The time has arrived to announce the winners of Flash Forward 2024!
This event celebrates the legacy of Flash while giving people cool new Flash games and interactive movies, playable in the browser thanks to Ruffle!
Thank you @Dungeonation, @FutureCopLGF and @BoMToons for judging assistance!
Top Five Games
🏆1st - $1,100
“I think Emrox misunderstood the assignment, they made an hours-long “Flash dev success story” 2010’s indie game like Braid, Closure, etc. by accident. HOLY CRAP? Isn't the Flash web version also supposed to be less of a finished product than the Steam or console version or whatever? We’re zero for two now. This is just far too fun and mesmerizing to look at and to play! I did experience some frame drops while playing but it didn't really detract from the experience. Love the audio design too (my faves are the getting hurt noises). Emrox gave us a cool demoscene Flash in a previous Flash Forward, Artifacts - and once again he's shown us what Flash, and Ruffle for that matter, can give us!”
-Dungeonation
“This game is fascinating! The production quality is through the roof with all sorts of silky smooth animations and effects, and the gameplay concept and mechanics are bafflingly unique and give off a great sense of intrigue and mystique. I gotta admit, it's almost so mind-bending to the point that it makes it difficult for me to get into for long before I get overwhelmed, but even I can't help but keep coming back to this to see how much further I can chip away at the mystery!”
-FutureCopLGF
“Really elegantly simple design, but surprisingly complex/original/experimental gameplay concept make this a super fresh addition to the “Flash Game Canon.” Highly-polished soundscape design, voice acting, animation, and controls shine out (which we’ve come to expect from Emrox). There’s something quintessential about crisp vector art smoothly-animated that screams “FLASH!” Not afraid to take things slow and build up suspense to tell its story (doesn’t hold your hand, which makes discoveries more satisfying). Unique gameplay makes you stretch your expectations, but still manages to be intuitive. Highly recommend!”
-BoMToons
🏆2nd - $750
“This was a pretty cute and solid metroid game! I'm always a sucker for multiple endings, and here I was really impressed at the depth of endings you could get: my first time playing through I thought I got it all, only to question whether I was blind as I started to find all sorts of hidden items and events on my subsequent playthroughs that opened up new routes. The endings were no slouch either, as practically all of them led to some crazy setpieces to cap them off!”
-FutureCopLGF
“A metroidvania where you’re escaping an orphanage by defeating the demon-worshiping nuns?? Sign me up! Simple gameplay, but really delivers on the storyline and metroidvania “find items to progress” mechanics.”
-BoMToons
🏆3rd - $500
“If someone didn't know this was a Flash game I don't think it would've crossed their mind that it could be one (and is!) What a fun control scheme, it compliments the character designs very well! Guy-Unger has brought us small Flash Forward goodies before in previous years such as Gooby and Pico's School (corrupted text) and they've done it again this year, it feels great taking out targets and baddies while dodging and platforming and such in this!”
-Dungeonation
“Really fun, original mechanic where you can only shoot while you’re jumping… er… “toast popping.” Very charming art style, challenging but not overly-so and a pretty cool boss battle… we need a sequel that does even more with this interesting game mechanic!”
-BoMToons
🏆4th - $300
“This Pico-themed Flash definitely has the 2000's web point n’ click gameplay down! In this we’ve got Luis’ Yandere Pico OC, Tracie, in an actual Pico game! Playing through to the end wasn’t too rough but was still plenty of fun! If it weren’t for the fact that the world of Pico IS supposed to be “edutainment”, Darnell’s quiz would’ve felt more out of place. I LOVE the meta moment when interacting enough with Tracie’s computer, only in this type of medium!”
-Dungeonation
“Really nails the olskool point and click Pico vibe and has a really interesting premise (a new, slightly psychotic, Pico’s School character in pursuit of Pico’s affection…) There’s even a tongue-in-cheek anti-climactic ending that fits the Pico vibe too!”
-BoMToons
🏆5th - $100
“I thought all that I was going to enjoy with this game was how accurate of a nostalgia trip it was, invoking characters of old and those classic edgy Flash RPG vibes, but I was really surprised with how the combat evolved over the story as it introduced new characters to your party, each with a set of moves built to help to counter the ever-increasing array of unique enemies and their devious tricks! Those final fights required some real strategy to them!”
-FutureCopLGF
Top Three Interactive Movies
🏆1st - $500
“A heartfelt and heartbreaking interactive story with professionally-consistent design and art aesthetics. From the sound fx, to the subtle animations on each page, to the deliberate monochrome color palette, this was a highly-polished experience that did its serious content justice.”
-BoMToons
“Unique visual novel presentation going on here. It’s not re-inventive for the genre but it’s given the breath of fresh air that it has through what Flash is good at. Bleak-Creep’s distinct art style works quite well for this type of story and visual novel, too. It’s not going to be a story for everyone, but I feel a lot of Flashes of this scope back in the day were personal in some capacity.”
-Dungeonation
“This was quite the emotional journey, both watching it and reviewing it! Truth be told, I hemmed and hawed over this for some time as to how I felt about it as it did have some rather avant-garde decisions like its abrupt ending that left me flabbergasted. But ultimately I had to give it credit that, despite its short length, its story and presentation enraptured me almost immediately and so powerfully to make a memorable experience that has stuck with me and I still come back to ponder on.”
-FutureCopLGF
🏆2nd - $200
“A blast from the past! The “Windows simulator” genre hits the right nostalgia notes for a competition about the hey-day of Flash games. Most poignant was when I tried opening Flash and got the blue screen of death…”
-BoMToons
🏆3rd - $50
“Feels like a direct transplant from the early 90s. Feels like something I might have made in my youth. An epic adventure through the pages of the Bible, plenty of Papyrus font use, stock sound fx, with corny humor and animation to boot! We need a medal for watching all of them (I did!)”
-BoMToons
Thank you everyone who participated in Flash Forward 2024!
If you love seeing the progress Ruffle Flash emulation has made over the years, consider sponsoring ongoing Ruffle development.
We’ll be hosting Flash Forward again in 2025 so if you’ve ever been tempted to make a new game or interactive movie in Flash, there’s something to aim for!
Keep reading below to see the event Sponsors and other news!
