Why Bother Even Learning Flash9 AS3?
I have been trying to learn flash for about 2 years now and it continues to amaze me how fast flash continues to change, every time I get a good handle on the action script programming, it changes!. Like most flash developers I want to learn the new stuff, in this case it’s AS3 (Action Script 3) that comes with the new flash CS3 (also Called Flash 9).
I just got finished with my first game, and was thinking about posting the game for free of course, mostly just to have fun and get advice from the visitors. Now the issue comes up about what if some steals the code and decompiles it and profits from my hard work ? I have been watching flash decompilers for a while now and it seemed that flash 9 was the way to go because the decompilers did not support flash 9 yet. Well after a quick search on google I see that SoThink has already got the decompiler out.
SoThink will take your flash protected .swf file and reverse engineer the source file back to the .fla. Anybody can just modify the code and claim it as their own. Now think if you made your living creating flash games, and you created a special effect that was very cool and knowing the fact that anybody could steal your action script, graphics, sounds ect and create their own games using your code as a base starting point.
Some people might just wonder, why even bother learning a new action script? Why should I take the time to learn it when I could easily just steal it from someone else ? There are millions of posts on the internet about learning the code, and their are still even more posts about people wanting to protect their code. I don’t want to get mixed up on this endless battle about what is right. I myself just want to protect my code so only I can view it, at least this way I can make a few bucks down the road if a client is wanting me to make a new game, ect.
At the time of this writing I have found one place that promises to come up with a solution. Amayeta currently only support flash up to flash 8, but they are currently working on solution that will be out in beta in March 08 and they hope to have a solution solid solution by April 08. I for one will be watching this site before I post any flash creations.
If your interested in learning flash there are tons of places to do this. Here are my favorite links !
- Cartoon Smart - Justin, the guy running this site is dedicated to helping you learn flash, he offers videos that you can learn flash games and all things flash. I have been emailing justing and buying his flash videos for almost 2 years.
- FlashGameU - Gary has wrote a book on flash games, and it’s very informative, and FlashGameU is the website where you can actually ask the writer about his book. Gary has also posted new tutorials for even more games, but you have to own the book in order to access them. If you want to learn flash games, this is a nice addition to Cartoon Smart. Actually FlashGameU is more for the more advanced user, if you know nothing about flash then you need to download Justin’s free tutorials, and if you like them, continue your flash education by buying more tutorials.
- ActionScript.org - This is a forum where you can have some of your action script questions asked, but it pays to know a little bit before you just start asking questions because you did not want to do research yourself. Ask questions on the forum that you can’t find anywhere else, and after you took the time to search the past questions that other visitors have asked. ActionScript.org is always looking for people who know a little bit about flash also to help answer questions. You might find your self a better flash developer by helping others.
If I left your link out I am sorry these are the only links that actually provided me helpful content about flash development, I am sure someone out there in internet land may have even more helpful links.
Tags: Action Script, AS3, decompiler, flash 9, protect, swf
