Gene Endrody on Facebook:
''I just got back from the Adobe Max conference in Los Angeles where a new 3D technology for Flash was introduced called Moehill. For over ten years it's been mainly 3D that distiguished the Shockwave browser plug-in from the Flash plug-in. Although Moehill had been kept a secret up until now, I've been anticipating this change for a few years.  We were long overdue for a new version of Shockwave and Adobe seemed to be unresponsive to competitive threats from emerging companies like Unity.  It didn't take long to figure out that it was going to be Flash, not Shockwave, that was going to embrace the next generation of 3D technology. Shockwave will continue to be supported for existing users, but I don't expect future development. 

So what does this mean for Sherwood? It likely means that we are going to move to Flash as well. It will be a massive job as there is six years of code to be ported. I'm not sure if this will take the form of a straight port or if it will be a sequel or successor to Sherwood. As Moehill isn't even going to be released until the middle of next year and as many of the tools are still preliminary, I expect this process to take a long time. It could be more than a year before you see any Flash based MaidMarian games.

There are a number of benefits to using Flash. Everyone has it. It's available on PC, Mac, Linix, Android and Blackberry cellphones and Google TV. This represents a big increase in the potential platforms for Sherwood in the future. The new 3D engine for Flash is also very fast, capable of drawing millions of polygons every frame and having access to next gen pixel and vertex shaders. This should mean I can pack lots more in without creating lag - in theory. In the meantime, I still have plans for the Shockwave version of Sherwood as updates will still be coming as normal. And yes, I will figure out a stategy to migrate your pets when the time comes.''



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