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OpenFL

software framework

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 14, 2025
Entity authorityQ6954720
Source-derived summary

OpenFL is a free and open-source software framework and platform for the creation of multi-platform applications and video games. OpenFL applications can be written in Haxe, JavaScript (EcmaScript 5 or 6+), or TypeScript, and may be published as standalone applications for several targets including iOS, Android, HTML5 (choice of Canvas, WebGL, SVG or DOM), Windows, macOS, Linux, WebAssembly, Flash, AIR, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Wii U, TiVo, Raspberry Pi, and Node.js.

The most popular editors used for Haxe and OpenFL development are:

Visual Studio Code (with plugin)

HaxeDevelop (supports code folding, code refactoring and interactive debugging)

Sublime Text (with plugin)

IntelliJ IDEA (with plugin)

OpenFL contains Haxe ports of major graphical libraries such as Away3D, Starling, Babylon.js, Adobe Flash and DragonBones. Due to the multi-platform nature of OpenFL, such libraries usually run on multiple platforms such as HTML5, Adobe AIR and Android/iOS.

More than 500 video games have been developed with OpenFL, including Papers, Please, Rymdkapsel, Lightbot, Friday Night Funkin', and Madden NFL Mobile.

OpenFL was created by Joshua Granick and is currently administered and maintained by Chris Speciale, software engineer, board member, and co-owner.

Technical details

OpenFL

OpenFL is designed to fully mirror the Flash API. SWF files created with Adobe Flash Professional or other authoring tools may be used in OpenFL programs.

OpenFL supports rendering in OpenGL, Cairo, Canvas, SVG and even HTML5 DOM. In the browser, WebGL is the default renderer but if unavailable then canvas (CPU rendering) is used. Certain features (shape.graphics or bitmapData.draw) will use CPU rendering, but the display list remains GPU accelerated as far as possible.

Lime

OpenFL uses the Lime library for low-level rendering. Lime provides hardware-accelerated rendering of vector graphics on all supported platforms.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “OpenFL” as software framework. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current 287-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where OpenFL, software and framework can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as software framework. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6954720. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “OpenFL”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow OpenFL primary sources, OpenFL archive and OpenFL research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “OpenFL”?
  2. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
  3. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from OpenFL” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.