Category: 8bitrocket

  • Atari 800 In A Hotel Room

    Jeff and I are still in S.F. doing a 2-week tour of duty with our new employer before we head home to work as remote employees.  While it might appear that we have been having a blast on this trip, in reality it as been very hard work, and every…

  • The current state of 8bitrocket Towers

    It has been a long, eventful two months to begin 2011.  I have not found the time to write much on the blog, but that will change as soon as Steve and I begin our new adventure in game development. I’m not sure the term “extra” time applies as I…

  • Flash Is So 2011, HTML5 Is So 2014

    Here’s a secret: Flash is far from dead, in fact it’s being adopted at a higher-rate than ever on multiple mobile platforms.  In recent ZDnet article Christopher Dawson wrote: “And it isn’t just Android. Windows Phone 7, RIM’s BlackBerry OS, and HP’s WebOS all currently or will shortly support Flash…

  • Quick Guide To wmode And Flash Embedding

    When embedding Flash .SWFs in HTML, there are several choices you can make for the wmode parameter.  I’ve always been a bit confused about which was which, so I set out to today to pull together as much information as possible on the subject.  Here is a quick run down of…

  • Are Apps Dead?

    The Wall Street Journal has a story this morning about a meeting  of mobile business entrepreneurs in New York, where some of sentiment ran this way: “Apps are going to die away in favor of simple mobile websites” You can the whole story here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576132530157431902.html#ixzz1DTM6ooO5 I’m not sure I totally agree with…

  • Game Programming Tool Kit: A Binary Search in AS3

    Every game programmer needs a basic set of tools to use in building his/her games. In this series we will cover everything from basic computer science algorithms and simple design patterns to more complex artificial intelligence implementations. If it can be used some how, some way in game development, then…

  • Shorter, More Game Focused Tutorials Targeting More Technologies Are Coming

    OK, now that our HTML5 Canvas book is in production, we are planning a return to game tutorials that have been so popular here.  However, in 2011, people want more than just AS3 tutorials.  Keeping look back at this space for shorter, more precise code snippets and tutorials on game…

  • Back to the blog…mobile tales

    It is has been quite some time since I last sat down to blog about what has been going on around 8bitrocket Towers.  I have been busy the last six months scraping together a decent set of recurring clients for my freelance game coding business while I work on a…

  • Keeping Up With The Mochis #2: A Creeping Realization

    So while looking over the contest entries for the 2011 Mochis,   I was struck by one common emotion: despair.  Why?  Because every one of the games is so damned good.  I’m not kidding.    All of the entries are linked below, so you can see for yourself.  While I’m…

  • Keeping Up With the Mochis #1: Bio Break

    Jeff and I have been asked by the fine people at Mochi Media to help judge the 2011 Mochi Awards for the Flash Gaming Summit this year.    The first order business Mochi asked from us to was to write a short bio about ourselves. After writing the forward/introduction to…

  • How Now? The Good News And The Bad News

    The good news: The game you are working on is brilliant, amazing, and from a theoretical game design perspective, is worth every ounce of blood, ingenuity, ignored interpersonal relationships and effort you have poured into it. The bad news: Some kid using Game Salad just made a Zombie game in 4…

  • What Now? Random Answers.

    Yes, we do want to hear from you, contact us. No, we don’t want to display your gambling ads. Yes, Flash is still a viable platform. No, we do not need your masterful SEO skills sent via email offer. Yes, it is cool being a twin. No, we never switched…

  • Now What? Random Thoughts…

    Hmm. What’s next? We seem to be at a crossroads. The end of something, and the beginning of something else. But what? Is is Apps? Is it the mobile web? Is there value still hiding in viral Flash games? 3DTV? Really?  I don’t see it.  Literally and figuratively. Is the…

  • 8bitrocket Atari Inspired 16K Retro Re-make contest winner(s) announcement!

    We had a very tough time choosing the winner(s) as every game was excellent. Some made excellent use of technology,  some were every inventive, and others made nice use of the source material as a jumping off point to push in new directions.  Some were a combination of all three. So,…

  • 16K Contest : Final Public Vote Tally

    Here are the final public votes.  We will put this together with our votes and announce the First and Second place winners this week.  Thanks for playing.

  • 16K Contest Voting: Final Chance! (Updated)

    Get your votes in for the 16K contest!  Only 2 more days. Update: I just looked at the voting logs and it appears that are some “oddities” in the voting records.   We will take a long look at the data and adjust the results accordingly.  As well, don’t forget,…

  • 16K Game Contest Voting

    Now it is time to vote your favorite game in the 16K contest!  Voting ends in one week (Monday, January 11th) (voting is now closed) Not sure?  Try the Games Again: 16K Lander Axe Quest BattleWire 16K DABOMB The Diabolical Dungeons of Dr. Devil Fate of the Universe Heli Must…

  • 16 K Contest Update : Voting Starts Next Week

    Well the holidays smacked-up hard over here at 8bitrocket.com Towers, but we are preparing for the final voting for the 16K Game contest.  We have decided to wait to start the voting until most pople are back from vacation/holiday on January 4th.  (Note to self: never start a contest near…

  • Last Review Of Our Book For The Year

    I just found this nice little review of our book here at zhione.com . “The essential guide to flash games written by Jeff Fulton and Steve Fulton is definitely a noteworthy and pleasant Book that sheds light on how to build flash games. Well, building flash games might sound tricky…

  • Play the 8bitrocket 16K Atari Retro-Remake Entries

    The deadline has passed for entering a game into the 8bitrocket Atari Inspired Retro-Remake contest. We have received a number of high-quality entries. You can play each at the links below. Voting will start later in the week and run through the end of the year. Here are the games…

  • 16K Heli

    16K Atari Inspired Retro-Remake Contest Entry: Game Name: Heli (Play it) Game Inspiration: Choplifter (Atari 800) (Atari 7800) (click screen shot to play) (click screen shot to play) Author: Jacob Schatz

  • 16K Must Destroy Your Heart

    16K Atari Inspired Retro-Remake Contest Entry: Game Name: Must Destroy Your Heart (Play it) Game Inspiration: Berzerk (Atari 2600) (Atari 5200) (click screen shot to play) (click screen shot to play) Author: Ryan Luce What Ryan has to say about his game: “Here’s my berzerk clone, must destroy… your heart!…

  • 16K Niculus

    6K Atari Inspired Retro-Remake Contest Entry: Game Name: Niculus (Play it) Game Inspiration: Nebulus (Atari ST), Tower Toppler (Atari 7800) (click screen shot to play) (click screen shot to play) Author: David Durham What David has to say about his game: ““My entry is inspired the Atari ST (and other…

  • 16K BattleWire16K

    16K Atari Inspired Retro-Remake Contest Entry: Game Name: BattleWire16K (Play It) Play the upgraded, commercial version at Kongregate. Game Inspiration: Battlezone (Atari Arcade) (click scree shot to play) (click scree shot to play) Author: TFernando (Nightflyer Games) What Tony has to say about his game: “BattleWire16K was inspired by Battlezone…

  • 16K DDDD

    16K Atari Inspired Retro-Remake Contest Entry: Game Name: DDDD (The Diabolical Dungeons of Dr. Devil) (Play It) Game Inspiration: Rogue (Mastertonic for Atari 800 / Atari ST) (click screen shot to play) (click screen shot to play) Author: Ace the Super Villain What Ace has to say about his game:…

  • 16K DABOMB

    16K Atari Inspired Retro-Remake Contest Entry: Game Name: DABOMB (Play it) Game Inspiration: Kaboom (Activision – Atari 2600) (click screen shot to play) (click screen shot to play) Author: Brad Manderscheid Brad’s words about the game: Here is my entry.  I’m basing it off of the Activision game, KABOOM.  I’m calling…

  • 16K Axe Quest

    16K Atari Inspired Retro-Remake Contest Entry: Game Name: Axe Quest (Play It) Game Inspiration: Golden Axe (Atari ST) (click screen shot to play) (click screen shot to play) Author: Ace the Super Villain What Ace Has to say about his game: “AxeQuest is mostly based on Golden Axe, but I…

  • 16K Lander

    16K Atari Inspired Retro-Remake Contest Entry: Game Name: 16K Lander (Play it) Game Inspiration: Atari Lunar Lander Arcade Game (click screen shot to play) (click screen shot to play) Author: Robert Podgórski of BlackMoon Design Robert says that he chose this game because: “We have a fond for everything ‘retro-space-related’ over at…

  • 7 hours left to enter the 16K Atari Inspired Retro-Remake Contest

    It is currently 5:00PM PST. We have already received a number of very well made games, so the competition is fierce.   It is so fierce that I have decided to also give a copy of our book, the Essential Guide To Flash Games, to the second place game. Also, each…

  • Atari 16K Retro Remake Contest Nears Final Date

    This Sunday evening, at 11:59 Pacific Standard Time,  is  the deadline for entries into the 16K Atari Retro Inspired Re-make Contest. We have already received a number of very well made entries, so the competition is fierce. Good luck, and here’s to playing some great 16K games on the site…

  • HTML5 Canvas Book: Amazon Pre-Order + ES5 JS API Now Available

    I just saw that our HTML5 Canvas book is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com.  That is the cover (above).  I have to tell you, it’s pretty awesome to see an O’Reilly cover with our names on it. Also, the JavaScript API for Electrotank’s Electro-Server Socket-Server was released today.  I…

  • HTML5 Canvas Book Update : First Draft Delivered!

    Tonight I finally finished the last chapter of the first draft of our book on the HTML5 Canvas. The text has been sent off for tech review, which means we still have a long, probably bumpy road ahead, but it still feels good to have another “product” in the pipeline…

  • Target Now Sells Our Book!

    I was just doing my cursory “search of the internet to see if anyone has written anything about our book, The Essential Guide To Flash Games lately”,  the same search that has become less and less frequent as the months since the release have passed, and I came across this:…

  • 16K Atari Inspired Retro Re-Make Contest Update

    Here is the latest news on the contest: The biggest news is that we are going to extend the contest end date until Sunday 11:59PM Pacific Standard Time December 19th. This will give everyone the entire weekend to find time to optimize and finish their games before we post them…

  • 8bitrocket 16K Contest Update: New Prize Added!

    So we are now 15 days from our 16K contest deadline.  We have had a lot of interest and we are expecting some really neat games to play.   Today we are announcing a new prize to Grand Prize package.    Clint Herron has graciously offered a license for his…

  • What Can Be Made In 16K? Atari 5200 16K ROM Games

    Here is some 16K inspirations for you.  The following are videos of some Atari 5200 games made in 16K or less.  The ROMs for these games fit on a 16K cart.  the games used the plethora of hardware features available for the Atari 8-bit line of computers (hardware sprites, 4-voice…

  • Announcing the 8bitrocket 16K Retro Re-make Contest ** Small Rule Update

    Note (12/8/2010): The Prize package has been extended and the end date moved to December 19th at 11:59Pm PST. Note (11/19/2010): We have modified the rules slightly to help with file size issues. The HTML wrapper file will not longer count in the 16K total.  See below for details. To…

  • Geo Blaster Basic on the HTML5 Canvas

    Steve and I are currently working on an HTML5 Canvas book for O’Reilly (in our spare time). It is giving us a chance to investigate the Canvas in detail and we are applying our game development skills to small and medium sized projects as examples for the book. Geo Blaster…

  • PBS Kids Dr Seuss Flower Finder Goes Live

    The first project of mine (from this new venture) to actually go live is The PBS Kids Dr. Seuss Flower Finder. No, it is not an arcade game like I am used to, but I was able to complete the entire build with Flash Develop, using the CS5 IDE to…

  • A Completely Biased Opinion Of Our Book

    I’m not sure if this makes sense,  but it’s not easy for me to recall everything that we wrote about in The Essential Guide To Flash Games.  Like any long-term project, the minute it was complete, I took a deep breath and then dove into something else.  At this point,…

  • 8bitrocket.com Milestone: 1000 Posts!

    I just wanted to note that, with yesterday’s content updates, we have reached a cool 1000 updates.  I hope you have enjoyed our  nearly four years of  games,  videos, podcasts, news items, blog posts, interviews, stories, memories, tutorials, reviews, gossip pieces, emotional responses, link baiting, alarmist warnings, and outright pandering.…

  • 10 Reasons Why Flash Is Still My Favorite Game Development Platform

    Yes, we have been dabbling in HTML5 and even in Silverlight.  We have touched on Unity, Java FX and worked in Xcode for the iPhone.  However, after I tried the Flash CS5 IDE a few weeks ago, I realized that nothing has changed.  I still love Flash, and I can’t…

  • SPIL Games Thinks HTML5 Will Overtake Flash by 2012: An Interview

    “SPIL GAMES expect that by the end of 2012 at least 50% of all new games to be HTML5.“ -Scott Johnson, SPIL Games SPIL runs some of the biggest game portals on the planet (e.g. gamesgame.com).  As far as online web games go (mostly Flash) , their operation is MASSIVE:…

  • An Interview With Electrotank’s Jobe Makar

    Jobe Makar is is one of the people who inspired 8bitrocket.com the most in the past 10 years.  From his multiple Flash game books, to his 100’s of games,  Jobe has reached a level of success matched only by a very few.   We caught-up with Jobe last week and…

  • Top-10 Game Predictions for 2010-2011

    It’s prediction time again.  First, we need to run-down our 2009-2010 predictions and see how we did.  Here they are: 10. Microtransactions In Flash Games Will Struggle. Too many games, too few people willing to pay. The most successful service will be Mochicoins, but it will still struggle with quality…

  • A look at the IE 9 HTML5 Canvas Spec

    With much curiosity I took a look at the recently published IE 9 HTML5/CSS3 spec specifically to find Canvas support information. Its no secret that Steve and I are deep into a book for O’Reilly on the Canvas and IE has been a major sticking point as we progress through…

  • One Last Flash On The iPhone Update…

    An Apple rep called Jeff today to confirm Jeff’s business’s license and his participation in the iPhone developer program. Jeff asked him flat-out if they were “accepting Flash made apps” for the iPhone, and the rep told him “absolutely, yes”. So there you go.

  • 10 Good Things For Game Developers About Flash Being Allowed On The iPhone.

    Adobe has restarted  working on their iPhone packager for Flash…again for CS5.  This pretty much confirms that Flash->iPhone conversions are allowed.    One wonders, why Apple made the change.  Was it because they could not single out Flash and allow other tech like Unity?  Was it because Flash apps performed…

  • Update: Flash Exported Apps Being Approved In The iTunes Store

    Word has come through that Flash exported apps using the CS5  iPhone packager are now being approved by Apple for the iTunes store.  Many of the apps have been waiting in the queue for months. This is good news for Flash devs, but maybe not so good news for iPhone…

  • Apple Appears To Have Relaxed Their Rules On The Flash iPhone Packager

    It appears that Apple has relaxed their rules on iPhone apps developed with Flash.  You still can’t run the apps in Mobile Safari, but it looks like apps made with the CS5  iPhone packager are now OK. The Wall Street Journal has the news. So what does this mean for…

  • The Forums Are On Fire!

    OK, maybe not “fire”, but we are getting as steady stream of posts now, which is really cool.  Thanks to all the new users who have come around and started participating.  It’s really starting to get fun. In case you have not looked, here isa run-down of all the forums…

  • Beta Forums Testing

    We are testing the new forums here: http://www.8bitrocket.com/forum/ Please test them out and tell us about any problems you might have. thanks, – Management

  • 8bitrocket.com Video Podcast Returns!!

    The 8bitrocket.com Video Podcast Returns!!  We cover the new 8bitrocket.com, The Game Ray Quest, the Flash version of The Great Giana Sisters, the Flash game Chain the pixel, plus the retro music stylings of The Icarus Kid!

  • Spil Launches $50K HTML5 Game Contest

    The Spil Group thinks HTML5 will surpass Flash on the web very soon, and they are willing to put money where their mouth is: specifically $50K! Here is a link the the article: HTML5 Mobile Game Sites and an HTML5 Developer Contest. Here is what you need to know: HTML5…

  • (not) Royalty Free H.264 (Might) Boost HTML5 Video & The Canvas, But Flash Still Has A Chance (Analysis) : Updated

    Yesterday it was announced that MPEG LA, the patent holder for H.264 (MPEG-4) will “never” charge a licensing fee for video encoded as H.264 and delivered for “free” over the internet. What does this mean? Well it means that Firefox and Opera, two browsers that have so far held-back implementing…

  • 8bitrocket.com Interviewed!

    Steve Savage over at Fan To Pro took the time to interview us last week about all things 8bitrocket.  If you are intersted in that sort of thing, go over here and take a look: http://www.fantopro.com/blog/2010/08/an-interview-with-steve-and-jeff-of-8-bit-rocket.html#more Also, we have added  the Fan-To-Pro RSS feed to our Industry Feeds page…

  • HTML5 Canvas Resize On The Fly, In An HTML Page

    I’ve been playing around a lot with the HTML5 Canvas lately, and I discovered some very interesting things that about the size of Canvas as displayed on an HTML page. The best way to show these is to show a demo of what I’m talking about first.  Here is a…

  • Vortix Games Reviews The Essential Guide To Flash Games

    Hey, I just noticed this review from Vortix Games for our book The Essential Guide To Flash Games.   It’s a very nice review, and I think it really captures what the book is all about.  Here is a quote: “It is not a book for coders or a book for…

  • New 8bitrocket.com Site Opens

    If the DNS has propagated, you should be looking at the brand-spanking new 8bitrocket.com web site. It should look much like the old one, but a bit more generic as well. We are working on theming to get back a bit more of retro-on, but for now, this will work.…

  • The Polish Adobe Flex User Group Really Likes ‘The Essential Guide To Flash Games”

    We’ve reached Poland!  The Polish Adobe Flex User Group just reviewed The Essential Guide To Flash Games, and they seem to really like it! “In my opinion, it is the most valuable book about seriously flash games developing available on the market. The most important thing: authors does not avoid…

  • Undercooked: The Origins And Evolution Of 8bitrocket.com

    In The summer of 1996 we started a site named WheatMedia.com, dedicated to web design. This was our first domain name, and first real foray into tackling the World Wide Web.

  • The Essential Guide To Flash Games Conspiracy?

    Over at GamingYouWay.com, they might have found some sort of odd conspiracy from the pages of the Essential Guide To Flash Games Book, and all over the web. Here is a quote:

  • 8bitrocket Discovers WordPress! Move Will Occur Within The Next 2 Weeks

    We have decided to move 8bitrocket.com to Word Press.  We have experimented with it in the past couple days, and it appears that it will help us solve a lot of problems (and of course, add new ones).  We are moving all the content right now, creating 303 redirects, and…

  • Flash/Adobe/HTML5/Apple Wars Bring Opportunity To Developers: 721% Rise In HTML5 Job Postings

    The Apple/Flash wars have had a nice side-affect for freelance job seekers: Opportunity. According to freelancer.com,  there was a 721% rise in HTML5 related job posting in Q2 2010.  This made HTML5 the #2 ranked technology in the “Freelancer.com Fast 50”. Here is a quote from Freelancer.com: “The Apple Effect:…

  • Flash Not Even Close To Dead: 5 Reasons Why Flash Still Lives At The Top And May Never Be Defeated

    5 Good reasons why Flash is here to stay (and most involve Google). 1. YouTube.com : Even though youtube.com added some HTML 5 video support, it’s still Flash that makes youtube.com tick. Embedding, full-screen video, standard codecs, interactive elements, variable streams,  protected streams, HTTP streaming, web cam and microphone support,…

  • Customizable Full-Screen Flash Fireworks Show

    Here is a link to our customizable, Flash Fireworks show.  This is a link to the .swf so you can view it in full-screen mode.  Enjoy!

  • 8bitrocket.com: The End Is Nye? We Need Ideas On Where To Move.

    Today our hosting company emailed us to tell that our site uses too many resources.  They want to move us to a much more expensive plan.  One that simply does not justify the cost. We have collected almost 1000 stories and tutorials in the past 4 years, plus almost 100…

  • USA v. England : A No Win Situation For 8bitrocket.com

    Today the USA plays against England in their first game of the FIFA 2010 World Cup.  Whenever the USA plays England, it becomes an uncomfortable situation for 8bitrocket.com.  We have many friends who live all over the world, and usually we get along famously.  However, when we play each other…

  • Huw Collingbourne Of bitwise Magazine Really Likes The Essential Guide To Flash Games

    Huw Collingbourne Of bitwise Magazine just posted his review of The Essential Guide To Flash Games.  He really liked it!  Here is my favorite quote: “What a great book this is! Don’t be deceived into thinking that, since it is a book about games programming, it must necessarily be trivial.…

  • Yes, We Still Work On Flash Games: Introducing Zombie Alien Zero Flak Defender!

    With all of this talk of HTML 5, I wanted to show some on-going progress on an AS3 game that I’m working on. Yes, it is an iteration on one of the games from The Essential Guide To Flash Games, and yes it will be used to promote the book,…

  • Can I survive HTML5? Yes, and so can you

    Can I survive HTML5? Yes, and so can you. It took me a few months to finally crack open the beast, but while on a little holiday vacation in California Wine country, I finally took the leap. Steve has been dabbling in HTML 5 for the last couple months but…

  • Is The HTML 5 Canvas A Gateway Drug For Flash?

    When I was 13 years old I wanted an Atari 800 computer. I wanted it to play all the great computer games I saw on the shelves at the local computer store, HW Computers, and because it came with the BASIC programming language. Not only could you play games, but…

  • Would A Basic Book on HTML 5 Canvas Games Interest You?

    While we are in early talks with some publishers about a book on building games the HTML 5 Canvas, I’d like to know: Would this interest you?  Unlike “The Essential Guide To Flash Games”, this book would take a more ground-up approach, and include all the information you need to…

  • Geometry Attack: First Found Game Made From The Essential Guide To Flash Games Book?

    Yesterday we were alerted to this game, Geometry Attack. It appears to be the first game made from the games from our book: The Essential Guide To Flash Games. However, this is not a complaint. The whole point of the book is to get people to make games.  We want…

  • Essential Guide To Flash Games Chapter 13 Part 1. Modified BasicScreen and new ImageButton class

    Essential Guide To Flash Games Chapter 13 Part 1. Modified BasicScreen and new ImageButton class

    Essential Guide To Flash Games Chapter 13 Part 1.  Modified BasicScreen and new ImageButton class The Essential Guide To Flash Games only contains 12 chapters, so what is chapter 13? Chapter 13 and beyond will be additions to the book and efg framework that build on what has been created…

  • HTML 5 Canvas: Using Processing.js To Develop Canvas Apps

    This weekend, a friend of mine named Mike Foti noticed my pained expressions when I was talking about the HTML 5 Canvas, and he decided to help salve some of my injuries from my first few tests by pointing me towards a project named processing,js. processing.js is an MIT Media…

  • GameDev.net Gives The Essential Guide To Flash Games 4 Gs!

    GameDev.net has reviewed The Essential Guide To Flash games, and has given it 4 Gs!  Here is a good quote: “The level of the book starts off quite simply. While it might help to know a bit of computer programming, knowledge of ActionScript or the “Flash way of doing things”…

  • HTML 5 Canvas: Creating Gaudy Text Animations…Just Like Flash! (sort of)

    HTML 5 Canvas: Creating Gaudy Text Animations…Just Like Flash! (sort of)

    Since I have not posted anything about the Canvas in a few weeks I wanted to show some of the experiments I’ve been working on. Everyone knows that animating text in Flash is very easy and has been around since the technology began. It seems to me, that if the…

  • The Essential Guide To Flash Games: The Infomerical

    I believe this speaks for itself.

  • Essential Guide To Flash Games Errata F.A.Q.

    Unfortunately when you write a book, some things get lost in the translation from manuscript to the final product.  This is a running list of things that need changing or clarification for the book “The Essential guide To Flash Games”.  Even though we did everything possible to avoid these errors,…

  • Flash And Flex Developer Magazine Gives “The Essential Guide To Flash Games” a Gobsmackingly Great Review!!

    The current issue of Flash and Flex Developer Magazine (free download) has two articles about “The Essential Guide To Flash Games” book.  The first is part one of “Creating An AS3 Game Framework” which is Chapter 2 of our book.   It will be continued in the next issue.  The second…

  • Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 3 – Scale from the center with a Matrix.

    Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 3 – Scale from the center with a Matrix.

    Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 3 – Scale from the center with a Matrix. In this third lesson we will explore a method of scaling the object from Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 using a Matrix operation. Like rotation, we could simple apply the scaleX and scaleY properties…

  • The Essential guide To Flash Games: Facebook Page: Please “Like It”

    OK, there is nothing really special to note here, except that we have created a “Facebook” page for the “Essential Guide To Flash Games“.  We would really appreciate it if you could go over there and “like” it so it can get a bit of promotion.  We might actually buy…

  • Terry Paton Gives Our book A Nice Review!

    One man Flash Game factory Terry Paton has reviewed our book on his site, and he had some very nice things to say: “The examples give a great understanding for how game engines work. Once you’ve gone through the various chapters and the game tutorials you should come out the…

  • Steve Jobs Vomits His Own Useless Drivel About Flash. Yawn

    Today “Steve Jobs” published a blog/article/story called “Thoughts On Flash” at Apple.com.  It’s a painfully boring read, mostly because we’ve read it all before.  He adds nothing new, and in fact, continues to spread lies and 1/2 truths about Adobe and Flash.  His points are so easily debunked, I’m not…

  • No Flash On The iPad Problem: Current Popular Social Games

    No Flash On The iPad Problem: Current Popular Social Games One large potential problem (or opportunity)  Apple might face in the near future, because of the lack of a Flash player on the iPod/iPad platform, is compatibility with the current set of popular social games. It is no secret that…

  • Game Engine Re-Use: Jeff Vogel Is My Hero

    Here at 8bitrocket.com we love game engines and engine reuse.  Damn, we even wrote a book about it!  It seems that we are not alone. In a post published today, Spiderweb Software’s Jeff Vogel does a fantastic job defending his use of a game engine he has re-sued and nursed…

  • For Flash Games Developers, Working With the HTML 5 Canvas Is A Lot Of “Roll Your Own”

    I’ve been working with the HTML 5 Canvas for the past couple weeks (in my spare moments) trying to implement one of the simplest games from CH.1 of our book, The Essential Guide To Flash Games with it. The game is a very simple shooter (Pixel Shooter). It’s maybe, the…

  • Spectacularly Nerdy 8bitrocket Computer Desk Circa 1992

    My sister just found this photo.  It’s Spectacularly nerdy.  It’s a photo of me (Steve) sitting at the “8bitrocket.com” computer desk (the desk Jeff and I shared in the bedroom we shared until we graduated from college).   I think the photo speaks for itself: Above you will notice the following:…

  • Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 2 – Rotation with and without a Matrix

    Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 2 – Rotation with and without a Matrix

    Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 2 – Rotation and with and without a Matrix. In this second lesson we will explore a couple different methods for rotating the Bitmap object from Lesson 1. We will first try simply using Bitmap.rotation property. Next we will do the same operation…

  • Try Out The 10 Games From Our book

    Here are links to the 10 Games we Create in Our Book. Some are rudimentary, some are very complex.          

  • Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 1 – Creating a basic dynamic tile sheet.

    Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 1 – Creating a basic dynamic tile sheet.

    Tutorial: Exploring the AS3 Bitmap Class Lesson 1 – Creating a basic dynamic tile sheet. We talk a lot about Blitting and BitmapData on this site, but we rarely take a step back and look at the container class for BitmapData, the Bitmap. In this series we will explore using…

  • Exploring The HTML 5 Canvas For Flash Developers #2: Tracking The Mouse To Draw On The Screen

    Exploring The HTML 5 Canvas For Flash Developers #2: Tracking The Mouse To Draw On The Screen

    After a week where confusion about the future of the Flash platform has been piled on to developers by moves outside their control, we present the second in our series of HTML 5 Canvas for Flash Developers.  We call these tutorials, but really they are more like explorations.  We are…

  • Top 10 Positive Things (for me) About The Apple iPhone Developer Clampdown

    We have had a lot of debate about the how evil (or not) Apple has become, and how they have closed their platform to developers, etc. etc. etc.  All that very well may be true, but it’s time to look on the bright side of the situation.  Here are the…

  • Apple Hates Developers, And We Feel Hated

    While we are trying to digest the news today that Apple has decided to reject any iXxx apps developed with tools other than their own, we have been using Twitter a lot.   Our favorite Twitter “channel” is #fuckapple, but others we now enjoy are #teamandroid and our very own #fuckappleincode…

  • 10 Things Developers Can Do To Help Fight Apple’s Grip On the Future Of Software Development

    10 Things Developers Can Do To Help Fight Apple’s Grip On the Future Of Software Development Developers can get mad and call names (we are VERY guilty of this) at Apple for their Orwellian moves with the iPhone OS 4.0, but the best way to to “fight” them is to…

  • 8bitrocket Interviews with Jameson Hsu from Mochi Media

    “Many people ask why we put GAME in all caps (in the name Mochi GAME Development fund -ed)and it’s because the fund is ajoint effort between our parent company Shanda Games (stock tickerNASDAQ:GAME) and Mochi Media.” -Jameson Hsu   We’ve heard back from a lot of developers about their experiences…

  • Apple Announces iAd, Game Center For iPhone/iTouch/iPad Apps: Flash Game Developers Should Take Notice

    Today Apple announced a bunch of new features for their mobile OS4, but the most intriguing ones fall very close to the Flash developer tree: iAd and Game Center. Here are Apple’s own words about these two features: iAd: “Apple’s new mobile advertising platform, combines the emotion of TV ads…

  • Don’t Trash Flash Just Yet: iPad Backlash Includes Realization That Flash Web Games Won’t Work (well duh!)

    While, admittedly , it was difficult to find bad news about the iPad last Friday (for the first story in this series) , it is much easier today. Now lots of people have them (but not nearly as many as Apple wanted) and the buyers (plus the media, thank the…

  • Using the Essential Flash Games Framework Hint #1: The mochi package

    We have a had a few emails from people who are having some trouble publishing the games from the framework. One of these was an actual problem and it was fixed with a new code update yesterday.  While the text in the book is correct, the files on the download…