Difference between revisions of "Flashpoint"

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(Added Overview (may need to be reworked as I don't technically know the fine details of how Flashpoint works))
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|logo          =  
 
|logo          =  
 
|logowidth    =  
 
|logowidth    =  
|developer    = BlueMaxima
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|developer    = BlueMaxima<br/>Flashpoint Team
|version      = 6.1
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|version      = 6.1 "Preservationware"
 
|active        = Yes
 
|active        = Yes
|platform      = Windows, Linux <small>(experimental)</small>
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|platform      = Windows<br/>Linux <small>(experimental)</small><br/>macOS <small>(experimental)</small>
 
|architecture  =  
 
|architecture  =  
|target        = Web games
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|target        = Web game servers
 
|compatibility =  
 
|compatibility =  
 
|accuracy      =  
 
|accuracy      =  
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|prog-lang    =  
 
|prog-lang    =  
 
|support      =
 
|support      =
|license      = MIT
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|license      = MIT (Launcher)
|source        = [https://github.com/FlashpointProject/launcher GitHub]
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|source        = [https://github.com/FlashpointProject/launcher GitHub] (Launcher)
 
}}
 
}}
  
'''BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint''' is a preservation collection of games which were usually only playable via a web browser. It has over 14,000 games saved since its inception and covers the following: Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, HTML5, Unity Web Player, Java Applets, Microsoft's Silverlight, Microsoft's ActiveX, 3DVIA Player, 3D Groove GX and PopCap Plugin games. The full list of games is available via the [http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Game_Master_List Game Master List].
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'''BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint''' is an ongoing preservation effort for games designed in commercial web frameworks. Named after Flash (which Adobe says it will discontinue in 2020), the maintainers have preserved over 14,000 games since its inception. The full list of games is available via the [http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Game_Master_List "Game Master List"] on their wiki. Flashpoint covers games (and tools) developed in Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, Unity Web Player, Java Applets, Microsoft Silverlight, ActiveX, 3DVIA Player, 3D Groove GX, PopCap Plugin, and HTML5.
  
There are two versions available:
+
Flashpoint (and every game in it) was originally released as one gigantic download until a system was developed to download these games on-the-fly. The full download (which, upon completion, requires no further internet connection to use) has since been retroactively titled "Flashpoint Ultimate", and the "lite" version was given the name "Flashpoint Infinity". When the limitations of Launchbox started to show, a discrete launcher was developed.
* Flashpoint Ultimate - Download every game in one big file (140GB+) and thus no internet connection required afterwards
 
* Flashpoint Infinity - Download the basic application (450MB+) and get the games on-the-go (requires internet connection to fetch)
 
  
 
==Download==
 
==Download==
 +
* [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/downloads/ '''Official Release'''] (May contain newer versions of Ultimate, Infinity, and Core)
  
* [https://archive.org/details/Flashpoint6 Flashpoint 6.1 Ultimate] ([magnet:?xt=urn:btih:9dfc1b1c1f913533136be9462dca81d6b3159359&dn=Flashpoint%206.1%20Ultimate.7z&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80 Torrent Magnet]) - The full package, ready for use offline. 114GB download, 130GB extracted. You'll want to use a download manager and the latest version of 7-Zip.
+
:* [https://archive.org/details/Flashpoint6 Flashpoint 6.1 Ultimate] ([magnet:?xt=urn:btih:9dfc1b1c1f913533136be9462dca81d6b3159359&dn=Flashpoint%206.1%20Ultimate.7z&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80 Torrent Magnet]) - The full package, ready for use offline. 114GB download, 130GB extracted. You'll want to use a download manager and the latest version of 7-Zip.
 +
:* [http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/Flashpoint%206.1%20Infinity.zip Flashpoint 6.1 Infinity] - Games download as you choose to play them. A minimalist build - not all games are availalble, only Flash games will work to start, and low quality icons with no screenshots. Use the Upgrades on the home tab to add the other tech and better images. 450MB download to start.
 +
:* [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qoQc32vQ7nnTmYMle1uCpluYenY61Biy Flashpoint Core 3] - A lightweight copy of Flashpoint with one game per platform. If you want to learn the platform / tinker with it. 575MB download.
  
* [http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/Flashpoint%206.1%20Infinity.zip Flashpoint 6.1 Infinity] - Games download as you choose to play them. A minimalist build - not all games are availalble, only Flash games will work to start, and low quality icons with no screenshots. Use the Upgrades on the home tab to add the other tech and better images. 450MB download to start.
+
* [https://unstable.life/owncloud/s/HYpZ4O4JMAebfjR Experimental Linux version] - The maintainers are looking for Linux testers, see [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Help_Wanted_List the second item on this wiki page] for more info.
  
* [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qoQc32vQ7nnTmYMle1uCpluYenY61Biy Flashpoint Core 3] - A lightweight copy of Flashpoint with one game per platform. If you want to learn the platform / tinker with it. 575MB download.
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* [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aimlroob9KdZWOKEWVLg1y0zFVxn6jnD Test builds of the Launcher], for non-Windows Launcher binaries (including Darwin, i.e. macOS). Requires users to manually point to the Infinity repository in the config files.
 
 
* [https://unstable.life/owncloud/s/HYpZ4O4JMAebfjR Experimental Linux version] - They're looking for help with testing this version, see [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Help_Wanted_List this wiki page].
 
  
 
==Overview==
 
==Overview==
Flashpoint started on December 26th 2017, a little while after [https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/ Adobe announced] it was ending Flash at the end of 2020, as an attempt to preserve as many Flash games and applications from the early 2000s and on wards from being forgotten. While it's not technically an "emulator" as some Flash games can be played directly by simply downloading the files and running them, there are also a majority of Flash games designed with <abbr title="Digital Rights Management">DRM</abbr> protections that require it to "talk" with the server it's on to verify it can be played or some games need to be online in order to be used, what Flashpoint does is provide an environment where these games can be played by either mimicking the host server it was on, or by providing external files that where originally sent to the game by the host server.
+
Flashpoint began on December 26th, 2017, a little while after [https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/ Adobe announced] it was ending support for Flash at the end of 2020, as an attempt to preserve as many Flash games and applications from the early 2000s onward as possible before the cutoff point. The focus has since shifted to all proprietary plugins as they face the same risk of obsoletion.
  
Originally aimed at preserving Flash, it has now shifted to preserve playable for all webgames.
+
Flashpoint is not a conventional emulator; none of the frameworks it targets is being emulated which is why it requires users to have the original platforms these frameworks were on. (It's also why Linux doesn't have a lot of the frameworks that Windows does.) Many games also use some form of copy protection by connecting to a server to test if a game can be played, thus requiring an internet connection for it to work. Flashpoint is a server emulator that repeats and relays the responses and files that were originally captured at the time the game was preserved. This causes problems for Avast and AVG [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Troubleshooting_Antivirus_Interference as they've detailed on the Datahub].
  
==External Links==
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==Resources==
*BlueMaxima's Articles:
+
*BlueMaxima's articles:
 
**[https://medium.com/@bluemaximax011/how-we-saved-flashs-gaming-legacy-and-started-a-web-game-preservation-revolution-51c2e5098209 How We Saved Flash's Gaming Legacy]
 
**[https://medium.com/@bluemaximax011/how-we-saved-flashs-gaming-legacy-and-started-a-web-game-preservation-revolution-51c2e5098209 How We Saved Flash's Gaming Legacy]
 
**[https://blog.usejournal.com/adobe-flashs-gaming-legacy-thousands-upon-thousands-of-titles-and-my-efforts-to-save-it-58c14811558a Efforts to Save Flash's Gaming Legacy]
 
**[https://blog.usejournal.com/adobe-flashs-gaming-legacy-thousands-upon-thousands-of-titles-and-my-efforts-to-save-it-58c14811558a Efforts to Save Flash's Gaming Legacy]
 
* [http://discord.gg/S9uJ794 Discord]
 
* [http://discord.gg/S9uJ794 Discord]
 
* [http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/changelog.txt Changelog]
 
* [http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/changelog.txt Changelog]
* [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Main_Page Wiki]
+
* [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Main_Page The Datahub], their wiki

Revision as of 05:58, 13 June 2019

BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint
Developer(s) BlueMaxima
Flashpoint Team
Latest version 6.1 "Preservationware"
Active Yes
Platform(s) Windows
Linux (experimental)
macOS (experimental)
Emulates Web game servers
Website bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/
License MIT (Launcher)
Source code GitHub (Launcher)

BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint is an ongoing preservation effort for games designed in commercial web frameworks. Named after Flash (which Adobe says it will discontinue in 2020), the maintainers have preserved over 14,000 games since its inception. The full list of games is available via the "Game Master List" on their wiki. Flashpoint covers games (and tools) developed in Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, Unity Web Player, Java Applets, Microsoft Silverlight, ActiveX, 3DVIA Player, 3D Groove GX, PopCap Plugin, and HTML5.

Flashpoint (and every game in it) was originally released as one gigantic download until a system was developed to download these games on-the-fly. The full download (which, upon completion, requires no further internet connection to use) has since been retroactively titled "Flashpoint Ultimate", and the "lite" version was given the name "Flashpoint Infinity". When the limitations of Launchbox started to show, a discrete launcher was developed.

Download

  • Flashpoint 6.1 Ultimate (Torrent Magnet) - The full package, ready for use offline. 114GB download, 130GB extracted. You'll want to use a download manager and the latest version of 7-Zip.
  • Flashpoint 6.1 Infinity - Games download as you choose to play them. A minimalist build - not all games are availalble, only Flash games will work to start, and low quality icons with no screenshots. Use the Upgrades on the home tab to add the other tech and better images. 450MB download to start.
  • Flashpoint Core 3 - A lightweight copy of Flashpoint with one game per platform. If you want to learn the platform / tinker with it. 575MB download.
  • Test builds of the Launcher, for non-Windows Launcher binaries (including Darwin, i.e. macOS). Requires users to manually point to the Infinity repository in the config files.

Overview

Flashpoint began on December 26th, 2017, a little while after Adobe announced it was ending support for Flash at the end of 2020, as an attempt to preserve as many Flash games and applications from the early 2000s onward as possible before the cutoff point. The focus has since shifted to all proprietary plugins as they face the same risk of obsoletion.

Flashpoint is not a conventional emulator; none of the frameworks it targets is being emulated which is why it requires users to have the original platforms these frameworks were on. (It's also why Linux doesn't have a lot of the frameworks that Windows does.) Many games also use some form of copy protection by connecting to a server to test if a game can be played, thus requiring an internet connection for it to work. Flashpoint is a server emulator that repeats and relays the responses and files that were originally captured at the time the game was preserved. This causes problems for Avast and AVG as they've detailed on the Datahub.

Resources