Difference between revisions of "Flashpoint"

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(7.0 came out today)
(As can be seen in the link itself, instance_archive is for GameMaker games, not RPG Maker)
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* [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Main_Page The Datahub], their wiki
 
* [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Main_Page The Datahub], their wiki
  
* [https://bluemaxima.org/instance_archive/ instance_archive();] - A similar project for games made with RPG Maker.
+
* [https://bluemaxima.org/instance_archive/ instance_archive();] - A similar project for games made with GameMaker.
 
* [https://bluemaxima.org/kahvibreak/ Kahvibreak] - Another project for [[Cellphone_emulators#J2ME_.28Java_2_Micro_Edition.29|J2ME]] games.
 
* [https://bluemaxima.org/kahvibreak/ Kahvibreak] - Another project for [[Cellphone_emulators#J2ME_.28Java_2_Micro_Edition.29|J2ME]] games.
  
 
[[Category:Not really emulators]]
 
[[Category:Not really emulators]]

Revision as of 14:21, 28 December 2019

BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint
Flashpointlogo.png
Developer(s) BlueMaxima
Flashpoint Team
Latest version 7.0 "Eight Thousand Hours"
Active Yes
Platform(s) Windows
Linux (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 30,000 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. Flashpoint currently does not have a built-in updater, but the team says a differential updater will be available in the next version.[1]

Download

  • Flashpoint 7.0 Ultimate (Torrent) - The full package, ready for use offline. 221GB download, 253GB extracted. You'll want to use a download manager and the latest version of 7-Zip.
  • Flashpoint 7.0 Infinity - Games download as you choose to play them. A minimalist build - not all games are available, only Flash games will work out-of-the-box, and logos and screenshots must be downloaded separately. Use the Upgrades on the home tab to add the other tech and better images. 200MB download to start.
  • Flashpoint Core 4 - A lightweight copy of Flashpoint with one game per platform. If you want to learn the platform / tinker with it. 575MB download.

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.

References

  1. Help Wanted List. Datahub. "We've figured out the details of a differential updater, and are working on squashing the remaining bugs and improving the user experience. An updater for Flashpoint Ultimate will be released soon."

Resources