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[mcc]

So in the Game Maker 8 thread we had a couple days ago, I was making some sorta-offtopic posts wondering if it was possible to incorporate flash resources (sprites, animations etc) into a game made in something other than Flash (say a C++/SDL game). We discussed Haxe, which is cool but as I understand (?) is slightly different (it's a language that is capable of compiling to either .exes or flash files-- what I'm not sure about is whether the compiled .exes are able to use Flash graphics and features the same way the Flash exports are). What originally made me curious about this idea was the possibility of taking some of the obnoxious tasks you'd normally have to write a level editor or custom tool to do and offloading those tasks onto the Flash editor... or maybe the possibility of being able to collaborate with Flash artists I know, something I currently can't do because I lack ActionScript proficiency.

Anyway! Just wanted to follow up to post something I ran across: apparently the Super Meat Boy guys actually already created a tool for their own private use in porting Super Meat Boy (which was originally a Flash game) to Wii, that lets them do exactly this-- it seems to hack up Flash files into some other format that the graphics engine for the Wii version of their game knows how to use. It looks really cool.

I wonder how they did this-- is the Flash format openly documented?

[Kneecaps]

Do you just mean turning the vector images from swf files into png files?  Because that's pretty simple, and I could write you a tool for that in AS3 if you wanted.

Because of my lack of knowledge of "real" programming languages, I make all my level editors and game development tools with flash.

[mcc]

Really, that's very interesting. I guess I don't know enough about Flash to know how easy this stuff actually is.

It looks like they're doing basically what you describe, but with one or two extra steps:

1. Turn the vector images from swf files into png files
2. Jigsaw the png files together into one big texture atlas
3. Also export position and animation data so the program knows where to draw the PNGs

[Glaiel-Gamer]

scaleform

[Kneecaps]

I made it!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ziyz0yrid4o/ExportFlashImages.air

Here's how you use it:

1) Install Adobe AIR if you need to, and then install the file.

2) In your flash document, choose Insert > New Symbol.  Make sure you are viewing the "Advanced" mode.  Name the symbol ExportClass, and check the box "Export for Actionscript".  Make sure the Class field also says ExportClass.  Click OK.

3) Put every MovieClip you want exported inside the ExportClass movieclip.  For better organization, make sure to name each class in the Properties box.

4) Export the movie, open up the ExportFlashImages .exe, and select the swf that you want images generated from.

5) Done!

scaleform

Aww man, well at least my thing gave me something to do.

[mcc]

Kneecaps, that's really neat! I will save that in case I ever get a chance to use it...

Scaleform looks expensive :O

[Kneecaps]

Thanks!  Unfortunately, I won't be able to use it until I actually learn something that's not Flash.