nougat
Nougat is a rapid application development (RAD) framework for building interactive multimedia wicked fast. I started building it back when I realized that I needed to be able to build a Flash game, start to finish, within a normal 40-hour work week. So, I started designing a framework with lots of generic, reusable parts to facilitate this development schedule. The bulk of it is all object-oriented Actionscript 3, loosely based on concepts from PureMVC.
One of the distinguishing features of Nougat in relation to other Flash game frameworks, is it’s designed for designers and artists — not programmers. It assumes the designer is using the Flash IDE instead of something like Flex Builder or FlashDevelop — there’s nothing wrong with those tools, but most people starting out with Flash and Actionscript begin with the Flash IDE. Nougat also is designed to abstract out the roles of designer, artist/animator, and developer, again to allow a small team to work quickly in relatively isolated environments. Nougat applications are defined by XML files, which give the designer the ability to easily build interactivity without doing any programming. Elements in the XML files correspond to MovieClips in the Flash IDE, which are in turn defined by AS files. The designer works in the XML, the artist/animator works within the MovieClips, and the programmer works in the AS files. Nougat is also designed to work with other libraries, for example Box2d physics is included, as are a bunch of generic classes for setting up physics-based interactivity.
Right now it isn’t really “ready” for an announced release, but you can download it in all its pre-pre-alpha glory here. The start of some documentation is here.
I’d love to know what you think about it, what features or libraries you’d like to see included, or what kinds of things you build with it — leave comments!
Demo of Nougat box2d integration
Click inside the Flash movie to gain keyboard focus. Arrow keys to move/jump. Space bar to throw big yellow balls.
Infinite scrolling background demo — with parallax!
Click inside the Flash movie to gain keyboard focus. Arrow keys to move.
