Just to get an idea of what everybody is thinking, lets have a Flash 8 Poll, heres the million dollar question.
Which of the new Flash 8 features showcased publically at conferences by Macromedia are you most excited about?
A summary of some of the new features can be found on the Flash Team blog.
The fine folks at Crashmedia in Canada have put together a very realistic 3d racing game for Honda, checkout the skids and physics. You will need to register to play the game. I recommend you use the free services of mailinator to stop you from recieving spam.
Geoff Gaudreault the developer behind the top class slideroll application has his own Flash Blog and its available now for you to read. Check out neurofuzzy for some interesting Flash related reading.
Preloaded have recently updated the BBC Spooks website with an amazingly well executed, addictive spy games experience, that consists of over 16 games and 10 training exercises. The games are simple yet addictive and they are all aesthetically pleasing and realistic. Hours of fun can be had here, but it is also worth a look purely from a development standpoint as an excellent example of how things should be done. Check out the operating system interface which is really easy to use and the video messages that guide you through the games. Classic stuff.
While im on the subject, im a little concerned that these guy’s are losing the new media magic of the millenium years, everything that hoxton square stands for. Linkdup favourites havent been updated for longer than i can remember and the guy’s are turning all elitist when it comes to hiring people. There arent many companies around with the young, vibrant, fun attitude towards work anymore. I can only name two or three, these guy’s being one of them. There used to be loads, Digit are still with it, Victoria Real have lost it, I do hope Preloaded dont lose it too. Or, maybe im just jealous because they wont hire me.
Mike Downey the Technical Product Manager for Macromedia Flash has shed some more information on the next generation Flash Player; Version 8 codenamed Maelstrom and the next version of the Flash IDE (Authoring Tool), codenamed 8ball. Read it here. I think that we should all think of ourselves as very lucky to know so much about this exciting new product at such an early stage.
Andre Michelle has been busy working on a very impressive isometric racing game, how cool is this.
So, i got back the other day from an excellent trip to Holland for the Media Elements conference. It was a great experience and as usual i had fun hanging out and drinking Grolsch with the usual crowd:
It was also really nice to meet these guy’s for the first time:
- Wild chick, very funny, speaks loads of languages
And heres the tribe as we walked through the ground of Van Twinkel’s castle in the Twente District of Holland:
Now ive had time to reflect and caught up on my sleep, i thought id give everybody a little glimpse into my trip seems as though i didnt have a camera to take pictures. This is the first part of my little story, tommorow i will write about the second day of the trip…
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A while ago the kind people at Electric Rain decided to let me unleash my thoughts on their latest release of Swift 3D. I have been way too busy and so one of my fellow authors, Alias, a Flash Games Developer, has given the program a good once over for me and i have to say hes done a damn fine job…
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I wont be sleeping too much this evening as i have a 7am flight tommorow morning to Amsterdam, will have to be there for 5am and it takes near enough two hours to get to the airport from my neck of the woods. Dont ask! So when i arrive expect to see atleast one zombiefied kind of character moping around with a bright red Macromedia Flash MX laptop bag. Im heading over there for the Media Elements conference which looks like its going to be heaps of fun! I havent done Amsterdam for about 8 years… so im going to enduldge myself in everything it has to offer now im a little more grown up 
Ariaware have been very busy lately, they are doing great things for us flash geeks. Recently they released an open-source Rich Internet Application Framework named ARP, which is a pattern based, structured code base written with Actionscript 2, that makes it simple to create scalable and maintanable Flash Applications. Form Based development is also possible although i personally would stay well away from Forms for various reasons im sure you all know by now. Definetley worth a look and you could even help take this framework further.
There seems to be some confusion surrounding the purpose of Ariaware Optimizer and how it works. So to clear up the confusion, heres the full run-down straight from the source.
Macromedia have released some official information about Flash Player 8, codenamed Maelstrom. This and Josh Dura’s recent video from MAX 2004 which showcases amongst other things, the Flash 8 authoring tool codenamed 8ball, should get your tastes buds flowing.
Want to see your animations on television? We are currently seeking a Flash Character Animator on behalf of a client for a high profile project will be aired on terrestrial television in the uk. Interested? or need more information? Send your resumes to sean at flashjobs dot co dot uk.