The book has three parts with two appendices. The parts are: 

1. “Getting started with Flash game design”
2. “Examining the nuts and bolts”
3. “The games”

1. developer resources
2. other games

The companion CD-ROM has the examples and the program files that the book text refers. It also has trail versions of various Flash development programs.

The first part of the book is introductory. It exposes the reader to the different game views, general terminology, and game genres. The first chapter ends with the pros and cons of Flash game development. The second chapter is about “making games fun”. The factors in making a game fun are the demography of the audience, playback specs of the audience’s computers, the concept and theme of the game, the storyline and characters, and the basics of the games.

The second part, “examining the nuts and bolts” comprises about 75% of the book. These twelve chapters deal with most of the game factors that must be programmed to have an enjoyable game. The subjects of chapters three and four are math and physics. A simple game like Pong would be almost impossible to play if the ball sprite was to move totally randomly. Most of the math is trigonometry, and the physics is classical. The authors include some examples of “just good enough” programming. For example, a routine to handle friction requires looping many times to stop an object and therefore slowing down game play. There is a short cut, but as the authors point out, the object never stops.

Chapters five and six are about collisions. Most programming languages require extensive skill to detect a collision and the following reactions. However, in Flash these problems are solved handily. Chapter seven and eight deal with the game views that are tile based or isometric based. The next three chapters deal with the minor points of levels, high score lists, and artificial intelligence. Graphics and sound, chapter twelve and thirteen, are very important to game play. The best game design is nullified if the sight and sound of the game is poor. Since the forte of Flash is web interaction, chapter fourteen deals with the special problems of multiplayer games. Multiplayer games have become extremely popular because of the human-to-human interaction.

Part three includes four chapters that deal with each of the games included on the CD-ROM. The games are Word Search, Multiplayer Chess, 501 Darts, and Gone Crazy. Each chapter starts with game rules and overviews, the game coding and logics, and points to remember about the game programming technique. However, Multiplayer Chess has an additional section about the aspects of multiplayer games.

At a cover price of just under fifty dollars, it is a rather expensive computer book given its size. Look for it to be showing up in bargain bins at bookstores- especially if a new version of Flash appears this year. However, since the book deals with the game design process rather than Flash itself, it needs to be in the libraries of all new and old game programmers.

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