Software:Flashpoint Archive

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Short description: Web application archival project
Flashpoint Archive
BlueMaxima's Flashpoint logo - cutout.svg
Other namesBlueMaxima's Flashpoint
Original author(s)Ben "BlueMaxima" Latimore
Developer(s)Community contributors
Initial releaseZero / January 15, 2018; 6 years ago (2018-01-15)[1]
Stable release
12.1 (Salamander) / October 27, 2023; 8 months ago (2023-10-27)[1]
Repositorygithub.com/FlashpointProject/launcher/
Written inTypeScript, PHP, C++, C#, C[2][3][4][5]
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows, macOS, Linux
LicenseMIT (launcher),[6] proprietary (engines, games)
Websitehttps://flashpointarchive.org/

Flashpoint Archive (formerly BlueMaxima's Flashpoint) is an archival and preservation project that allows browser games, web animations and other general rich web applications to be played in an secure format, after all major browsers removed native support for NPAPI/PPAPI plugins in the mid-to-late 2010s as well as the plugins' deprecation.[7][8][9] The project contains over 160 thousand applications from 91 browser plugins, most notably Adobe Flash, which can be installed and played using the provided Flashpoint Launcher and its associated tools.

History

The project was initiated by Australian Ben "BlueMaxima" Latimore in late 2017, initially as part of a separate project from the Archive Team.[10][11][12] The project has since developed a launcher for playing the archived games and animations, and has reached a total size of 1.48 TB. The project allows games to be played through a proxy that receives and blocks any web requests and calls needed, bypassing any DRM that relied on the web.[13][14] BlueMaxima stepped down as leader of the project in early 2023 in order to move on to other projects[15], including a book dedicated towards the early history of web games named after Flashpoint.[16]

Supported plugins

While named after and mostly focused on Flash content, media using other discontinued web plugins are also preserved, including notable examples such as Shockwave,[17] Microsoft Silverlight, Java applets, the Unity Web Player,[18] as well as software frameworks such as ActiveX. Other currently used web technologies are also preserved in Flashpoint, like HTML5. As of Flashpoint 12.1, 91 distinct web technologies are currently listed as being preserved.[19]

Legality

The legality of the project has been described as "unclear" but creators who do not want their games included can ask for their removal.[7] A notable example of this is when Nitrome removed their games from the archive in 2019, as they were planning to remake their games under HTML5.[20][21]

Editions

There are two editions of Flashpoint that are currently released, Infinity and Ultimate. The Infinity edition is an official launcher that downloads and manages games for the user, which provides an alternative to downloading the entire archive. The Ultimate edition contains every archived game and animation preinstalled, and is designed to be used by archivists. A Core edition was also released with older versions, which was a version of the launcher with limited content included, designed to be used by curators for adding games to the archive, however has since been merged into Infinity as a separate mode starting with Flashpoint 12.[22]

Reception

Flashpoint has received acclaim for its dedication towards both its preservation project and the launcher it provides for easy access. Flashpoint has also led to the creation of a similar project, Kahvibreak, which is dedicated towards the preservation of Java mobile games used on feature phones during the 2000s.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "News – Flashpoint Archive". https://flashpointarchive.org/news. 
  2. ↑ FlashpointProject/FlashpointSecureTools, Flashpoint Archive, 2023-12-30, https://github.com/FlashpointProject/FlashpointSecureTools, retrieved 2024-01-29 
  3. ↑ FlashpointProject/FlashpointProxy, Flashpoint Archive, 2023-12-30, https://github.com/FlashpointProject/FlashpointProxy, retrieved 2024-01-29 
  4. ↑ FlashpointProject/launcher, Flashpoint Archive, 2024-01-28, https://github.com/FlashpointProject/launcher, retrieved 2024-01-29 
  5. ↑ FlashpointProject/FlashpointUltimateUpdater, Flashpoint Archive, 2024-01-24, https://github.com/FlashpointProject/FlashpointUltimateUpdater, retrieved 2024-01-29 
  6. ↑ Flashpoint Launcher, FlashpointProject, 2021-12-09, https://github.com/FlashpointProject/launcher/blob/ab4ed7d02f74461117ed70edac7814235ad56233/LICENSE, retrieved 2021-12-11 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Ontwikkelaars maken tool om 38.000 oude Flash-games te archiveren en te spelen" (in NL). https://tweakers.net/geek/163070/ontwikkelaars-maken-tool-om-38000-oude-flash-games-te-archiveren-en-te-spelen.html. 
  8. ↑ "You Can Now Play 36,000 Saved Flash Games Offline Ahead of Flash Browser Support End". 3 February 2020. https://hypebeast.com/2020/2/flashpoint-flash-games-archive-info. 
  9. ↑ Morton, Lauren (31 January 2020). "Flashpoint launcher is saving Flash games from extinction" (in en). https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/01/31/flashpoint-launcher-is-saving-flash-games-from-impending-extinction/. 
  10. ↑ "Flash Games As We Know Them Will Die Forever In 2020. One Guy Is Trying To Save Them All" (in en-AU). 5 May 2018. https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/05/flash-games-as-we-know-them-will-die-forever-in-2020-one-guy-is-trying-to-save-them-all/. 
  11. ↑ Prescott, Shaun (3 February 2020). "Thousands of old Flash games have been saved from obsolescence". https://www.pcgamer.com/thousands-of-old-flash-games-have-been-saved-from-obsolescence/. 
  12. ↑ Kidwell, Emma (2 May 2018). "Flashpoint is archiving Flash games before they disappear forever" (in en). https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/317466/Flashpoint_is_archiving_Flash_games_before_they_disappear_forever.php. 
  13. ↑ Hoon Chan, Khee (18 March 2021). "Tracing the Sprawling Roots of Flash Preservation" (in en). https://www.vice.com/en/article/wx8y5y/tracing-the-sprawling-roots-of-flash-preservation. 
  14. ↑ Grosso, Robert (24 December 2018). "Flashpoint Preserves over 10,000 Web-Based Flash Games; Playable With New Launcher" (in en). https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/flashpoint-preserves-over-10000-web-based-flash-games-playable-with-new-launcher. 
  15. ↑ "BlueMaxima on Twitter: "Flashpoint 11.1 is out, and with it, I'm announcing my retirement from the project."". 12 January 2023. https://twitter.com/BlueMaxima/status/1613684046579789827. 
  16. ↑ Ben "BlueMaxima" Latimore (2023-04-30). Flashpoint: A Tribute to Web Games. http://archive.org/details/flashpoint-a-tribute-to-web-games. 
  17. ↑ "Flash is Dead, but Its Culture Should Live on". 25 October 2020. https://hackaday.com/2020/10/24/flash-is-dead-but-its-culture-should-live-on/. 
  18. ↑ "How to Play Old Flash Games in 2020, and Beyond". 29 February 2020. https://www.howtogeek.com/563875/how-to-play-old-flash-games-in-2020-and-beyond/. 
  19. ↑ "Statistics". https://flashpointproject.github.io/flashpoint-database/statistics/. 
  20. ↑ "Not Accepted Curations - Flashpoint Datahub". https://flashpointarchive.org/w/index.php?title=Not_Accepted_Curations&oldid=2183. 
  21. ↑ D'Anastasio, Cecilia. "The Ragtag Squad That Saved 38,000 Flash Games From Oblivion" (in en-US). Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/story/flash-games-digital-preservation-flashpoint/. 
  22. ↑ "Downloads – Flashpoint Archive". https://flashpointarchive.org/downloads. 

External links



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