Flash Forward 2025 will showcase new Flash games and interactive movies.
(Image credit: Newgrounds)
Flash games and movies defined an era. The multimedia platform may have become obsolete for some, but many animators and devs miss the simplicity of the graphical editor and the way it combined animation, programming and sound. Some miss it so much that they're pushing for a revival in these days of HTML5, WebGL and WebAssembly.
Adobe killed Flash at the end of 2020, leading to the loss of many apps and indie games on the net, but the Ruffle Flash Emulator is getting better. Now Newgrounds' Flash Forward 2025 dev meetup has opened a call for new Flash games and movies to celebrate the art form (see our roundup of the best game development software and best animation software for alternatives).
Flash Forward 2025 has arrived! It's time to make new Flash games and interactive movies, with prizes for the best ones. See the post below for more info! pic.twitter.com/pPlRIjzd8nFebruary 1, 2025
Flash Forward 2025 will be the fifth annual jam celebrating the legacy of Flash, which began life as FutureWave's FutureSplash before Macromedia acquired it in 1996. Newgrounds describes the annual event as "an alternate reality where Flash never died!"
Think you can make the next Starwish? Flash fans are invited to submit new games and movies, and there are prizes up for grabs. This what Newgrounds says of the requirements:
Make a game or interactive movie with Flash. Interactive movies include animation collabs with cool menu systems or something with decisions/alternate endings.
Confirm it works via Ruffle before publishing. You will see a “Test with Ruffle” link on your preview page. Ruffle is what we use to run Flash on NG without the Flash plugin.
Avoid the use of copyrighted characters and unlicensed commercial music. We love it when people work with artists from the Audio Portal and also manage an additional list of music resources.
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Your entry should be making its premier during the jam, meaning, please don't re-release a previous project and expect to be considered for a prize. Please tell us if your work is a release of something that existed previously.
The Flash game Starwish was a unique blend of shooter, RPG, visual novel and dating sim (Image credit: Xdanond)
Entries must be published on Newgrounds.com by the end of the day with the “Flash-Forward-2025” tag on 6 April, which marks the 25th anniversary of NG’s Flash Portal becoming the first place on the Internet where people could instantly publish movies and games.
The best contestants will be rewarded with $100 to $1,000 for games and $50 to $130 for films with interactive elements. NG says its crowdfunding for bigger prizes. Have old Flash games you want to run on a site today? See our guide to how to convert Flash games to HTML5.
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
