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Flash Emulation & Brave BAT

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Flash Emulation in Browser


Over the past few months @Mike has been working on a way to play Flash in the browser via emulation. We were gonna surprise everyone this fall by suddenly supporting classic content here on NG but it leaked early and the cat is out of the bag. You can see the progress at Ruffle.rs!


Ruffle is being written in the Rust programming language and targets desktop and the web using Web Assembly. The project is open source and contributors are now coming aboard, which is exciting! There is even work being done to create a browser extension that detects old Flash embed code and swaps it with Ruffle, meaning you could visit any old website and the Flash will (eventually) just WORK. 


On Newgrounds we’ll be swapping our old Flash embed code so you won’t need a browser extension. We’re adding a true/false attribute to every Flash project to track whether it works in emulation. The initial rollout will cover animated content, then gradually expand to cover more and more games. We’ll also be tracking which Flash games are touch screen friendly because they will work on mobile for the first time ever.


For anyone who is concerned about Flash’s reputation for security - this project is entirely open source and any security issues would be issues with the web browser itself, whereas the traditional Flash plugin was a closed system that created unique opportunities for exploits.


Brave Browser and BAT


This week we set up NG to accept Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) via the Brave web browser. BAT is open-source, decentralized and built on the Ethereum platform. It’s led by Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript and co-founder of Mozilla and the goal is to create a new way to value attention, connecting users, content creators, and advertisers.


If you visit Newgrounds via Brave, you can tip us via the tip button in the browser header! We’ll be watching to see how well this works and if it’s worth expanding to individual user accounts. If you’ve never tried Brave, use our referral link and we’ll get some bonus BAT if you become a regular user.


Brave blocks all of the ads on Newgrounds so it would be greatly appreciated if you became a supporter! That is still the most direct and effective way to help Newgrounds. We’re 170 active supporters away from a big reward - removal of all ads from all E-M art view pages for (at least) the remainder of 2019! In an ideal future, NG won’t need ads.


I’ll also note that Brave doesn’t work with a lot of HTML5 games due to a lack of WebGL support. You’ll still need a browser like Chrome or Firefox to play those.


Other News


Give my August playlist a listen! Each month I’ve been making a playlist of music from NG, generally anything that I like that is also good music to listen to while working.


Madness Day is September 22nd and prizes this year will include Steam keys for Madness Project Nexus and Hank pins.


Robot Day is Monday and you still have time to make some robot-themed art!


Back in May the writing community on newgrounds competed in a competition to create some original Newgrounds Characters. This contest has entered its second phase: An NG OC Art Contest! Artists are invited to come visualize characters from the winning story, which could ultimately become an animated pilot.


Also check out the NG Remix Contest and NEAR DEADline art contest!


On the back-end we’re building a new storage solution, something that happens every few years as the demand for space continues to grow. After that we’ll be setting up tus servers for resumable file uploads, so large files with upload interruptions don’t get scuttled. The new project system might launch ahead of the tus integration, which would get plugged in asap afterwards. We’ve also got ratings filters coming to the Classic Portal!


Your support goes a long way to helping us cover growing hosting costs! You can pay as little as $3 per month or $25 for the year and you get to browse NG ad-free, along with other perks.


I’ll wrap this up with a picture of the Pico’s Unloaded swf playing in Safari on my iPhone. Steve Jobs be rolling.


iu_49390_1.jpg


Working on Nightmare Cops!

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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 11:01:59


At 8/23/19 10:55 AM, TomFulp wrote:Flash Emulation in Browser

Over the past few months @Mike has been working on a way to play Flash in the browser via emulation. We were gonna surprise everyone this fall by suddenly supporting classic content here on NG but someone from Mike’s Rust meetup group Tweeted about Mike’s work and the cat is out of the bag. You can see the progress at Ruffle.rs!


That is super exciting! Amazing news!

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 11:31:01


Halelujiah!


Sig by @Brokendeck

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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 11:55:00


I am absolutely floored with Ruffle! the NG player beta is useful but I admit it is unfortunate having to launch a new window to view an animation having been so spoiled with in-page embedded submissions for so long now. This really is a god send, and I should have known it would be Newgrounds leading the charge on it.


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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 11:57:43


@TomFulp

Wow, so just like that? The flash purge is no longer any threat at all?


Nice!!!


I was always wondering when will NG dabble in crypto soon, 'tis a new age for sure. Time to switch browser.

Also, omg flash on phones

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 12:49:45


At 8/23/19 11:57 AM, Hellzingg wrote:@TomFulp
Wow, so just like that? The flash purge is no longer any threat at all?


There is a lot of work to be done on the emulation front and no guarantee it will ultimately emulate everything - it has to work it's way through AS1 and AS2 games before ultimately tackling AS3.


Mike is super smart though and other smart people are getting involved, Ruffle is looking like the best chance.


Working on Nightmare Cops!

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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 12:51:15


This is become real, real quick!


It is fantastic that you are publicly supporting and raising awareness of this project on Newgrounds, Tom. Your voice will no doubt serve as inspiration for the amazing people working on the project. And it serves as an added weight of importance to the project's success. I'm really excited for this avenue of Flash content preservation!


Amazing stuff all around it seems. Very neat stuff!


Hi, you! You're awesome, probably! <3 Have a great day!

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 13:07:43


At 8/23/19 12:49 PM, TomFulp wrote:
At 8/23/19 11:57 AM, Hellzingg wrote:@TomFulp
Wow, so just like that? The flash purge is no longer any threat at all?

There is a lot of work to be done on the emulation front and no guarantee it will ultimately emulate everything - it has to work it's way through AS1 and AS2 games before ultimately tackling AS3.

Mike is super smart though and other smart people are getting involved, Ruffle is looking like the best chance.


So I can keep programming my goofy games in AS2 and upload them to Newgrounds? Because aside from Wick Editor, I haven't found anything else I can easily use. I need a GUI when doing creative projects, it's easier on my dyslexic brain if I can see what I am doing!

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 13:14:14


God bless Mike. Where tf is the Polygon.com article or whatever this flash emulator shit is BIG NEWS.


Also downloaded Brave usin that fancy code, enjoy the riches. I've been meaning to try it out again for a while, so maybe I'll dabble with it more.


sicko mode

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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 13:25:38


At 8/23/19 01:07 PM, Little-Rena wrote:
At 8/23/19 12:49 PM, TomFulp wrote:
At 8/23/19 11:57 AM, Hellzingg wrote:@TomFulp
Wow, so just like that? The flash purge is no longer any threat at all?

There is a lot of work to be done on the emulation front and no guarantee it will ultimately emulate everything - it has to work it's way through AS1 and AS2 games before ultimately tackling AS3.

Mike is super smart though and other smart people are getting involved, Ruffle is looking like the best chance.

So I can keep programming my goofy games in AS2 and upload them to Newgrounds? Because aside from Wick Editor, I haven't found anything else I can easily use. I need a GUI when doing creative projects, it's easier on my dyslexic brain if I can see what I am doing!


Knock on wood, that's the hope!


Working on Nightmare Cops!

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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 13:59:23


I knew it! I knew, you guys would do something like that. WASM is the future, I told people two years ago. Do it before the big companies flood us with closed down frameworks!


Browsing bravely now. Let's see. Not a fan of crypto currency though and can't earn points because no ads in my country. But yeah, that's Mozilla fighting right there! I remember 2004 being the one with the weird browser which is strangely fast and displays content correctly. Oh I feel young again!


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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 14:07:19


Okay, I'm on Brave too. Let's see how this goes!


THE NEWGROUNDS PODCAST

Sometimes, it would rain men. "Hallelujah!" we would cry. Thousands were killed.

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 14:15:48


flash emulation would make NG sort of like the kings of the flash graveyard across the web which is sort of goth. also still relevant in juxtaposition with the crazy emo trap soundcloud scene. makes me wonder if this has potential to extend flash and web emulation systems to new heights. i dont wanna say it almost makes me imagine there being potentially leading edge stuff coming from this but who knows. i have to be grateful for ng being one of the only places to expose me to ideas that involve the technical side of computers and the web because im pretty ignorant of it


i never knew about brave browser or BAT until recently. I bet crpyto twitter/facebook/instagram would give some shares to something about this especially if they didn't know about brave or BAT and are as intrigued as I am with their already deeper understanding and love of crypto.


i also like how using music conventionally as something for workflow kind of makes you a dj. (lol)


hey uhhh i posted this to reddit and its kinda on the frontpage of /r/pcgaming right now woops https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/cugjlp/newgrounds_is_working_on_an_open_source_emulator


sicko mode

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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 16:02:53


Today's an amazing day. Seeing pure Flash running on a mobile platform was an idea I considered impossible for the last decade+, and now here we are.

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 16:29:07


At 8/23/19 11:32 AM, f1shster wrote:
At 8/23/19 10:55 AM, TomFulp wrote:they will work on mobile for the first time ever.

Hell yeah! Can't wait to watch Charlie the Chode with Down Syndrome on my Android!


I fuckin know, right!? FLASH ON MOBILE!? FLASHON MOBILE!? FLASH ON MOTHAFUKIN MOBILE!!!!


"We must fight against the machines"-The Ninja Society of Newgrounds | Join me in worship!

Name sig by Decky, Gods sig by Jackho

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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 16:53:04


So can I just link all of the people complaining about the flash player not working to this thread? Is the NG flash player project going to go away since this will basically make it not needed?

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 17:25:22


At 8/23/19 04:53 PM, Fro wrote:So can I just link all of the people complaining about the flash player not working to this thread? Is the NG flash player project going to go away since this will basically make it not needed?


The NG player will likely be needed for a while - it will still support content that isn't emulated in the near future. The progress with emulation is a big part of why I'm not rushing to spend money on Mac and Linux builds, though.


Working on Nightmare Cops!

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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 17:35:32


At 8/23/19 05:25 PM, TomFulp wrote:
At 8/23/19 04:53 PM, Fro wrote:So can I just link all of the people complaining about the flash player not working to this thread? Is the NG flash player project going to go away since this will basically make it not needed?

The NG player will likely be needed for a while - it will still support content that isn't emulated in the near future. The progress with emulation is a big part of why I'm not rushing to spend money on Mac and Linux builds, though.


Is there any information that I can give the people who are struggling with the NG Player? There seems to be a thread or two in the Wi/Ht daily and I simply don't know why it doesn't work for them. Everything seems to work good on my end and most of them are using the same browser/window versions as me.

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 17:42:03


Hopefully you can keep that NG culture going without flash. What a fossil indeed...

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 17:45:03


At 8/23/19 05:35 PM, Fro wrote:Is there any information that I can give the people who are struggling with the NG Player? There seems to be a thread or two in the Wi/Ht daily and I simply don't know why it doesn't work for them. Everything seems to work good on my end and most of them are using the same browser/window versions as me.


That's something we still need to figure out / recreate.


Working on Nightmare Cops!

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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 17:48:31


very cool development by mike... there is nobody else who could have done it


I also long had dreams of mike saving flash... I also envision mike developing a NG home version of animate/flash without all the lame bugs and instability of adobe's monster...


also enjoy this tasteful meme


iu_49500_2595437.png

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 18:05:32


HOLY SHEEEEEET!


I <3 @mike so much. I knew he could do it!


This is HUGE! Congrats @TomFulp, this has gotta feel good and I was ROFL @ the last phrase of your post.


Whoah, great news post. I've been using Brave for almost 2 years now (with my adblocker turned off on NG) and I love it! Maybe I'll give the BAT system a try, it would be nice to support newgrounds that way. It's also kind of funny that you guys announced Ruffle now because an old NG buddy of mine gave me access to his account a few days ago and I've been converting many of his old flash movies to MP4. I hope all that work wasn't a complete waste haha. I'm sure many phone users will still prefer video over flash but Collabs aren't quite the same in MP4 format so I'm happy to hear about this new upcoming feature!


Flash seems unbeatable at this point, doesn't it? It got kicked in the mud so many times and it's still alive. Relative of Goku maybe? It could be too soon to celebrate but that picture gets me really excited for the future. Thanks @Mike, you're the best!


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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 19:54:06


This is cool news!

Getting AS3 games running is gonna be a lot of work though, I hope it works out!


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Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 20:19:42


Yer doin' gods work.


Which god... well that's a mystery.


But one of them!


Because it's funny is as good a reason as any...

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 20:54:20


At 8/23/19 10:55 AM, TomFulp wrote:Brave blocks all of the ads on Newgrounds so it would be greatly appreciated if you became a supporter! That is still the most direct and effective way to help Newgrounds. We’re 170 active supporters away from a big reward - removal of all ads from all E-M art view pages for (at least) the remainder of 2019! In an ideal future, NG won’t need ads.

I’ll also note that Brave doesn’t work with a lot of HTML5 games due to a lack of WebGL support. You’ll still need a browser like Chrome or Firefox to play those.


Brave does support WebGL but by default it is blocked on every site as a means to avoid fingerprinting. You can enable it as discussed here - https://www.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/ap43tt/webgl_doesnt_work_on_brave/


You can also whitelist newgrounds in Brave so that ads display normally

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 21:13:23


Good to see you guys are keeping flash players alive! I intend to get the app when it's available. I'm dyslexic though and alot of post confused the heck outta me lol. Is there a "help" section for the "Newgrounds Player" we have on the site currently? I'd rather do my flash games on my computer then my phone (if games can even be done on the new app) and I'm having issues where Adobe popups trying to create save files will freeze my games cause you cant select Allow or Deny. It's happening on 8/10 games i'm trying to play...

Response to Flash Emulation & Brave BAT 2019-08-23 21:51:35


Has ruffle.rs been shared to hacker news? Free karma, man


Super FTC!

It's terrible, but I'm trying to make it better.