This is where things are going to start to get self-promotion-y, but there’s really not much I can do about that since half the reason I started writing this article is to get as much attention to the problem as possible, and considering that my attempts to solve it are currently the only that I know of…well, there you go.

Here’s the thing though: just what is being done to preserve this almost unmatchable legacy of video games? As far as I’m aware from pretty much any source? Nothing. An article here and there, but as the clock ticks down and games slowly start turning unplayable, nobody seems to be stepping up to the plate.

Introducing BlueMaxima’s Flashpoint.

As of version 1.3.1.

Combining the interface of LaunchBox and the web server capabilities of Apache, Flashpoint is a Flash game preservation project, museum, and one-click-to-play collection in one box. All you need to do is double-click any game in the list and they will open from a local copy on the hard drive, and be ready to play as-is.

Games that have sitelocks? Games that have server requirements? Games that have external files? All taken care of, either via hacking the games (may the creator of JPEXS Free Flash Decompiler live a long and successful life) or using said Apache web server to make the games think they’re where they need to be, edit free.

Elephant Quest is one of the games that requires the web server to even get to the title screen.

There’s eventually going to be one question on the lips of everyone involved, though: is this legal? And the only real answer is nobody knows and really, nobody should care. Games that more or less have a ticking clock until they die need to be saved now, as fast as possible. And as far as I’m aware, I’m really the only one trying.

As of Flashpoint 1.3.1, there are currently 850 games, saved in their entirety, playable after one or two clicks. Around 20% of those needed to either be hacked, run via the web server, or have external resources downloaded to help them run properly. This isn’t even close to every Flash game out there, but with a lot more work and a bit more luck, hopefully I’ll get there.

What about the rest, though? What about the thousands upon thousands of games that I haven’t gotten around to giving the Flashpoint treatment to yet? The dozens upon dozens of portals that might not have been backed up yet, or properly, via sites like Archive.org?

Oh boy, am I glad you asked.

Portals, portals, get your portals! Big, small, we’ve got them all!

This whole thing originally started as me trying to back up as many portals as I could get to, and the end result of those efforts thanks to myself and one other major contributor that I won’t name here just to be safe, has ended up with the name “Flashfreeze”. Over two dozen portals’ SWF files, backed up and saved into a Google Drive directory (which has been nabbed by a few people who like to get this sort of thing already).

This doesn’t include external files needed for these games to run properly, though, which is half the battle — finding these files and making sure they’re saved and ready to go for when the end eventually comes. And of course, games will still need to be hacked to work without their servers, online-only or sitelock, but that should be in order now that we have the SWFs, at least.

Update, 30/07/2018: Considering this article has been making the rounds on the internet again (and considering I turned 25 yesterday, great birthday present, Internet) I figure I should update it instead of writing a new article. Simple bullet points:

We’ve made tons of updates to Flashpoint since this was originally written. It has over 4,000 games now, a new redirector program that helps with beating sitelocks and running server-based games, and there’s been a ton of people helping test and curate for it.

We support Shockwave, HTML5 and Unity games now. This server tech was too good to keep it only in use just for Flash. Flash is still 90% of the project, but people will have a copy of Cartoon Cartoon Summer Resort, dangnabbit.

We’ve released a bunch of extra downloads based on the server tech; a collection of every Newgrounds animation SWF with a frontend to run them, a bunch of quick-and-dirty portal backups, and there’s more neat side projects to come.

We’ve been popular. Really popular. The Discord server we managed this on cleared 1,500 users with this recent bout of popularity, and a lot of Flash devs have gotten in touch to thank us. When the developer of VVVVVV thanks you for your efforts, you know you’re doing a good job.

The archival effort has been going swimmingly. With a bunch of people who know this stuff in and out now working to get everything backed up, it’s only a matter of time before we have almost everything still out there.

There’s been next to no wrenches or spanners in the works. I’ve been half braced for something to stop this project in its tracks, but it looks like we’re in the clear, at least for now.

So the only question is, where do you go to get all of this stuff?

Well, I’ve been maintaining a Discord server in which I’ve been taking requests, hacking games and fulfilling requests since this project started a few months ago, which you’re more than welcome to join to help out and get the latest versions of Flashpoint when they’re ready and available: http://discord.gg/S9uJ794

But if you just want access to the raw files (whether it be to verify they’ll work for you and they’re something you want to support, or you just want to play for 5 minutes and forget like I do with an unfortunate number of things), here’s some links.

You can always find a way to the latest version at our website: http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint

Flashfreeze (although I warn you in advance, this is two TERABYTES of ZIPs): https://drive.google.com/open?id=1r8I5hpSPCf_9JWECwa6c4E4tQZELd3cx

Make sure you read the readme for Flashpoint before you go playing around with it.

I just want to make one thing clear at the end of this article, though; it doesn’t matter if you don’t support my efforts to save as many of these games as possible, all that matters is that we, as a community, make an attempt to save them. If nobody acts, the amount of history that’s capable of being lost forever is much too high to let it drain away. The games are worth more than that. Much more.