Difference between revisions of "Flashpoint"

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{{Infobox emulator
 
{{Infobox emulator
|title        = BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint
+
|title        = Flashpoint Archive
 
|logo          = Fp_logo.jpg
 
|logo          = Fp_logo.jpg
|logowidth    = 155
+
|logowidth    = 150
|developer    = BlueMaxima<br/>Flashpoint Team
+
|developer    = The Flashpoint Project
|version      = {{FlashpointVer}}
+
|version      = {{Version|Flashpoint}}
 
|active        = Yes
 
|active        = Yes
|platform      = Windows<br/>Linux, Mac <small>(experimental)</small>
+
|platform      = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]]<br/>[[Emulators on Linux|Linux]] <small>(experimental)</small><br/>[[Emulators on macOS|macOS]]
 
|architecture  =  
 
|architecture  =  
 
|target        = Web game servers
 
|target        = Web game servers
 
|compatibility =  
 
|compatibility =  
 
|accuracy      =  
 
|accuracy      =  
|website      = [http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/ bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/]
+
|website      = [https://flashpointarchive.org/ flashpointarchive.org]
 
|prog-lang    =  
 
|prog-lang    =  
 
|support      =
 
|support      =
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}}
 
}}
  
'''BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint''' is an ongoing [[Preservation projects|preservation effort]] for games designed in commercial web frameworks. Named after [[Flash]] (which was discontinued in 2020), the maintainers have preserved over 78,000 games and animations 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, animations and tools developed in Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, Unity Web Player, Java Applets, Microsoft Silverlight, ActiveX, 3DVIA Player, 3D Groove GX, PopCap Plugin, HTML5, Superscape Viscape, Vitalize!, Authorware, GoBit Games Plugin, ShiVa3D, Hypercosm, Pulse, Burster, TCL and VRML, with support for all web technologies to add in [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Technologies_to_Add this list] and (natively) Scratch possibly coming in the future.
+
'''Flashpoint Archive''' (formerly BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint) is an ongoing [[Preservation projects|preservation effort]] for games and animations designed in commercial web frameworks. Named after [[Flash]] (which was discontinued in 2020), the maintainers have preserved over 190,000 games and animations since its inception. The full list of games is available via the [https://flashpointproject.github.io/flashpoint-database/ "archive database"]. Flashpoint covers games, animations and tools developed in Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, Unity Web Player, Java Applets, Microsoft Silverlight, ActiveX, 3DVIA Player, 3D Groove GX, PopCap Plugin, HTML5, Superscape Viscape, Vitalize!, Authorware, GoBit Games Plugin, ShiVa3D, Hypercosm, Pulse, Burster, TCL and VRML, with support for all web technologies to add in [https://flashpointarchive.org/datahub/Technologies_to_Add this list] and (natively) Scratch possibly coming in the future.
  
 
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 (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.
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{| cellpadding="4"
 
{| cellpadding="4"
 
|-
 
|-
|align=center|{{Icon|Win-big}}
+
|align=center|{{Icon|Win|Lin|Mac}}
|[https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/downloads/ '''Official release''']<br><small>Includes both Ultimate, Infinity and Core versions. Read our overview for details.</small>
+
|[https://flashpointarchive.org/downloads '''Official release''']<br><small>Includes both Ultimate and Infinity versions. Read our overview for details.</small>
 
|-
 
|-
 
|colspan="3"|<hr/>
 
|colspan="3"|<hr/>
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|-
 
|-
 
|align=center|{{Icon|Lin}}
 
|align=center|{{Icon|Lin}}
|[https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Linux_Support Linux support]<br><small>Datahub page about Linux support.</small>
+
|[https://flashpointarchive.org/datahub/Linux_Support Linux support]<br><small>Datahub page about Linux support.</small>
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align=center|{{Icon|Mac}}
 
|align=center|{{Icon|Mac}}
|[https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Mac_Support Mac support]<br><small>Datahub page about Mac support.</small>
+
|[https://flashpointarchive.org/datahub/Mac_Support Mac support]<br><small>Datahub page about Mac support.</small>
 
|}
 
|}
  
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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 web browser technologies as they face the same risk of obsoletion.
 
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 web browser technologies 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 [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Troubleshooting_Antivirus_Interference as they've detailed on the Datahub].
+
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://flashpointarchive.org/datahub/Troubleshooting_Antivirus_Interference as they've detailed on the Datahub].
  
Flashpoint is available in several different versions:
+
Flashpoint is available in two different versions:
* <i>Flashpoint Ultimate</i> - The full package, ready for use offline. ~478 GiB download, ~532 GiB extracted. You'll want to use a download manager and the latest version of 7-Zip.
+
* <i>Flashpoint Ultimate</i> - The full package, ready for use offline. 1.40TB download, 1.48TB extracted. You'll want to use a download manager and the latest version of 7-Zip.
* <i>Flashpoint Infinity</i> - 2 GiB extracted. Games download as you choose to play them. Certain games don't work.
+
* <i>Flashpoint Infinity</i> - 1.9MB download, ~1-3GB installed; filesize increases with use.
* <i>Flashpoint Core</i> - A lightweight copy of Flashpoint with one game per platform designed for curation (preserving games).
 
  
 
==Resources==
 
==Resources==
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**[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]
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* [https://discord.gg/qhvAkhWXU5 Discord]
* [http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/changelog.txt Changelog]
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* [https://flashpointarchive.org/news Changelog]
* [https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Main_Page The Datahub], their wiki
+
* [https://flashpointarchive.org/datahub/Main_Page Wiki]
 
* [https://bluemaxima.org/instance_archive/ instance_archive();] - A similar project for games made with GameMaker.
 
* [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.
+
* [[Kahvibreak]] - Another project for [[Cellphone_emulators#Java_2_Micro_Edition_.28J2ME.29|J2ME]] games.
 +
* [https://flashlite.games/ FlashLite] - Android Flash emulator that support download Flash games from the Flashpoint Archive.  
  
[[Category:Not really emulators]]
+
[[Category:Preservation]]

Latest revision as of 03:13, 29 March 2024

Flashpoint Archive
Fp logo.jpg
Developer(s) The Flashpoint Project
Latest version 13 "Dart Frog" [+]
Active Yes
Platform(s) Windows
Linux (experimental)
macOS
Emulates Web game servers
Website flashpointarchive.org
License MIT (Launcher)
Source code GitHub (Launcher)

Flashpoint Archive (formerly BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint) is an ongoing preservation effort for games and animations designed in commercial web frameworks. Named after Flash (which was discontinued in 2020), the maintainers have preserved over 190,000 games and animations since its inception. The full list of games is available via the "archive database". Flashpoint covers games, animations and tools developed in Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, Unity Web Player, Java Applets, Microsoft Silverlight, ActiveX, 3DVIA Player, 3D Groove GX, PopCap Plugin, HTML5, Superscape Viscape, Vitalize!, Authorware, GoBit Games Plugin, ShiVa3D, Hypercosm, Pulse, Burster, TCL and VRML, with support for all web technologies to add in this list and (natively) Scratch possibly coming in the future.

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[edit]

Windows Linux macOS Official release
Includes both Ultimate and Infinity versions. Read our overview for details.

Windows Linux macOS Launcher
Standalone builds of the launcher on GitHub
Linux Linux support
Datahub page about Linux support.
macOS Mac support
Datahub page about Mac support.

Overview[edit]

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 web browser technologies 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.

Flashpoint is available in two different versions:

  • Flashpoint Ultimate - The full package, ready for use offline. 1.40TB download, 1.48TB extracted. You'll want to use a download manager and the latest version of 7-Zip.
  • Flashpoint Infinity - 1.9MB download, ~1-3GB installed; filesize increases with use.

Resources[edit]