Author: itvbadmin

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: Quad Tree Collision Research.

    Along with many other little projects, I have begun research into creating a AS3 Quad Tree implementation to extend the optimized code in my series on creating an optimized Asteroids Game. A couple other blogs have also started their own implementations, including Fatal Exception and Polygonal Labs. Neither have any…

  • New Flash Game Blog: Norm Soule

    Norm Soule, who created the great game Magma (featured in our Retro Showcase) has a brand new blog dedicated to Flash Games. One of his latest entries is a very cool example of a pixel displacement filter created with particles and he wants YOU to have his code too! Nice…

  • GameStorm! Launches

    To help with our new GameStorm! Retro/Casual Game Design Podcast, we have just launched “GameStorm!: The Retro/Casual Game Idea Generator“.  Here’s our “blurb” about it: “Never Again Can You Say You Don’t Have An Idea For a Game! This is not that game, but a tool for developers and would-be…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:August 18, 2008

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:August 18, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This time we cover FlashGameLicense.com; How people are cheating and hacking Flash games; How to Pause and Resume a sound in AS3; How to implement A* in AS3; 6…

  • 8bitrocket GameStorm! Podcast #1: Eminent Domain

    8bitrocket GameStorm! Podcast #1: Eminent Domain OK, today we are trying something brand-new. Jeff and I have wanted to try our hand at a podcast for a very long time, but we were reluctant to try because we could not think of anything original to yap about. However, on whim…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: Getting rid of the old stuff

    With a new baby in the house, plus a 3 and 1/2 year old starting to figure out what it means to have a little brother taking up space that was once all his, I have been under the gun to purge into storage (or the bin) as many things…

  • Retro Game Showcase: Back In Action

    OK, I’m back at a house and back in the saddle ready find some cool retro-inspired games to waste some of your precious time. This week we have 5 more. I’m sorry the review descriptions are short, but I’m still getting back into the swing of this. Gravitroids A really…

  • 9 Interesting Stories And Blogs About How People’s Lives Were Affected By Their 8-Bit Computers And Video Games

    Since we often write long-winded stories about how 8-bit computers and video games affected our lives, I just took a look out on the interweb to see if there were any other people wasting their precious living moments doing the same. There are. Here are a few good ones: We…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: August 12, 2008

    A selection blogs, articles, tutorials, games, and more that might be on interest to Flash game developers (or any other game developers). This week we have new stuff on monetizing games; sponsor lists; DZONE and Stumble Upon for game devs and site owners; game usability; a discussion on libraries, frameworks,…

  • Top 10 Grown-Up Gaming Web Sites/8-bit “Olympic” Themed Video Games

    I thought of two subjects for a diatribe this weekend. One was about Olympic themed games from the 8-bit era (because err, the Olympics were on TV), and the other was about the recent “explosion” of gaming sites geared towards “grown-ups” (because I am one now). However, since neither one…

  • R.I.P. Computer Gaming World err… Games For Windows mag.

    I received an issue of PC Gamer in the mail yesterday. It’s not strange for me to receive magazines on gaming subjects, but what is strange is that I never subscribed to that particular magazine, and have never received one in the mail before. After looking at the jiffy bag,…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: August 8, 2008

    A selection blogs, articles, tutorials, games, and more that might be on interest to Flash game developers (or any other game developers). This time we take look at a smattering of news and happenings in the Flash Game World: An early look Gamingyourway.com’s latest brace; N+ goes the way of…

  • Atari Nerd Chronicles: R.I.P. My Boyhood Classic Arcade, Castle Park, Redondo Beach CA.

    Most video game fans from the “golden age ” (roughly 1978-1983) frequented an arcade that they felt was “their own”. For many kids in the South Bay cities of Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan Beach in Southern California, that arcade was Castle Park in Redondo Beach. Castle Park was built in…

  • Space invaders Multiplayer Added to the Retro Showcase

    8bitrocket.com is proud to announce the addition of Lorenzo Nuvoletta’s retro evolved re-make and tribute to the Taito Classic, Space Invaders. Space Invaders Multiplayer employs the Nonba Multiplayer engine to add a very interesting twist to the classic retro action. You and a partner from anywhere in the world can…

  • Google Can Now *See* The Text In Your Flash .SWFs: Things To Consider

    I’d heard something about this a few weeks back, but today I decided to look into it more.  It seems that the Google Bots can now index .SWF files for text content.  While this seems to be good news for people who have shied away from creating Flash-Only sites because…

  • …and some of our games have made it to YouTube

    I’m not really sure why, but it looks like a few people (ok, at least one) one YouTube have filmed themselves playing some of the games we have created in the past.   There seem to be lots of game videos on YouTube.com these days, but why someone would video tape themselves playing…

  • GameSetWatch Reviews A Flash-Based MMO With Some Of My Games

    One of my favorite sites, GameSetWatch.com has recently posted a review of a kid’s based MMO that I have done some work for. While the review is not really favorable, the cool part is that they highlight a couple of the games on the site, and BOTH of them are…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: Micro Retro Mash-up, Air Battle Hour 3

    I have now moved into the 3rd hour working on the first game for my Micro Retro Mash-up. The game is based on the Atari 2600 launch title, Air-Sea Battle. I have chosen to create just an Air battle using part of my existing Boids of Death game engine. I…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe August 4, 2008

    New Indie / Punk-Pop Music Clips! I have had a little time weekend to go back through my collection of Acid and Magix loop libraries and create some new clips that you can use in your games. There are 14 new clips, and they have all been extracted from much…

  • Some Computer Advice From a Freakin’ Genius

    Here is a bit of computer advice from a freaking genuis.. If you move into a modern new house from an old crappy one, and you plug your lap-top into a random available outlet, make damned sure it is not an outlet that is currently operated by: A dimmer switch…

  • New Little 8bitter doing much better

    Thanks to everyone who wrote to, prayed for and kept Jeanne, little Justin Rhys, and I in your thoughts. He is starting to do much better, and if everything continues to improve hopefully will be home in a couple days.  -Jeff

  • 8bit Jeff Out For A Bit: Baby Son Born, But He Needs Positive Thoughts

    Jeff will be out for a few days as his baby son was born today.  However, the boy has a few “complications”, and it would be really cool if any of you out there who have enjoyed and made use of his tutorials, ideas, games, etc. could  think positive thoughts,…

  • Tutorial Update: Basic Blit with Transparency

    Tutorial Update: Basic Blit with Transparency Super cool 8bitrocket.com reader, MR. K, asked a very interesting question today. He asked if this tutorial included transparency because both the screen background and the helicopter background are black. Some how I completely missed that point when I created the original tutorial. The…

  • Terry Paton Code Library and Retro games

    Terry Paton, who’s great retro inspired games have been featured on these pages, has a incredible set of code and templates free for all to use. Some of my favorite include: The Flame Particle Class The Map Scroller The Viewable range The Shuffle Grid The follow the mouse rotation Nodes…

  • Free Beer (prototype)

    https://intotheverticalblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/freebeer.swf (Use arrow keys to move)   You use the arrow keys to move.  You try to “drink” (run over) as ,any beers as possible in the allotted time.    The more you drink the harder it is to control.   Each level adds new challenges to make it harder…

  • The Transient Programmer #5: The Last Day, FREE BEER Revisited

    OK, so this happens to be the last day I will spend as a transient” programmer. By 7:30 tomorrow I will finally have another house to move-into. However, tonight has been pretty difficult. It’s 4:00 AM, and sleep is not coming easily. The hotel got old about 2 weeks ago.…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: July 28, 2008

    A selection blogs, articles, tutorials, games, and more that might be on interest to Flash game developers (or any other game developers). This week we have things you can learn from creative programmers, a couple entries on sponsorships and contests, game planning, path finding, creating a game arcade portal, a…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe July 27, 2008

    New Royalty Free Music Loop Section! Our brand new royalty free music loop section has just launched. I took the “BETA” off tonight and added another 100 or so new pieces of music. Over the last 10 years Steve and I have produced close to 300 custom songs for various…

  • 8bitrocket Royalty Free Music And Sound Loops Beta!

    We just put live a new section here at 8bitrocket.com. The Music Section has been transformed into a place to listen to and download looping music files and sound effects for use in your Flash Games. The beta currently has only about 45 of the 100’s we will have for…

  • The Downside Of Going Backstage

    The Downside Of Going Backstage

    8bitrocket Goes Backstage I usually don’t talk about this, but besides working on Flash web sites and games at my day job and in my spare time, I also run the official web site for the 80’s new wave/rock band The Alarm. I struck-up a friendship with the lead singer…

  • 8bitrocket Goes Backstage

    8bitrocket Goes Backstage I usually don’t talk about this, but besides working on Flash web sites and games at my day job and in my spare time, I also run the official web site for the 80’s new wave/rock band The Alarm. I struck-up a friendship with the lead singer…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe July 24, 2008: Mini Retro Challenge: Design Doc

    After examining the concept I have so far, I have decided that this game may not be very fun to play. So, I have merged my ideas for the Air Sea Battle game with my idea for a casual game based on a collection of smaller retro games.This will allow…

  • Old Skool Hackers Reading List

    I took a break from game making tonight to focus on a subject that fascinated me in the 80’s and early 90’s but absolutely scares the bee-jeezus out of me now: Hackers! (always with the exclamation points, FULTON!). Anyway, the word hacker means many things to many people. In the…

  • Forums Are Down…Maybe For good

    I noticed that the forums were filled with spam today, so I took them down for repair.  However, I’m considering taking them down for good.  They get little use, and since we added “comments” in the blog back in February. Should we instead enhance the “comments” for the blog and just…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe July 21, 2008: Air-Sea Battle Hour 1: Research and Plan

    So, I have decided to make a game like the Atari 2600 (and Arcade classic) Air-Sea battle. I don’t know if we ever owned this cart, but I am sure I played it many times. By the time Steve and I had a 2600, the games had improved well beyond…

  • Dispatches From The Transient Programmer #4: Stuff I Took For Granted: Then And Now

    Now that I have moved out of my single-family house, and I have been back visiting my parents often at their house where I grew-up, I realize that I will probably never be able to provide my kids with the same type of house that I grew-up in. Yes, I…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe July 20, 2008: A game in a day…

    Or there abouts. I have been thinking a lot lately about how I am going to have time to create viral, ad supported games when my second child is born in a couple weeks. I have been through this before and the time schedules for the entire house will be…

  • Creating Free Sounds and Music for your Flash Games

    Many Flash game developers work for months polishing up a game’s graphics and game play only to realize that they lack one important element: a suitable sonic experience for the user. While some users want no sound at all, (it’s always a good idea to have some sort of volume…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: July 17, 2008

    A selection blogs, articles, tutorials games, and more that might be on interest to Flash game developers (or any other game developers). This week we have entries ranging from generating 3D cube primitives to efficient game development. We also have 6 new retro-styled games to check out. Flash game Blogs…

  • Flash Retro Game Showcase #7: July 15 2008

    Steve has been collecting a decent back log of well made retro games, but has not had a chance to add them to the showcase in a couple weeks.  To help him out a little, I have chosen 5 new deserving entries into our showcase. MJ1912 First up is a…