1
\$\begingroup\$

I've been looking for a book on actionscript3 development, but while there's tons of books out there, nobody seems to want to recommend any specific one.

One book I've been pointed towards is the cookbook by o'reilly, but it, like most books out there, seems to be based on the assumption that I'm using flexbuilder or flash. Instead, I'm "just" using flashdevelop, or the free SDK directly.

I've also been told to just go with the api reference and live with it. I could do that, I suppose, but I'd rather have a book that gives me the big picture. Kind of like with cocoa, there's the hillegrass' book, or the red book of OpenGL.

So, what would be the actionscript3 book out there?

\$\endgroup\$
6
  • \$\begingroup\$ I think these days you don't need a book, the adobe as3 reference is already awesome: livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0/ActionScriptLangRefV3 and if you still can't understand something, just google it. I am using FlashDevelop and the SDK too, if you want me to help you with minor issues, I can give you my email. \$\endgroup\$
    – user4248
    Commented Dec 28, 2010 at 19:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ Obviously subjective, but also not really game-related. \$\endgroup\$
    – user744
    Commented Dec 29, 2010 at 0:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ M28: I already mentioned above that I want an overview; the API reference doesn't give that. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jari Komppa
    Commented Dec 29, 2010 at 8:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ And agreed, this could be seen as non-game-related, but I am interested in it from a game development point of view, not just user interface design or some such.. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jari Komppa
    Commented Dec 29, 2010 at 8:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ If you wanted it from a game development point of view, maybe you should've put the word "game" in the question somewhere. \$\endgroup\$
    – user744
    Commented Dec 29, 2010 at 14:46

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2
\$\begingroup\$

ActionScript 3.0 Animation

Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move! is an excellent book covering ActionScript 3.0 from a programmer's perspective focusing on game or animation programming. Lots of practical examples in topics like velocity, acceleration, friction, easing, collision detection, rotation, basic physics, particles, and forward/inverse kinematics. I'd highly recommend it.

ActionScript 3.0 Animation on Amazon

\$\endgroup\$
1
  • \$\begingroup\$ Judging from the "look inside", seems like the best one I've seen so far, and I definitely would not have guessed by the title. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jari Komppa
    Commented Dec 29, 2010 at 8:09
2
\$\begingroup\$

A good book to read if you want to get up to speed with AS3.0 is Essential ActionScript 3.0 by Colin Moock. However it's not game related, it covers the "entire" AS3.0 language.

For topics that are more gamedev related, as Bob Somers points out, Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move is pretty neat!

http://www.friendsofed.com/book.html?isbn=1590597915

There is also the follow up to that book, AdvancED ActionScript 3.0 Animation, it covers a little more in depth topics, and is a great read too.

AdvancED ActionScript 3.0 Animation
(source: friendsofed.com)

http://www.friendsofed.com/book.html?isbn=1430216085

\$\endgroup\$
0

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .