Adobe killing Flash

[Slayer991]

English - https://arstechnica.com/information-tec ... d-of-2020/
French - https://translate.google.com/translate? ... of-2020%2F

As this affects a handful of popular adult-gaming sites and authors like Shark, LoP (Leonizer), Pusooy, etc...I have to wonder how many of these sites will be able to transition to using HTML5, WebGL, etc...or just die out. Granted, it's 2.5 years away...but I'd hate to lose some of the sites that I've donated/paid money over the years...as I've enjoyed their work.

I know LoP has done some work with HTML5 with their sister-site sexandglory. Not sure about the other authors and sites...

[Marco6661]

Thank you for the info.

I am curious to read what the specialists of the graphic creation think about it...

[ttant]

It's not because Adobe kills it that it will disappear immediately.
This could happen only if chrome, firefox, safari, internet explorer and edge decide all together to remove the flash plug-in. That being said, they (at least chrome and firefox) are already doing the first steps in that direction...

But I think, they would stop that really soon.
Why ? Because html5 multimedia is a really pain in the ass to deal with. It simply doesn't work everywhere. Currently, tons of contents that are already available with HTML5 support are not delivered to end users, mostly because :
* of the fee to pay due to codec licensing
* of the hardware acceleration mandatory (especially on chromium browser) to play some videos
* of the DRM issue when playing some videos (check widevine)
Just to list the main ones.

So good luck and have fun to kill and replace flash.

[kexter]

This could happen only if chrome, firefox, safari, internet explorer and edge decide all together to remove the flash plug-in.

Well that's exactly the case here. They all decided to remove it.

Here's the actual announcement by Adobe.
And all relevant announcements by each major browser vendor:

• Apple - Safari
• Google - Chrome
• Microsoft - Edge
• Mozilla - Firefox

The process will continue in the following phases:

• Through the end of 2017 and into 2018, Microsoft Edge will continue to ask users for permission to run Flash on most sites the first time the site is visited, and will remember the user’s preference on subsequent visits. Internet Explorer will continue to allow Flash with no special permissions required during this time.
• In mid to late 2018, we will update Microsoft Edge to require permission for Flash to be run each session. Internet Explorer will continue to allow Flash for all sites in 2018.
• In mid to late 2019, we will disable Flash by default in both Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. Users will be able to re-enable Flash in both browsers. When re-enabled, Microsoft Edge will continue to require approval for Flash on a site-by-site basis.
• By the end of 2020, we will remove the ability to run Adobe Flash in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer across all supported versions of Microsoft Windows. Users will no longer have any ability to enable or run Flash.

This timeline is consistent across browsers, including Google, Mozilla, and Apple.

[tlaero]

I hope songsterr gets a Flash replacement before mid-2018. That's the last site on the internet that I use extensively which relies on flash.

Tlaero

[kexter]

I hope songsterr gets a Flash replacement before mid-2018.

I think they've already rolled out or are in the process or rolling out a more modern version of the site.

[tlaero]

There's a "try the new version of songsterr" button on the site, but it seems to still use Flash.

Tlaero

[MaxCarna]

Hi, TomFulp from Newgrounds sent this message below (second piece missing). Maybe clarify the subject a little.

Yesterday Adobe announced they will end support for the Flash player in 2020. This means they will no longer make updates or patches for playing Flash content in a web browser and the individual browsers are onboard with removing Flash completely by the end of 2020. This means you will have no way to view an SWF file in a modern browser going into 2021.

A lot of people get confused by what this means, so I wanted to clarify a few things:

1. Adobe will still support Adobe Animate, their re-branded version of Flash. You can still use it to make animation but you will share it in video format vs SWF. Most animators are already doing this. Just about every animation you watch on NG is now an MP4 loading in an HTML5 video player.

2. No, people don’t need animation software that exports animation in HTML5 format. We just need animation to be in video format. We created Swivel for this many years ago and it’s super popular.

3. Newgrounds supports games in HTML5 format, which is becoming increasingly dominant. There is a big question of whether we will be able to preserve the 80,000+ games that were made in Flash. At the least, you could download and play them in an external player but we are hoping to have a solid web-based option by the time 2020 rolls along. Options include javascript that can interpret and run an SWF file, software that can convert existing swf files to javascript or something using WebAssembly, which is still maturing. A lot has been happening in this space but nothing is perfect at the moment.

4. The Audio Portal will be fine, with an HTML5 audio player.

5. The Art Portal has always been Flash-free.

A lot of people still don’t realize that NG has been transitioning away from Flash for many years now and 2020 won’t be as bumpy as some may think. The end of Flash won’t be the end of NG.

[Greebo]

I've not got any experience with either Flash (apart from playing games or having badly built web pages foisting unwanted Flash crap on me) or HTML5 equivalents, but I understand some Flash games and the like can be converted to HTML5 using converter software like Swiffy (discontinued by "Don't Be Evil" Google) or the commercially available Fla Exporter. Anyone know a good, effective, preferably free converter that could be used to bring old, loved (or otherwise ) Flash games into the post-apocalyptic HTML5 future?

Perhaps if there's a really good one it would allow shark to carry on using Flash for games instead of sullying his fins with (shudder) HTML5, although I believe Unity might be able to help wean game creators off their old tools and into the afore-mentioned HTML5 future.

[PinkVendeta]

I made a thread on this warning You all a year ago

Flash was being slowly fazed out then, fazed out faster in 2018, same for 2019, fully gone by 2020, so yea this gave everyone a full 2+ years to move to a different platform for their games.

HTML5 is just one such option, takes time to get to know it and work with it, but games using HTML5 are far more superior, in animation, artwork, general scene artwork, than games using Flash are.

Unity is another option, there are many other non Flash based options to use, which can produce great looking games, with good playability and so on, only game Devs who use Flash will be in trouble in 2020, everyone else not using Flash wont be effected at all in reality.

Thumb out of asses people, and get moving to a new platform asap, dont be waiting to see if the failed flash experiment <-- Adobes own words, does a turn around, it wont be.

[Greebo]

Unfortunately, Hannah, the "failed Flash experiment" has been around long enough for a vast stockpile of games and animations to have been generated and, although I'm willing to believe that the vast majority are unmitigated crap, I'm inclined to think that a sizable minority are worth preserving for future reference. It's all very well Adobe and the main browser developers deciding to wash their hands of Flash but surely there is a place for legacy handling of the format, or at least ensuring that effective conversion software is in place before abandoning the format completely in favour of the next (incompatible) format?

Talking about having over 2 years to prepare made me think it's almost as bad as deciding to abandon one's trading partners before having a viable alternative ready to roll the next day! (By the way, what is going to happen after 29 March 2019? -- don't blame me, I voted Remain!)

[PinkVendeta]

I agree with some of what You say Gerry

Personally I believe that 99.9% of Flash Games are shit in reality and not worth the effort and cost to preserve for future reference, the only games I play in Flash now are Sharks games, in the past I played tons of other Flash games and got sick of the bad storylines, bad artwork, bad animation and I stopped playing all other Flash games apart from Sharks games.

And even when You have other games makers (not naming anyone) using Flash, the animation is clunky, twitchy, options to progress games are limited to the same old 5 or 10 choices or the game is money based to progress or time based to progress and I swear, I always think WTF is this shit still going on in games for

Games made in Flash are very limited in what can and cannot be done, compared to HTML5, compared to Unity, compared to other costly platforms better than even Unity.

Flash was never ever secure from day one till now, Im frankly amazed they ran with it for so long knowing how badly insecure it was for browsers, but ya live and learn I guess.

I am sure Shark and team and even members here would be willing to chip in and buy a good converter and convert Sharks games over to whichever platform he decides to move to before Flash goes poof and is gone.

2+ years is plenty of time to learn a new platform, and make the change to better artwork, better animation, with the same great storylines always in Sharks games, however leaving it till the last day and then deciding to change is silly, if ya get my drift.

I do actually miss the progress side bar in Sharks games though and I was annoyed and somewhat miffed when it disappeared

[Greyelf]

Games made in Flash are very limited in what can and cannot be done, compared to HTML5, compared to Unity, compared to other costly platforms better than even Unity.

The Flash environment is not what's responsible of all of those poorly designed or implemented or animated games being so, that was simply the game's developer(s) not putting in the time / effort requires to make those things better. There are a number of Flash based game developers who have created better designed or looking or animated games.

Simply using more modern technologies like HTML5 or the Unity engine doesn't automatically mean the games created with them will be any less poorly designed or implemented or animated, because the game developers using them still need to be willing to put in the time / effort required to make the game better.

[Rikwar]

Games made in Flash are very limited in what can and cannot be done, compared to HTML5, compared to Unity, compared to other costly platforms better than even Unity.

The Flash environment is not what's responsible of all of those poorly designed or implemented or animated games being so, that was simply the game's developer(s) not putting in the time / effort requires to make those things better. There are a number of Flash based game developers who have created better designed or looking or animated games.

Simply using more modern technologies like HTML5 or the Unity engine doesn't automatically mean the games created with them will be any less poorly designed or implemented or animated, because the game developers using them still need to be willing to put in the time / effort required to make the game better.

Exactly Greyelf[img]images/icones/icon7.gif[/img]
Take Sharks games as an example

[PinkVendeta]

The Flash environment is not what's responsible of all of those poorly designed or implemented or animated games being so, that was simply the game's developer(s) not putting in the time / effort requires to make those things better. There are a number of Flash based game developers who have created better designed or looking or animated games.

Simply using more modern technologies like HTML5 or the Unity engine doesn't automatically mean the games created with them will be any less poorly designed or implemented or animated, because the game developers using them still need to be willing to put in the time / effort required to make the game better.

Good speech, I dont agree with most of what You have said but in reality, with 2020 looming, none of this matters anyway in reality, so who cares