Browse Free Libraries for Flash / Actionscript 3.0 Developers

    The appearance in 2006 of the third version of the ActionScript language significantly affected the development of the flash application market. The shift in emphasis from designers creating small flash applications to developing more complex software products required the involvement of an increasing number of professional programmers in the industry. Support for OOP, packages, namespaces, and other innovations gave rise to the creation of various universal and narrowly targeted libraries that serve as the basis for many projects.
    This article provides an overview of the most popular and useful libraries that can be a starting point for beginner flash developers, as well as prove useful to professionals.

    Website development on Flash / AS3


    Gaia

    Gaia is perhaps the most common platform for creating sites on AS3 and AS2. The open-source front-end framework is aimed at both professional developers and beginners.

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    Features:
    A simple API provides a relatively low entry threshold and greatly simplifies the creation of such basic things as navigation, preloaders, graphic elements management, etc. Implemented search engine optimization.
    Use Gaia: Mercedes Benz: AMG, Disney, Samsung, McDonald's and many others.

    Progression

    According to the developers on the official website of Progression , this framework, focused primarily on designers, is designed to fill a gap between HTML and Flash. A large set of ready-made tools and components allows you to create sites from scratch, without having programming skills.

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    Features : Automatic generation of HTML structures, support for Google Analytics. Progression Scene Editor allows you to create sites by simply dragging and dropping the necessary elements. Various development approaches (timeline-based or class-based), several methods of event management.
    Use Progression : Franck Muller and others.

    ASAP

    The AS3 open library for creating Rich Internet Applications is a set of practical solutions for the tasks that developers often face when creating flash applications. Official site: ASAP

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    Features: Unlike Gaia and Progression, where a complex application can be assembled by literally dragging the necessary elements with the mouse to the work area, ASAP is a set of classes that can easily be used in a new project. The developers have solved such standard tasks as managing video streams, downloaders, events, and others.
    Use ASAP: Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Volkswagen and others.

    Physical 2D Engines


    Ape

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    APE ( Actionscript Physics Engine ) is a free, open source, physics-based 2D engine for writing applications on AS3.

    Fisix

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    Free 2D engine with a lot of examples and tutorials for beginners. Well-documented, with a developed community of developers, focused on game designers. Official Website: Fisix

    Box2DFlashAS3

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    An open source physical 2D engine is a translation of the well-known Box2D library from C ++ to AS3. Earlier on a habr a more detailed article with examples was published .
    Official website: Box2DFlashAS3

    Conclusion


    This is just a brief overview of the main products that flash application developers should consider. All libraries have their own advantages and disadvantages and are well suited for solving only a certain range of problems. I plan to devote my next review to game and three-dimensional engines on Actionscript 3.0.

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