Flash Me, Shock Me, Just Be Sure You Objectify Me: Object-Oriented Programming in Director and Macromedia Flash

In this article, I will describe the process of designing and implementing objects for your games. Learning to work with objects isn’t hard. It does however require you to think about computer programming in a way that you may not have thought about it before. I’ll walk you through this paradigm shift and outline the basic structure of objects using both ActionScript and Lingo, the scripting languages for Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Director, respectively. After reading and understanding the article, you should:

• Understand the basic structure of objects.
• Understand how to create objects in Macromedia Flash and Director.
• Know how to work with the properties, methods, and hierarchies of various objects.

Requirements

• Macromedia Flash

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• Director

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• Download the accompanying sample files for this article.

  • Download (6.46 MB)

Table of Contents

• Planning and Implementing Objects
• Object-Oriented Programming in ActionScript and Lingo
• The Nature of an Object
• Creating an Object
• Object Properties
• Object Methods and Ancestry
• Summary

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About the author

Dr. Allen Partridge runs Insight Interactive, a game-development company. He is the author of Real-Time Interactive 3D Games; Creating 3D Games with Macromedia Director 8.5 / Shockwave Studio. Allen is the host of dirGames-L, the largest online e-mail discussion community centered on game design and creation using Macromedia Director.

 

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