Flash Multiplayer Virtual Worlds

Build immersive, full-featured interactive worlds for games, online communities, and more

Key Features

Build virtual worlds in Flash and enhance them with avatars, non player characters, quests, and by adding social network community
Design, present, and integrate the quests to the virtual worlds
Create a whiteboard that every connected user can draw on
A practical guide filled with real-world examples of building virtual worlds

Book DescriptionFlash virtual worlds are some of the most exciting-and profitable-online business being built today. Using Flash, developers can build interactive environments where users can interact with the virtual world and one another, compete, and have fun. Creating a playful environment on an electronic network presents unique challenges as you combine a fun, upbeat frontend with some serious and complex server logic. This handy book assists you in building amazing virtual worlds in no time by implementing ActionScripts in a Flash IDE. With this book in hand, you will build virtual worlds that have avatars walking around and interacting with non playing characters, completing challenging quests, and allowing users to link with real-world friends. The fun begins with first exploring existing virtual world games such as Club Penguin, Mole, Dofus, and World of Warcraft. We will then design our virtual environment. Then we will create avatars and move the avatars in the virtual world. We will add some triggers to add amusement and life to the virtual world. We will allow the avatars to interact with other players and create a buddy list for each user. Then we will integrate buildings and other environment to the virtual world. We will also let the players interact with non-player characters to complete some tasks. Finally, we move on to add interesting quests to the virtual world, which need to be accomplished by the player to gear up to the next level of the game. This example-rich, hands-on guide sequentially develops a multiplayer virtual world-the platform, the environment, quests, avatars, non-playing characters, and interaction between them.What you will learn

Create a whiteboard that every connected user can draw on
Create the map, basic map editor, and ground of the virtual world
Optimize graphic workload by selecting the appropriate method to render avatars
Move avatars using keyboard or mouse and synchronize their movementsCreate buildings and the environment for the virtual world
Create a basic item inventory system for an avatar and implement some basic item management with the server-side extensions
Create a basic chat system and a buddy list for your avatar
Control the Non-Player Characters to move around the world and interact with the players by chatting or trading items
Enhance your virtual worlds by integrating several key features of Facebook and Twitter

Who this book is forIf you are a Flash or an ActionScript developer who wants to build powerful and immersive multiplayer games, this book is for you. This book assumes that you have some experience with ActionScript 3.0.