Flash Games as told by Flash creators #15: Shawn Tanner
Flash Games as told by Flash creator is a serie of short articles where we celebrate the history of Flash games and the peoples who made them by asking Flash creators about the Flash games and animations that inspired them, influenced their works, or simply games they find noteworthy. For more informations, go to The Museum of Screens.
Today we welcome Shawn Tanner, a.k.a. Afro-Ninja, programmer and game developer, creator of the Flash Escape serie, Soda Dungeon and many more. I asked him about the Flash games that influenced him, here is his answer…
I had to spend a lot of time thinking about the flash games that influenced me the most. I’ve played a TON of them over the years, but it was hard to narrow it down. I realized that the games I keep circling to back aren’t ones that have necessarily stood the test of time, but rather broadened my understanding of what flash was capable of as a platform.
[Content Warning: School shooting, blood, gore] In the early days, flash games were usually just interactive stories. Click a button, watch an animation, then repeat. For me, it wasn’t until Pico’s School came along that I realized things could be pushed further. It had a map and a (somewhat) persistent game world. You could open and close individual lockers in the hallway. There were small cutscenes, interactive battles, and even secret items.
[Content Warning: Blood, gore, nudity] After that, I have to look towards Ronin, Spirit of the Sword. It had an even larger world that you could navigate in a first-person, “3d” fashion. Your character had stat points to distribute, and there were many different spells and upgrades to collect. I think what really sold it for me though was the presentation of the game itself. It FELT like a real console game, with a main menu that gave you access to a tutorial, adventure mode, arena mode, and even a gallery with unlockable content.
Lastly, I want to end with Ultimate Flash Sonic. I know this probably sounds like a weird choice; it’s essentially the opposite of the unique and creative games that flash is known for pioneering. But to me, this wasn’t just a flash game emulating a console game. It WAS a console game. Flash was used to recreate a game that had previously been developed by an entire team of professionals. Sure, maybe it wasn’t *perfect*, but it was an incredibly faithful recreation of all the unique physics found in a 2d sonic game. The loops always gave me a “wow, how was that programmed?” feeling, and it was no different in Ultimate Flash Sonic. When and how did Sonic switch from the outside to the inside of the loop? Maybe I’ll never know, but at least I knew it was possible.
Thanks a lot to Shawn Tanner. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his website.
