Clock Day 2017 and the future of Flash games

[…] I’m still working on the ‘B’ee Game despite having put it on hold every year without fail.

Well, I fully expect 2016 to be the last time I do that, and I fully expect this Clock Day to be the day I finally finish the ‘B’ee Game and submit it to the Newgrounds Flash Portal. (Whether it passes judgement is another story.)

The problem with setting expectations is that you end up expecting two things: the thing you were expecting, and the disappointment that comes with the expectation not being met.

The ‘B’ee Game has been a work-in-progress since 2007, a year after I made The ‘B’ee in 2006 in celebration of five years of B. If you’re not familiar with my activity on Newgrounds, you can find traces of mentions of the game dating back as early as 2008, then in 2009, 2010 and 2011. And finally something long-form in 2016.

A classic case of development hell. And this year is no different in that regard.

What is different is the fact that this comes shortly after Adobe’s announcement of Flash Player’s EOL. This might well have been my last chance to make it up to 15-year-old me as major browser vendors begin phasing out the Flash Player, and with it the thousands of Flash games already on Newgrounds.

I’m not sure what I’m madder at myself for: having dragged this out for a decade, or having blown this possibly last chance.

I can only hope against hope that this isn’t my last chance and I’ll still be able to make up for it next year. The roadmaps set forth by Google, Microsoft and Mozilla suggest somewhat optimistic implications, but I’d only be slowly killing myself by holding my breath here.

One thing I am proud of, though, is that I’ve actually made more progress on the ‘B’ee Game in the last 10 weeks than I have in the last 10 years. So you know I’m not just fucking with you, here’s a screenshot:

Sadly, that doesn’t mean much when it doesn’t in fact culminate in a finished product.

Thanks to GoldenClock for his fervent and unrelenting encouragement on the CC Discord server, though; it has meant a lot, because friendship means a lot <3