I still use Flash • Hacker News Board

Re: I still use Flash

#241

Post by warkdarrior » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 7:40 PM UTC

itsoktocry wrote: post #228

zackmorris wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how I feel about HyperCard. Some apps were so ahead of their time that when they were axed, nothing comparable replaced them. I believe that this is due to a tragedy of the commons in the software industry. We're all so creative, with so many dreams, but spend the majority of our lives working 40 hour weeks to outcompete each other and make rent. Then when someone wins the internet lottery, they succumb to the…

> But it's like we're all waiting around for a billionaire to liberate us Only in Silicon Valley, and that's probably a big part of the problem. In some of the highest paying, most creative occupations on the planet people are drooling at the feet of billionaires to save them while they slave away M-F. Most people throughout history didn't look at the rich with anything but contempt. In Silicon Valley they're held up…

> Most people throughout history didn't look at the rich with anything but contempt.

Citation needed. I don't think wealth as the main cause of contempt.

Re: I still use Flash

#242

Post by vfclists » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 7:43 PM UTC

You know the IT media is full of hacks when they all studiously ignore the fact that the reason Flash was ultimately abandoned is that it would allow app developers to bypass the appstores of Apple and Google.

The two will never create anything to match Flash.

Even Microsoft abandoned Silverlight for the same reason and it is why Mozilla abandoned Shumway because they don't want to bite Google's hand.

Re: I still use Flash

#243

Post by mike_hearn » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 7:44 PM UTC

richrichardsson wrote: post #101

ezfe wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the fact that macOS doesn't actually block unnotarized software...Many programs are un-notarized and just need to give the user the 1 step instruction to bypass it

Also the fact that you only need to pay the £99 fee once; after the executable is signed, notarised and stapled, that's it. I think there might be a network request if the executable hasn't been stapled, but it's only to check that it has been notarised in the past, it doesn't check for an active Developer Subscription. At least this is my understanding of the situation, I would be happy to be corrected if any of tha…

Also - you have to sign code on Windows too! If you don't then Edge will try as hard as possible to stop the user opening it, and AV scanners can get very curious about what you're doing. Maybe Steam doesn't care if your game is signed?

I didn't quite follow the logic around notarization either. Steam imposes more requirements and takes a slice of revenue! Notarization is a lot cheaper and faster than that. But I guess the idea is that Steam gives you features, whereas notarization is just a tax.

Re: I still use Flash

#244

Post by Vinnl » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

iKlsR wrote: post #103

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #96

I remember creating a simple "catch the falling X" game in Flash 20 years ago. It was basic, but had everything you'd expect in a beginner project: points, multiple game states/screens, a victory condition, basic story (which was just a screen at the beginning, like NES). The thing is, I was a literal child and I also had no clue how to code -- I did everything by following tutorials and gluing together code I copy&p…

Some of the better years of my life a little over a decade ago were spent on mofunzone playing the stick figure fights with friends. I remember bullet time fighting (matrix clone with swords, guns, slow motion) and there was also an amazing action narrative series called Ray with Southpark themed characters and one of the craziest platformers I ever played called N. I managed to snag some of these a while back and pr…

Wow, hitting a bunch of memories there. Bullet time fighting was amazing, and I had a bunch of friends who were way into N ("way of the ninja") - built a couple of the most popular levels for it. Which also was pretty cool that they were able to do that, come to think of it. I remember one of them dabbling into creating games with Flash as well, and when he got stuck, I encouraged him to reach out to the creator of N to ask how he had solved that. (I think it was collisions with curved floors.) Got a nice message back that explained to him how to do it. Good times.

Re: I still use Flash

#245

Post by logotype » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 7:53 PM UTC

Working with Flash was like working with future technologies, back in the day. You could build amazing things with it, things that was not possible using standard browser API’s. In fact, Flash led the way and was the prototype for what browsers can to today.

If you cared about what you built, with clever hacks and bitwise performance tricks then the Flash runtime could run your code efficiently. I remember developing an app which used Box2D, camera based gesture control with sound effects and background music all running simultaneously, reaching 60 FPS. In other projects we used software based 3D (à la Papervision 3D), Adobe dropped the ball and Molehill/GPU accelerated 2D/3D arrived too late. Perhaps it’s not common knowledge but we could develop true cross-platform apps, compiling for different targets (SWF, IPA for iOS and .app/.exe).

AS3 was a good language, and definitely reminds me of TS. Here’s a piece of code from 15 years ago: https://github.com/PureMVC/puremvc-as3-standard-framework/bl...

That letter from Steve Jobs destroyed it all, many talented developers left the Flash world at that time. It was a bit depressing to see all the (unjustified) mainstream hate for the Flash platform that started to appear at that time, which felt bad as there were many of us that put a lot of time, care and effort in creating amazing stuff with it. Thanks Flash!

Re: I still use Flash

#246

Post by yawnxyz » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 7:54 PM UTC

zackmorris wrote: post #231

imperfect_blue wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because for everyone to make what they want to make is, as of current year, a pie in the sky fantasy until scarcity is solved, and perhaps not even then. There are 8 billion humans, the world doesn't need another hundred thousand programming languages or web frameworks or game development platform or even indie games or fiction or music or film, produced every year when the whim strikes someone's fancy. Even if we co…

You make a good point. I've latched onto some goals (like making games) because I forget that they're a stepping stone to something bigger. The bigger thing would have been the web framework, or the programming language. But even those aren't quite big enough. If I'm being honest, the biggest stuff is curing disease, eliminating wealth inequality.. biblical stuff. Truly I want to be an inventor and work to solve the…

I left the tech world to “cure disease” (working on a phage clinical trial, currently treating three patients, and they’re doing super well!)

With that said, I’m consumed with FOMO and opportunity cost every day. I’ve missed the boat on being founder-level or early designer/engineer on so many projects that have gone on to raise Series B it’s mind numbing. Also, we were paid $0 bootstrapping our stuff in the first five years, and now finally we get paid, but $60k a year.

I’m saying this as a warning to all devs and designers out there. Do NOT do this. If you can get into Google or FAANG or whatever, build wealth that way. Maybe you’ll feel like a sell-out or you never scratched your itch or done something good for the world, but then you can also remember you can take a year off in Bali or whatever.

Re: I still use Flash

#247

Post by kokanee » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 7:56 PM UTC

iKlsR wrote: post #103

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #96

I remember creating a simple "catch the falling X" game in Flash 20 years ago. It was basic, but had everything you'd expect in a beginner project: points, multiple game states/screens, a victory condition, basic story (which was just a screen at the beginning, like NES). The thing is, I was a literal child and I also had no clue how to code -- I did everything by following tutorials and gluing together code I copy&p…

Some of the better years of my life a little over a decade ago were spent on mofunzone playing the stick figure fights with friends. I remember bullet time fighting (matrix clone with swords, guns, slow motion) and there was also an amazing action narrative series called Ray with Southpark themed characters and one of the craziest platformers I ever played called N. I managed to snag some of these a while back and pr…

My time spent creating "stick death" videos in Flash as a kid is probably one of the main reasons I'm a software engineer today.

Re: I still use Flash

#248

Post by yawnxyz » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 7:59 PM UTC

dandigangi wrote: post #114

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #96

I remember creating a simple "catch the falling X" game in Flash 20 years ago. It was basic, but had everything you'd expect in a beginner project: points, multiple game states/screens, a victory condition, basic story (which was just a screen at the beginning, like NES). The thing is, I was a literal child and I also had no clue how to code -- I did everything by following tutorials and gluing together code I copy&p…

Had an awesome experience learning programming on AS also! Simple projects/games but great language to learn. Can involve so many key concepts.

I made a game / synthesizer combo in AS3 for college. Good times. I wouldn’t even know where or how to begin doing that today in JS

Re: I still use Flash

#249

Post by rr808 » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 8:05 PM UTC

kitd wrote: post #140

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #96

I remember creating a simple "catch the falling X" game in Flash 20 years ago. It was basic, but had everything you'd expect in a beginner project: points, multiple game states/screens, a victory condition, basic story (which was just a screen at the beginning, like NES). The thing is, I was a literal child and I also had no clue how to code -- I did everything by following tutorials and gluing together code I copy&p…

I'd add Visual Basic to your "glue bits together" list. After working on C++ & FORTRAN professionally, Visual Basic was like a breath of fresh air. I remember thinking "how could programming be this simple". It felt like cheating. Ofc, there's an evil undercurrent to the "any non-technical person can use it". We ended up having to support a tool that some "business analyst" had written. My eyes bled.

Yep I was going to say the same thing. I write small internal tools for corporates and my team in 2020 is a fraction of the productivity of my team in the 90s. Lots of tools, the complexity is nuts these days.

Re: I still use Flash

#250

Post by onepointsixC » Wed, Dec 21, 2022, 8:15 PM UTC

I absolutely adore Flash and it was my first introduction to programming. I greatly miss the feeling of the web when Flash was king and there was a pot luck of animators and game makers sharing neat things they made. I myself made a game but never actually published it. Always regretted not putting it up publicly before Flash went EoL.