[game_preservation] Preserving Flash Games

[Andrew Armstrong]

Martin, you're absolutely right, there are few games which are 
client-side only, making this task similar to preserving MMO games (for 
instance). If only to "save progress" (or even start progress! :P ) or 
to track stats there would be a portion of the game which is server-side 
only, and many don't run unless they can connect back to their servers 
(especially to stop copying I bet for the more popular ones).

Hmm, there's little way around this, and I have seen absolutely no group 
put forward a call for this kind of material. No doubt there is some 
collections, some random sites dedicated to it, but I've not seen them :(

We could as a group create some guidelines first (ie; what would be 
needed to preserve as much of the game as possible, with provisions of 
"if you actually made the game, you could make a non-server-copy by 
having these requirements...") then start to petition that kind of work 
by going to different portals, who might be happy to help for older 
games and delisted material, and to the authors themselves.

I'm no expert on what's popular though, although a few key ones are easy 
to pick out (many of the puzzle games, Tower Defence, etc.)

Andrew

Martin Goldberg wrote:

> Actual videos playing through flash are another matter, those are

> easily accessible and archivable via RealPlayer (which installs a

> plugin in IE that allows you to download the video when you hover over

> it).

>

> Games themselves are a much more complicated matter, and it has little

> to do with protection.  Remember that games played over the web are

> using web technology.  That includes databases, server side scripts

> and programs, graphic and sound resources stored separately and loaded

> later (which is usually what the loading status bar is for).  Very few

> sizable flash games nowadays store everything in the client side

> object (the .swf file that gets loaded in to your browser). About the

> only thing you can archive with out direct access to the server to get

> everything else, is the client side .swf.

>

> The matter of archiving becomes a little easier when you're talking

> about Flash games moving directly to the desktop via Adobe Air.

>

>

> Marty

>

>

> On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 1:25 PM, Devin Monnens <dmonnens at gmail.com> wrote:

>   

>> I would be interested in this as well. I know a few Flash games have been

>> distributed through other means (Danny Ledonne included some on his SCMRPG

>> DVD), and I've saved a few flash videos from the past. The other thing to

>> keep in mind to is different versions of games that have been updated. Game

>> videos on YouTube are another matter altogether.

>> -Devin

>>

>> On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 12:15 PM, Jan Baart <jan_baart at yahoo.de> wrote:

>>     

>>> Due to some recent experiences with flash games I was wondering whether

>>> any of you know of preservation projects that either preserve flash games or

>>> have at least thought about how to preserve them. It seems like they're a

>>> major part of current PC gaming and if we have to rely on the websites

>>> staying online we will surely have lost most of them in 10-20 years. I know

>>> you can download some or use Firefox cache to get them but it seems most are

>>> so well protected there's no way to save them even if one had the legal

>>> framework to do so.

>>>

>>> - Jan Baart

>>> _______________________________________________

>>> game_preservation mailing list

>>> game_preservation at igda.org

>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>>       

>>

>> --

>> Devin Monnens

>> www.deserthat.com

>>

>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>

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>>

>>

>>     

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