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Next to video, the largest pro-Flash argument is games. Some have said that most flash-based games could also be made using nothing more than what is available

Next to video, the largest pro-Flash argument is games. Some have said that most flash-based games could also be made using nothing more than what is available in HTML5. If this is true, is the reason these games are built using Flash just a matter of the quality of tools available to game developers? If there were an open-source equivalent to Adobe's Flash developer tools, who's output was HTML5, would Flash developers switch?

anonymousDan 17y ago
I think it is a major reason. I'm currently designing a project that I intend to use flash as the frontend for. Its only a desktop app, but the flex builder tools seem so easy to work with that I've decided to make it web based. Open to alternative suggestions.
benologist 17y ago
There are a bunch of reasons we use Flash for games - we give a site a SWF and that's it, they have the game. HTML5+CSS+JS+images+sounds+music+a flash bridge to handle audio, etc is a mess by comparison to "a swf". - distribution is critical to the business of making Flash games, when you see a game on whateverwebsite.com that begins with the logo and branding of for instance www.armorgames.com, that's because Armor has paid the developer to brand that game with his site. This alone is a massive industry that includes many amongst the most-trafficked sites on the met. - power and functionality, every generation of the software Flash gets noticeably better. Massive progress every other year, that allows developers to do things like use webcams for player movement, audio and visual sound effects, graphical work, only some of which right now is still years from being viable across the board in HTML5/CSS/JS. New versions also enjoy rapid adoption rates by ocnsumers. - truly cross platform, even if it sucks a bit on linux or whatever, we as developers don't have to do anything at all to accommodate anyone at all ... we write once and that's it. The fantasty with html/css/js etc standards making this a reality for that platform have historically and currently not worked that well, the most obvious example being video codecs for html5, where you'll now have to sniff the user's browser and serve them alternate content.
jasongullickson 17y ago
Looks like I'm not the only one thinking about this: http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/01/flash-ipad-standards/ http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/01/flash-ipad-standards/ In particular: "Developers who supplement Flash with HTML5 may soon tire of Flash - but Adobe has a brief but golden opportunity to create the tools with which rich HTML5 content is created. Let’s see if they figure that out."

anonymousDan 17y ago

I think it is a major reason. I'm currently designing a project that I intend to use flash as the frontend for. Its only a desktop app, but the flex builder tools seem so easy to work with that I've decided to make it web based. Open to alternative suggestions.

benologist 17y ago

There are a bunch of reasons we use Flash for games - we give a site a SWF and that's it, they have the game. HTML5+CSS+JS+images+sounds+music+a flash bridge to handle audio, etc is a mess by comparison to "a swf". - distribution is critical to the business of making Flash games, when you see a game on whateverwebsite.com that begins with the logo and branding of for instance www.armorgames.com, that's because Armor has paid the developer to brand that game with his site. This alone is a massive industry that includes many amongst the most-trafficked sites on the met. - power and functionality, every generation of the software Flash gets noticeably better. Massive progress every other year, that allows developers to do things like use webcams for player movement, audio and visual sound effects, graphical work, only some of which right now is still years from being viable across the board in HTML5/CSS/JS. New versions also enjoy rapid adoption rates by ocnsumers. - truly cross platform, even if it sucks a bit on linux or whatever, we as developers don't have to do anything at all to accommodate anyone at all ... we write once and that's it. The fantasty with html/css/js etc standards making this a reality for that platform have historically and currently not worked that well, the most obvious example being video codecs for html5, where you'll now have to sniff the user's browser and serve them alternate content.

jasongullickson 17y ago

Looks like I'm not the only one thinking about this: http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/01/flash-ipad-standards/ http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/01/flash-ipad-standards/ In particular: "Developers who supplement Flash with HTML5 may soon tire of Flash - but Adobe has a brief but golden opportunity to create the tools with which rich HTML5 content is created. Let’s see if they figure that out."