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Flash is dead, long live OpenFL

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Re: Flash is dead, long live OpenFL

#3
Finally. I have loved using Flash for game development back when it was owned by Macromedia, and with AS3 it's still got a powerful API, but at the end of the day having an open-source implementation to work from is far nicer. It helps that Haxe is really cool, too.

Re: Flash is dead, long live OpenFL

#4
I remember using OpenFL a year ago or so. Probably less. The coding environment itself was very nice. But it was horribly painful in practice. Sure, you can compile to multiple targets, but don't expect it to work. And if it does work, chances are your code is littered with platform-specific macros and reams of platform-specific code.

To make it worse, many parts of the Flash API weren't implemented, had different semantics, didn't work on some platforms, or worked differently on some platforms.

I like the idea of OpenFL and I like the Haxe programming language. When I tried it, it was clear that things were improving quickly. I hope it has improved a lot since then.

Re: Flash is dead, long live OpenFL

#5
Flash is the plateform and the IDE, and nothing will replace the IDE regarding how easy to create and organise animations.

Sure,you can code in a text editor, But a designer cant do precise and complex animations with a text editor.

Editing and creating animations are 50% of the value of Flash and that's why the IDE is still necessary to develop games, wether they are HTML5 or mobile ones. Yes there is Unity but Unity is 1/ more expensive than flash 2/ sucks at 2d asset creation.

So no, Flash isnt dead,by a long shot.

Re: Flash is dead, long live OpenFL

#7
It's not Flash that is dead, it's the whole concept of browser plugins. Too risky, too inconvenient, too often installed and then forgotten, never to receive security updates (or those that exist aren't installed because they prompt us about it far too often).

Re: Flash is dead, long live OpenFL

#8
post #6

Flash will be dead when web game companies (e.g. Zynga) stop using it. It's still years away.

At least one major component is moving off of Flash: videos.

Now, if you opt to forgo Flash on your device, the most you seem to miss are some games and annoying banner ads.

Re: Flash is dead, long live OpenFL

#9

I remember using OpenFL a year ago or so. Probably less. The coding environment itself was very nice. But it was horribly painful in practice. Sure, you can compile to multiple targets, but don't expect it to work. And if it does work, chances are your code is littered with platform-specific macros and reams of platform-specific code. To make it worse, many parts of the Flash API weren't implemented, had different se…

I've been working with Haxe and OpenFL for about a year and a half. A year ago I would've agreed with you, but the past year has seen some major advancement in all of these areas. The Flash API is more fleshed out at this point. Setup still has some quirks but I find that once that's taken care of, compiling for multiple platforms "just works" and is incredibly convenient. For example, OpenFL will actually download and install the Android SDK and NDK for you, then compile your application and sign the APK with a single command. The most popular game engines (HaxePunk or HaxeFlixel) are great at smoothing over some of the platform-specific differences in things like rendering. It's not a magic bullet and you still need to have a basic understanding of each platform you want to target, but Haxe and OpenFL make things so much easier.

Re: Flash is dead, long live OpenFL

#10
A link to a discussion including industry insiders. [1]

I made this [2] with Haxe/OpenFL (NME) a year ago (W.I.P. that's gathering dust now). Music's not mine, just stand-in from awesome Hotline: Miami. Didn't have much luck in trying to get this to run on mobiles.

[1] http://forum.starling-framework.org/topic/flash-is-dead-long...

[2] https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/48356497/vizard/index.ht...

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