Haxe - Moving To It - by MakeGamesHappen

After about 6 months of thinking what technology I need to move to since flash is slowly dying.

(And Adobe is the one killing it)
I have decided to move to Haxe.

A year ago I messed with it with success.

My options were:
1. C++ and SDL
2. C++ and SFML
3. Unity with C#
4. Java
5. Haxe

Unity and C# was recommended by one of my super smart master student programmer friends.
However, I don't trust proprietary platforms. Unity will end up like XNA and Flash eventually.
I remember almost learning XNA, but I stayed away from it because you couldn't make games that would
play like normal X-box games. You had to go to the developer menu.

Which is bullshit if you are trying to sell your own games to normal consumers.

I messed around with C++ and SFML... It got a bit too complicated with all of the CMake stuff.
I am not that hard core. C++ and SDL was a bit complicated with the compiler setup and the
inclusion of the correct .DLL files. But it worked to the point where I was highly considering porting to SDL.

Even one of my favorite flash developers recommended this route.

I don't want to re-invent the wheel though.
And someone has already made a AS3 to Haxe converter.

And Haxe syntax is very AS3 like. Which means porting wont be too hard.

If I want to get a fast running desktop version of our game....
Porting to Haxe is the answer.

-MakeGamesHappen
(-John Mark)

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Gamedziner 2014-07-16 22:25:49

Wait, WHAAAT?!!?!??! Flash is dying!?! How much time do we have left with it? Will it work after it is unsupported?

*Panting* Oh man... That is terrible! On the note of your options, I'd keep Java in mind; after all, 2 extremely popular games, Minecraft and Cookie Clicker, both run on Java fine... Or is Java dying to? *Gulp*

MakeGamesHappen 2014-07-16 22:25:49

Java is doing fine. Ironic because many years ago when I made the choice to learn AS3... The other choice I was heavily considering WAS JAVA!!

But I decided to go with AS3 because at the time, it seemed that people were afraid of Java applets and trusted flash more than Java Applets. For example, a lot of browsers defaulted to having Java blocked. And most flash game sites favored Flash over Java.

I am going with Haxe because it is a multi-platform solution.
I have a really good programmer friend who is all about Java.

-MakeGamesHappen
(-John Mark)

Gamedziner 2014-07-17 08:00:05

Ohh... I understand now about the Java thing. But still, why is Adobe Flash dying? Don't they realize just how MUCH of the Internet runs on it?

MakeGamesHappen 2014-07-17 08:00:05

I think it's because Adobe makes shit for software when it comes to flash.
Because everyone relied on their proprietary flash professional to make games.
Once flash develop was made though...

It's an IDE that makes you at least 10x faster at making flash.
And it is free.

Which means we as devs don't need to pay for flash anymore to make flash.

Which means adobe can't make money with flash anymore.

Which means adobe won't support it anymore.

All because they were lazy.

If they had made good software in the first hand, we would never of gotten
flash develop. As it arose out of necessity.

This is my theory. As someone who, knows a lot of Adobe software, but doesn't care much for Adobe as a company.

Yomiel 2014-07-19 00:36:00

I think Java. It's practical, easy to understand, and also somewhat easy to port since both are object-oriented languages.

MakeGamesHappen 2014-07-19 00:36:00

Good to know!
By the way, I think I have an email from you somewhere buried deep within my inbox that I never answered. I am going to go look now.

Mumbo-Jumbo 2014-07-24 18:09:36

If I understood anything about coding, I'd chuckle and pat you on the back.

MakeGamesHappen 2014-07-24 18:09:36

Coding, its hard stuff.
Well, depending on what you are making.
Just like legos. :)
-MakeGamesHappen
(-John Mark)

Mumbo-Jumbo 2014-07-24 23:05:02

Exactly. Easy as hell to make a cluster of completely useless sh*t and have fun doing it, but when you make it the way it's supposed to be it's complicated and tedious...at least to my knowledge.

MakeGamesHappen 2014-07-24 23:05:02

Yeah. Linking together code into a large system is an art within itself.
-MakeGamesHappen
(-John Mark)

Grimrider 2014-07-25 12:28:06

Hey, I'm back. Still alive...

Will converting to a different code base affect your ability to host on Newgrounds? Just curious, I know nothing about code since Turbo Pascal (hahaha) in High School.

MakeGamesHappen 2014-07-25 12:28:06

Haxe can compile to Flash. It will not affect newgrounds.
It just means that we can get out to more people and be
more legitimate if we target Steam Greenlight.

Grimrider 2014-07-26 06:03:15

So do you have a time frame in mind for when everything gets moved over and an updated version gets on NG? Just curious, not that I'm in any rush.

MakeGamesHappen 2014-07-26 06:03:15

I am thinking of launching a kickstarter for a tablet case I made to see if anyone wants something similar. Just to give me practice doing kickstarters. Then from there, doing a kickstarter for the game. Though I feel we need more art before the game is kickstarter worthy.

Haxe - Moving To It

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