:: Flash Classroom Game Design Tutorials

GAME DESIGN TUTORIALS

Welcome to our bank of tutorials on Game Design for Flash 8 and CS3. These tutorials cover a range of different game genres, with a focus on game types that are also suitable for use in educational environments.

Design a Shooting Style Game
(Flash 8 Version)

You probably think of blood and violence when you think of shooting games. However, this doesn't have to be the case. The context for your game can be anything from locating hidden objects in a scene to swatting mozzies that are carrying dengue fever. This tutorial is a chance for you to have some fun, whilst also learning about important scripting concepts such as variables and expressions. An example of this style of game is the 'Mozzie Blitz' game which is located in the Flash Classroom Gallery.

Make a Shooting Game with Random Objects
(Flash 8 Version)

This tutorial will show you how to make your own shooting game where the target objects appear at random locations on the stage. An example of this game type is the 'Bully Buster' and 'Alien Invasion' games in the Flash Classroom Gallery.

Make a Hidden Objects Game
(Flash 8 Version)

In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a hidden objects game in Flash MX. An example of this type of game is the Garden Critters game that is located in the Game Design section of the Flash Classroom gallery.

In this type of game, the user has to locate objects that have been hidden in an environment. The level of complexity of the game will depend on the level of detail the creator has gone to when developing the environment and hiding the objects within that environment.

Make a Dodge-Em Style Game
(MX2004 Version)

In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a dodge-em style game where the player must move the mouse to avoid being hit by objects that are randomly moving across the screen. An example of this type of game is the 'Dodgy Dan' game that is located in the Game Design section of the Flash Classroom gallery. This is a really good tutorial for beginners to game design in Flash because you will learn lots of useful tricks including how to make a simple timer for your game and how to make objects appear and move randomly.

Note: CS3 and Flash 8 Versions of this tutorial are still in development.. stay tuned : )

** IMPORTANT NOTE:

If you are using this tutorial with Flash 8, you will need to add the following script to the first keyframe in the game scene. It initialises the score variable and allows for Flash to display the score rather than NaN.

var score:Number = 9;

More tutorials are on their way! Come back soon to check them out.

All of our tutorials are in PDF Format and can be viewed using Adobe Reader.
Click here to download the latest version.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Attribution should include the statement: "This has been adapted from a resource originally created by Kristine Kopelke at www.flashclassroom.com"

CHANGING THE MOUSE CURSOR
(MX2004 Version) Flash 8 Version coming soon! (There isn't a great deal of difference so in the meantime use MX2004 tute)

Enhance the look and feel of your game or flash file by changing the mouse cursor into an image of your choice. This could be a crosshair for a shooting game, a paintbrush for a painting game etc. Basically, if you can draw it - you can turn it into your own custom cursor. This section of the site is currently being updated to include more resources for CS3 - come back soon to check them out.

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