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I still have not found a development platform that's more fun to develop in than Flash. When I was a teenager, it was almost magic; I could draw a little carto

I still have not found a development platform that's more fun to develop in than Flash. When I was a teenager, it was almost magic; I could draw a little cartoon, convert it to a movie clip, and export it to code; the fact that Flash was an animation-first program meant that it was really fun to draw with, and its integration with code made it so much more fun. Now, part of the reason I have such rose-tinted glasses is because I was a teenager while using it, but still, I just don't think anything has had the fun "prosumer" feeling that Flash did. It didn't feel like it was just a "toy", but it also did kind of feel like a toy. There are some more modern things that are cool, don't get me wrong: Pico-8 is pretty fun, and even more professional things like GDevelop or GameMaker can be fun as well. It just doesn't quite reach to the level that Flash did. I do understood why the platform died, but I am also kind of sad that it did.

rtpg 2y ago
People have pointed out to me that the Flash platform basically still exists with Adobe Animate, AS 3 and everything (including web publishing). So you can theoretically use the same flow as in your memory. I wish the price was not what it was, and I do not pirate software anymore. And Adobe's tricks when it comes to subscriptions are so nasty. This is a huge barrier to me trying to use Animate for anything, even though I'd probably enjoy it so much. Timeline-based programming is such a good system for one-offs.
- tombert 2y ago
  Wait how do you publish stuff written with AS3 and Adobe Animate in 2025? Ruffle?
  - rtpg 2y ago
    You can just compile to HTML5 output! It “just works” for some version of “works”.
    - tombert 2y ago
      Interesting, I tried that feature shortly after the first version was released, but it was terrible, even relatively simple animations wouldn't work.
bloomingkales 2y ago
Why do you think the children of Flash were not inspired to create the next generation of that tool? I’ll throw out one theory: It attracted the most creative developers and not necessarily the most technical. There is a difference and both belong on a team.
- tombert 2y ago
  Almost certainly that's a component. Still, I wish someone would make a clone of the Adobe Animate program that directly exports to WASM, with all the artsy bells and whistles that I loved about it. Specifically, I would like something that I don't have to pay a monthly fee for forever. It was my first "real" experience with writing code, and I know I'm far from alone with that. Pico8 and Game Maker and GDevelop and Scirra Construct are still fun, so it's not like there's a shortage of game making toolkits for younger people to get into this stuff. I just miss Flash in particular.
  - bloomingkales 2y ago
    Hmm. You ever just stumble upon your reason for living?
    - tombert 2y ago
      Ha, if you were to make a decent Flash clone I would pay a not-insignificant amount of money for it as long as it’s not a subscription thing. I don’t have enough interest in that level of programming to make it myself.
      - praptak 2y ago
        My theory is that it's hard to create a usable tool in general and even harder if the domain is complex. Interactive animations are pretty complex.
        tombert 2y ago
        Yeah, there’s some truth to that. It also doesn’t help that it’s two pronged: Flash is an animation tool and a software development environment. There are some great animation software packages out there like Toonboom or even something like Moho or Opentoonz, but as far as I am aware they do not have the same kind of direct integration with a programming language like Flash did. On the other end of the end of the spectrum, you have tools like Game Maker which do have programming as a core feature, but you’re expected to do animations elsewhere and import them in. So Flash is a competent tool across two complicated domains.

rtpg 2y ago

People have pointed out to me that the Flash platform basically still exists with Adobe Animate, AS 3 and everything (including web publishing). So you can theoretically use the same flow as in your memory. I wish the price was not what it was, and I do not pirate software anymore. And Adobe's tricks when it comes to subscriptions are so nasty. This is a huge barrier to me trying to use Animate for anything, even though I'd probably enjoy it so much. Timeline-based programming is such a good system for one-offs.

tombert 2y ago
Wait how do you publish stuff written with AS3 and Adobe Animate in 2025? Ruffle?
- rtpg 2y ago
  You can just compile to HTML5 output! It “just works” for some version of “works”.
  - tombert 2y ago
    Interesting, I tried that feature shortly after the first version was released, but it was terrible, even relatively simple animations wouldn't work.

bloomingkales 2y ago

Why do you think the children of Flash were not inspired to create the next generation of that tool? I’ll throw out one theory: It attracted the most creative developers and not necessarily the most technical. There is a difference and both belong on a team.

tombert 2y ago
Almost certainly that's a component. Still, I wish someone would make a clone of the Adobe Animate program that directly exports to WASM, with all the artsy bells and whistles that I loved about it. Specifically, I would like something that I don't have to pay a monthly fee for forever. It was my first "real" experience with writing code, and I know I'm far from alone with that. Pico8 and Game Maker and GDevelop and Scirra Construct are still fun, so it's not like there's a shortage of game making toolkits for younger people to get into this stuff. I just miss Flash in particular.
- bloomingkales 2y ago
  Hmm. You ever just stumble upon your reason for living?
  - tombert 2y ago
    Ha, if you were to make a decent Flash clone I would pay a not-insignificant amount of money for it as long as it’s not a subscription thing. I don’t have enough interest in that level of programming to make it myself.
    - praptak 2y ago
      My theory is that it's hard to create a usable tool in general and even harder if the domain is complex. Interactive animations are pretty complex.
      - tombert 2y ago
        Yeah, there’s some truth to that. It also doesn’t help that it’s two pronged: Flash is an animation tool and a software development environment. There are some great animation software packages out there like Toonboom or even something like Moho or Opentoonz, but as far as I am aware they do not have the same kind of direct integration with a programming language like Flash did. On the other end of the end of the spectrum, you have tools like Game Maker which do have programming as a core feature, but you’re expected to do animations elsewhere and import them in. So Flash is a competent tool across two complicated domains.