Adobe Flash is going the dodos way in 2020, but you can continue using the flash api in OpenFL with Haxe. It supports cross platform compilation with one base code (HTML5 included). So if you have any flash projects lying around porting them to haxe is worth your effort if that's where your business is.

I did learn of Haxe and OpenFL during my research before this question, and I'm aware that I can make Flash games on my own, but I'm specifically asking about the possibility of making money from the games that I make. Updated the question to make this clearer.

Adobe will officially kill flash in 2020 and everyone is going to drop it --most likely--. Flash target is simply not viable as the shift has changed to HTML5/webgl games. If you want to make money with web games then html5/webgl is your best bet. And again if you already have adobe flash projects, porting them to OpenFL for html5/android/ios export is where the money will be at.

I don't have any current Flash projects. Did you read the question?

I did read the question and im speaking to you in the general sense. Flash is being killed off. Period. Don't touch the dead dodo. Go make games in OpenFL or just use something like kha, godot, unreal, unity, whatever you feel comfy with. They all do HTML5 exports if you want to publish on web. Don't concern yourself with Flash. HTML5 ( with webassembly when everyone is compatible ) is the way forward for webgames.

Fair enough. How does OpenFL with Haxe work? Would it need a plugin on the web like Flash does? Or is the idea to code with OpenFL then transcompile to HTML5?

yo

Haxe directly turns haxe code into javascript code

which is very clean code btw

OpenFL itself is also built on top of haxe

Ah, I see

Why OpenFL then?

What does it offer that Haxe doesn't?

you misunderstood, OpenFL is built on top of haxe, you're still using haxe

I was under the impression it's to create Flash games (i.e. AS3)

It does that too

one of the targets is AS3

But what would you use it for if you're just using Haxe to create HTML5?

but you can also build to native targets such as android, desktop, ios etc

OpenFL provides the whole Flash api

handles sound and graphics for you

oh wait

So it allows you to keep developing AS3 games without Flash?

Well you wont be using AS3 but Haxe, which has similar syntax and then some

Haxe language is then transpiled to whatever target

But it transcompiles to AS3

Okay

yeah that's one of the targets

it also does javascript, java, c++

Does the resulting game need any plugins to be run on the web?

I use Kha myself, which is more low level. And I'm able to build to android, html5, desktop

Not at all

Can an AS3 game even be run on the web without Flash plugin?

*without plugins

html5 and Webgl are build in all major browsers

No, AS3 needs the flash player

I see

This is what I was confused on

You recommended OpenFL to publish online games, but I was confused as to how that could be accomplished without Flash

And I suppose the conclusion is that it can;t

And the only current way to create an online game is HTML5

yes but you can make that html5 game with openfl

there are 2 ways btw

both are html5 based

one uses Canvas and one uses WebGL

but when you build with openfl you don't have to worry about that

Ah I see.

im not sure if openfl has canvas as fall back though, been a while

if you want to work a bit lower directly with graphics api I suggest you look into Kha

So why would you use OpenFL/the Flash API to create an AS3 game which you'd transcompile HTML5 game when you could just do it directly to HTML5 with Haxe on its own?

Because Haxe allows you to build more targets

Without Adobe Flash as a plugin, I'm confused as to the benefit that the Flash API offers

You're conflating OpenFLs flash api with the flash target

The API simply provides a familiar framework that is pretty much a 1:1

of Adobes flash

so if you're familiar with AS3 OpenFL will be familiar in every sense except for the fact that haxe has a different syntax

Ah ok

So it's good for those who are familiar with Flash development envrionment for creating HTML5 games

Forget flash player, OpenFL just allows you to make cross platform games with a familiar api

yeah and remember not just html5

With me that doesn't really apply because I never did get comfortable with Flash, it'd probably be easier to just learn Haxe on its own

you can compile to android and ios as well

Yeah, it is a pretty cool feature, that

I've only just heard about it today.

true, again I use Kha

so if you want to do more on your own, kha is a good start

I wonder why it and similar stuff like Kha are so rarely heard of, it seems incredibly powerful.

but if you want all bells and wistles, openfl is more your thing

Because most people come from AS3

What's the difference between Kha and Haxe?

and jump ship to openfl

Like, what does low level mean here?

Is Kha more powerful?

Kha is build on top of haxe, same story as OpenFL

Ah I see.

Thanks for your help dude, you've cleared up a fair bit.

OpenFL provides the flash api to get you graphics up and running.

no problem

where as with Kha it's more like you're talking to the GPU trough an abstraction layer to draw things

Also I should note that Kha is more akin to Lime. Lime is the backbone of OpenFL to make all the lower level stuff run ( graphics, input, sound, etc)

this is done with Kodegarden, which is like shadertoy but runs haxe and kha in the browser

so if you get familiar with haxe you could play around with kha like this. But I definitely suggest you try out several things. Godot, OpenFL, Kha, Unity, Unreal etc.