Director Tutorials

 

Dean's Director FAQ - REFERENCES

Another FAQ exists at MediaMacros, which is new and extensive.

Tutorials and Resources

Question: Does anybody know good sites with free Director tutorials?
Answer:

Dean's Director Tutorials
You can find further Director resource info from this page of links:
Dean's Director Resources All the Director sites indexed and listed by me.
MediaMacros: Has good resource of info.
Director Online: Has lots of useful articles and exercises to learn specific tricks and techniques in Director.
ToxicToy Director Video Tutorials: Charles Parcell's video demonstrations on various aspects of Director. Introduces basic concepts in a very clear way.

Adobe Pages
Director Support Center
Index of Show Me tutorial movies
Index of Tutorial Articles
Director Sample Movies

There are also CDs/DVDs that you can buy with Director video tutorials. For these type of products, look at the CD/DVD Training link in my Director resources page.

Games

Question: Any good sites with info on creating games?
Answer:
General Game news, info and examples
Gamasutra: lots of game info from new and articles about game design
3dgate: 3D and games news and info
Adobe / Macromedia's Inspirational games demo links
Mark Gallear's Game Design Page: Computer game design issues

Great Articles on Game Design:
The Art of Computer Game Design by Chris Crawford (1982)
Game Design: The Essence of Computer Games By Geoff Howland
Simplification By Ernest Adams (1999)
The Role of Architecture in Video games By Ernest Adams (2002)

Articles on low-polygon modeling for 3D games

The Basics of Designing and Creating Low Polygon Models
Low Polygon Modeling for 3D Computer Games: Modeling a Light Post with 3 Different Polygon Limits in 3D Studio MAX
Creating Low Polygon Characters - Max Tutorials
Modeling a low polygon head with Max

General Director related info and articles
MediaMacros - has tutorials, code and other useful game creation info.
Mediamacros - Creating a Game Environment: technote on games like Riven or Myst - type of game where you walk around, pick up stuff and solve puzzles
Creating 3D Games using Director 8.5
DOUG - Pacman-style games in Director
DOUG - Saving game states with objects
DOUG - Lists for Item collection in a Game
DOUG - Arrow Keys for Game Play

Programming
A good introduction to OO programming with Lingo is: http://brennan.young.net/Edu/Lingvad.html
This guy has a very good approach to lingo. Create your own invader game, step by step, and everything's explained.
Another good article on OOP is available at: DOUG - Thinking in an OOP way.

There's a mailing list set up just for Director game developers you can join here:
http://nuttybar.drama.uga.edu/mailman/listinfo/dirgames-l/

Books
Advanced Lingo for Games by Gary Rosenzweig - very good, with lots of useful examples and it comes with a CD. This book is now available as free in an online format.
Real Time Interactive 3D Games: Creating 3D Games in Macromedia Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio - great book on Director 3D and game development