TLDR: The old Flash API is dead. You can now get the Newgrounds.IO library for ActionScript 2.0!

Story Time!

18 years ago, I was hired to build a set of tools to help artists track how their Flash games were spreading virally across the Internet. As I was building those tools, we wanted to offer developers even more features, so we added in-game advertising, an achievement system, and scoreboards. Over time we expanded things further and added a tool for sharing user-generated content. This was collectively referred to as the Newgrounds Flash API.

As time went on, a lot has changed on the web. Mobile devices have surpassed PCs as the primary way people people consume content. Web technologies have grown and grown. Many new game development frameworks have come into their own. Advertising revenue has dried up for anyone that can't operate within the censorship or anti-privacy practices of the big tech companies. And Flash died after all support was pulled, including the browser plugins that made it such a key part of the Internet for decades.

During this phase, it became apparent that the old Flash API (which was originally designed around the limitations of older ActionScript 2.0 games) was no longer up to snuff. The user-generated feature, in particular, was a hacky mess that barely worked to begin with, and was becoming a pain to support. Our in-game advertising only ever worked in Flash games, and nobody is paying to advertise that way anymore for obvious reasons.

This is when we shifted from the old Flash API, to a more generalized toolset known as Newgrounds.IO (or NGIO for short). NGIO provided a platform for developers to use our core features, regardless of what development tools they worked in. You could track how your game is distributed, block unwanted hosts, implement medals and scoreboards, and eventually you could add cloud-based save slots so users could keep their progress across multiple devices. We cut support for the broken sharing tools, and we stopped offering in-game ads, simply because they are no longer a viable way to make money.

With this new API, we've seen the community really step up. Time and time again, developers have created wonderful libraries so others can use NGIO in tools like GameMaker, Unity and Godot as well as all the various JavaScript based tools out there.

But then Flash kind of came back because a bunch of crazy people refused to let it die, creating Ruffle to replace the old Flash player and plugin.

With this resurgence of Flash, it was inevitable that people would want to revisit the glory days and make new Flash content. And with a bit of prodding from some passionate users, it turned into an annual event known as Flash Forward Jam.

This started creating a new demand for the old Flash API, which, frankly, is so outdated we really can't provide support for it anymore. But that doesn't mean we wanted to leave modern Flash developers behind, so I finally pulled the trigger and created a new, modern library for Flash users,

As of now, you can grab the official Newgrounds.IO library for ActionScript 2.0. This library has all the core classes needed to interact with the NGIO API, and has an .fla file with some helpful components you can copy and paste into your games, just like the old days.

I will (hopefully) be releasing an ActionScript 3.0 version in the near future, but wanted to cover the AS2 side first as it's been the primary tool people have been using in these Flash Forward events.

Going Forward

Over the next few weeks, I will be officially removing access to the old Flash API pages. Any of the tools that exist in both the Flash API and NGIO will still be manageable, but the pages for setting up Flash Ads, and Save Groups will be gone. The user generated content will still work in your old games, you just won't be able to make any new changes to them.

If you are making a game for Flash Forward 2025, and are using ActionScript 2.0, I strongly encourage you to use the new library

If you are using the Save Group feature in the old API, just be aware that those pages will be going away sometime after the Jam waps up. This is the last hoorah!

What's New?

If you've only ever used the old Flash API, you might be curious about what's been added to the newer Newgrounds.io toolset.

As I mentioned above, NGIO has a new Cloud Save feature. If you are an AS2 developer, you can think of this as a server-hosted SharedObject system. You can save your game states, allowing your users to keep their progress across multiple devices.

The other cool update is that you can read information from other games (with permission). For example, you could check a cloud save from an older game, and use that to import a character into a sequel. Or you could look for medals that were unlocked in another game and unlock characters from it in your new game.

In the .fla file with the actionscript components, we've kept everything uncompiled this time, so you can customize the colors or replace the artwork altogether to better fit your game's design.

What's Next?

I know a lot of people have been sad at the loss of the shared creation tool. Well the good news is we'll be making a new version that will be a lot more robust and fit any framework. This was originally going to be a supporter-only option, but we've been looking at ways that we can safely offer a more limited version anyone can use. I can't promise it will be something that happens right away as we have some ongoing projects with higher priority, but it is definitely coming!

If you need any help with these tools, you can drop a comment below, or join the Newgrounds.io Discord.