Awhile back, I purchased a nifty little program called Swish, whose first two versions generated text-only Flash/Shockwave files faster, easier and cheaper than the full version of Macromedia Flash.
Some people might see the “text-only” part as a limitation, but when you make your own fonts, it’s not a problem.
This font allows you to create buttons (the open and close parentheses make rounded-end buttons, and the open and close brackets make square-end ones), and also includes some simple graphic shapes that can be animated.