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What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

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Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#21

Post by majorlazer »

michaelpinto wrote: post #2

I think the last time I was this angry about a software pricing scheme it was when movable type started charging — that really pushed a generation of folks into the wordpress camp for good. my bet is that we could be watching the decline of adobe. and not for nothing for you folks looking to start a business the entire adobe product line is waiting to be disrupted — the time may be right for a Photoshop or an InDesig…

Why do we need a Photoshop or InDesign killer? I have never heard any designers complain about Photoshop, or any of the top Adobe products (Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks) for that matter. Flash is definitely on it's way out, but Adobe isn't going anywhere.

Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#22

Post by protomyth »

novalis wrote: post #18
protomyth wrote: post #3

IE 10 touch and iOS won't work with Flash anyway, so I would hope social game developers are at least looking at HTML5 for their next projects. I sometimes wonder why their isn't a cross platform "game browser"? It seems one of the cross platform game engines could do a much better job than flash. Adoption is a problem, but people seem to be able to download a lot of apps these days.

You cannot possibly put HTML5, mostly three.js at this time (thank you Mr Doob, you rock Sir), at the same level as what Flash is able to do on a browser or what Flex is able to do on mobile. It is also not supported in some present browsers. Neither targets "social gaming" at all. Adobe is doing HD specs at 60 fps, full GPU render support. What other cross plat does this in the browser at this point and what other c…

I actually do not think HTML5 is a replacement for Flash (thus my second paragraph). Regardless of the utility and capability of Flash, it is no longer a universal platform. Since it is losing market share (browser with flash / browsers without), I would assume people in the social gaming area are starting to look at other platforms with HTML5 having the largest market share.

Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#23

Post by radley »

Zirro wrote: post #19
pippy wrote: post #12

I'm an Adobe Flash fanboy, but even I'm starting to become pro HTML5 for rich media. I can't understand why Adobe is making these decisions when they're competing with an upcoming technology that has a such large & growing fanbase. This 9% completely changes the distribution model. Previously when you made a swf, it's yours to keep and do as you want. You paid for the tools to make it, in the same way you pay for a h…

"I can't understand why Adobe is making these decisions when they're competing with an upcoming technology that has a such large & growing fanbase." I think Adobe is currently a divided company. Part of it want to remain with Flash and view HTML5 as a competitior, while the other part is into HTML5 and see it as the future. Adobe makes their money from development tools, after all. The technology used to present the…

I don't see a division between Flash & HTML. I see it as a division between their legacy as a creative platform vs. their focus on enterprise SaaS.

Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#24

Post by radley »

majorlazer wrote: post #21
michaelpinto wrote: post #2

I think the last time I was this angry about a software pricing scheme it was when movable type started charging — that really pushed a generation of folks into the wordpress camp for good. my bet is that we could be watching the decline of adobe. and not for nothing for you folks looking to start a business the entire adobe product line is waiting to be disrupted — the time may be right for a Photoshop or an InDesig…

Why do we need a Photoshop or InDesign killer? I have never heard any designers complain about Photoshop, or any of the top Adobe products (Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks) for that matter. Flash is definitely on it's way out, but Adobe isn't going anywhere.

It'll matter in a few years when Photoshop is only available as part of the Creative Suite subscription plan.

Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#25

Post by eurleif »

pippy wrote: post #12

I'm an Adobe Flash fanboy, but even I'm starting to become pro HTML5 for rich media. I can't understand why Adobe is making these decisions when they're competing with an upcoming technology that has a such large & growing fanbase. This 9% completely changes the distribution model. Previously when you made a swf, it's yours to keep and do as you want. You paid for the tools to make it, in the same way you pay for a h…

>I can't understand why Adobe is making these decisions when they're competing with an upcoming technology that has a such large & growing fanbase.

Milking it while there's still something to milk?

Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#26

Post by ChrisLTD »

novalis wrote: post #20
ChrisLTD wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny thing is that Adobe does charge for the tools. Flash Professional retails for $700!

https://www.adobe.com/products/flex.html <- free. All the other tools can be found for free too, specific swf packaging, etc. But now it is down to sprite sheets so...

Very true. The SDK is free, but it's not like you're getting XCode or Visual Studio with that download. Their IDE (based on Eclipse, right?) is $500.

Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#27

Post by gcb »

chc wrote: post #17
bryne wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now it applies to very specific apps and developers. Tomorrow, if this model shakes out favorably to Adobe, it may not. The frog boils slowly.

This is not particularly enlightening. Any number of things are possible. It was possible for Adobe to institute unreasonable pricing terms before this announcement too. EDIT: Uh-oh, somebody downvoted this. Quite worrisome, because right now it only applies to my comment, but tomorrow, it may not. Right? Because apparently one data point constitutes a trend.

well, now there's less doubt about it for one thing.

Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#28

Post by ChrisLTD »

majorlazer wrote: post #21
michaelpinto wrote: post #2

I think the last time I was this angry about a software pricing scheme it was when movable type started charging — that really pushed a generation of folks into the wordpress camp for good. my bet is that we could be watching the decline of adobe. and not for nothing for you folks looking to start a business the entire adobe product line is waiting to be disrupted — the time may be right for a Photoshop or an InDesig…

Why do we need a Photoshop or InDesign killer? I have never heard any designers complain about Photoshop, or any of the top Adobe products (Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks) for that matter. Flash is definitely on it's way out, but Adobe isn't going anywhere.

As a graphic designer with many designer colleagues & friends, I can tell you that we complain bitterly about Adobe software.

Since they purchased Macromedia, their tools have stagnated in features and yet somehow managed to get slower. That, plus their high price is reason enough to hope for a viable competitor.

Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#29

Post by dhimes »

GavinB wrote: post #14

We recently started using the Unity3D plugin in addition to Flash. We considered packaging Unity in Flash, but there are some missing features so we went straight for the plugin. Our site is for 8-12 year old kids, so it's not the most technical audience. The Unity plugin installs in a few seconds without requiring admin rights--even most computers under corporate lockdown can install it. We've had a total of one cus…

"The Unity Web Player is not currently compatible with the operating system that you appear to be using."

Linux (Mint 12 / Ubuntu 11.10)

Re: What Adobe’s new pricing for Flash means for social game developers

#30

Post by p4lindromica »

ChrisLTD wrote: post #26
novalis wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.adobe.com/products/flex.html <- free. All the other tools can be found for free too, specific swf packaging, etc. But now it is down to sprite sheets so...

Very true. The SDK is free, but it's not like you're getting XCode or Visual Studio with that download. Their IDE (based on Eclipse, right?) is $500.

The flex IDE is based on Eclipse and it's awful to use
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