As well as whole studios, companies such as Zynga have been snaffling up lots of talented individuals including the cocos2D crew and AndEngine's creator Nicolas Gramlich.

Now engine outfit Unity has pulled a similar trick, hiring Ralph Hauwert, who it labels a Flash 3D veteran

"My mission at Unity Technologies is simple - to further develop Unity's Flash Player toolchain for the web, which has been in development since our announcement prior to GDC 2011," says Hauwert, who's gained the title senior developer.

"With this new toolchain, we will ensure that our customers can continue to deploy their content to the broadest possible range of users."

Faster, faster

Following the announcement of Adobe's Molehill version of Flash in January 2011, which added support for 3D content, Unity has been working on adding a Flash Player exporting option. It's expected to go into beta in late 2011.

Hauwert has been involved in Flash development, including Flash 3D and the open source Flash movement, for more than a decade. Projects he's been involved with include Anne Frank Annex Online 3D, KPN's House of Tomorrow, Earthmine and Papervision3D.

Hauwert will also be one of the speakers at Unity's Flash Day, on September 27, the day before the company's Unite 11 conference kicks off in San Francisco.

[source: Unity]