Pretty much as the title states. I've become interested in the Flixel game engine and while it is pretty well documented, how well does one have to be acquainted with as3?
If the answer is 'learn as3 first,' what books or tutorial series would you reccomend?
Posted Sep 20, 2011, 2:51 PM UTC
You can learn AS3 as you learn Flixel, you don't need to know it in advance.
AS3 is based on ECMAScript and is therefore very similar to Javascript.
If you know javascript or the basics about functional languages and some OOP (prototype based), you might be able to pick it up as you learn flixel.
this is disinformation. as3 is based on ecmascript 4, js isn't. trying js approach in as3 is a misuse of the language.
Cool, thanks for the clarification, but I didn't intend for him to use the "js approach". I just said he might be able to learn both at the same time considering he had some prior programming knowledge.
as3 is not functional with oop protoype based. as2 is. a better comparison is as3 to c#.
Ok, thanks.my bad
It's like asking to learn jQuery without learning Javascript...
You can't do that, you must know AS3 to use Flixel.
Also, You should learn how to do things without Flixel first, if you don't understand how it works internally, then you don't really know what you're doing.
Personally, I think AS3 already abstracts a lot of stuff, and an engine like Flixel is not needed at all.
Flixel makes it faster to develop certain kinds of games than straight-up Flash stuff. If you're going to make a quick pixel platformer, than you might as well use Flixel instead of coding the engine from scratch. If you're going to make something with lots of UI or lots of vector art, you'll probably want to just use normal Flash display list stuff.
Again, this is all personal preference, but recoding the wheel (ie. a bitmap blit engine) is overkill, especially for someone who is just starting out.
His question wasn't whether Flixel uses AS3, of course it does. His question was "do I need to learn AS3 first", and then answer is no, you can learn AS3 as you learn Flixel.
I did the same thing a long time ago when I learned XNA. I'd never learned C# before, but I learned XNA and C# at the same time. It would have been silly to learn one and then learn the other.
Alright. Will do. I've already got programming experience in other languages and just wanted to know if this was something I'd pick up while going through flixel. I shall attempt to learn as3 first.
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It's like saying C# abstracts a lot of stuff, and an engine like XNA is not needed at all...
AS3 was not made for games but it can be used for games. IMO the best things flixel bring to the table are a solid game loop and simple collision, two of the hardest things for new game programmers.
I'm sorry if this sounds offensive, first of all, XNA is a framework, and have you ever coded in AS3? Using Flixel is like using an engine that uses XNA, it's not needed because you can write your own engine that's optimized for what you need it to do.
For a loop, AS3 already provides a Timer class, which should be used for game loops, and for collisions, you can write your own collision functions or use a specialized collision library, like Collision Detection Kit, or you can use a powerful physics engine if you really need, like box2d.
Why wouldn't you just use the onEnterFrame event?
Because if flash can't render it too fast, it will slow down the game logic too, if you use timers, even if flash can't render it too fast, the game will still run at the same speed (but with a lower fps).
I have used AS3 and Flixel. I haven't used XNA, I always thought that was an engine but I guess I was wrong.
Every language has a timer class and the ability for people to write their own collision functions. Are you saying that all engines are redundant? What are some key features in your opinion that would make an engine relevant?
AS3 is a language, flash is the libraries. Have you ever coded in AS3?
Almost all functionality from the "flash" libraries are abstracted away in Flixel meaning that while you do need to know AS3 you don't necessarily need to learn "flash" to use Flixel. One of the largest differences between the two is flashes reliance on events compared to flixels reliance on polling.
If you are going to point something that's not relevant for the discussion, I would like to point that you said earlier:
AS3 is the language, you meant flash.