Reddit mentions of Foundation Actionscript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move!

It depends on what you want to learn. Are you planning to do this as a hobby? Looking to eventually be a professional game developer? Etc.

C++ will teach you how everything works at a low level, and gives you a lot of control. This is really cool, and a great learning experience. However, as a beginner, having to write an entire 2D rendering engine just to draw a sprite is a lot of work and probably terribly confusing. It'll also take longer to make games. If you're going in for the hobby development in your spare time type of experience, it's not the best way to go.

C#/XNA is great in that it does a lot of the legwork for you, but doesn't try and outright give you everything - you still have to learn how to write animations/etc. using it. I highly recommend http://riemers.net/ as a tutorial. XNA will also easily let you do games on Windows Phone and Xbox 360, so if making an Xbox game is appealing, it's a great choice.

ActionScript 3 (i.e. Flash) is actually really straightforward to use. It gives you functionality for almost everything you'll need (drawing graphics, playing sounds, an event system, etc.), and will let your games run cross-platform. I recommend FlashDevelop if you're using Windows (though getting it set up initially can be a pain due to some weird issues with Java versions, etc.). I highly recommend http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Actionscript-3-0-Animation-Making/dp/1590597915 (though IIRC it assumes you at least know the basics of AS3 before using it - but if you have programming experience that shouldn't be hard to follow along with).

Java is pretty easy to get the hang of also, and is used for Android IIRC, so obviously games are using it.

Also, if you ever get stuck on anything or need help, feel free send me an email or something - even if it's just that you're stuck on some annoying bug or have a question on how to approach an algorithm.

[Read this for a light intro to AS3] (http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-ActionScript-3-0-Animation-Making/dp/1590597915)

Read this for a more practical and in-depth look at more advanced programming / software design in Actionscript

Read this for a good idea on how to specifically develop a game

And the fighter is actually easier to code.

Good luck!

I wrote a library Doodle.js, in the examples I ported the book code from Making Things Move - which goes into more detail about how the examples work. That should get you going.

Also, Keith Peters used be the Flash genius. Check out his Making Things Move books http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Actionscript-3-0-Animation-Making/dp/1590597915. They maybe a bit complex for new Flash devs but you will be taught OOP from the start.

I started with Flash back in the late 90s. This is the book that really got me into creative coding and of course the bible of Flash animation by Robert Penner.

AS3 animation

great book on maths for animation...

For a basic introduction to the concepts of 3D, Keith Peters' Foundation Actionscript 3 Animation has some really cool chapters on creating ground-up 3D and is in your native language. The AdvancED version, released afterwards, surprisingly lacked any chapters on 3D.

I followed it recently and did this (extremely simple) proof of concept following only the text in that book and sprinkling a little of my own flavor to it. If you'd like the source, PM me.

You'll have to learn how to translate it to the Molehill APIs and the new datatypes (float, float4, Vector, Matrix3D) but I highly recommend it. After doing the earlier demo, I've gotten my head around it and have been getting right into the molehill stuff.

Edit: Note that the demo above is not in molehill, nor is the book, but translating from one to the other isn't the difficult part.

I'm still trying to learn myself, but I have these two books (among a few others). I'm still working through them, so I can't give a full review, but I've seen these highly recommended from several people.

http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Game-Design-Flash-Foundations/dp/1430218215/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394050917&sr=1-1&keywords=foundation+flash

http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Actionscript-3-0-Animation-Making/dp/1590597915/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394051018&sr=1-1&keywords=foundation+actionscript


These will give you the basics to help you move on to more advanced topics. You won't be making extremely complicated games with these, but it's a start. I've tried going the online video route and youtube tutorials, and it's too scattered for me. I spent more time bouncing through different videos than I did learning. I really like the book process because it gives you a clear path of learning.

There is a more updated version of the Foundation Game Design with Flash (think it's called Game Design with ActionScript), but I heard it's not quite as good, although I haven't directly compared and contrasted them.

Also, make sure you buy these used. You'll end up spending maybe $15 total, which is way cheaper than a month watching videos on Lynda.

I think this is the bible of Actionscript Physics, Foundation Actionscript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move