4 ms·

Flixel: flash game framework

68 points by rms 17y ago

chipsy 17y ago
I've poked around with this. It's becoming a popular choice for Flash games, although I'm not using it myself. It's not sophisticated or even really that efficient(one object instance per tile? per particle? You can make AS3 go much faster now with Bytearray or Vector based solutions), but it's easy to start with, gives you some basic graphical features, and perhaps most importantly, is a working solution for escaping the Adobe-centric toolchain.
- AdamAtomic 17y ago
  one instance per particle seems inefficient but most computers can handle it, especially if they don't collide, and it gives you a ton of fun flexibility (using an emitter to spawn a flock of enemies, for example, or emitting particles that then emit more particles, etc). Tiles however are NOT a collection of unique instances, they are blitted relatively efficiently. They do use a single instance of an empty collider to do the actual collision check, but otherwise they're pretty fast. BUT that's not to say that flixel is not a work-in-progress with a fair number of broken or unoptimized elements :) I have a list of...oh I guess i'm down to about 20 things that have to be fixed or revised before the next big public whatever!
  - midnightmonster 17y ago
    you mentioned that the iphone canabalt was done with a port/version/something of flixel, too? can you give any details about that?
    - AdamAtomic 17y ago
      can't yet, but I will have good news about that stuff soon i hope!
      - khangtoh 17y ago
        An AS3 to objective-c framework? If that's the case, I love to talk to you a little bit more. LeftRight Studios, based in Pittsburgh, is my startup and we develop mobile games.
        shaunxcode 17y ago
        I believe the latest version of flash builder is supposed to provide the ability to compile from flash -> iphone app directly.
  - mattmaroon 17y ago
    I don't suppose you are looking for a job by any chance?
  - immad 17y ago
    Hey Adam, Immad from Heyzap. Would be good to talk sometime about all things flash. My email is Immad (AT) Heyzap
- allenp 17y ago
  I've used this a bunch in prototyping and have to say that it is an incredible head start for anyone wanting to make a flash game, especially if you're not coming from a flash background but more of a programmer background. I think that while it could be optimize the key is that it just works. No funny tweaks involved, you can build and go and have a game without deep diving into adobe documentation.
SlyShy 17y ago
For those of you who aren't aware, that Canabalt game that was posted on HN earlier was written with Flixel.
mcav 17y ago
I'm working on some casual card/board games, so unfortunately I can't really use Flixel since it wasn't designed for that (primarily vector images, uses events rather than game loop to keep CPU low). But Flixel looks great, and I wish there was a library that could do what Flixel does, except geared for that use case. If only Canvas was up to the task of handling vector images and animations as well as Flash does.
- teamonkey 17y ago
  Does an event loop really keep the CPU use down in Flash? In C/C++ I've always found that the event polling overhead means that it's ever so slightly less efficient than a game loop, but not so much so that it matters. I thought it was purely a matter of taste?
  - mcav 17y ago
    When Flash isn't rendering to the screen (i.e. via constant blitting), it hardly consumes any CPU at all. In my experience, blitting the screen 30fps causes a lot of CPU load even when you aren't doing anything.
    - teamonkey 17y ago
      You don't want to render stuff you don't have to regardless of the method you use.
Nosferax 17y ago
Isn't there something better than flash out there? Flash sucks for linux.
- mcav 17y ago
  Not if you want it to run in a browser.
  - warfangle 17y ago
    I guess Canvas is out of the question, if you want folks on IE to be able to use it.
    - mcav 17y ago
      There are canvas emulators that make Canvas more or less functional in IE, albeit with a speed hit. But even then, Canvas isn't designed to do the same things Flash excels at: vector-based animation.
      - warfangle 17y ago
        True - for that, you could use scripted SVG.
- ido 17y ago
  It depends. The only other widespread solution are Java Applets, which are better in some ways (e.g. performance) but worse in others (e.g. start-up time).
Luc 17y ago
Does Flixel (what's in a name) somehow depend on the grapics being pixelated, or does it also handle vector graphics? I had a quick look through the documentation but didn't really find anything about this?
- robfitz 17y ago
  You can still use anything native to Flash (ie vectors). Flixel has added support for bitmaps -- fast blitting plus old school visual effects (are typically a great pain to create in Flash)
nopinsight 17y ago
How is Flixel compared to Push Button Engine and Always 3D? http://pushbuttonengine.com/ http://pushbuttonengine.com/ http://away3d.com/ http://away3d.com/ (used in the Facebook game Cafe World) I'm looking forward to use such a framework/engine in my upcoming multi-player Flash game. I'd be grateful if anyone here can offer me some advice/links about this. (My impression is that Push Button Engine is more mature and probably better supported because there is a company behind it. Is that really the case?)
- nopinsight 17y ago
  A list of Object-oriented Flash Game Framework: http://www.idevgames.com/news/object-oriented-flash-game-framework http://www.idevgames.com/news/object-oriented-flash-game-fra...

68 points by rms 17y ago

I've poked around with this. It's becoming a popular choice for Flash games, although I'm not using it myself. It's not sophisticated or even really that efficient(one object instance per tile? per particle? You can make AS3 go much faster now with Bytearray or Vector based solutions), but it's easy to start with, gives you some basic graphical features, and perhaps most importantly, is a working solution for escaping the Adobe-centric toolchain.

AdamAtomic 17y ago
one instance per particle seems inefficient but most computers can handle it, especially if they don't collide, and it gives you a ton of fun flexibility (using an emitter to spawn a flock of enemies, for example, or emitting particles that then emit more particles, etc). Tiles however are NOT a collection of unique instances, they are blitted relatively efficiently. They do use a single instance of an empty collider to do the actual collision check, but otherwise they're pretty fast. BUT that's not to say that flixel is not a work-in-progress with a fair number of broken or unoptimized elements :) I have a list of...oh I guess i'm down to about 20 things that have to be fixed or revised before the next big public whatever!
- midnightmonster 17y ago
  you mentioned that the iphone canabalt was done with a port/version/something of flixel, too? can you give any details about that?
  - AdamAtomic 17y ago
    can't yet, but I will have good news about that stuff soon i hope!
    - khangtoh 17y ago
      An AS3 to objective-c framework? If that's the case, I love to talk to you a little bit more. LeftRight Studios, based in Pittsburgh, is my startup and we develop mobile games.
      - shaunxcode 17y ago
        I believe the latest version of flash builder is supposed to provide the ability to compile from flash -> iphone app directly.
- mattmaroon 17y ago
  I don't suppose you are looking for a job by any chance?
- immad 17y ago
  Hey Adam, Immad from Heyzap. Would be good to talk sometime about all things flash. My email is Immad (AT) Heyzap
allenp 17y ago
I've used this a bunch in prototyping and have to say that it is an incredible head start for anyone wanting to make a flash game, especially if you're not coming from a flash background but more of a programmer background. I think that while it could be optimize the key is that it just works. No funny tweaks involved, you can build and go and have a game without deep diving into adobe documentation.

SlyShy 17y ago

For those of you who aren't aware, that Canabalt game that was posted on HN earlier was written with Flixel.

mcav 17y ago

I'm working on some casual card/board games, so unfortunately I can't really use Flixel since it wasn't designed for that (primarily vector images, uses events rather than game loop to keep CPU low). But Flixel looks great, and I wish there was a library that could do what Flixel does, except geared for that use case. If only Canvas was up to the task of handling vector images and animations as well as Flash does.

teamonkey 17y ago
Does an event loop really keep the CPU use down in Flash? In C/C++ I've always found that the event polling overhead means that it's ever so slightly less efficient than a game loop, but not so much so that it matters. I thought it was purely a matter of taste?
- mcav 17y ago
  When Flash isn't rendering to the screen (i.e. via constant blitting), it hardly consumes any CPU at all. In my experience, blitting the screen 30fps causes a lot of CPU load even when you aren't doing anything.
  - teamonkey 17y ago
    You don't want to render stuff you don't have to regardless of the method you use.

Nosferax 17y ago

Isn't there something better than flash out there? Flash sucks for linux.

mcav 17y ago
Not if you want it to run in a browser.
- warfangle 17y ago
  I guess Canvas is out of the question, if you want folks on IE to be able to use it.
  - mcav 17y ago
    There are canvas emulators that make Canvas more or less functional in IE, albeit with a speed hit. But even then, Canvas isn't designed to do the same things Flash excels at: vector-based animation.
    - warfangle 17y ago
      True - for that, you could use scripted SVG.
ido 17y ago
It depends. The only other widespread solution are Java Applets, which are better in some ways (e.g. performance) but worse in others (e.g. start-up time).

Luc 17y ago

Does Flixel (what's in a name) somehow depend on the grapics being pixelated, or does it also handle vector graphics? I had a quick look through the documentation but didn't really find anything about this?

robfitz 17y ago
You can still use anything native to Flash (ie vectors). Flixel has added support for bitmaps -- fast blitting plus old school visual effects (are typically a great pain to create in Flash)

nopinsight 17y ago

How is Flixel compared to Push Button Engine and Always 3D? http://pushbuttonengine.com/ http://pushbuttonengine.com/ http://away3d.com/ http://away3d.com/ (used in the Facebook game Cafe World) I'm looking forward to use such a framework/engine in my upcoming multi-player Flash game. I'd be grateful if anyone here can offer me some advice/links about this. (My impression is that Push Button Engine is more mature and probably better supported because there is a company behind it. Is that really the case?)

nopinsight 17y ago
A list of Object-oriented Flash Game Framework: http://www.idevgames.com/news/object-oriented-flash-game-framework http://www.idevgames.com/news/object-oriented-flash-game-fra...