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Well Ruffle is already well on the way to providing a viable modern flash player https://ruffle.rs/ https://ruffle.rs/ Using Rust and wasm for browser. They ha

Well Ruffle is already well on the way to providing a viable modern flash player https://ruffle.rs/ https://ruffle.rs/ Using Rust and wasm for browser. They have browser plugin and desktop versions too. I've been trying to contribute, and it's really already able to play a large amount of content well.

sq_ 6y ago
> it's really already able to play a large amount of content well Can confirm. I've gone through and downloaded the .swf's for some games I had nostalgia for, and ruffle has played a significant chunk of them quite well. For a relatively early version, I'd say that's pretty good.
- sq_ 6y ago
  One thing to note, they're still in the early stages of supporting AVM2/ActionScript 3.0 [0], so if you've got a pile of newish .swf's you'd like to try, they may not work yet. [0] https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle/issues/1368 https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle/issues/1368
  - sammorrowdrums 6y ago
    This is true, however Mike who runs the project seems like a wonderful overlord for it. He's really kind and welcoming with new contributors, gives meaningful and thoughtful PR feedback and I can see that he'll foster the community required to see the project through. Hopefully sponsors help to make sure it gets there. Certainly I've enjoyed contributing so far, and I think this is my pet OS project for the next while.
    - sq_ 6y ago
      100% wasn't trying to knock the project; it's amazing so far. They seem to be working through things very quickly, so I definitely believe they'll have things looking good for AVM2 pretty soon.
acqq 6y ago
The old swf I've tried worked, as in, it showed the content, but the visual output wasn't the same -- the lines around the drawn objects were much thicker. I still don't know how one is to watch the old swf content to replicate what is seen to match the output of the plugin that is going to completely stop working. I read that there's some "standalone" player, is that downloadable freely or some part of some paid Adobe offer?
- xoa 6y ago
  >I still don't know how one is to watch the old swf content to replicate what is seen to match the output of the plugin that is going to completely stop working. Virtual machine. I still have Windows 98/2000/XP ones around for that reason, they still run fine and are so light weight at this point that the cost is essentially nonexistent. Even software 3D can handle anything from that era I've cared to throw at it, let alone anything lighter. All the security issues aren't particularly important since they can be well isolated.
TheCoelacanth 6y ago
They would surely have an easier time achieving maximum compatibility if they had the source for Flash Player as a reference.
- cogman10 6y ago
  Eh, maybe. Depends on how big a trainwreck code with history dating back to the 90s is. I have a coworker that worked on flash, it sounded like a nightmare of a project. Some of that can be seen by what Adobe has done with PDF. That is, cram every single feature you can imagine into a format (including, I believe, flash... lol)
romwell 6y ago
So happy to hear this. I have just tested the demo, and am happy to see that it can display the Bin Laden (Banana Boat) song, aka "Nowhere to run - nowhere to hide"[1]. It is a culturally important artifact - whose size is 432KB (compare with how much bandwith does a Youtube video of it at Full HD would take). I could also play the Xiao Xiao stick fight series[2]. Sadly, I still couldn't play a game I've put many hours in back in the day - Gem Tower Defense[3]. However, I could open and play it with KMPlayer[4]. Looks I will be able to continue wasting my time in Flash games going forward! [1]https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/2767 https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/2767 [2]https://dagobah.net/flash/xiao_xiao_5.swf https://dagobah.net/flash/xiao_xiao_5.swf [3]https://dagobah.net/flash/download/gemtd.swf https://dagobah.net/flash/download/gemtd.swf [4]http://en.kmplayer.com/ http://en.kmplayer.com/
- izend 6y ago
  Hey I'm the original author of the Flash version of Gem Tower Defense (still hosted at http://gemtowerdefense.com/ http://gemtowerdefense.com/). I'm actually working on a HTML5 version of it and nearly complete, I should have it released within 2 weeks.
  - romwell 6y ago
    Wow, never would have thought this would happen by chance like that! Several things: -Thank you for the wonderful game! This is my favorite tower defense game hands down - I never played another one after Gem TD. -Hope you'll post about it here! More people deserve to know the awesomeness that is Gem TD! -Things like Gem TD proved a great distraction when I was going through things in life. And one round doesn't take long, it could be played in small increments. I feel like there is a lack of games that. Good luck in whatever you are working on - including the HTML5 Gem TD! :)
    - izend 6y ago
      Thanks for the vote for confidence, I created it out of pure admiration of the game mechanics of Gem TD. In regards to HN, I'll probably need to write a tech blog post describing my 13 year journey of Gem TD to have any chance of getting any HN viewership :)

sq_ 6y ago

> it's really already able to play a large amount of content well Can confirm. I've gone through and downloaded the .swf's for some games I had nostalgia for, and ruffle has played a significant chunk of them quite well. For a relatively early version, I'd say that's pretty good.

sq_ 6y ago
One thing to note, they're still in the early stages of supporting AVM2/ActionScript 3.0 [0], so if you've got a pile of newish .swf's you'd like to try, they may not work yet. [0] https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle/issues/1368 https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle/issues/1368
- sammorrowdrums 6y ago
  This is true, however Mike who runs the project seems like a wonderful overlord for it. He's really kind and welcoming with new contributors, gives meaningful and thoughtful PR feedback and I can see that he'll foster the community required to see the project through. Hopefully sponsors help to make sure it gets there. Certainly I've enjoyed contributing so far, and I think this is my pet OS project for the next while.
  - sq_ 6y ago
    100% wasn't trying to knock the project; it's amazing so far. They seem to be working through things very quickly, so I definitely believe they'll have things looking good for AVM2 pretty soon.

acqq 6y ago

The old swf I've tried worked, as in, it showed the content, but the visual output wasn't the same -- the lines around the drawn objects were much thicker. I still don't know how one is to watch the old swf content to replicate what is seen to match the output of the plugin that is going to completely stop working. I read that there's some "standalone" player, is that downloadable freely or some part of some paid Adobe offer?

xoa 6y ago
>I still don't know how one is to watch the old swf content to replicate what is seen to match the output of the plugin that is going to completely stop working. Virtual machine. I still have Windows 98/2000/XP ones around for that reason, they still run fine and are so light weight at this point that the cost is essentially nonexistent. Even software 3D can handle anything from that era I've cared to throw at it, let alone anything lighter. All the security issues aren't particularly important since they can be well isolated.

TheCoelacanth 6y ago

They would surely have an easier time achieving maximum compatibility if they had the source for Flash Player as a reference.

cogman10 6y ago
Eh, maybe. Depends on how big a trainwreck code with history dating back to the 90s is. I have a coworker that worked on flash, it sounded like a nightmare of a project. Some of that can be seen by what Adobe has done with PDF. That is, cram every single feature you can imagine into a format (including, I believe, flash... lol)

romwell 6y ago

So happy to hear this. I have just tested the demo, and am happy to see that it can display the Bin Laden (Banana Boat) song, aka "Nowhere to run - nowhere to hide"[1]. It is a culturally important artifact - whose size is 432KB (compare with how much bandwith does a Youtube video of it at Full HD would take). I could also play the Xiao Xiao stick fight series[2]. Sadly, I still couldn't play a game I've put many hours in back in the day - Gem Tower Defense[3]. However, I could open and play it with KMPlayer[4]. Looks I will be able to continue wasting my time in Flash games going forward! [1]https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/2767 https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/2767 [2]https://dagobah.net/flash/xiao_xiao_5.swf https://dagobah.net/flash/xiao_xiao_5.swf [3]https://dagobah.net/flash/download/gemtd.swf https://dagobah.net/flash/download/gemtd.swf [4]http://en.kmplayer.com/ http://en.kmplayer.com/

izend 6y ago
Hey I'm the original author of the Flash version of Gem Tower Defense (still hosted at http://gemtowerdefense.com/ http://gemtowerdefense.com/). I'm actually working on a HTML5 version of it and nearly complete, I should have it released within 2 weeks.
- romwell 6y ago
  Wow, never would have thought this would happen by chance like that! Several things: -Thank you for the wonderful game! This is my favorite tower defense game hands down - I never played another one after Gem TD. -Hope you'll post about it here! More people deserve to know the awesomeness that is Gem TD! -Things like Gem TD proved a great distraction when I was going through things in life. And one round doesn't take long, it could be played in small increments. I feel like there is a lack of games that. Good luck in whatever you are working on - including the HTML5 Gem TD! :)
  - izend 6y ago
    Thanks for the vote for confidence, I created it out of pure admiration of the game mechanics of Gem TD. In regards to HN, I'll probably need to write a tech blog post describing my 13 year journey of Gem TD to have any chance of getting any HN viewership :)