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Participant
December 24, 2020
Answered

Flash expiry affecting games

  • December 24, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 847 views

A games company who run browser and mobile games called 'Plarium' use flash currently, they have not bothered to switch to HTML5 for browser games.  Instead after Jan 1st and beyond they are going to continue use their own installer which uses adobe pepperflash extension.

 

Is this safe? and also what will happen on Jan12th killswitch to apps using pepperflash extension?

 

Thanks

 

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Nancy OShea

    AFAIK, Adobe has nothing to do with Pepper Flash which was/is a Flash Player alternative for Google Chrome browsers.

     

    IMO, company's who haven't switched from Flash to other technologies by now (they had 3 years to prepare for this) probably aren't worth your time.  There are plenty of HTML5 games available that don't require special plugins. 

     

    3 replies

    Participant
    January 3, 2021

    Flash is still one of the best programming languages around. Adobe AIR is a simple solution to turn a web game into an application.

    Some applications can't be built in Html5, but people still want to use them in their browsers.

    There are many reasons why people wouldn't want to spend the time and money to rebuild their game using another language. That doesn't mean those tools and games aren't worthwhile.

    I understand why Google, Microsoft and Apple removed Flash from their browsers. They have game stores where they earn billions a year. However, I don't understand why Firefox and all other major browsers have followed them. Many people would choose a browser that continues to support Flash if they could.

    There is still so much high quality Flash content all over the internet. Why should it be deleted just because monopolies decided they will make more money if they are destroyed.

    The web used to be filled with amazing, interactive internet sites. Now all there is are text, images, video and simple ui. When is the last time you played an html game, or found a site that was worthy of going viral?

    .

    I am really sad Flash hasn't been turned into an Open Source project. In my opinion it's still the best language for creating advanced applications in browsers.

    Nancy OShea
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 3, 2021

    "I am really sad Flash hasn't been turned into an Open Source project."

    ============

    @defaultk29s6j18cemg 

    Oh good grief! Action Script is OPEN SOURCE code.  But if nobody supports it (browsers, operating systems, etc...), then it's like owning a vast collection of Sony Betamax tapes with no machine on planet Earth that's capable of playing them.  What good is that?

     

    At the risk of sounding like a broken vinyl record, Flash content developers had 3 years to get this sorted.  If they didn't care enough about their projects to re-engineer them, why should you care, why should anyone?  It was fun while it lasted...

     

    Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
    Participant
    January 5, 2021

    Yes, I agree.

     

    The compnay in question uses an app build with plugin: pepflashplayer32_23_0_0_162.dll

     

    In the past 3 years they have given the games countless "loot box"' style features, or other buffs designed to spend money, but they could not devote the time to convert the game to HTML5, even facebook gameroom players have to migrate to an installed app, they never even bothered to make the app compatible with linux either and there was linux players on game.

     

    @17768522

    The game is a browser desktop game not designed for use on mobile, so no need for expanding compatibility with mobile devices or  touchscreen , they have many other similar games on mobile format.  I play the browser game so I didn't have to install questionable apps on my computer, now options have changed due to lack of solutions. The company devs already tried WebGL a few years ago but cancelled it back to flash when for whatever reason they could not optimise the game well enough for WebGL.

     

    Thanks for the replies all, I wanted to check how safe the pepperflash ext is with people in the know before I install the plarium play app.  It seems as if  it cannot be affected by the jan 12th killswitch and is a workable with adobe flash uninstalled, but  if a company can't transfer to HTML 5 in 3 years, then I don't have confidence in using their app longterm, so I will not install it.

    December 30, 2020

    Cant answer your question but perhaps tell them about ruffle.rs its and alternative to playing flash if theirs doesnt work. Even said to fix those old issues adobe didnt care enough to fix.

    Nancy OShea
    Community Expert
    Nancy OSheaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    December 26, 2020

    AFAIK, Adobe has nothing to do with Pepper Flash which was/is a Flash Player alternative for Google Chrome browsers.

     

    IMO, company's who haven't switched from Flash to other technologies by now (they had 3 years to prepare for this) probably aren't worth your time.  There are plenty of HTML5 games available that don't require special plugins. 

     

    Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
    Participant
    January 1, 2021

    Ah OK

     

    I wrongly assumed pepperflash was an adobe product, as when you view their wrapper pepperflash player .dll application extension it shows up as shockwave flash by adobe systems.

     

    Thanks for the advise, I would prefer not to use flash than use an app with a workaround, I will give that company games a miss then, cheers.

    January 3, 2021

    While I dont know about Pepper Flash I know thart many current work arounds for flash take what would have once been opened in Adobe Flash Player and plays it differently. The original files are left the same but when running they run as something like webassembly or html5.

     

    So while playing it isnt really flash any more. The idea is to make it modern thus solving old security issues and expanding compatability to mobile devices for files that are touch screen friendly.