Hello,
I’ve just finished the exhaustive coverage of the ActionScript 3.0 language under Essential Actionscript 3.0 by Colin Moock (O’Reilly Media), and am interested in designing a multi-user flash game, with 3D interfacing.
I need some direction. I know nothing about servers, or server-side scripting, but I imagine that to achieve the goal of my project, I will have to implement either or both. It’s my intention to enable thousands of users to use either a stand-alone flash player, or preferably the web-browser flash client to communicate with the server in a similar fashion that Lord of Ultima offers. (Updates to the flash-client based on persistent values in the database?). What is the best approach for doing this, and what resources/documentation do you recommend?
Second, while I can begin to implement the design of my game in a 2D interface, I will eventually want to (or perhaps, do first) implement my design around a 3D interface. I have taken a look at some 3D related projects such as Sandy 3D and papervision3D, (Sandy displays some demos that appear to offer what I need), but because of my programming inexperience, I have no clue which direction I should look.
I would prefer to avoid beginning the programming of my flash game until I have an understanding of the server and 3D related topics necessary for the implementation of my game, even if that requires me to purchase and read any number of additional books.
Please recommend a solution, or documentation that caters to my project in either case, or both!
Thank you,
Michael
(Using CS3, Flash Authoring Tool)