How'd you like to be a hotshot game developer? If you answered "actually, I'd prefer to make Flash-based games instead," then you're in luck!

Browser game portal Kongregate has launched Kongregate Labs, a community site designed to teach visitors how to create their very own Flash games. Dubbed "shootorials," the first round of free tutorials teaches users how to create a simple side scrolling shooter, using a free trial of Adobe's Flash CS3.

The site is sponsored by the car company Scion, and features community forums dedicated to fostering conversations between budding game developers. While the tutorials are shooter-centric, the aim is to teach neophytes the skills they need to understand how Flash works. You're also not limited to using Adobe's software -- the forums provide information on finding open source solutions that support the technologies that the tutorials incorporate, and don't cost hundreds of dollars.

To get the ball rolling, Kongregate is hosting a Driving Creativity Contest, a competition pitting first-time developers against one another for cash prizes. Of course, Kongregate is encouraging all budding developers to upload their creations to their site, adding to their library of browser games.

The potential here is huge: the only things that've kept me from developing my post-apocalyptic zombie-laden roguelike have been my lack of programming knowledge, talent, and artistic vision. One out of three ain't bad.

Kongregate Labs[Kongregate]