Starling Game Development Essentials

Develop and deploy isometric turn-based games using Starling

Overview

• Create a cross-platform Starling Isometric game
• Add enemy AI and multiplayer capability
• Explore the complete source code for the Web and cross-platform game develpment

In Detail

Starling makes it very easy for an ActionScript developer to create cross-platform, multiplayer games. Starling utilizes GPU to render all the content for excellent performance on a wide range of devices. Multiplayer games have become a very lucrative market, pulling in more and more developers who try to raise the bar for user experience. With the ever-increasing popularity of iOS and Android, the demand for cross-platform games has increased exponentially.

Starling Game Development Essentials takes you step-by-step through the development of a complicated Isometric game. You will learn to create a level editor, AI logic for enemies, and integrate particle effects. Furthermore, you will learn to develop multi-player games that can support multiple players on the same device and would integrate Flox services for efficient user tracking and analytics. Finally, you will understand how to deploy your game to the Web, App Store, and Google Play.

This project-based book starts with the game idea, and an introduction to Game States and Game Loop. You also learn about the working of Isometric projection logic.

You get to explore RenderTexture for dynamically creating game levels and later on easily upgrade to the exceptional QuadBatch for deploying on devices. You will then move on to use Starling Particle extension for explosion effects. Finally, you will develop a simple AI Manager to help the enemy make decisions and use Pathfinder to facilitate grid-based path finding.

Starling Game Development Essentials, with the help of FlagDefense game source code, is an invaluable asset to anyone who wants to create a Starling cross-platform game.

What you will learn from this book

• Learn about Game States and Game Loop which are an integral part of any game
• Apply Isometric transformation equations and logic for converting 2D grid-based levels into 3D isometric view
• Set up an Isometric level editor that exports level data thereby easing level creation and speeding up development
• Configure the PlayerIO turn-based multiplayer and the same device turn-based multiplayer
• Use Pathfinder for AI path finding which will help the enemy soldiers and bombs to track their corresponding destinations
• Integrate AdMob ANE for some monetization and Floxleaderboards for tracking scores
• Organize deployment to the App Store and Google Play with all the necessary icons, certificates, and launch images

Approach

This is a practical, project-based guide that will help the reader to build Isometric, turn-based games using Starling.

Who this book is written for

If you are an ActionScript developer and want to create cross-platform games with Starling, this book is for you. The FlagDefense game covers some complex topics in game development which are beneficial even for those who are already creating games with Starling. Prior knowledge of Starling will help, but is not necessary.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Our Capture the Flag Game
Chapter 2: Going Isometric
Chapter 3: Isometric-level Designer
Chapter 4: Just Finding Your Way
Chapter 5: Boom Boom, Explosions!
Chapter 6: Going Cross Platform
Chapter 7: Flox – Leaderboards, Analytics, and More