I've bought this book with the purpose of starting to make flash games. Well, i couldn't have chosen a better way! The book is very easy to read and understand and the the examples are incredible. It explores the appropriate tools to create games like the BitmapData while giving other tools an explanation too. 5 stars!

If you've worked with strongly type languages like Java/C++/etc then this book might make you cringe a bit. First, the code is very terse with clever tricks to shorten the number of lines. Eventually it makes sense but methods like makeFader() don't really make a fader, they do other things like remove a game object from the scene.

So along with softreferences ( for i to 10, make a variable box_i=i ) - ew, and bad naming conventions, it plays out more like an Oreilly Cookbook that encourages bad habits. Granted, I ordered it and I'll keep it as a book full of complete examples. But I think any of the examples that I copy/type/study, I'll refactor later to be more clear and well-coded.

It's a fast ramp-up to ActionScript 2.0. If you're looking for smarter and more mid-level code then maybe wait for a book on AS3.0 that is more class oriented and less procedural like this book. Else, if you just want to see end-to-end examples as fast as possible the author does a good job of explaining code blocks as he goes even if he's encouraging bad habits.

This book has some clever code samples, but the structure of the code is outdated. I would prefer to have seen a class-based, object oriented approach to game development. This would lead to a more flexible and re-usable code library.

If you are thinking in buying this book, it's probably that you already know some actionscript. Well, in this book, there is nothing that you cant imagine yourself. Plus there is nothing about oop, and please think.. what kind of game can you make without oop?. I think this book is a joke.

This book is fantastic for those hardcore Flash coders out there (even if you aren't into game coding). Just the section on the optimization alone is almost worth the buy. Lots of useful nuggets of info in here. Amazon, is of course where you want to buy this, because of the low, low price.

Glen Rhodes' Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Development is for those who have the basics down and want to learn to produce professional-quality games. The latest enhancements to Flash are taught to programmers and web developers who want to get up and running quickly. From producing fast 3D effects to the hidden powers of Flash Pro 8, this book provides methods for understanding advanced techniques and getting up to speed: indispensable for game developers.

With Flash 8 Game Development by Glen Rhodes I expected to get a step by step process on how to develop games in Flash in the form of Actionscript examples and tutorials. I didn't expect much in terms of the other processes of game design, but was pleasantly surprised when Glen related the importance of all game components. While the book doesn't go into as much detail with other processes as it does the code (and as it is a game development book it shouldn't), it describes the importance of each part, and gives several extra items beyond what I expected. There is a section on sound, optimization, game physics, portable games and 3D simulation as well as a section by Chris Hildenbrand about game graphics. And you make some fun games as well as explore more complicated versions which are included on the CD that comes with the book.

You should have at least an intermediate understanding of scripting. The basics of Actionscript are not described here - if you need an introduction to Actionscript read another book first. If you are confident with your ability to pick up Actionscript you will do fine, especially given the Actionscript for games primer at the end of the book.

This book gives a lot of helpful information on how Flash works and how to make games with this software. If you're interested in Flash 8 in particular, it details the creation of a tile-based side-scrolling game using the new bitmap class. I learned several methods of number manipulation and Actionscript methodology that will help me save time and processing power on future games. I learned ways of creating games that I hadn't thought of before, and he broke the physics down very simply and made it easy to understand. The tutorials and examples were thorough and easy to follow, with explanations of what each part of the code was doing.

The only qualms I had were a few typos in the code (which are easily fixed), the order of presentation of some topics (I would have liked to read about the physics first before some early examples), a few spots where "why the math works" was not completely explained (but can be found through experimentation) and the process of planning the code/outlining functionality wasn't as prevalent as I would have liked.

Overall though, this book has been extremely helpful in understanding how to implement different types of games. I was making my own version of the popular "Breakout" by Atari in no time. If you are interested in making games with Flash, this book is loaded with ideas and information on how to go about creating them.

Don't believe the negative reviews of those who don't understand what a second, or revised edition is.

This book is a superb, tutorial-style introduction to programming games with Flash 8 that quickly gives the reader a basis for learning Actionscript. Within one hour, I had my first game tutorial running and was analyzing the actionscript driving it.

Nice work Glen, thanks!

I having been waiting since 2005 for the release of this book and I am very disappointed because so very little was added to this revision and certainly not enough to justify the cost of the book if you purchased the previous edition, Flash MX 2004 Game Development, which I own. The first edition was outstanding. Because I followed the GlenRhodes.com blog and viewed the really cool stuff he is doing like the LightSaber Configurator and the WolfenFlash Game featuring the "Flash Ray Engine", I expected to get more insight into how he is pushing Flash 8 to create such outstanding work! The book would have been much more valuable to me if 4+ games added to the revision and more insight into his current Flash 8 work.

For programmers who are new to flash, this book is a "must have". It is an excellent introduction to, and explanation for, Flash 8 Game programming. The book includes a companion CD containing all of the images and Flash files (games) referenced.

As a note, another reader commented that this book contains much of the content from Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Development. I must admit, I have not read that book, but if you already have it, you may reconsider buying this one. It is good for learning how to use some of the new features in Flash 8, though.

(Playing with.. I mean learning, the games in the examples is fun too!)

Flash has been around for a lot of years. It's orgin was to provide annimation for flashy web sites. This application seems to have been reduced in recent years for more functional, easier to navigate web sites. The big companies like Intel, Microsoft, IBM and so on stopped using Flash and other people began to copy them.

Flash, meanwhile has continued to grow. Now in its's eighth major revision it has become a fairly powerful programming language in its own right. Two particular strengths of Flash are that it works with nearly any web browser, and second that they have gone to great lengths to make Flash work with a minimal amount of data being transferred from the server to the client.

Flash 8 has incorporated a major rewrite and extension of the language so that it now rivals C++ or Java as a display driver. As a result, it is quite practical to write reasonable sophisticated games using Flash.

Mr. Rhodes has been a professional game developer for a dozen years. In this book he describes how to use Flash as a programming language with a special emphasis on games. The CD included with the book includes the images and files necessary to complete the tutorials in the book and a 30-day trial version of Flash Professional 8.