Multi-Platform App Development: Getting Easier with Flash

In February this year I blogged about how the 'develop once, distribute everywhere' model for app and game development that had been so long-discussed was starting to become a reality. Adobe AIR was making it possible to package apps developed in Flash for multiple platforms. The tools were less than perfect but they were showing strong signs of promise. 

Well, nine months is a long time in app development and the promise is now being realised. 

Flash: Facilitating Multi-Platform Development

Using Flash and packaging with AIR, we're able to create truly multi-platform applications that work across iOS (iPhone/iPad), Android (phone and tablet), web and desktop. 

'What?' I hear you say, 'I thought Flash didn't work on Apple devices.' 

Well, you're sort of correct - you can't play a straight Flash file (swf) on an iPhone or iPad. It needs to be packaged into a format that the platform accepts. This is where Adobe have been putting a fair amount of time into developing the AIR packager. AIR takes a piece of content developed in Flash and wraps it up to output a downloadable file (app). It can output for various different platforms including iOS, Android, desktop Mac and PC and web browsers. 

So what does all of that mean? Put simply, it allows us to develop a single Flash application that, with some tweaking to take into account variations across devices (like screen resolution, user-interface differences etc), we can output multiple versions of the app for multiple platforms.

It's Not Perfect, But It's Getting There...

When we started developing Flash applications for the iPhone over a year ago, Flash still had a long way to go in terms of performance on the iOS platform. But in the last twelve months with every new release of Flash, the performance issues have become fewer and fewer. With the improvements, and with on-going upgrades to iOS (and Android), we're able to produce fast, responsive, fully functional applications.

Right now, we're working on a project that will see us launch a free and paid version of an app for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Mac and PC desktop and the web. The app features a children's book series of 24 books with an ebook reader, audio narration, a multi-level game and other interactive content. With a development timeline of just six weeks, the apps will be launched simultaneously across the platforms in early December in time for pre-Christmas marketing.

While there's still a way to go, multi-platform, 'author-once, distribute everywhere' app development  is almost a reality.