There is a an exciting movement in the world of indie and professional film and television that completely changes the landscape for small and indie producers; cinematographers are choosing HDSLR picture cameras to shoot their productions.

Yes, you read correctly – using a picture camera to shoot movies.

The above video shows a cinematographer who shoots CSI Miami on a Canon 7D – a camera which will run you a little under $2000, with lens. A show like CSI Miami can afford almost any camera and the fact that a high budget show chooses a camera like this shows that they are more than capable of making a AAA image. And he’s not alone in Hollywood, the Canon 5D was used on the season finale of House.

The quality of image is nothing short of stunning and it makes independent film making more affordable than ever before.

Brilliant! Time to make a film.

The single greatest thing about the techno-creative world that we live in – is that the only major barrier stopping anyone from creating and sharing is action.

Have you always wanted to make a book – an insane book, 300 full color pages of the photo’s from your childhood?

What if you wanted to make a font, out of your handwriting?

Or if you wanted to make custom pieces for your action figures?

Or are you crazy enough to make your own car?

The previously closed-off world of manufacturing, distribution and creation are available to almost anyone and are becoming more open each and every day.

Do you have a dream to create something?

What’s stopping you?

On Dec 1st, 2009, I hadn’t written a line of code since high school, way back in 1992. High School computer programming was done in BASIC and was taught by the drama instructor. It wasn’t exactly a solid programming foundation.

I knew that 2010 was the year I would go full time with Ninja Robot Dinosaur, making Flash games on my own. But without the ability to program, there wasn’t a lot I could do.

I needed to learn how to program Flash games – and fast.

Not only did I need to learn how to make them, I wanted to learn the right way. No mad hacks weak-sauce AS2 code that runs through some miracle of weirdness – I wanted to learn to write proper OOP code.

Dec 2009 was not going to be an easy month. I was in the middle of moving from the east coast of Canada to the west coast (Canada is really big), I was also working over-time, finaling Gundead Defense for iPhone and getting a milestone ready for a Wii game I was working on at Longtail Studios. For most people, relocating a family while crunching at work would be enough – but I thought ‘What the hell, I’m going to learn to program ActionScript 3 too.’

I set a sizable goal for myself – complete one AS3 Flash tutorial a day for 30 days.

I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

This isn’t called ‘Boot Camp’ for nothing. It isn’t easy. Expect to spend 2-5 hours per tutorial (depending on the scale of the tutorial, your own experience and debugging ability).

Learning to program is like learning to speak a new language. There will be late nights, very late nights and a few early mornings.

Step 1: Get your Software.

Download Flash and Flash Builder. Both have free trials and many tutorials are written so that you need one or the other.

If you are on a PC, you can get FlashDevelop for free. FlashDevelop is a suitable replacement for Flash Builder and many developers prefer it over Flash Builder.

Step 2: Beginner Tutorials

The AS3 101 Tutorials by Dru Kepple are a great way to get your feet wet with the fundamentals of programming.

Tutorial Tip: Sometimes, when doing tutorials, there are typos. If you have completed everything and it’s still not working, don’t be afraid to download the demo code and compare it to your code.

Each tutorial covers a fundamental aspect of programming and gives you a project to complete based on the lesson.

AS3 101 – Variables
AS3 101 – Functions
AS3 101 – Branching
AS3 101 – Arrays
AS3 101 – Loops
AS3 101 – The Display List
Optional – AS3 101 – XML

The AS3 101 Tutorials will help you get oriented with coding in Flash and will give you a basic understanding of the building blocks of programming.

Tutorials – 6

Tutorial Tip: Cutting and pasting the code doesn’t teach you anything. It’s best to type in the code yourself. Not only will this force you to read every line of code, it will help you in finding typos – a handy skill to have when it comes to debugging your own original code.

Step 3. Get your book on.

Even with all of the awesome tutorials available online for free, I still recommend working with a book or two. Online tutorials frequently have typos that can have you bashing your head against the wall (this comes from experience), while most books from reputable tech publishers are thoroughly proof-read and tested. This can save you a lot of agony.

These are the books that I found most helpful:

Get it on Amazon.ca

An easy read and a fantastic starting point for people who have no idea what they are doing when it comes to programming games. It has very little to do with ‘Design’ and really focuses on getting you up and running writing AS3 code and understanding the basics.

Tutorials – 5

Get it on Amazon.ca

A fantastic reference book, handy for looking up information. Not game focused, but very thorough, easy to read and infinitely useful.

If you order these books right away, chances are they’ll be on your doorstep after you’ve finished the AS3 101 tutorials in Step 2.

Step 4: Beginner Game Tutorials

FlashGameTuts is both a blessing and a curse.

On the plus side, you get to build the basics of some core games – breakout, shooter, platformer and tower defense. On the downside, the code isn’t the cleanest, the comments aren’t the best, there are frequent typo’s and some functions don’t have any tutorial elements.

note: Some links to source files are broken on FlashGameTuts – but the correct links can be found on the creators homepage: http://www.mrsunstudios.com/tutorials/

Flash Game Tuts – Breakout
Flash Game Tuts – Winter Bells
Flash Game Tuts – Rhythm Game
Flash Game Tuts – Vertical Shooter
Flash Game Tuts – Platfomer
Flash Game Tuts – Tower Defence

Tutorials – 6

Doing these tutorials was a huge turning point in learning to program. Not only was I finally making games, the errors in the tutorials forced me to pay more attention to what I was doing and taught me how to debug. Prepare for frustration, but it’s definitely worth the effort.

Step 5 – Let’s Meet Emanuele

Emanuele Feronato is a wonderful human being and his contributions to the Flash game scene cannot be understated. One day, I will meet him and buy him many beer.

Emanuele’s blog has many year’s worth of tutorials on making Flash games, both AS2 and AS3. He is especially adept at taking a popular game and building a prototype of that game with his own code.

Most of Emanuele’s tutorials are not thoroughly commented, but they give you a great idea of how to tackle tons of different game mechanics in Flash. The tutorials are also great for learning how to read code.

Tutorial Tip: I like to print out tutorials and read them the night before I do them. This helps me wrap my head around the whole tutorial. At the very least, I recommend reading the whole tutorial and making sure you understand the intent of the tutorial before opening Flash and building the game.

We’re going to go through 10 of Emanuele’s Tutorials. Here are the ones I did, but feel free to search the site and see if there are tutorials of games that are more interesting to you. Just make sure to do the AS3 version of the tutorial.

Make a Game Like Cirplosion
Build a Game Like Sproing
Create a Game Like Snowflakes
Chronotron Prototype
How to Use a Flash Tutorial to Make Your Own Game

Emanuel’s site is also a fantastic source for anyone looking at working with Box2D and Flash. (Box 2D is a physics engine for Flash). Here is a great starting point with Box2D:

Box 2D for Absolute Beginners Pt 1
Box 2D for Absolute Beginners Pt 2
Creation of a Flash Artillery Game with Box2D
Box2D Rope
Platform Game Basics Using Box2D

Tutorials – 10

The last group of tutorials focuses on the excellent set of game libraries from Adam Atomic called Flixel.

As I said in Flash Tactic’s post, I’m a big believer in using libraries like Flixel or Box2D to get your game up and running quickly.

Flixel for Absolute Beginners
Seifer Tim’s Flixel Tutorial
Multiple Rooms in Flixel

note: Flixel is a frequently updated library – and as such, the tutorials run the risk of being outdated. In this case, either check the Flixel forums for help (the Flixel community is nothing short of awesome) or, go through the excellent Flixel Documentation and see if you can solve the problem on your own.

While the BootCamp method is no replacement for an actual education in computer science, it did take me from a ‘White Belt’, not knowing anything about code to a ‘Yellow Belt’, able to read other people’s code and having a general idea of how to make things happen in a Flash game with code in a month.

It exposed me to multiple methods of programming and syntax so that I could figure out which ones worked best for me.

Best of luck in your Boot Camp. If you find any other additional tutorials are helpful links, please put them below in the comments and if you make it throught the boot camp, it’d be awesome if you could let me know.

Good luck!

Keep in mind that most of these tricks are ridiculous on their own, but when you mix it with another ridiculous trick – well, that’s just not right. Not you mention that you can just tell they had a blast filming this.

TERRY & AARON MIX FROM ODYSSEYBMX.COM

In the traditional games industry, we are so tied to the business model of “Putting a game on a box on a shelf” that the simple idea that money can be made from games in any other way is completely outlandish. The real “radicals” in the traditional industry are doing ‘digital download’ on XBLA and WiiWare.

But the times, they are a changing. And I love free stuff and I believe that the future of entertainment media is that everything we create will ultimately be available for free in some way, shape or form.

Free: The Future of a Radical Price

While I was on the free bandwagon long before Chris Anderson released his book Free, Anderson helped me cement my ideas and gave me the courage to move forward with my dream of being an indie developer.

I believe that the future of digital media is free. I make digital media for a living and also like having a roof over my head and food in my belly. WIth all of this considered, I decided it was time for a change of tactics in how I approach the business of video games.

I asked my self (and continue to ask myself): What can a game developer do to make a living if their games are free?

Flash and the web are wonderful and fantastic in this regard and in this article I’m going to dip my toes into a few different ways a free Flash game can make money.

Let’s start off with the ‘old guard’ of revenue for Flash games – Sponsorship and Advertising.

1. Sponsorship
Sponsorship and exclusive site licenses are the traditional method that Flash developers who have been making a living doing Flash games have relied on to pay the bills. Fundamentally, it involves putting a splash screen at the start of your game that directs your players to a video game portal site.

If you play a lot of Flash games, names like Armor games, King.com, Kongregate and Addicting Games are probably very familiar.

The process for sponsorships is relatively simple. The developer either:
a) Posts their game to flashgamelicense.com and lets potential suitors bid on the game and discuss sponsorship options.
b) Contacts the sponsors directly through cold-calls or previously existing relationships.

Once the sponsorship deal is in place (ranging from $100-$45,000 with potential for performance bonuses)
the developer puts the splash screen in and any other logo placement that’s been arranged and they release the game.

The sponsor will usually feature it on their site, which can drive a boatload of traffic to your game. In addition the sponsor will often re-distribute your game to other Flash portals.

The average sponsor price for a highly rated game is around $5000. This means that you can eek out a living on sponsorships if you can make a great game every couple of months. It’s not very lucrative, but it’s a living. (High end games can be very lucrative Steambirds was recently offered $45,000 for sponsorship)

The one occasional bad side of sponsorship is that some sponsors are hesitant to allow other revenue streams in your game. Many sponsors have been very frank about their refusal of micro-transactions and advertising in the games they sponsor. I understand and appreciate where they are coming from, but I believe that this attitude enables portals like Kongregate which have a more co-operative and open minded attitude towards the business end to get better games.

For more information on sponsorship, check out flashgamelicense.com. On their blog, FGL also has a great review of their statistics from 2008-2009.

2. Advertising

In addition to sponsor logos at the start of a game, most frequent players will recognize the ads that play during load screens.

Through providers like Mochi Media and Heyzap, developers can put ads in their game to generate revenue. In most cases, it’s a VERY simple task to implement the ads.

Advertising revenue is measured in eCPM which measures the average amount of advertising revenue generated, by region, per 1000 gameplays.

The average eCPM is pretty low – between .15 and 1.00, but it can be higher, depending on the ad and the region it’s playing in.

What this means is that if your game is played 1000 times a day, you might make a dollar. Maybe.

But if your game is played 100,000 times a day (not too unusual in the Flash game world), you can make $50/day.

If you make a game that is successful this can help put food on the table. If not, it still might pay for a trip to Starbucks a couple of times a week.

3. Microtransactions

Microtransactions (or MTX) are widely considered to be the key to the future of financial success of Flash games and it’s hard to argue with the success Zynga and many other Facebook game developers have had with MTX and virtual goods.

The big barrier for indie/solo developers and MTX in the past has been the hassle of security, database and payment processing. This has been getting easier and easier every day since Mochi Coins were announced a almost a year ago. Since then Gamersafe and Heyzap have introduced simple and easy payment solutions (in return for a 30-40% share of the revenue) and some portals, like Kongregate have introduced their own currency system.

For developers that want to be a bit more hands on with databases and payments, Super Rewards and Paypal have both been very active in reaching out to small and indie developers in exchange for a much smaller piece of the pie (4-10%).

The numbers are still a little inconsistent, but developers are reporting that 1-4% of their customers use MTX. eCPM reports range from $1.50-$20, and I believe this has a lot to do with the design of your game and suitability for MTX.

A lot of developers are cramming MTX onto a non-MTX game and if you are using MTX as a business model, the core of your game design needs to keep that in mind.

If you have an eCPM of $4.00 and your game is played 100,000 times/day, that’s $400.00/day. That’s pretty good.

4. Premium Digital Download
While this is another model that many portals frown upon because it takes the players away from their site to play your game (but you can sometimes negotiate sharing a percentage of sales with the portal), the option of extending a game by offering a paid version of the game has been very lucrative for some developers.

The paid version is generally priced between $10-15 can range from a level builder, additional content, HD content or a radically different game. Fantastic Contraption, VVVVVV and Now Boarding have all used this method.

An interesting evolution of the premium download is the premium unlock, where the player pays a one time fee to unlock the whole game. VVVVVV which is available as a download, is also available as a not-so-micro-transaction unlockable on Kongregate and Captain Forever lets you unlock Captain Successor for $20.

5. Merchandice

The final option that I see very few people doing in the game space is creating t-shirts, toys and other merch to sell. To me, this feels like a no-brainer, especially in free-to-play. The inspiration comes from the webcomic world where Penny-Arcade, PvP, XKCD, Dr. McNinja, Diesel Sweeties and dozens more make a large portion of their living by giving their comic away for free and selling t-shirts and other physical merchandise to their fans.

Dr. McNinja

The interesting thing about most merchandise is that the majority has nothing to do with the webcomic itself, rather, the products reflect the interests of their readers. Penny Arcade’s readers are fans of video games, so most of their merchandise reflects this.

I believe that the potential of merchandise in the Flash game space is tremendous. Some people are strongly opposed to micro-transactions regardless of how much they love your game, but wouldn’t have a problem dropping $20 on a t-shirt.

Webcomic creators report a conversion of 3-5% from reader to paying customer with an average order of $25. Because Flash games have a more global audience (and one that can’t fathom the idea of a t-shirt costing $20), a 1% conversion rate might be more suitable to Flash game players.

Merchandise might be scary for people who have never printed a shirt before, but it’s extremely easy, the internet is filled with tutorials and your local screenprinter should be more than happy to help you get set up.

Putting it all Together

Five simple, easy and cheap ways to generate revenue from a free Flash game.

On their own, each has the potential to generate a livable (in some cases, barely-livable) wage for their creator if it achieves a moderate level of success. If a game is a tremendous success (see Fantastic Contraption, Desktop Tower Defense and Farmville), they can be VERY lucrative for their creators.

And just like any other part of the game industry, a game isn’t successful unless it is fun, polished and appealing. In other words – your game needs to be good. A lot of people have approached me with concern about the HUGE amount of ‘basement weekend’ games that look bad, play worse and have audio that makes you grate your teeth. The nice part of the Flash world is that it has a very democratic way of allowing the best games to rise above the rest. Portals have become surprisingly effective at rating games and promoting the ones with the best ratings.

Sources:

Steambirds by the Numbers – Andy Moore

Love Letter to Flash pt. 1 and pt. 2 by Dan Cooke

Looking Back at 2009: Trends and Statistics by Flash Game License

Panel: Money in Flash: Next Gen Monetization – Flash Game Summit

Panel: Monetizing Your Game Outside of Sponsorship – Flash Game Summit

Panel: Everything About Sponsorship and Licensing – Flash Game Summit

The Ups and Downs of Getting a Premium Flash Game to Success – Flash Game Summit

Webcomics.com – the business and art of making webcomics

Other Flash Tactics Posts:
Flash Tactics #1: The Most Accessible Game Platform in the World.

All games are playable in 10 seconds. Which mean, including loading, you’ll be able to play all of them in under 10 minutes.

Seriously – you have nothing better to do on your coffee break.

Hit it!

MACNEIL COMMERCIAL – TRAVIS COLLIER AT NIGHT from Mike McKinlay on Vimeo.

Take a look and Enjoy:

More of Dan’s thoughts on game design and the industry can be found on his highly recommended blog Lost Garden.

Ray Ardent: Science Ninja is an episodic 2D action-platformer where you run, jump, slide and dive your way through dangers that only a man who is a scientist AND a ninja can survive.

Doctor Ray Ardent is a man of adventure, a man of the world, but most importantly, he is a man of Science. When the world is threatened by weird and mysterious threats too dangerous for traditional forces, Ray Ardent is the only man who can save the day.

Dr. Ardent charges into battle wearing his Science Gi, the most technologically advanced piece of clothing on the planet, and fights with the support of his elite squad of Science Scouts.

You can follow Ray Ardent on Twitter @RayArdent.

Become a fan of Ninja Robot Dinosaur on Facebook

Ray Ardent: Science Ninja is built using the free Flixel game development libraries.

And now – Screenshots: