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There is a very active open-source project called Ruffle[1] which aims to reimplement Flash Player to play the already existing Flash content. It runs in the br

There is a very active open-source project called Ruffle[1] which aims to reimplement Flash Player to play the already existing Flash content. It runs in the browser via WASM as well as a standalone native app on all three desktop OSes. It doesn't support AS3 yet. But as far as I can tell, there's no one trying to recreate Flash the authoring program. Which is a big shame IMO. We need something that enables creativity with a low barrier to entry. [1] https://ruffle.rs https://ruffle.rs

Jetrel 6y ago
Yeah - now that a legacy of flash apps exist, having a runtime for them is important. But as you say - back in the old days, the truly important thing had nothing to do with the runtime, and had everything to do with the authoring program. Someone really needs to build something similar, and - because we're starting in a later era, the only influence it needs to take from flash lies in the UI/UX.
- grishka 6y ago
  > the only influence it needs to take from flash lies in the UI/UX. It could use the SWF file format too, there's nothing wrong with that IMO, and there already are many tools built around it.
tombert 6y ago
Ruffle is pretty sweet, it resurrected Homestar Runner so I legally have to love it. As I said, I do think GameMaker is a reasonable enough substitute for stuff. While I find having to write shaders a bit irritating, you don't have to do it very often, and you can get up and running in a fairly short amount of time, and it's HTML5 exporter works pretty much perfectly from what I've played with. Is it as easy as Flash? No, but it's still a pretty low barrier-to-entry for people, I think I could probably teach a kid how to use it and they'd pick up the basics.
- grishka 6y ago
  > Is it as easy as Flash? No, but it's still a pretty low barrier-to-entry for people IMO it is too high. People who are not very much into tech are easily scared away by the need to write any code. The thing with Flash is that when you launch it and create a new project, it looks, feels and works like a vector graphics editor — because it is one, and a very good one. You start drawing stuff. You start animating stuff. If all you want to make is a cartoon, ActionScript is entirely optional. But then you start wanting to add buttons that do simple things like "go to frame X". You copy-paste ActionScript for that. You go deeper and deeper into the ActionScript rabbit hole. Before you've realized it, you're coding complex logic for a game. Flash lures you into wanting to write code by being an extremely easy to use animation editor. GameMaker repulses you by making writing code a prerequisite for going any further.

Jetrel 6y ago

Yeah - now that a legacy of flash apps exist, having a runtime for them is important. But as you say - back in the old days, the truly important thing had nothing to do with the runtime, and had everything to do with the authoring program. Someone really needs to build something similar, and - because we're starting in a later era, the only influence it needs to take from flash lies in the UI/UX.

grishka 6y ago
> the only influence it needs to take from flash lies in the UI/UX. It could use the SWF file format too, there's nothing wrong with that IMO, and there already are many tools built around it.

tombert 6y ago

Ruffle is pretty sweet, it resurrected Homestar Runner so I legally have to love it. As I said, I do think GameMaker is a reasonable enough substitute for stuff. While I find having to write shaders a bit irritating, you don't have to do it very often, and you can get up and running in a fairly short amount of time, and it's HTML5 exporter works pretty much perfectly from what I've played with. Is it as easy as Flash? No, but it's still a pretty low barrier-to-entry for people, I think I could probably teach a kid how to use it and they'd pick up the basics.

grishka 6y ago
> Is it as easy as Flash? No, but it's still a pretty low barrier-to-entry for people IMO it is too high. People who are not very much into tech are easily scared away by the need to write any code. The thing with Flash is that when you launch it and create a new project, it looks, feels and works like a vector graphics editor — because it is one, and a very good one. You start drawing stuff. You start animating stuff. If all you want to make is a cartoon, ActionScript is entirely optional. But then you start wanting to add buttons that do simple things like "go to frame X". You copy-paste ActionScript for that. You go deeper and deeper into the ActionScript rabbit hole. Before you've realized it, you're coding complex logic for a game. Flash lures you into wanting to write code by being an extremely easy to use animation editor. GameMaker repulses you by making writing code a prerequisite for going any further.