I wanted to test out a few game frameworks learn more about AS3, Unity, HTML5, and other platforms. Here is a complete list of many, many versions with full source code (See ‘Members Resources’ below).

UPDATE: A new contender in the HTML5/JavaScript gaming space is phaser.io. I may add a demo to this page soon. Leave a comment if you’d like to see it.

Articles

I wrote ‘Flyer Game’ for a series of articles I wrote for Adobe’s “Inspire” (formerly ‘EDGE’) online magazine. To appreciate the HTML5 versions of the game, its great to look back at the general game theory as well as the Flash theory shown in these articles.

• In “An introduction to developing games on the Adobe Flash Platform” I overview the complete AS3 source code in my article
• In “Developing Flash Platform games with the PushButtonEngine” I used a popular framework (PBE) to create the same game.

Downloads of FlyerGame

I provide full source-code to several versions of the FlyerGame. You can compare how each works, and learn more about gaming frameworks that way.

[nonmember]
FLASH VERSIONS

• 1. Flash Pro and AS3 (Very Simple) – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• 2. AS3 and PushButtonEngine (Component-Based) [PBEv1] – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• 3. AS3 and PushButtonEngine (Component-Based) [PBEv2] – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• 4. AS3 Stage3D [Starling Framework] (Very Simple) – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• 5. AS3 Stage3D [Starling Framework] (OOP Version) – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• 6. AS3 and Smash Framework – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• 7. AS3 and Flixel (Coming soon!)
• 8. AS3 and FlashPunk (Coming soon!)

OTHER VERSIONS

• Unity3D w/ C# – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• Loom w/ LoomScript – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]

HTML5 VERSIONS

• EaselJS Framework – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• ImpactJS Framework – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• CraftyJS Framework – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• MelonJS Framework – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• Spaceport.io Framework – [Download in ‘Members Resources’ below]
• LimeJS Framework – Github Source (Coming soon!)

[/nonmember]

Next Steps

• Wow, there is so much content here!
• Are you new to gaming? There is tons of gaming basics in this posts and code.
• Are you a veteran? Learn to compare/contrast each framework for yourself using the source code (See ‘Member Resources’ below).

Member Resources

[private_Free member]Enjoy this members-only content!
FLASH VERSIONS

• 1. Flash Pro and AS3 (Very Simple) – Great Article w/ Source Code
• 2. AS3 and PushButtonEngine (Component-Based) [PBEv1] – Great Article, Github for Flash Professional, Github for Flash Builder ActionScriptOnly
• 3. AS3 and PushButtonEngine (Component-Based) [PBEv2] – Github for Flash Builder ActionScriptOnly
• 4. AS3 Stage3D [Starling Framework] (Very Simple)- Github for Flash Builder ActionScriptOnly
• 5. AS3 Stage3D [Starling Framework] (OOP Version)- Github for Flash Builder ActionScriptOnly
• 6. AS3 and Smash Framework (Component-based)- Github for Flash Builder ActionScriptOnly
• 7. AS3 and Flixel (Coming soon!)
• 8. AS3 and FlashPunk (Coming soon!)

OTHER VERSIONS

• Unity3D w/ C# – Github Source (Component-based, like #2 above)
• Loom w/ LoomScript – Great Article & Tutorial, Github Source (Component-based, like #2 above)

HTML5 VERSIONS

• EaselJS Framework – Github Source (Simple, like #1 above)
• ImpactJS Framework – Github Source (Simple, like #1 above)
• CraftyJS Framework – Github Source (Component-based like #2 above)
• MelonJS Framework – Github Source (Simple, like #1 above)
• Spaceport.io Framework – Github Source (Simple, like #1 above)
• LimeJS Framework – Github Source (Coming soon!)

[/private_Free member]

Polls

After years of experience with PushButtonEngine from the PBLabs company, they released PushButtonEngine 2. PBE2 was a quantum improvement on PBE1, but PBE2 had a short life before being rebranded as Smash. It is now available at Smash.io and I have completed a simple, complete demo game.

By default most game developers use inheritance-based architecture. Make a class and fill it with method-based functionality, then subclass and subclass to create a hierarchy (e.g. PlayerClass, EnemyClass, ItemClass etc…) of concrete classes. This has drawbacks which I outlined in article I wrote for Adobe “Developing Flash Games with the Pushbutton Engine“. It is a good read and still is relevant to how Smash works.

I love component-based gaming. This means functionality is added as classes within an entity and is contrary to inheritance-based gaming. Its a bit of a mind-bender when you first start, but the benefits become obvious to most developers during his or her first project.

Quick Overview

Core features:

• Small core. Just 4 central classes to learn.
• Dependency injection. Wire game logic together.
• Component-based object model. Build complex game objects from simple components.
• Groups, sets, and object lifecycle. Track your game objects safely and avoid resource leaks.

Extended features:

• Battle tested main loop. Keep your game flowing even on the lamest of netbooks and mobile devices
• Debug Console. Log and command your code from a familiar command line interface.

Next Steps

• Join the Smash Game Framework group on LinkedIn.
• Download the complete source-code for the FlyerGame with the Smash Framework (See ‘Member Resources’ below)
• See the simple, complete “FlyerGame – One Game, Many Many FrameworksL” article (Has HTML5, Unity3D, and AS3 Stage3D versions!).

Member Resources

[private_Free member]Enjoy this members-only content!

• Download the complete source-code for FlyerGame with the Smash Framework

[/private_Free member]