Get SWF Protector 3 with a special 25% discount

Now you know Flash thieve is a problem.

With the latest SWF Protector from DCOM Soft you can firmly protect both ActionScript 1/2 and ActionScript 3, so none of your files, either old or new, will stay unguarded.

Version 3.0, actually available for Win and Linux (Mac version to be released soon) now supports Flash 10 including Flash CS5 files!!

You can see the complete features list at the official page, I am here for a test.

I protected the Basic Box2D editor using Flash movieclips as you can see in the picture:

Then I tried to decompile it with the best decompiler available at the moment.

This is the original draw_box function:

public function draw_box(x_origin:Number,y_origin:Number,box_width:Number,box_height:Number,angle:Number,is_dynamic:Number):void {
	var my_body:b2BodyDef= new b2BodyDef();
	if (is_dynamic) {
		my_body.type=b2Body.b2_dynamicBody;
	}
	var my_box:b2PolygonShape = new b2PolygonShape();
	my_box.SetAsOrientedBox(box_width/2/world_scale, box_height/2/world_scale, new b2Vec2(x_origin/world_scale,y_origin/world_scale),angle);
	var my_fixture:b2FixtureDef = new b2FixtureDef();
	my_fixture.shape=my_box;
	var world_body:b2Body=world.CreateBody(my_body);
	world_body.CreateFixture(my_fixture);
}

This is the one I decompiled from the original file: Read more

Design your logo online with Online Logo Maker

I love “do it online” software. It allows you to be productive even with a laptop bought 10 minutes ago, without any installed software, or from an internet cafè.

Online Logo Maker is one of these tools, and I am going to take a test drive.

As the name suggests, it’s a free online logo creator

Ricardo Lopes, the author, needs some feedback so you are welcome to test it.

The first thing I liked is it does not require you to register to create a logo. Some similar tools actually take more time to register than to enjoy… So you can immediatly start your logo from scratch.

This is the work area:

This is where you will draw your logo, and you can make three basic actions: Read more

Protect your work from ActionScript code theft with SWF Protector

« I’ve just found a site that won a top international online advertising award – and it’s been blatantly lifted from me!

Its a flash application that has the same vectors and almost certainly the same AS code. Is there anything I can do? I’m in the UK – they’re in Brazil. »

The guy who opened this thread looks quite desperate… now imagine this happening to your latest Flash game.

That’s why you must protect your code. You don’t want someone else stealing your work.

I am going to review DCOM Soft‘s SWF Protector.

SWF Protector

SWF Protector is an swf protector software working through actionscript encryption to secure your actionscript content. This means decompilers won’t be able to read your actionscript. Read more

Monetize your Flash games with GamesChart

Do you remember Emanuele Ornella from Mind the Move? It’s the guy behind the Come2Play multiplayer API tutorial posted about a month ago.

Now he is explaining us a new way to monetize Flash games: GamesChart

« When I first saw the announcement on Flash Game Developers group on www.linkedIn.com about the GamesChart beta program I immediately thought to participate. It was a surprise to me to find that my game Haunted House was at first position for the entire 4 weeks of the beta program!

Actually also my Alice Memory game is also on the chart, even if never more than in the 6th position.

What GamesChart is about?

It’s another way to generate money from you Flash games. The nice thing is that it is not an alternative to the traditional banner you place during the loading of the game. But it goes together.
The main idea is to have publisher to “bid” for which game will be in the chart and this will generate extra revenue to the developer, to the publisher who correctly bid and of course to the GamesChart organization.

This is from Barry White directly from linkedIn group. Read more

Create incredible particle effects with Partigen 2

Do you remember Partigen?

Andrew Fitzgerald from Desuade released the new version, of his amazing particle effects engine: Partigen 2.

Featuring over 120 exclusive preset effects, Partigen 2 is the first and only extension for Flash that let’s you to create complex particle effects in just a click.

The list of features is huge, so I am listing the ones I found most interesting:

• Full Package XML-Serialization
• Fully documented AS3 API
• Emitters can be created with either the IDE component or via ActionScript
• Particles can be any display object that inherits the Particle class
• Renderers can be shared across multiple Emitters
• Pools can handle the internal creation and storage of Particle objects in memory

You can read the full list of features here

The documentation is awesome, the best I’ve seen so far in a product like this one. You can access the full API documentation, and from this link you can access a 42 minutes long video covering the entire Partigen 2 component, and you can create beautiful effects using the component in less than a minute.

Anyway, we’re not here to talk about the component, but to test the AS3 API. Read more

Create amazing Flash slideshows with CU3ER

If you are looking for a fresh, original, XML customizable and free image slider, you should check out CU3ER.

Powered by Papervision3D, CU3ER an image slider initially conceived to create 3D transitions between slides, turned out to be a convenient and multifunction solution that can be applied in a range of website building areas, from content slider to feature slider and image & banner rotator.

I played with it a bit and starting from the built in example and following the docs I was able to create an interesting commented source code to help you all getting started:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82

< ?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<cu3er>
     <!-- first, define the settings -->
	<settings>
          <!-- set autoplay if you want the slideshow to... autoplay -->
          <auto_play> 
               <!-- the "loading" symbol and the time between a picture and another -->
               <defaults symbol="circular" time="4" /> 
               <!-- symbol position, size and color -->
               <tweenin x="500" y="20" width="35" height="35" tint="0xFFFFFF" /> 
          </auto_play> 
          <!-- defining the look of the caption text -->
     	<description>
     	    <!-- font family and size -->
     	    <defaults heading_font="Verdana" heading_text_size = "12" paragraph_font="Verdana" paragraph_text_size = "11"/>
              <!-- description box itself -->
              <tweenin tint="0x000000" x="0" y="240" alpha="0.5" width="520" height="80" />
          </description>
          <!-- "prev" button -->
         	<prev_button>
         	     <!-- corner styles -->
     		<defaults round_corners="25,0,25,0"/>
     		<!-- rollover effect -->
     		<tweenover tint="0xFFFFFF" alpha="0.5" />
     		<tweenout tint="0x000000" x="-50"/>
     	</prev_button>	
         	<prev_symbol>
         	     <!-- "prev" symbol (the arrow) -->
     		<defaults type="8" /> 
     	</prev_symbol>	
     	<!-- "next" button... same thing as "prev" -->
         	<next_button>
     		<defaults round_corners="0,25,0,25"/>			
     		<tweenover tint="0xFFFFFF" alpha="0.5"/>
     		<tweenout tint="0x000000" x="570" />
     	</next_button>
          <!-- "next" symbol... same thing as "prev" -->
         	<next_symbol>
     		<defaults type="8" /> 
     	</next_symbol>	
 
	</settings>  
     <!-- defining the slides -->  
     <slides>
          <!-- 1st slide -->  
          <slide>
               <!-- image url --> 
               <url>images/slide_1.jpg</url>
               <!-- image link --> 
               <link target="_blank">http://www.google.com/</link>
               <!-- image caption -->         
               <description>  
                    <!-- title -->     
                    <heading>This is my heading text</heading> 
                    <!-- description -->  
                    <paragraph>Paragraph text goes here!</paragraph>  
               </description>  
          </slide>
          <!-- transition -->
          <transition num="3" slicing="vertical" direction="down"/>
          <slide>
               <url>images/slide_2.jpg</url>
          </slide>		
          <!-- transition -->
          <transition num="3" slicing="vertical" direction="down"/>
          <slide>
               <url>images/slide_3.jpg</url>
          </slide>
          <!-- transition -->
          <transition num="4" direction="right" shader="flat" />
          <slide>
               <url>images/slide_4.jpg</url>
          </slide>
          <!-- transition -->
          <transition num="4" direction="left" shader="flat" />
          <slide>
               <url>images/slide_5.jpg</url>
          </slide>
          <!-- transition -->
          <transition num="4" direction="right" shader="none" />
     </slides>
</cu3er>

And this is the result: Read more

Flash Decompiler Trillix review

When you compile a Flash project, you know you create a swf file.

Such file is created according to the SWF File Format Specification so you can create your IDE and develop your Flash projects without using the official Adobe Flash CS4 package.

Since you can compile your own swf file, there is also a way to decompile it.

Flash Decompiler Trillix is the most advanced tool to convert swf to fla, with full support of Flash 10 and AS3.

Legal and ethical dilemma

As you must know, different Countries have different laws about copyrights. Even Wikipedia does not provide enough information about reverse engineering legality.

On the ethical side, you should respect developers’ work and don’t try to decompile their projects and “get inspired” from their code or use their graphics.

But it would be a big hypocrisy saying I’d never take a look to someone else’s secrets. If I could access to Coca-Cola formula or Google’s PageRank algorithm, I would.

Definitively. Read more

Centralize your Flash gaming life with GamerSafe

I have to say, I spent more than a couple of minutes to find a title for this post. I wanted to write something like “[do stuff] with GamerSafe” but there are so many things you can make with it… in the end I gave up and used the official “Centralize your Flash gaming life”. Shame on me.

Let me talk about GamerSafe

The service allows players to enrich their gaming experience and developers and publishers to earn money out of it.

Let’s see its features in detail

PLAYERS

GamerSafe is a free service for players looking for a better gaming experience. The most important feature allows you to save games, highscores and achievements in a cross-site way. This means you can play a game on Kongregate, save it and continue playing on Newgrounds. All the achievements will be kept in one place, so you are free to play anywhere and be sure your hard-gained rewards bill be saved no matter where you are playing.

Completing tasks and quests will make you earn GamerPoints you can spend in shops to get new items and rewards. Moreover, you can buy GamerGold with real money and use them to unlock exclusive content that will lead to more achievements.

If you think players play games for pure fun no matter the achievements, maybe you should consider the 2.5 billion Xbox Achievements unlocked.

DEVELOPERS

Developers can add all players features in their game, giving players a reason more to play their games and getting more gameplays. They can also earn money when a player purchases items with GamerGold, with a 60% revenue share. Higher than the average one.

Moreover, developers can automatically split the revenue share with co-authors or sponsors.

PUBLISHERS

Publishers earn 10% of all transactions made by games played on their sites, but the really important feature is having a unique system handling points and achievements should reduce the gap between the ordinary arcade site and the achievement-enabled site like Kongregate.

I thought a video could give you a better idea about the system I am playing Swordless Ninja, I purchased an item with my GamerPoints and if you have a little patience (normally I play better but… you know… the camera…) you’ll see me unlocking an achievement.

That’s all at the moment, but I will try the API in my next game in order to make some tutorials and share my experience with you.

Create a Flash game in minutes with PlayCrafter

Today I am going to talk about a revolutionary way to make quality Flash games: PlayCrafter.

I must admit I am overhelmed by the enormous amount of options of this tool, but I’ll try to be as much clean as I can in my review.

Tired of making online games? Make a game online

First, PlayCrafter is an online tool. You don’t need to install any software in your computer. And this is the first great feature, because this means you don’t even need a computer to make a Flash game, you can just sit in an internet cafè and make your game in a matter of minutes.

The power of drag & drop

In PlayCrafter, you don’t need to write a single line of code. You just drag and drop elements to the stage, designing your level in a few clicks.

Any element has its own features, so a turret will automatically fire, a car will skid, a space trooper will jump and fire bouncing bombs, and so on.

The engine that handle physics is the famous Box2D so expect accurate physics simulation.

New elements are added frequently so you’ll never run out of ideas.

You can even edit your element or import your own graphics.

The Community

There is a quite big community behind PlayCrafter. You can play, rate and even edit games made by other players.

When you game receives a good feedback from the community, you can export your Flash game and publish it on game portals

The price

PlayCrafter is free to use, but you can pay a monthly fee ($4.95) to upgrade your account to “Premium” and unlock exclusive features such as raising the limit of levels to 100 and exporting the games to Flash portals.

Moreover, some assets in the game cost an a mount of Pips, the PlayCrafter‘s currency. You can buy Pips with real money or you can have for free if your refer users.

The limits

At the moment, the most important limits are the fixed stage size and the lack of scrolling. In my opinion, if PlayCrafter guys do not add more and more assets this will cause a large number of games with no difference among them.

Monetization

I am going to test the monetization of this tool very soon, meanwhile play Matcheroo to see a nice game made with this tool.

Final considerations

I strongly suggest to try PlayCrafter even if you are an experienced developer… you know… at school or at work you can’t install Flash… so why don’t you make a game between a task and another?

Expect a game made with this tool very soon…

Apply amazing filters to your photos with Virtual Photographer

If you are looking for a software that lets you instantly apply high quality, professional photographic styles to your digital images with just one click, then optikVerve Labs ‘ virtualPhotographer is the software you need.

This free package comes in two versions: as a Photoshop plugin or as a standalone software.

I tested the PS plugin and that’s what I think about it:

First, on the official site you will find virtualPhotographer is compatible with Photoshop CS3 and older

But I successfully installed (and used) it on my CS4 Master Collection version. Read more

Next Page →