Unity developers will be able to export their games to Adobe's Flash on Thursday when a public beta for its Flash deployment add-on becomes available.
The add-on enables what is one of Unity's most requested features, according to the company, and will allow developers to publish Unity games online without requiring the end-user to install a Unity browser plug-in.
The move -- and the demand -- may seem odd for those following recent headlines (on Gamasutra and elsewhere) about support for Adobe's long-running platform giving way to newcomers like HTML5 and WebGL. But as Unity CEO David Helgason tells us, Adobe's existing install base is just too large to ignore.
"For whatever shortcomings they may have or may not have, they still have an insanely large userbase, and that's not going away anytime soon," he says. "They're really good at getting the plug-in installed and making sure that it's always there."
Even in the company's most conservative projections, Unity still sees Flash as the dominant browser platform for some time, according to Helgason.
Of course, Flash support is only being shown off as a developer preview, and it's not an instant solution for getting Unity applications onto the platform. While Adobe's recent addition of 3D rendering support certainly paved the way for something like Unity exporting, there are still some things it just can't do: certain shaders, for example, will probably never be supported.
And on Unity's end, there are certain features the company just hasn't gotten around to supporting in time for this beta release. But as Helgason tells us, the ultimate goal is to have just about any Unity application be easily exported to Flash.
The preview comes by way of the open beta for Unity 3.5, which also adds (among other tweaks) support for Google's Native Client. The beta will be available at Unity's website Thursday, December 22 at 8am Pacific time.
With Epic and Unity offering Flash export options in the near future, along with the overhaul changes that Adobe is working on for the desktop-plug-in and AIR for mobiles / desktop, Flash is quickly evolving beyond what I've ever imagined.
Flash isn't going anywhere on the desktop anytime soon and if it ever does go away, it will simply evolved into something else, and that something else will not be HTML 5 -- hype over real substance can only go so far.
"The add-on enables what is one of Unity's most requested features, according to the company"
While having Flash export is nice and all, why not implement the real most requested feature, Linux Support? While being able to export a game to Flash will allow some games to be played on a Linux computer, it is still not a good substitute for a native Linux game.
Being able to create Unity games on Linux would be nice too.
If by "most requested feature" you mean "the same few people have been asking for it for a long time" as opposed to "largest percentage of current install base", then you're right :)
Unity already has Standalone and iOS/Android builds.
One of the benefits of Deploy to Flash is that you can use a common plugin and not force them to download a new plugin, and will be less likely to leave before playing.
I've been playing around with this new stuff for a spell now and I'm not sure why we are in a rush to writhing the epitaph for Flash! As far as HTML5, WebGL, WebCL I think that they are going to be very good, but are too immature at this time. It's going to take a cycle or two to get all the bugs worked out of it and for everyone to learn to handle it!
In this desperation to think outside the box just for the sake of doing so, I fear that we may lose track on the overall perspective on things. In the end, what is going to intuitively work for the end user is what is going to prevail!
I think between IE 10 dropping all plugin support including flash..
Adobe itself developing Edge and dropping future development of flash for mobile...
google dropping future support for flash in their OS also..
iOS will certainly not be repealing their policy for flash...
and then Using AIR to port apps to mobile is really poor performing from what I've see and heard from others who have tried.. especially compared to other actual game engines (flash isn't really made to make games, it just is a byproduct)
Honestly... i bet under unity and epics breath with all these recent shifts / announcements that came after they announced their hard work to add this capability.. they are saying.. "well that was a waste..."
I mean its clear that Adobe has themselves seen the writing on the wall and are really embracing (to their credit) being on the forefront of HTML5 development. they don't care.. they may software.. their money is i making software to help people make stuff.. if they can foster HTML5 development and offer a product that makes developers lives easier they will make money.
I'm not here to say HTML5 is better... but i think its safe to say that it will be. so early adopters are going to be in the best position in the future when there is an eventual exodus and conversion.. its already happening, but as flash declines inevitably.. the demand will rise..
Actually, I think you will find that the current install base of Flash is so very impressive that it will remain a marketable platform for a VERY long time to come, even if Adobe were to drop it flat tomorrow.
I couldn't imagine ANYONE uninstalling flash just because there's something better out there, and any websites that aren't in a rush to update will still require new users to install it, so I predict that the user base will continue to grow passively long after its official retirement.
Caleb, WOW! Do you bother looking up facts, or do you get all of your information from hearsay opinions and blogs? Seriously, what a load of bull.
And google is dropping support for Flash, in Chrome? WOW!!! Where did you pull this one from?
IE 10 "Tablets" will not support any plug-ins; BUT, IE 10 for Desktops will support all plug-ins. Seriously, this is public information.
Adobe already developed a product back in 2000 called "Adobe LiveMotion." You should look it up, it makes your Adobe Edge comment seem rather naive.
And here comes the hearsay,BS, that so so backs up my hate of Flash. Oh, how it killed my mother and ran so poorly on her toaster. Or, look, my information is from the other year, and it's no longer relevant as I can't be bothered to pay attention to what's changed for the better, as it will contradict what I'd like to believe.
People that blindly support HTML 5, really are inexperienced and don't have any recollection of how the web was years back. Nothing has really changed. It's nothing more than a promise being built on an ever changing foundation. The idea behind HTML 5 is great, but the reality of it is a joke.
It is great and one of the reasons that we use Unity3d we can build and then have muliple deployment options. With the amount of different platforms you need to build for not having to worry about retooling all the time is awesome. We did a quick flash deploy of a basic Unity3d project and it worked great.
I personally LOVE the engine and look forward to seeing it thrive and become the industry leader for low cost paid/free development solutions.
With Epic and Unity offering Flash export options in the near future, along with the overhaul changes that Adobe is working on for the desktop-plug-in and AIR for mobiles / desktop, Flash is quickly evolving beyond what I've ever imagined.
Flash isn't going anywhere on the desktop anytime soon and if it ever does go away, it will simply evolved into something else, and that something else will not be HTML 5 -- hype over real substance can only go so far.
Long Live Unity!
New GUI system unfortunately not this time.
While having Flash export is nice and all, why not implement the real most requested feature, Linux Support? While being able to export a game to Flash will allow some games to be played on a Linux computer, it is still not a good substitute for a native Linux game.
Being able to create Unity games on Linux would be nice too.
Would be pretty awesome if we get deploy to flash, deploy to air, and deploy to air mobile in unity.
Unity already has Standalone and iOS/Android builds.
One of the benefits of Deploy to Flash is that you can use a common plugin and not force them to download a new plugin, and will be less likely to leave before playing.
In this desperation to think outside the box just for the sake of doing so, I fear that we may lose track on the overall perspective on things. In the end, what is going to intuitively work for the end user is what is going to prevail!
Adobe itself developing Edge and dropping future development of flash for mobile...
google dropping future support for flash in their OS also..
iOS will certainly not be repealing their policy for flash...
and then Using AIR to port apps to mobile is really poor performing from what I've see and heard from others who have tried.. especially compared to other actual game engines (flash isn't really made to make games, it just is a byproduct)
Honestly... i bet under unity and epics breath with all these recent shifts / announcements that came after they announced their hard work to add this capability.. they are saying.. "well that was a waste..."
I mean its clear that Adobe has themselves seen the writing on the wall and are really embracing (to their credit) being on the forefront of HTML5 development. they don't care.. they may software.. their money is i making software to help people make stuff.. if they can foster HTML5 development and offer a product that makes developers lives easier they will make money.
I'm not here to say HTML5 is better... but i think its safe to say that it will be. so early adopters are going to be in the best position in the future when there is an eventual exodus and conversion.. its already happening, but as flash declines inevitably.. the demand will rise..
I couldn't imagine ANYONE uninstalling flash just because there's something better out there, and any websites that aren't in a rush to update will still require new users to install it, so I predict that the user base will continue to grow passively long after its official retirement.
And google is dropping support for Flash, in Chrome? WOW!!! Where did you pull this one from?
IE 10 "Tablets" will not support any plug-ins; BUT, IE 10 for Desktops will support all plug-ins. Seriously, this is public information.
Adobe already developed a product back in 2000 called "Adobe LiveMotion." You should look it up, it makes your Adobe Edge comment seem rather naive.
And here comes the hearsay,BS, that so so backs up my hate of Flash. Oh, how it killed my mother and ran so poorly on her toaster. Or, look, my information is from the other year, and it's no longer relevant as I can't be bothered to pay attention to what's changed for the better, as it will contradict what I'd like to believe.
People that blindly support HTML 5, really are inexperienced and don't have any recollection of how the web was years back. Nothing has really changed. It's nothing more than a promise being built on an ever changing foundation. The idea behind HTML 5 is great, but the reality of it is a joke.
I'm not a Unity game developer (yet (: ), but this is good. Always great to hear some pro-Flash news.
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- Ziro out.