Adobe Flash is a great software to have but the price is consider a bit expensive and not all people can afford it. For now it only available for Windows and Mac platform. The question here is, what if we can’t afford to buy Adobe Flash software or we are a few people that use Unix platform like Linux? Is there any alternative for us to create wonderful Flash content without paying for expensive software or leaving the wonderful Linux to install Windows/Mac? Well…the answer is YES. You still have the alternative for Adobe Flash software and good news is it’s free. When talk about free alternative Open Source software/tool is always the answer. I already spend my time looking for the best and reliable alternative and below are the list.

Swfmill

Swfmill is a free command line tool that will generate SWF file base on the XML you wrote. Of course it is not as easy as Adobe Flash IDE but Swfmill still capable to allow you to do simple animation and create a SWF file contain the library asset that can be use in other project.

Flex 3 SDK

Flex SDK is release by Adobe to Open Source community base on Adobe Flash platform. With Flex SDK you program with Action Script and do whatever Adobe Flash IDE can do. Combine with Swfmill you can create complete and complex Flash content without spending any dime.

FlashDevelop

FlashDevelop is an IDE that can be use by programmer to write Action Script and it integrated with Flex SDK to compile and create SWF file. For now FlashDevelop only Windows platform. For Unix or Linux user you can use Eclipse and an alternative IDE.

Above are the software/tool that I use to create my Flash content. Of course it is not as easy as Adobe Flash software and it more suitable to programmer rather then animator. The best way to use both where your animator can still use Adobe Flash IDE to create wonderful and complex animation and you can use above open source software/tool to integrate what your animator has done with your Action Script code and make a wonder Flash game.

This is a bit of Kongregate history that I quota from Wikipedia.

The site was created in June 2006 by brother and sister Jim and Emily Greer. The site was initially run through a testing phase which lasted until December 2006. During this time, game developers and players tested the site’s interface and functionality. In December of the same year, the site was formally opened to the public. The site formally entered the beta testing phase on March 22, 2007 until now.

What make Kongregate stand out among thousands/millions of other Flash game portal? Well, what I see is how they manage their visitor and make them keep coming to play on their portal. You can play all the game in Kongregate with or without register. I believe most of Kongregate visitor is a regular visitor which was registered as member of Kongregate. What make visitor keep coming back? It easy, Kongregate make a reward system and as this point of writing they have 3 kind of rewards that is point, badge and card. Below is the explaination for each of them.

Points

Kongregate has a system of points, which are prizes awarded for performing certain on-site actions. There are many ways to gain points on Kongregate such as by rating other users’ games, referring friends, completing achievements or points challenges and uploading self-created games. The site has stated plans to make points redeemable for certain prizes, but the feature is not yet available. It is also possible to gain levels from gathering points. Currently, points are only used for advancing in levels on the site, which can be used to identify the user’s activity on the site.

Cards

Kongregate’s Cards are special prizes gained by accomplishing weekly challenges. Kongregate made a game, Kongai, that uses cards earned in challenges. The challenges often bring attention to relatively unknown games and make them more famous. The cards were originally designed by UDON Entertainment only, but now Massive Black is designing too.

Badges

In addition to the points system and the card challenge feature, Kongregate offers a badge system similar to that found on Microsoft’s Xbox Live gaming hub. Registered users have the opportunity to win badges upon reaching particular requirements (called achievements), for example achieving a particular objective or reaching a target level, in certain games. For each badge, a user is awarded a specific amount of points based on the difficulty of the achievement. The “Easy” badges are worth 5 points, the “Medium” badges are worth 15 points, the “Hard” badges are worth 30 points and the “Impossible” badges are worth 60 points. Greg McClanahan, the community manager of the site, is in charge of creating badges.

With all these reward Kongregate give their member a feel of achievement and purpose to make them keep coming back to play more game in Kongregate.

Another thing that I like about Kongregate is their support to Flash game developer. Kongregate reputation so far so good among developer as game sponsorship. It is not just about sponsorship, they also have weekly and monthly contest to give opportunity to developer to earn a bit of cash for their newly submitted game in Kongregate. Winner is base on bast rated game and it’s up to Kongregate member to vote and rate the game they play.

This is my honest review about Kongregate :) please share your opinion, review or maybe another links that you feel worth for me to visit. Till next time, have a nice day.