How to make money in Flash Games

If you like developing flash games as fun or hobby, why not making money out of it? I have made a few flash games and I thought why not make money out of them.

Requirements to build flash games:

1. Adobe Flash. Of course flash games is made from Adobe Flash. It does cost quite a bit but is worth every penny if you know how to maximise it to its full extent. You can look for tutorials on other websites to learn how to make games such as Flashkit.

2. Knowledge in ActionScript. There are lots of tutorials just Google it if you have something you don’t know.

3. Very Good Graphics. You also need very good graphics, so the users will be addicted to the game and they.

6 Ways to make money in Flash Games:

1. Get it Sponsored

This is the most common way that game developers use to get money, If you don’t know what it is, it’s basically when a website owner of an online arcade site pays you to put their logo and a link to their site into your game. This way, they get more hits to their site, turning into revenue for them. Everybody wins, unless the game turns out to be awful, in which case only you would win. Visit Flash Game Sponsorship for more information on the subject. Also, Flash Game License is a free service which helps with the sponsorship process.

2. Self Host Your Games

Many arcade site owners are developers themselves, and make a lot of money by making their game only accessible on their site. They do this by site locking it. Money is earned through this method through the advertisements that are placed throughout the site. Probably the most successful application of this method was made by Ezone.com.

3. In-Game Advertisements

This form of money making is relatively new on the net, and has become very popular since its creation. The greatest part about this form of monetization is that you can usually use it along with one of the above methods. I myself haven’t had too much success with them (probably because my games aren’t the most popular), but if you really create an amazing game, you will definitely reap the benefits as time goes on, without doing any work. Here is a list of in-game ad services:

• Mochiads
• Game Jacket
• Newgrounds Flash API
• Big Wig Media
• CPM Star

There have also been rumors that Google would soon join this list.

4. Sell it Commercially

This is probably the toughest way to make money from your flash game. But, it also pays the most. I’m not too sure about the details, but you probably have to sign a contract even before you make your game. But then again, I don’t know for sure. Some companies that buy games include Cartoon Network and Candystand

5. Make a Premium Version of your Game

This method has become pretty successful for some games, but I don’t really recommend it. Gamers hate it when they have to pay money for anything. All of the other methods only require either webmasters or advertisers to pay.

6. Implement API’s

This is a very easy way to make money from your games. Some websites will pay you to implement their high score API’s into your game. Hallpass and Gamebrew are both offering money for implementation of their API’s.

List of AS2/AS3 Physics Engine

I collected some AS3 Physics Engine projects listed below. If you know others not in following list reply it please.

1. Box2DFlashAS3

Box2DFlashAS3 is an open source port of Erin Catto’s powerful c++ physics library Box2D.

2. WOW-Engine

a free AS3 open source physics engine written by Seraf ( Jérôme Birembaut ) capable to handle positions in a 3D environment.use Sandy library for all the 3D mathematical computations (matrix, 3D vector, plane). The inner architecture of the engine is also inspired by Sandy’s one.

It is built with many open source kits that are emerging. It can use any of the 3 major flash 3d engines (pv3d, sandy, away3d)

3. foam-as3

a two-dimensional rigid body physics engine written in ActionScript 3.0.

It is meant as an architectural and mathematical reference for developers interested in physics simulation in the area of game development or otherwise. It trades efficiency for modularity and extensibility.

Here is the author’s blog.

4. APE

APE (Actionscript Physics Engine) is a free AS3 open source 2D physics engine for use in Flash and Flex, released under the MIT License.

You can see two interest demo at here and here.

5. Motor Physics

Motor Physics is an open source 2D physics engine under the zlib/libpng license.

6. Revive

Revive is an open source 2D physics engine.You can download the source code from here.

7. Flade (Flash Dynamics Engine)

Flade (Flash Dynamics Engine) is an open source actionscript 2.0 library for simulating 2D physics using Verlet integration. It currently features rectangular, circular, & wheel primitives, spring & angular constraints, and surfaces composed of line segments, circles, & rectangles. It’s designed primarily for games with a goal of speed and ease of use, and is MTASC -strict compatible.

8. Fisix Engine

an Actionscript 3.0 physics engine built for game developers.

The fisix engine is a verlet based physics engine for flash written in Actionscript 3.0. This engine is aimed towards use in games and other relatively cpu intensive real-time applications.

9. glaze (browse source here)

a game and physics engine for Flash,core parts of the physics solver and collision system are based on the C physics engine Chipmunk.

My Top 5 Resources for Learning ActionScript 3

After having made the switch to AS3 about a couple of months ago I have to admit it was a huge pain for me to upgrade from AS2. It just helped by someone, who made the switch, so I can easily absorb the AS3. So keep reading and learn from someone who has made the switch, it’ll make in the end learning AS3 really will make your life easier.

5. Senocular’s Getting Started with ActionScript 3.0 in Adobe Flash CS3 Tutorial

Although Senocular states it’s still “a work in progress” this tutorial contains a ton of awesome info on learning AS3. The fifth page of the tutorial is particularly good as it gives a nice overview of classes for someone new to Object Oriented Programming. Probably the best first site you’ll want to read through for a good overview of AS3.

4. Kirupa’s ActionScript 3 Tip of the Day

Senocular makes the list again with his never-ending forum post of ActionScript 3 tips. Even though some of the tips are from 2006 they are still completely relevant today. I always learn something new whenever I skim through the pages.

3. gotoAndLearn()

Lee Brimelow is a great man. He spends his days creating videos showing you how to do things in Flash. And it’s not boring, irrelevant stuff either. It’s cool, useful stuff like using Papervision3D and Tweener. And best of all it’s completely free. Highly recommended.

2. Flash Help Documentation

The help documentation inside Flash is probably the most overlooked resource. Everything you need to know is right there and it’s written surprisingly well for a help file. Lots of examples are given showing actual code usage. I constantly see people posting on forums asking how to do things when a simple search in the help file would tell them everything they wanted to know. Need to know how the drawing API works? Just look it up! It’s all there. You can even view it online.

1. Google

This might sound stupidly obvious but honestly just searching on Google for what you immediately need to know is the best way to learn AS3. There are so many random blogs out there and forum postings just filled with great info about whatever you need to know. Instead of going to a specific website or picking up a certain book I always find myself just going to Google time and time again.

I know even a good programmer or the best programmer is in need of help or they need reference for anything. Just like I always thought once I became a good programmer I would just automatically know everything off the top of my head and I’d be able to just write programs straight through without referencing anything. I know it probably never will happen. Learning really is a never ending process. No matter how much you know you will constantly be thinking “What’s the best way to do this?”, “Is this even possible to do?” and “How have others solved this problem?”.

My best advice is keep practicing AS3, and start something converting some of your projects from AS2 to AS3. Even you don’t profit in practicing, but you gain experience and knowledge, which you’ll might use it someday, like me. My experience is if I need to know it to complete a project I’ll learn it – and I won’t stop until I get the solution in the problem, I keep searching and researching and reading. I bookmark the pages which is important to me, so I can open again and again, so I can always remember it. So if you wait until you “know” AS3 before taking on a AS3 project you’ll never do it. The right time to make the switch will never come. So just jump in and do it using the resources above as your guide.

- mykhel