Flash MX 2004 Games : Art to ActionScript

Flash MX 2004 Games
The remainder of the ‘MainLoop’ frame action involves fairly complex checking of the game
state and collision testing; try reviewing it now and see if you can analyse how the game
works.
Crosswords – make them read the instructions!
Figure 13.9 Testing the crossword project
One popular technique for loaders is to place the instructions in the loading screens. But who reads
instructions? In my experience, hardly anyone does. Simple, low file size, animated instructions
certainly help. But you could have a quiz, or a crossword that makes the user read the instructions.
Without reading the instructions they cannot do the crossword or quiz. An interactive experience
is the reason the user has visited your site, so they are willing and eager to get involved. Here is a
simple crossword puzzle that could contain questions relating to the instructions for the game. For
the example here the questions all relate to Flash programming so you should know all the answers.
The layout is very simple: the crossword is on the left and the clues on the right. To avoid using
too much screen space the clues are split into ‘Across’ and ‘Down’ which can be flipped using the
button on the bottom right. If you are stuck then click the ‘Answers’ button. This reverts to a
‘Clear’ button when clicked. The crossword layout and questions are all loaded in from a text file
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