Flash is very useful for creating simulations. One example I did was for the Avaya IP office phones.
The use of Flash for simulations is wide open territory of potential.
Using Flash to Simulate Flash
One use I think requires serious consideration is using Flash to simulate Flash development. With the widespread move to developing complex applications with Flash we find the problem of successfully communicating the interactivity and animation timings of creative ideas.
Add to that requirement the Flash movies dynamically consuming and generating data. The data may include user data such as ecommerce but could also be UI data to configure the UI dynamically. In other words they cannot be hand coded on the time lines in Flash. Rather the interaction and animation is communicated to software programmers to reproduce in Actionscript that consume data from a server for the dynamic processing.
The High Cost and Failure of Flash Development
This communication from creative to developers is where you have a lot of failure or at least a lot of costly repetitions. WE have various vehicles such as storyboards and “comps” and flow charts and use cases to help in the process.
The programmer produces from these communication vehicles the end product. A good programmer can produce exactly what was requested. Therein the problem begins. You can get what you ask for which is not what you think you want.
Often the finished result fosters reconsideration because a moving picture is worth a thousand words. Details such as how fast a fade out of an item like unselected menu choices or when another item such as the selected menu choice should begin to move becomes more visual as the programmer delivers your request.
Although such a simple set of animations seems easy to envision, it becomes more complicates as there is a need to also slide in a grid of product items from one direction and then fade out a background and more and more until words and screen shots fail your imagination.
Your observation of what the programmer delivers then leads to the need to change it. Change then results in more costs and delays because the resource you are using for the iterative review need is incorrectly choosen.
Lack of Skills In Communicating Animation and Interactivity
In a project with a major international consumer products company I met very creative marketing talent. They had vast resources and skills for dealing with print and broadcast media. They along with interactive consultants also could envision very creative ideas for interactivity and animation on a broad level. Dealing with the details however revealed a handicap.
They used their expert skills in design communication in these medias to design a large rich internet application upgrade for their web site. During the development process completed complex Flash code was changed over and over as the review process produced a need to change.
Now you might say that is not a good. But in the case of a consumer products company, spending time and money to get it right for marketing is key. Despite creative visions they had on the broad scale, the details were missing. Somewhat like watching a movie over and over and seeing something new each time. Well that is what animation and interactive design is about.
Still this process of iterations to get it right resulted in delays and frustrations because they were missing an important step.
How to Use Flash Simulations in Flash Development
Along the way I recommended a solution. Continue to use the current communication vehicles such as Powerpoint storyboards and Photoshop renderings. However add one step between those and the programmer. That is to use Flash to simulate.
Simulation allows for viewing the end result without the pain of producing the full working model. To do this efficiently you simply use the standard Flash IDE. You can even use junior college students with Flash skills to take the story boards, graphics and do some or all of the work.
Simulations may or may not allow interaction. For example the simulation may start after a user interaction and merely show the sequence of events up to the next step. This is how storyboards are used. The storyboard shows the key frames. The animators make the in between frames.
Once the Flash simulation is complete, everyone can view and comment. The simulation can then be modified cheaply from tweaking to showing more detail to get it right.
Then the simulation along with the other supporting communication documentation become the starting material for the Flash programmer.
The result is less programming resources, better software and less frustration trying to visualize the end result.