I’ve been feeling nostalgic lately. All the anti-consumer changes to the internet as we know it and the agonising death of Web2.0 have me yearning for that ‘00s online world. As I was writing about my experiences playing Line Rider and Runescape, frequenting forums and generally enjoying the freedom that the world wide web allowed me, I also played Portal for the first time. Except it wasn’t developed by Valve.
Portal: The Flash Version is a 2D version of Valve’s iconic puzzle game, switching the iconic first-person action for a side-scrolling vibe, but keeping many of the game’s core tenets. There are boxes and turrets aplenty, as well as good, head-scratching puzzles. Developer We Create Stuff released the game before Portal actually came out, so excited for Valve’s puzzler that it crafted 40 levels based on trailers alone.
Like many people, it was my first experience of Portal. However, while most players graduated to the official game as soon as it was released, my gaming PC-less self was relegated to playing the flash version for years. The family computer could run browser games well enough, but it struggled through the opening level of The Hobbit, so Portal seemed like a stretch.
Portal: The Flash Version holds up pretty well, even after playing Valve’s technically superior game. The puzzles nail that Portal vibe, many of the story beats are the same, and it even has a cake at the end. It’s an impressive recreation of the full game, in a way prescient of the modern trend of ‘demaking’ classics like Bloodborne. Except it was released before the game that inspired it. It’s an extraordinary game for a group of hobbyist developers to create as an homage, but it’s even better when you realise that it came first, if only by a day.
My favourite thing about this game is that it was free. It’s a flash game, and could be played in your browser. There were no adverts, no button to donate, just the game hosted on the developer’s website. Sadly, since Flash is no longer supported, it’s not available there any more, but multiple flash game websites host it. You’ll have to ignore the annoying sidebar ads, but it’s as pure an experience as you’ll get on the modern internet. We Create Stuff did exactly as its name suggests: it created stuff. It didn’t do it for money or fame, it made this game because of its passion and love of gaming.
Flash Portal was incredibly popular, so much so that the developer soon created a mod for Portal, shifting its 2D levels to 3D. This didn’t go unnoticed by Valve, which included the mod in its extra content in Portal: Still Alive for Xbox 360. It’s still available for free on PC, which is a testament to the creators’ commitment to creating freely available fun.
We Create Stuff is still making games, and it’s not restricting itself to Flash versions of triple-A titles. In Sound Mind is a first-person psychological horror from the team, who catapulted itself to relative infamy with a simple idea, executed perfectly. The devs built a career out of their passion, but I wonder if that’s possible in 2023.
If Portal: The Flash Version was released today, would it have the same impact? First of all, it couldn’t be released as a Flash game. Even if it worked via some other browser plug-in, would it have egregious advertising or a battle pass? Would Valve step in – we’re in more litigious times now – and close it down rather than embracing the team’s creativity? Would it succeed in the same way it did back in 2007? There’s a chance it would gain an Among Us-esque reputation and streamers would flock to it, but it seems unlikely. Maybe the creators could launch a Patreon to fund development? Would it gain a small following on Itch? 15 years have passed since it launched, but it may as well be a century. We’re in a different era now, one where games like Portal: The Flash Version would struggle to succeed.