Version 3.1.5 - Release Date 06.10.2009

Gaia 3.1.5 is an awesome update! First and foremost, the Gaia Asset engine is now extensible for developers to create and contribute custom assets, allowing Gaia to be extended in completely customizable ways! Additionally, the asset engine has been optimized in the process. This version also fixes two longstanding issues with deeplinking and indexFirst, and one I found with NetStreamAsset in AS3. There are some minor fixes to the panel thrown in, as well.

Note: Gaia 3.1.5 is backwards compatible with old projects, but because of the changes to the asset engine, you must update your project to 3.1.5 to use the Optimize Project option in the Scaffold panel.

Jesse Warden
"Steven and I debated & discussed the technical details for years over the patterns, work flows, and implementation details of Flash projects. The problems Steven and I have had are the same problems every Flash Developer creating Flash sites has had. There are also setup tasks, repetitive and monotonous, that everyone has to do, both at the beginning of projects and during. Gaia both automates this initial project setup, incorporates the best of breed open source software into a nice collective whole, and stays the f**k out of your way. It still remains "Flash", meaning I can use Gaia and still hack the heck out of things, both my stuff AND Gaia if need be. It's nice to have a framework that not only borrows the best ideas from Ruby on Rails, but incorporates existing & proven open source software such as SWFAddress into a seamless integration. Everyone creating Flash sites needs to know about Gaia."

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Rostislav Hristov, author of SWFAddress
"Gaia is THE framework when it comes to developing modern Flash websites. It's definitely a valuable tool that needs attention."

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Lindsay Burtner
"This week I was shown the Gaia flash framework by one of my Team Project members, Jeremy Ruppel. This thing is so kick ass. At first I was apprehensive, just because I thought that it would take the fun part out about coding AS3, but I found out that it was the completely opposite case. Gaia takes out all of the monatonous stuff that takes up hours of your time, that any flash developer could do half asleep with their eyes closed. Gaia takes those 2 hours and shrinks its down into about… 4 minutes. Leaving more time for developers to get down & dirty with bringing the design into flash & doing the nit picking that makes a good website great. Bad ass."

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Grant Davies
"Gaia is ground-breaking in a sea of osflash tools. Often frameworks are built purely because someone doesn't like the way you did something. Occasionally a framework and tool comes along that fills a genuine hole and Gaia fills the flash RAD gap. Steven's support is second to none, I'm not sure the guy sleeps :)"

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Kenny Bunch
"As the web progresses from documentation style sites into more immersive applications, the burden put upon developers drastically increases. No matter whether you are an newbie or an experienced developer, being able to take on these growing demands and challenges is a key to your success. With the innovation and change created from the evolution of frameworks like Ruby on Rails, we have seen the benefits of this thinking. In that light, Steven Sacks has unselfishly created the GAIA Framework for Adobe Flash. The toolkit empowers the Flash community to move forward with the leaps of a track and field superstar instead of the hobbling along on crutches. GAIA truly is an enabling platform."

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Lee McColl Sylvester
"Gaia has sped up the development of several sites I've built since I discovered it. It truly is a framework that every Flash developer should know about, even if they choose not to use it. A truly excellent tool!"

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Mike Keesey
"There are a lot of Flash frameworks out there (I've made a few myself), but this is the only decent one I know of that is targeted at *everyone* who works with Flash -- not just developers, but animators and designers as well. They say you can't please everyone all of the time, but Gaia proves the old saying wrong!"

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Aral Balkan
"I just read a blog post and watched a screencast about a new Flash framework called Gaia and I like most of what I saw...Flex Builder and the Flash IDE can learn a lot from Gaia when it comes to supporting good practices...From what I've seen, Gaia looks like a very pragmatic front-end framework for Flash developers. I plan on looking at it in more depth when I get a moment and I suggest that you do the same."

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James Richardson @ Avenue A / Razorfish
"I've been using Gaia since version 1.1, and as AS3 support was added it has really taken off in our shop. There is simply no cleaner, faster or more well-supported framework for Adobe Flash. There is a reason why Gaia is the number one hit when you search for 'flash framework' on Google"

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Steven Hargrove, Interactive Developer at Biggs Gilmore
"I have used Gaia on a few high-end client websites. I can honestly say that all Flash site development can be standardized on Gaia. It has saved me loads of time, and helped me create structural integrity in my projects. I see it as one of (if not the) top frameworks for Flash developments out there, period. It is an understatement to say that Gaia is hands down a brilliant standard to structuring your flash project. It is absolutely a fantastic vehicle to standardizing your Flash projects in a way that really allows them to be well-crafted."

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Jason Fistner
"I typically refuse to depend on other people's code, but Gaia follows best practices throughout making it very difficult to do better. Even code formatting is done in the manner I believe to be the most conducive to digestion. It is almost as if I did it myself. Steven's dedication, willingness to improve Gaia, and constant communication with Gaia users makes using the framework an easy decision. I do not know where I or my company would be if I hadn't found the Gaia Framework a few months ago. Using Gaia is so beneficial that I wish it would remain a secret - but Steven deserves all the acclaim and recognition he can get. There's nothing else in the Actionscript world that has made such an impact on developers' quality of work (and life!) and companies' bottom lines."

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Skye Giordano
"Gaia is no fly-by-night, Johnny-come-lately flash framework. It's a mature, fastidiously supported and regularly updated framework for AS2 and AS3 from Flash guru Steven Sacks. Gaia does exactly what it promises: it eases the most common development tasks and provides an intelligent way to organize and start projects and then gets out of the way to allow developers to develop the way that most makes sense to them. Advanced developers wary of relying on base code and having their development approach forced to work within a framework are quickly impressed by how intuitive and thoughtfully conceived Gaia is. Once exposed to Gaia, Flash developers are likely to swear by it."

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Lionel Low
"I couldn't believe how much time I had saved over the course of my projects by using Gaia. Not only have I used it as a standalone framework to get my projects done, I was able to leverage its loading capabilities to generate dynamic pdfs with AlivePDF. It made my life _a whole lot_ easier and I sincerely think that the rest of the Flash world *NEEDS* to know about Gaia. It is possibly _the_ most important thing to know if you are a Flash developer."

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Jon Dobrowolski, animator / developer @ Schematic (NYC)
"Starting as a layman to AS an then furthering my coding abilities, not only did the Gaia Framework help me to improve my skill but I also have implemented it in a large number of rapid prototypes I've created for clients. This proves that Gaia is not only robust but very quickly used to end result."

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Rich Hinchcliffe @ TMRW
"I'm no coder and balk at the thought of doing PHP or JavaScript etc, but AS3 was (for the most part) easy enough to get my head around. What made the whole process pretty painless though was the decision to utilise the Gaia Framework. It wasn't immediately obvious to me how it all worked, especially the class programming structure (at least not obvious to my designer brain), but with help from the forums and particularly Steven himself I had it sussed in no time and any questions/problems I had were very quickly sorted. I'm sure Gaia is easily capable of way more than I've made it do on designbygrain.com, and I'm looking forward to using it again."

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Jozef Pierlejewski at swamp @ brahm, Leeds, UK.
"[Gaia is] a simply documented, well layed-out framework that even a beginner to real Object Oriented Programming could get to grips with. Even though I have barely touched upon the surface of what Gaia can do, I can already see the time-savings that it would bring me on future projects like this and look forward to using it again."

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Fabio Pinatti
"I was afraid when I migrated from as2 using a framework of mine to as3 with a framework of someone I've never seen. And what I have to say is that Steven was great spending and dedicating his time with a so great framework. My development time with Gaia is about 30-40% shorter, what does Gaia and Steven my great sources of success currently. Even with several kinds of frameworks, Gaia is the only one I see that's really the core and required (if anyone doesn't know, don't know what they're missing) for any website. Congratulations for all efforts and for me, you are the best, Steven."

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Ryan Pierce
"Well, for me, Gaia has been a huge time saver all over. It really does a lot of the heavy lifting and you can bang out a site really quick. I could go on and on... Try it. I LOVE GAIA. Steven Sacks is the man."

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Corban Baxter, Interactive Developer at The Branch Hatchery
"All I have to say is wow! Have you guys seen this stuff? The Gaia Framework by Steven Sacks? From what I have seen this could change my development process and could work out for anyone from beginners to advanced coders. It looks pretty incredible and very easy to use."

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Carlos Pinho, Flash Enabled Blog
"Have you ever thought how to save time, building your flash site? Then Gaia is the right tool for you. Just take a look at this video, and see what is possible to do with this awesome framework."

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Mark Carolin
"An impressive framework giving great flexibility and order to your site. Steven has given a great amount of consideration for a framework that is agile, well supported, and easy to understand."

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Brad Merritt, Lead Game Designer, Cartoon Network
"Gaia is a great framework that is being constantly improved, updated and supported. I have yet to see a better framework for Flash development."

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Jim McIntyre
"I embarked on my first large-scale Flash site (40+ pages, 3 games, 30+ minutes of cartoon animation) about 6 months ago. I had done a lot of Flash programming (mostly AS1), a few standalone games and medium-sized sites, all from scratch, but I had no experience using a framework. Gaia has, without a doubt, contributed more to making my project possible than any other tool I've used. We'll be launching the first phase in about a week, and I'm sure I couldn't have done it without Gaia."

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Paul O'Reilly
"Everything about GAIA, from it's extremely thorough documentation, to the fact that it gives you back DAYS of your life, make this brilliant body of work a MUST have tool. It addresses all of the things you bang your head against the wall dealing with, and makes them trivial issues."

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Doug Coning
"I have recently deployed two Flash based sites using the GAIA Framework. On one of the sites, our project manager had proposed that it could take up to 4 weeks to complete. With the aid of GAIA, I had the site completed in 2 days and ready to demo to the client. GAIA is a lifesaver. It simplifies development and helps organizes site architecture! Big Fan!"