Highly ambitious passion project Flashpoint is aiming to preserve as many Adobe Flash games as possible, having already saved tens of thousands of browser-based games since it began. Flashpoint’s work is as admirable as it is dire, as Adobe will be cutting all support for Flash internet-wide at the end of 2020.
Internet and gaming preservationists everywhere have been scrambling to safeguard Adobe Flash games and videos from the digital ether since Adobe announced that December 31, 2020 would mark the end of support for the platform. Adobe’s reason for terminating Flash is soundly rooted in its many security vulnerabilities, as well as the fact that browsers constantly restructure themselves to chase software trends and meet growing user demands for privacy. However, the death of Adobe Flash is unique, as the untold amount of artistic media made with the program caught in the crossfire would be an irreversible tragedy in terms of internet culture and history lost.
Fortunately, that’s where Flashpoint comes into play, which has so far archived more than 36,000 Adobe Flash titles from websites like Newgrounds, ArmorGames, and more. Creator BlueMaxima published a YouTube trailer detailing what the project is about and how it works. Functioning as a simultaneous launcher and digital time capsule, Flashpoint gives users access to “an endless amount of entertainment” with next to no effort beyond deciding whether to install all or some of the service’s catalog. Although the brief showcase includes more recognizable computer lab favorites like The Helicopter Game and the Bowman series, Flashpoint touts that works are being added regardless of contemporary popularity, claiming, “If it’s web-based and interactive, it goes into our archive.”
Flashpoint is available for free download for anyone interested in taking a deep-dive into internet gaming history, and BlueMaxima’s decision to make it a downloadable application is an important one. Browsers come and go, and web development based on frameworks like Adobe Flash and HTML5 eventually falls into obsolescence, so porting the games to a more current engine and re-hosting them online was obviously out of the question. Despite its recent surge in popularity, an equally impermanent solution would be if Flashpoint relied on always-online streaming connectivity, a model that Google Stadia makes look less attractive by the day.
Some of modern indie gaming’s most celebrated auteurs originated their careers from the tradition of browser-based gaming, and it’s imperative that as much of their work, as well as everyone else’s, is saved from being lost forever. Just because Adobe Flash is being laid to rest doesn’t mean an entire creative movement has to die with it, so here’s hoping Flashpoint and other preservation projects are as thorough in their efforts as possible.
Next: VVVVVV’s Creator Releases Source Code On Indie Game’s 10-Year Anniversary
Source: BlueMaxima/YouTube
