Make a Flash Game for Free
One of the main reasons why people aren’t able to make their own Flash games is because the development environment is expensive. Currently, a copy of Flash CS3 Professional costs US$699, an amount which most people can’t just pull out of their wallet (although I think that this price is very reasonable, considering the product’s quality and the possibilities that it offers).
Fortunately, there are several alternatives to Flash for making Flash content. One of these alternatives is the Flex SDK, a free product which Adobe itself offers.
I’ve spent some time with the Flex SDK over the past months, and I’ve had success in writing games with it. Herder is my first game with the Flex SDK, and I have a few others which I haven’t had the chance to release yet. The Flex SDK is NOT Flash however – the development style is different. But this is good in my opinion, because making games with the Flex SDK is very similar to making games with a traditional programming language like C++, C#, or Python. Instead of the graphical approach that Flash offers, the Flex SDK offers a code-centered development platform.
If you want to make games for the web now, I suggest that you look into the Flex SDK. With this product, you can even make Flash content using Linux!
The article Intro to the Flex SDK on GameDev.net is a good starting point for anyone who wants to learn how to make games using the Flex SDK. Hopefully, I’ll have the chance to make my own tutorials as well. Any suggestions? 
May 14th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I started programming way back when Flash 5 was out and now i have upgraded to Flash CS3. It is interesting to see that I started with Flash and moved to Python but others are working the other way around.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:47 am
Hi Dave,
It’s good to hear from you again!
Yes, I guess I’m doing it the other way around.
You see, in the meantime, I see Flash as the only way to produce content that people can access most easily. At the same time, it’s relatively easier to monetize Flash content. I love Python though, and I hope to write web content with it in the future, hopefully as Silverlight matures.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Good point — the cost of CS3 is really high and make it not easy to affordable. Another issue is game making requires not just programming, but design skills.
A few months ago I was doing a flash game project as a contractor. Instead of redo everything, I ‘google’ for the term
‘flash game template’ and found some nice game template with the FLA file, which helps me to do the project quickly.
April 20th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
http://scratch.mit.edu/
Is a good program for making flash games.
IT is made so people can make games easily, with puzzle pieces that you can fit together. However, it is limited, so don’t even TRY to make a game like Jade Wolf.