What tools are good for creating flash movies or games?

[altpath]

Any animators here? I'd like to try some programs to animate my art in flash, to submit to newgrounds.com, and add audio to it(I have a couple of recording programs)but don't know where to begin. Any good freeware programs, or shareware? Also I'd need some guides, as I'm new to this.

Any point in the right direction is appreciated,
Altpath

[housepig]

to my knowledge, there are no freeware Flash-exclusive authoring apps.

there's Swish, which is a kind of "Flash-lite" that started out as being mainly for banners, but has increased it's abilities in newer versions. last time I checked it was around $50-60.

if you use OpenOffice's presentation software, it can export directly to .swf (Flash-format) files. don't know how full-functioned it would be for serious animation.

you could also try Blender, a pretty nice 3d software that is open source, freeware, and just got back the full animation functionality. I don't know if you could do something with that and then export to a Flash file, or find a freeware convertor.

also check Anim8or, another free / open source app. if you scroll down on their main page, you'll see a tutorial to make your models look like toons.

[altpath]

Thanks a lot! I appreciate the quick reply. I'll check out the sites in a minute.

By the way, are there any alternatives to microsoft word? I want to be able to just copy text and images to save as a .doc file from websites. Besides that, I have several .doc files I created that I can't open now that I installed XP home(I had PRO before, but it was in spanish. I had no use for any of the other programs that came with it other than word).

Is my only alternative to view those files I have is to convert them to HTML?

[housepig]

check out OpenOffice or http://www.abisource.com/]AbiWord[/url] - both should be able to open / convert .doc files for you. both are free / open source / multiplatform.

[lonelyassassin]

also check this program out:
Sothink SWF Quicker
http://www.sothink.com/swfquicker/index.htm

it's pretty cool!!

[wadebbie]

Macromedia Director 8.5 is one of the best animation programs available. But the learning curve is extreme. I would suggest macromedia Flash MX - except it is not cheap. I think I paid about $400 for it. You still have a fairly difficult learning curve but not as bad as Director.