Because the modifications are so radical, there will be next to no chance that any existing FlashPunk projects will be compatible and you will probably have to almost relearn many aspects of the library. When the new version is released (probably quite a while, yet) it will surely attract a host of new users with the greater range of useful features.

For more insight into the future of FlashPunk, see this interview with Chevy, conducted by Digital Tools.

Cakewalk 7000 (Jonathan Zhao)

Cakewalk 7000 is  a short and simple think-outside-the-box type platformer. The objective is to deliver a cake (which you carry throughout the adventure) to Princess Hart (don’t make any presumptions, trust me). The platformer bears smooth, cartoony graphics and puzzles are initialised via messages left on the floor from the princess. Cakewalk 7000 was created for this year’s Global Game Jam and as it is Jonathan’s first complete game, it is a great achievement.

pitan et ali IV (noobjam)

This weirdly named arcade game is a quick one-on-one shooter based in a small arena. With your chosen player you must defeat the opponent simply by firing bullets across the screen to the simple AI; each match involves two battles where the characters are positioned on alternate sides of the arena. It is very difficult, even with the given 4-point handicap, but the characters are well sprited.

TapesTry (Marcos D)

TapesTry is an interesting puzzler kind of game, created to meet the theme of ‘rejection’ in the latest Experimental Gameplay contest. You play as a Quality Assurance monitor and must reject all tapestries that don’t meet a specified similarity to the ‘Target Tapestry’. The game becomes exponentially difficult as the tapestries become more and more complex. The graphics are nothing special and there’s no music but it’s a unique experience that puzzle fans may enjoy.

• FP.delta property temporarily removed and suspended due to bugs. May re-include in a later version.
• Added collidePoint() and collideRect() to Entity, which allows an Entity to check if it is intersecting a particular point or rectangle.
• Added collidePoint() and collideRect() to World, which does the same as the Entity functions of the same name, but will check all Entities of the collision-type and return the first that collides.
• Fixed a problem with Camera which was effecting draw positions in the render loop.
• Cleaned up some minor redundancies in the regular collide() and collideWith() checks in Entity.

The new rectangle collision functions will certainly make mouse-based menus and the like more intuitive to program.

Download version 0.83

This comes after Chevy posted earlier in the week, expressing his desire to contribute to what would essentially be a central website for Flash development, particularly the coding and design side. This wouldn’t be specific to any Flash library. Discussions are still undergoing between Chevy and Adam, who has asked for ideas from the Flixel community.

Reception has been universally positive, practically eliminating any doubt that this will happen.

• There’s a quick fix in Tilemap so now you can pass a null bitmap into its constructor to have an invisible Tilemap (equivalent of the Grid class from Version 0.74).
• Input Now has checkKey(), pressedKey(), and releasedKey() for checking input for single keyCode values instead of input names. You do not need to define input if you are going to use these functions, you can just check for them at any time.
• FP now has a set of functions for working with seeded pseudo-random numbers.

Download version 0.81

• Collision amendments – Pixel-perfect Entity collisions are now improved for bitmap masks. Collision-related functions have been slightly altered for more simplicity and logicality.
• More Entity functions – getNearestClass(), getNearestType() and distanceTo() have been added to the Entity class. This will simplify the implementation of these calculations tenfold. Entity recycling functions are also now integrated.
• Enhanced Tilemaps – As well as the possibility of being much larger, Tilemap classes now have a variety of bitmap loading functions.
  
• Camera class – The camera (or ‘view’) is now a class of its own with movement and boundary functions.
• Font embedding – The text-related classes now use embedded fonts, while functionality with bitmap fonts have been suspended. This should make it easier for fonts to be used, customised and adapted.much
• Colour functions – Functions have been added so that colours can be created from RGB values, which is viewed as amore simple interpretation of colours.
• Better documentation – A docs page has been added to the website, where online ASDoc documentation is stored. This is much cleaner, organised and better commented. It can also be downloaded for offline reference.

Supplementary with the new version is a games page on the website showcasing most games which have already been created utilising the library. However, Chevy promises that the page is not fully finished and that he will update it when new games made with FlashPunk are released.

There are many more useful additions which you will no doubt find, making this a must-download for FlashPunk users. Chevy’s great efforts in bringing us more goodness should certainly be commended. We now look forward to more developments and to games utilising the new features found in version 0.8.

Download version 0.8

Pixel Runner 2 (Noel Berry)

Pixel Runner 2 is an in-dev bouncy side scrolling platformer where you must run quickly but cautiously before you come to an inevitable and explosive death. The platformer is a sequel port of Noel Berry’s original Game Maker version of Pixel Runner but this includes various improvements that make it much more fun to play. The graphics are consistently greyscale and pixelized; the overall look reminds me of Canabalt, a game created with Flixel. You should definitely check this out.

Ne Touchez Pas! (Jack Brockley)

Made by yours truly, Ne Touchez Pas! is another port from Game Maker. This time of the well-received Ne Touchez Pas series by Andrew McCluskey. The game features forty levels of intensive arcade game play, however you will likely not see them all because of its crazy difficulty. The graphics are plain black and white but these fit the simplistic dynamic. It also features some nice beaty music which I will authorise you to nod your head to.

Gnop (Bit Battalion)

Gnop is a critically acclaimed experimental play on the well-known pong concept. In a unique twist, you play as the ball. So very simple, as too are the monochromatic visuals. The game mainly requires the player to experiment and work out how to pass each level on their own. Gnop is very short but sweet and shows that you don’t need a massive RPG to have some engaging fun.

Here are the most prominent features of the new version, as described by Chevy Ray:

• TileMap class improved to allow for way, way larger TileMaps, added a loadFromArray function, and they have collision functions also.
• Improved collision speeds, pixel-perfect collisions now faster and also will collide properly with Grids and TileMaps.
• Camera is now a class of its own, not just a Point, and has a few functions. I plan on giving it customizable following behaviour, etc. as well. Thinking more on this first though.
• Default FlashPunk preloader.
• Exposing Entities’ collision rectangle and mask properties, so you can manipulate them yourself without using setCollisionRectangle().
• Regular text support for system and embedded TTF fonts.

A new feature of great interest to me that Chevy Ray hinted at including is a native function to rotate the view angle of the screen. This should have the same kind of functionality as the view_angle function in Game Maker.

With the amount of changes to the library, the new version is unlikely to be very compatible with version 0.74, however, it shouldn’t be too difficult to make the modifications required. No date has been set for the release of the new version but with Chevy Ray seemingly working very hard it shouldn’t be too long.

If you wish to suggest more features, you can post here.

Listen or download (34MB)

Thank you to Chevy Ray Johnston for creating such a wonderful library that will no doubt help many people get to terms with Flash development. Let the games begin!