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Summary: One of the Best ActionScript Books Out There!
Review: Don't let the title fool you... this is a serious action-scripting book, specifically targeted for Flash-based games. You won't find any XML, Cold Fusion Integration, Database integration, etc., but that's not the scope of this book. If you want to learn how to use Flash ActionScript to manipulate movie clips, the Flash timeline, respond to user interaction, and create many different types of cool games that you see a lot on the internet, this book is for you. It is NOT a Flash book... it is an ActionScript book. The author assumes you are already competent with Flash basics. (I should also mention that you WILL learn a lot about Flash organizational skills as you work through the book.)The STRENGTH of this book is that it uses the entire book to concentrate on one subject, vs. other Flash books that try to be "everything to everyone" without ever going into enough detail on any one subject. This is similar to another excellent Flash book, "Flash Cartooning" by Mark Clarkson, which spends the whole book on simply just learning how to animate in Flash.
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Summary: What better way to learn than through fun and games?
Review: I just picked up this book, and would definitely recommend it. Why? Because not only does it teach via projects, which means you learn by DOING - by actually creating, instead of by simply reading lengthy explanations of discrete pieces of code. Most importantly, however, you learn by creating FUN PROJECTS! It's one thing to write the code for a simple calculator, which, while good for teaching certain concepts, is quite BORING - it's another to write the code for a game or fun little flash "toy", which you can really enjoy. In the end, you learn the syntax and algorithm either way, but if you do it by creating games, it is that much more fun of a learning process. For beginners, this book dedicates its first few chapters to the basics of ActionScript. For intermediate scripters, it then jumps into fun applications of more intricate scripting methods - you learn new concepts by applying them to fun projects as you learn. Rock on.
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Summary: A Great Book to Start Learning Games
Review: I liked the book. The beginning chapters are broken down into very short lessons that teach you the fundamentals of game programming. The latter chapters focus on complete games built upon the techniques taught previously. I was able to get started quickly since the book does a fine job of presenting the material.
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Summary: A Great Book to Start Learning Games
Review: I liked the book. The beginning chapters are broken down into very short lessons that teach you the fundamentals of game programming. The latter chapters focus on complete games built upon the techniques taught previously. I was able to get started quickly since the book does a fine job of presenting the material.
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Summary: Its the Flash 5 book... yet he says that clearly.
Review: If you read it he says its the same as the older book(Its the 2nd edition, meaning its an updated version!), but each chapter adds 1 new file to it and he does modify some of the games to MX, such as the drawing stuff. One of the biggest additions to it... is platform gaming! The only reason why this book doesn't get a 5* rating is because some of the code he uses is really in efficent. One great example is the maze chase game. The code really only allows for one enemy and it still if a bit iffy there... so i can make some pretty nifty games.
if you a beginner or an you know flash but you want to get serious get this book. but if your an expert then you might compramise some of you understanding of flash action scripting because some of it is coded inefficently.
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Summary: Very Well Written
Review: In one line, Gary can summarize the meaning and function of a complex block of code, and make it crystal clear. He will teach you practical actionscripting in Flash, and once you learn that, switching any code to MX is very easy.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Me-Too book
Review: It really ticks me off when publishers (in this case Que) slap a new label on an old book and call it new. ... This is indeed a Flash 5 book (as another reader mentioned - I wish I would have read their comment before I bought this book). Nothing in this book relates to MX at all. As far as a Flash 5 book, it's nice to have a games-specific book - altough it really is padded with a lot of non-flash information that can be read anywhere (i.e. video game history). Although decent, nothing special jumps out at me. It taught me nothing new from the other books on Flash I have. If this is the first Flash Book you're buying, the visual "Teach Yourself Visually" books are probably a better bet (ISBN 0764536613); if you already have Flash books, then this will probably teach you nothing new. It's a pass on both accounts. Que - shame on you. I don't plan on buying any more of your books if these are the games you play.
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Summary: This book teaches Flash 5, not Flash MX
Review: This book is simply a rehash of Rosenzweig's Flash 5 for fun and games book. He teaches NONE of the new MX concepts or tools, he simply developes in MX like he would in 5 (you can do that in MX). Flash MX, which is the recently released upgrade to Flash 5, gives a game developer scores of new features and functionality and Rosenzweig uses none of it. If you really want to buy this book, buy the Flash5 version, it's cheaper and exactly the same thing.
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Summary: Wonderful Book for Beginning ActionScripters
Review: This is a very useful book in my opinion. What's especially helpful is the author literally breaks-down his code, line-by-line, so that the reader clearly understands what is going on. It's a great method for teaching programming - particularly for the beginning programmer, yet also contains some very nifty stuff that even hardcore veterans of the interactive world can find useful. The games are cute, yet very cool and adpatable. It shows good faith that the author even offers his games up for use by readers of the book. But to just borrow his code and replace his graphics with your own is to miss the real gem of this book, which is to instruct in the power and ease of Flash MX ActionScript. In just two weeks my working-knowledge of ActionScript has grown considerably. Many computer-how-to books on the market teach by using generic examples, but there is nothing generic about the working prototypes presented in this book. There is some pretty impressive stuff here with some particularly well done graphics and animation. It feels more like the reader is learning on "real-world" examples rather than tired old stock-in-trade tutorials. Buy (and read) this wonderful book and I guarantee that your Flash movies will improve considerably and in no time you'll be making some pretty impressive Interactive media. I am a professional animator and webmaster, but I always needed programmers who knew Java, C, or C++ to make the really cool stuff in the past. With the help of this book by Gary Rosenweig, those days are past history!
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