Hey everyone!
My name is Chris Speciale, although many of you know me as Dimensionscape on Github.
We have a major announcement in regards to changes taking place to the organizational structure of the OpenFL team!
On December 31, 2020, Adobe ended Flash support in what seemed like the end of an era for many, including myself, but that isn’t the end of the story…
To the benefit of software developers and business owners across the world, something analogous to an ark had already been built by Joshua Granick with the help of various contributors throughout the years – an exceptional technology called OpenFL. I am happy to say that we didn’t just weather that storm, but that we also came out stronger because of it.
The year is now 2022 and OpenFL is fast approaching the 10 year anniversary of its first release. Its robust capability is a testament to the countless hours of grit, determination and hard work put in over the years to make it what it is today. As we approach this significant landmark in the lifecycle of OpenFL, a time has come to reflect on what’s next for the framework and its vital dependency, Lime.
In fact, that’s exactly what those of us that make up the core team have been doing over the last couple of weeks. After much thought, discussion and careful consideration, it was collectively decided to transition OpenFL into a more democratic organization, which is a move that will enable us to pursue a greater sense of permanency as we prepare to usher in the second decade of OpenFL next year.
While the specific details are still being worked out, we can still take a little look at what this potentially means:
As an OpenFL User
- More frequent releases on Haxelib
- Reliable maintenance
- Increased community engagement
As an OpenFL/Lime Contributor
- Improved organization
- Team environment
- Meritocracy-based leadership opportunities
As an OpenFL Sponsor
- Better transparency
- Stability
With this shift in organization structure, OpenFL will now be run by a working board of directors, which currently consists of seats held by Josh Tynjala(@joshtynjala), Joshua Granick(@singmajesty) and myself, Chris Speciale(@dimensionscape). As one might expect, the role of a board member includes collective decision making in the pursuit of OpenFL’s best interests, in addition to various administrative tasks. As such, this change provides some safeguards and guarantees that didn’t exist before, when only a single person had access to the administrative tools and resources required to keep OpenFL running smoothly.
What’s Next for OpenFL?
Well, probably a lot more of the things that got us here like good old bug fixes, stability improvements, performance enhancements and features. I’m really excited for the upcoming 9.2.0 release and duly proud of all the work everyone put into it this year!
What About Lime?
We reached a formal consensus that Lime, as an integral and necessary part of OpenFL, should be managed by the OpenFL leadership. Going forward, we will examine the relationship between Lime and OpenFL and look for ways to improve the user experience for those currently using OpenFL or just trying it out for the very first time. Aside from that, be sure to look out for Lime 8.0.0 in the near future. (Special thanks to all of the Lime contributors!)
The State of the Union
OpenFL remains strong and continues to be one of the top downloaded haxelib packages. It’s a fact that 9.1.0 alone has reached over 250,000 downloads, just in the past 12 months! By ramping up teamwork and engagement with the community, we can build on the momentum from the past year and continue to build a bigger and better OpenFL one step at a time, with the help of all our dedicated supporters, contributors and leaders paving the way.
I’m looking forward to working with everyone to build a brighter future for OpenFL because I know that we can do it – together!
Special thanks to @singmajesty for dedicating nearly a decade of his life toward creating and sharing something as noteworthy and exceptional as OpenFL.
