Archive for the ‘Banners’ Category
An alternative to bitmap transparency in Flash
Posted by Will | Filed under Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Banners, Experiments, Tutorials
When it comes to using transparent bitmap images in Flash often you will find using a PNG is your best option. However, a major caveat with using PNG images is the significant increase in file size compared to non-transparent image types such as JPEGs and (non-transparent) GIFs. This often becomes an issue when working on projects with limited allocated file size, such as banner ads.
A transparent PNG of the above image has a file size of approximately 109kB
Lately I’ve been toying with an alternative to PNGs… using JPEGs. “Wait a minute…”, you say, “JPEGs don’t support transparency!”. That’s correct but by making use of Flash’s BitmapData class we can merge two non-transparent images together to make a single transparent image. Even though this method actually requires 2 separate JPEGs the total combined file size is almost always significantly smaller than a single PNG! (more…)
Flash Ad Manager v1.0 Now Available
Posted by Will | Filed under Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Advertising, Banners, Flash Games
Flash Ad Manager is now available to download as a 1.0 release from the Google Code project page.
If you missed the previous posts about it, here’s the spiel:
Flash Ad Manager lets developers remotely display custom or embedded ads during the preloading stage of a Flash application.
My main motivation with this project is to give Flash Platform developers, specifically Flash game developers, better control over how they monetize their work through the use of ads.
Currently the 2 major sources for Flash game monetization are sponsorship and advertising. With this package I hope to open up a potentially untapped area for developers, self served ads as well as provide a way for games to be released without having to be “locked in” to a single ad API like MochiAds. (more…)
Flash Ad Manager Update
Posted by Will | Filed under Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Advertising, Banners, Flash Games
Just a quick update to let you know that the Flash Ad Manager class library I mentioned in a previous post is now hosted on Google Code. In fact, it’s been on there for a little while now. This is my first open source project and I’ve been having fun with it. There is information over at the project page which gives a better understanding how the class works and what benefits it can bring to your flash game / application.
At the time of writing this post I have not yet reached what I would consider a ‘feature complete’ 1.0 release but am getting very close. Because of this there isn’t an ‘official’ download package yet but can be checked out using your favourite subversion client if you’re interested.
Flash Game Ad Manager – Coming Soon!
Posted by Will | Filed under Adobe Flash, Advertising, Banners, Experiments, Flash Games
In July of last year I wrote a post titled Monetizing your Flash game. Serving your own ads? In it I discussed ways Flash game developers could monetize their games through common methods such as sponsorship and ads. I also proposed a method of ’self serving’ ads in ones own games. I successfully implemented such a method in the two games I’ve published to date, Knight of the Dead and Picross Forever. While I personally have had limited success with privately selling ad space in both games I believe there is definitely value in putting control back into the hands of developers so they have complete control over ads displayed in their games.
In the next week or two I will be releasing an AS3 based class library called Ahrooga Ad Manager dedicated to the remote switching and management of in-game ads. Specifically this will allow game makers to use ANY available ad provider’s code in their game rather than being locked into just one. For example, you could have ad code for Mochiads AND GameJacket embedded in your game and remotely switch between them at your leisure. Want to disable ads all together on a specific domain? You can do that too. It also handles the loading and display of custom ads, either SWF or image based. (more…)
