11 reasons why you should not use Flash Player…
If you are still using Flash Player after 2020, I would be intrigued to know why!
Of the 1% minority who ‘need’ to use Flash Player, 99% of game developers would most likely turn their noses up to Flash Player now ( guessed percentages of course ). I no longer publish to Flash Player. Even though it was a significant part of my degree and a large part of my early digital design career.
Perhaps you should quit Flash Player too?
There are numerous reasons why you should not use Flash Player after 2021. One of the main reasons is that Flash Player has been discontinued by Adobe. And with Flash Player being discontinued, it opens the software to security issues and vulnerabilities. Used extensively by Flash game developers and designers, Flash player is largely obsolete. So much for the Job title of Flash Developer! With the plugin becoming obsolete, this has paved the way for newer technologies.
To further answer why you should not use Flash Player, this list gives your detailed reasons as to why you should not use Flash Player.
Or you may wish to read:-
Reasons for not using Flash Player anymore.
11 reasons why you should not use Flash Player anymore | List
Here is a list of reasons why you should not use Flash Player to distribute your game.
1) It was discontinued by Adobe
Adobe, if you are not aware, is the software company behind the likes of the Abobe Creative Suite ( CC ). Some of the tools included in the suite are Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe Animate, which was formerly known as Flash Professional.
In order to play Flash Games through a browser, the player or game developer needed Flash Player.
Adobe also acquired Flash, in turn, Flash Player. Adobe discontinued Flash Player as of 2021. Flash Player, was needed to play Flash games in a browser.
2 ) Flash Player is no longer supported
Not only was it discontinued, but Flash Player is no longer supported. At least, not by Adobe.
You can no longer download new versions of Flash Player. Using older versions of Flash Player may open your computer to viruses and Malware. However, there may be diehard developers who are still supporting Flash Player in the dark corners of the internet. ( why!? )
3 ) Vulnerabilities with Flash Player
Flash Player had a reputation for security issues, even in its heyday. Adobe put out extensive warnings in the early 2020s with regards to the removal of Flash Player. Many of those that had Flash Player installed removed it to protect their computers.
One basic attack I witnessed first-hand was a malicious redirect through an ad campaign on a well-known website. An ad space had been tampered with!
The act was enabled by… You guessed It – Flash.
Sadly, Flash and Flash Player were abused when placed in the wrong hands.
4 ) Gamers may not be able to play your game
Another significant reason not to use Flash Player! Flash Player was uninstalled en-mass and has since declined sharply in popularity. By default, most modern browsers do not support Flash Player anymore. Flash Player was also uninstalled on many computers in the early 2020s.
If you create your game now for Flash Player, you could do so to a very small audience. Please consider this if you are making a commercial web game. If you are publishing to Flash Player, not many gamers will play it!
Weak market penetration in other words.
5 ) Inconsistent game experiences when viewed on a Smartphone
If this isn’t reason enough to not use Flash Player – Inconsistent gaming experiences! In the early days of the internet, when HTML and Flash Player ( Shockwave Player ) were king, creating Flash games for Flash Player was straightforward. You created your Flash game and published it.
That was at a time when there were only desktop browsers to contend with.
Then came mobile browsing. The direction of the internet being used on Smartphones was an early catalyst for the demise of the Flash Player. It was hard to play a game made for a desktop-sized screen with keyboard controls on a Smartphone.
From then on, you were either better off creating a dedicated game app that worked on a Smartphone. Or a desktop application that worked with the keyboard. The one-game-fits all no longer worked when it came to Flash Player. Even with special plugins and apps for your phone.
6 ) Powerful game engines came along
To put it bluntly, around the same time Flash Player’s popularity started to wane, new and exciting game engines started to emerge. These were, by and large, geared toward creating better high-end games than Flash. With the writing on the wall for Flash Player and newer and more powerful technology emerging, game developers gravitated towards other technologies.
This was reason enough to stop publishing to Flash player.
You may be interested in reading more about what 2D game engines you can use. Or whether you can create a game on your own.
7 ) Newer web technologies emerged
As a game developer, newer and more powerful web technologies were being released, such as HTML5 or WebGL. These new technologies came without the initial annoyances and limitations of Flash Player.
With the new web technology to use and publish your games, why would you want to create games for Flash Player now?
8 ) Flash Player had limits
A strong reason why you should not use Flash Player anymore! Flash Player had its limits. As did the Flash Professional IDE. Flash Player was good for playing your Flash games. But, bigger engines came along.
Some of these engines could do 3D out of the box, came with ready-to-use assets, and were dedicated to creating games. Flash Player was in essence first and foremost, for playing rich media… and games. Some of the engines worked too if you couldn’t code. Oh, and they can create browser games too.
9 ) It required regular updates on the user side
No, no no. A personal pet peeve.
Flash Player asks too much from the user! Why should the gamer keep having to run updates to play your games? Come on, you want to make it as fun and as easy as possible for the player!
On certain occasions, If the gamer doesn’t have the latest version of Flash Player, or a particular version of Flash Player, then your game may not load correctly. Instead, by default, you be greeted with an icon in a grey space telling you to ‘Update Flash’.
Boring!
10 ) It was easy to break
Imagine going through all of the trouble of making your Flash Game and publishing it, only to realise that it stops working within a year. The reasons were mostly due to Flash Player needing an update on the user side. On rarer occasions, it required deeper intervention to make it work. Such as resaving and publishing to Flash Player.
This happened to me on a couple of commercial projects.
11 ) Reasons why you should not use Flash player – Big Tech had other ideas
Imagine if all the big tech companies were part of some kind of high council with big back chairs around a giant shiny table. All under downlighters, and only key parts of their features are illuminated, the overlord, one at the end of the table with their hands entwined plots…
( You get the picture.)
Now imagine they all clubbed together on a Flash Player witch hunt and banished it for good. And Banish it they did!
In an abstract way, this more or less happened. Aside from the witches and hunting and overlords. They all just stopped supporting Flash Player and made it harder to publish Flash content.
(Goodbye degree! )
It was the price of progress I suppose.
Reasons why you should not use Flash player, the general takeaway
It was death by a 1000’s cuts when it came to issues with Flash Player. Although some of the biggest reasons for it falling out of favour is due to lack of support, being phased out, and general limitations to a dated and obsolete plugin.
The reason as to why you should not use Flash Player? It no longer has a big future.
Don’t use Flash Player, but do feel free to use Adobe Animate as a tool. More posts.
Other reasons why you should not use Flash Player.
Source : EOL Flash Player From Adobe