a little help to get started with the API

ok, i am pretty new with with this Multiplayer API, and i could use some help with some different things.

ok so heres a couple of questions:

1. lets say i want a controlable character to pop up, when a user joins... what would be the best way to do this? i mean all the MC's would have to have unique names, and the client should be able to find out which character that should be controlable.

2. it is hard to test a MULTIPLAYER game, when theres only one player... is there a way of opening multiple instances of the client, so i can test what its like, when there is 2, or more users?

3. is there somewhere i can get my hands on some free source code, to learn from? i allready, took a look at the samples that comes with the API, but i would like some more.

4. anything else you think would be handy to know for a newbie, or something you think could help me get started easier.

i hope you can help me out here!
thanks in advance :D

-Craksy

1) I would probably dynamically create an object that represents a users character. If you subclass a movieclip with your own class then you can create as many instances as you want, add them to the main MovieClip, and have them controlled by different sources.

2) On my machine I can open any number of instances by running the game.swf file a number of times.

3) The source code to zombies is available:
http://www.nonoba.com/developers/forum/api/open-source-zombies

4) Not sure here, it really depends on what experience you already have.

I find it very convenient to have one game-instance open inside flash so that you can catch any error codes and whatnot, and also be able to do trace-actions...
So just start up the server, go inside of flash and do a "Test Movie", and when you've got the first instance started, just do what JoshuaJewell says, and open a couple of more instances by doubleclicking the .swf -file inside of your "Output" -folder :o)

thanks alot for your answers...
i already figured out 1, and 2, though, but the source code for zombies looks amazing :D

and is it just me or is the developer forum a little quite... it took about 2-3 days to get reply on this thread, and there haven't been any new ones either :/


anyway, thanks for your replies :)

oh yeah, thats right :P

but still... you would think that there was a little more activity on the forums :/
it it a pretty big community after all xD


anyway, again, thanks for the help :D