Flixel Power Tools Flixel Power Tools

Latest Version: 1.9 (github)
Released: October 11th 2011
Total Examples: 84

Quite frankly flixel is awesome. It allows for very rapid game development. And while it does a lot for you, it is lacking in a few areas. After all it’s just a framework, and frameworks are meant to be built-upon.

That is where the Flixel Power Tools come in. They are a set of classes, all neatly arranged in a single package that use the new plugin architecture of Flixel 2.5. They push flixel just that bit further and cover a lot of fundamental ground for you. The Flixel Power Tools are for Flixel 2.5+ only, they will not work with earlier versions.

Classes

The following classes are available in the latest version:

APIs available include:

FlxKongregate

The FlxSpecialFX class supports its own plugins for creating special effects. Currently this includes:

BlurFX
CenterSlideFX
FloodFillFX
GlitchFX
PlasmaFX
RainbowLineFX
RevealFX
SineWaveFX
StarfieldFX

Demos

There’s also a Demo Test Suite which include loads of easy-to-follow examples of the tools in action, with a funky menu system and a visual way to actually see what they do. I always find it easier to learn by looking and then dissecting code! The full source code is on github, including all of the demos (84 of them in v1.9) – it’s also embedded below:

[swfobj src=”http://sandbox.photonstorm.com/flixelpowertools/FlixelPowerTools.swf” width=”640″ height=”512″]

Be sure to try the Credits button 🙂

Getting Started Guide

There is now a comprehensive 6-page Getting Started Guide in the Docs folder. Download the zip or checkout from github and get reading! It should help beginners get started a lot faster.

Download

The Flixel Power Tools can be found on github: https://github.com/photonstorm/Flixel-Power-Tools

You can download a zip file containing everything or checkout the repo. There are two branches: master and dev. Master is the most stable version. Dev is where I’m constantly working, and will always be bleeding-edge (i.e. may not always compile!). Be sure to watch the project on github to get status updates.

Any questions about any of the tools? Ask me in the comments or on the flixel forums.

Version History

Version 1.9 – October 11th 2011

This release was never about adding big sweeping new features, but always about maintenance. Lots of the classes have been expanded and piles of bugs and edge-case oddities have been stomped. Stuff that was bugging me for a while, like the pixel perfect collision not 100% working when both sprites were rotating, has now been resolved. There are new features as well of course: FlxKongregate provides a solid hook into the Kongregate API with all of their advanced features. FlxWeapon gained the ability for pre-fire and post-fire events, sound support, random factors, parent direction firing support, bullet elasticity, bullet counters and bullet lifespans. FlxColor gained RGBtoWebString, the control handler had some gravity issues squashed and new isPressedUp/Down/Left/Right methods. FlxBar had a complete overhaul and is even more flexible now with 2 new RPG style examples (a Zelda like life counter and an RPG Experience bar). Plus there are new tests in the test suite.

This is the final release before 2.0, which will be a significant overhaul to both the structure and classes available. Code will not be forward compatible and will require extensive refactoring. So if you are mid-game now and use FPT then please remain at version 1.9 until you start a new project.

Version 1.8 – July 29th 2011

There’s only really one major new class this time, but it’s a big one. FlxExtendedSprite together with FlxMouseControl provide you with the ability to create FlxSprites that you can click with the mouse, drag around the game world, snap to a grid, throw or even hook to the mouse with a spring! It handles overlapping sprites with ease, has custom sort controls (to determine which mouse gets the click) and clicks can be bounding box or pixel perfect as needed. Dragging can be locked to a single axis or a FlxRect area too. The Extended Sprites also now have built-in gravity, which works wonders combined with the ability to throw them. There are no less than 14 examples in the Demo Suite to boot.

Also new in this release is FlxFlectrum, a powerful addition to FlxFlod, that allows you to create your own vu-meter / spectrum analyser style display for soundtracker music. Use the built-in meter or provide your own PNG, with direction support, column/row spacing, background beat and peak or meter display modes.

Several classes have had new methods: FlxMath gained wrapAngle, angleLimit and mouseInFlxRect. FlxCollision received the new pixelPerfectPointCheck and the very handy createCameraWall, which builds an invisible collision wall out of Tile Blocks around the camera – you control the width. And last but not least a new FX: RevealFX.

Version 1.7 – June 16th 2011

This one has been a month in the making, but there are loads of new features. First of all we have a brand new Demo Suite test SWF. New interface, quicker to get what you want, more expandable for me. Plus we’ve got no less than 61 different demos to look at! That’s a lot of source for you to learn from 🙂 The biggest changes this time include: FlxHealthBar is gone, replaced with the much more versatile FlxBar. This new bar can be used for anything, from progress meters to sprite health. It can fill in one of 8 different directions, can be hooked to a parent sprite or not, and be hooked to any value of that sprite – in short it doesn’t have to be just a health bar any longer.

The biggest new addition is FlxWeapon. A comprehensive weapon manager for games. Handles creation, pooling and re-use of bullets and a heck of a lot more. Angled bullets, sounds, callbacks, fire at the mouse, fire from the mouse, fire from a parent sprite, fire from a fixed position, bullet speeds, firing rates. Phew! Combined with FlxControl this is a powerful combo.

FlxVelocity has been updated with lots of new functions: moveTowardsPoint, distanceToPoint, angleBetweenPoint, velocityFromAngle, accelerateTowardsObject, accelerateTowardsMouse and accelerateTowardsPoint!

FlxControl has been updated to fully support rotation, thrusting and reversing. So you can now make an asteroids style ship movement in a couple lines of code. There are also new special FX (blur is especially nice), lots of new methods spread across various classes and stacks of new demos. Enjoy!

Version 1.6 – May 18th 2011

Here we see the first release of an important new class: FlxControl. This makes it painfully easy to set-up control systems for sprites, so they can be under keyboard control for running, jumping and the like. Gravity, acceleration, deceleration, firing, jumping is all catered for. 5 Test Suite examples are included. Also a couple of new Special FX plugins added.

Version 1.5 – May 11th 2011

A huge update! First of all we’ve moved to github. I will still push major release zips to Google Code, but all of the updates will happen on github first (well in advance of svn). Second there is now a comprehensive 6 page Getting Started Guide. The Test Suite has been totally revamped. The tests are now in a far more logical location, and the whole repository has been tidied up massively. It’s easier to navigate, has no class path dependencies and is just all round smoother for everyone. Finally we have updates across lots of the classes, fixing small bugs and adding more documentation – and the introduction of a new one: SpecialFX which is an FX plugin manager. There are only 2 FX at the moment, but lots more coming! It was a nice way to split up the game orientated tools from the purely effects based ones. So, go snag it all from github 🙂

Version 1.4 – April 29th 2011

Two new classes: FlxScreenGrab and FlxScrollZone. 7 new Test Suite demos created for them. Test Suite updated so it now pans across 2 pages via keyboard or mouse control. Lots of bug fixes (too numerous to mention). This release is now using the brand new Flixel 2.5 Plugin system.

Version 1.3 – April 12th 2011

The entire library is now flixel v2.5 compatible, and the test suite has also been updated for it. Also fixed Colors Test 2 so it shows a proper hsv colour chart, and added lots more method documentation. New FlxButtonPlus test added.

Version 1.2 – April 5th 2011

Added the new FlxStarField class & tests. Patched FlxGradient and FlxMath.

Version 1.1 – April 4th 2011

Added the new FlxHealthBar class & tests. Patched a few small bugs in the other classes.

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