo
Using the Script Window
Event Handlers
Variables

Appendix B: Lingo Quick Reference
Conditionals
Events
Lists
Loops
Math
Navigation
Sounds
Sprites
Strings
Syntax

Appendix C: What's on the CD-ROM

Glossary

Index