Author: Ian Rose

The SWF File

Getting Started

One thing I have noticed is a lack of good tutorials on the web for first-person game programming in Flash 5, so here goes. Using this lesson, anyone with a basic understanding of Flash should be able to build a realistic backdrop for a first-person space game. To avoid making this a thirty page tutorial (it's going to be long enough already), I am leaving out most game elements, such as weaponry and enemies, in order to concentrate on the flight mechanics and starfields. It'll be up to you to add your own levels, enemies, etc., if you feel like it.

Open a new Flash movie and name it "spaceFlight". Create the following layers in this order from top to bottom: "planet", "player", "bigstars", "stars". The first step is to create the symbols you'll need for the project. First, create a set of crosshairs to be the player's focus. If you don't feel like designing your own crosshairs, you can use the one in the enclosed *.fla file. After you're done designing the target symbol, put an instance of that symbol on your "player" layer and name the instance "player1".The next symbols you will need are the stars that will make up the space environment of the game. I suggest for now making two star symbols, "star", and "bigstar"( a larger version of "star" ). They don't have to be any more complicated than white circles. For added realism and visual appeal, more sizes and types of stars can be added later, once all the groundwork is laid. Finally, create a symbol instance to serve as a nearby planet. Place it on your "planet" layer and call it "planet1". If you do not want to draw the planet or stars, you can find them in the enclosed *.fla file.

» Level Intermediate

Added: 2001-06-26 Rating: 7.03 Votes: 97 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (10 being the highest) Thank you for voting! We have encountered an error. Please try again later. You've already voted.

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