Category: 8bitrocket

  • Mid-Core Update: Wikipedia, And A Mid-Core Life, 8bitrocket.com Update

    WikiPedia Just when we thought we had put a cap on the whole Mid-Core thing, we’ve had two interesting developments in that area in the past week.  First, back in 2008 there was a group of loyal readers who made an attempt to get the term “Mid-core” added to Wikipedia. …

  • 2010-2011 Prediction Results: Plus 2011-2012 Predictions

    Usually we do this in September, but I feel like moving this up a bit, so we are doing it now. First off, here are the predictions from last year, and how we fared: 10.  Flash Games Everywhere! Google TV, the Google Web App Store, Flash games on Android, Flash…

  • 8bitrocket teams up with Producto Studios

    8bitrocket has teamed up with Producto Studios to create a single, super-charged, one-stop-shop for everything cool, interactive, and fun. When we combined the retro / indie gaming sensibilities of 8bitrocket  with the design genius of Producto, we created a partnership of epic gaming and graphic design proportions. Check out the…

  • Does Anyone Want a Hardcore top-down, Scrolling Shooter On a Mobile Device?

    I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately: Will anyone play (buy) a hardcore, top-down shooter on a mobile device?  What will it take to get someone to buy it, play it, and tell their friends about it?  Should it be free, with weapon upgrades as in-app transactions? The type…

  • 8bitrocket Reunion 2011! The original lost 1/3 of 8bitrocket Returns For One Night Only

    A couple weeks back Eric Barth (center), the original “lost” 1/3 of 8bitrocket, returned to his origins by visiting Jeff and I back in California. Eric is a Professor Of Engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Instead of building games, he builds all kind of robots and devices that use…

  • Two more Good Reviews Of Our HTML5 Canvas Book

    Here are couple more good reviews of out HTML5 Canvas book. From Wonderoile “…overall I can recommend this book to every developer who wants to be creative with the web. This book provides a solid path for developing Canvas games/ applications with a solid performance.” From All Things Mat: “…I felt…

  • Great HTML Canvas Book Review!

    David Hayden has given our new book a very nice review. You can read it here.   My favorite part of the review the fact that Hayden is developing games with his daughter: “My daughter and I have been developing a lot of HTML5 Games to improve our skills at…

  • HTML5 Canvas Game Development Diary: Bug Off! No. 1

    Steve and I have been getting our fill of commercial Flash Game development at our new day (and night and weekend) jobs a Zynga, so we have decided to start honing our HTML5 Canvas development skills even more by creating some fun game demos to post on the site. We…

  • HTML5 Canvas Book Notes

    O’Reilly Forums For HTML5 Canvas We’ve been answering questions about the book over at the O’Reilly forums.   Come on over and visit. : http://forums.oreilly.com/forum/110-html5-canvas/ Firefox 4 “loop” Missing Firefox 4 has been giving me fits in the past week as I try to finish my HTML5 Canvas demo game, Brickbasher…

  • HTML5 Canvas Book Spotted in the Wild Plus Chart Positions (#1 in Game Programming)

    Its always fun to discover the first sighting of something you have created, “In The Wild”.  Just about every Friday night I take a trip over to the local Barnes and Noble to look for the latest Retro Gamer or Wired. Today was a double success because aside from the…

  • Gagaville goes gold (and silver, and sparkley, with a meat dress)

    I was a small cog in the big Zynga machine that just launched a giant promotion with Lady Gaga today – Gagaville on Farmville. By playing you can unlock pre-release versions of her up coming songs, acquire Gaga specific items for your own farm, and much more.      …

  • HTML5 Canvas Book : Notes #1: Use Google Chrome

    Here are some notes about our HTML5 Canvas Book.  Actually one note: Use Google Chrome. Especially for the examples in Chapters 6 and 7 (audio and video), and especially when loading and playing video and audio clips, Google Chrome has the best support right now.  The other chapter examples work…

  • Our book, HTML5 Canvas is now available.

    Our book, HTML5 Canvas from O’Reilly is now available. Only a few copies are left at Amazon, but you can get it directly from O’Reilly if you want.

  • Our HTML5 Canvas Book Now Available for Amazon Kindle

    Apparently Our HTML5 Book is now available for Kindle.  Our faithful reader Hayes reports that our new O’Reilly book, HTML5 Canvas, is now available for the Amazon Kindle:  You can see it here.  

  • The HTML 5 Canvas (O’Reilly) Table Of Contents

    Our book on HTML5 Canvas programming is nearing completion. The Amazon.com info page has not been updated yet with the latest information, so I decided to put it here in case anyone is interested. We are in final revision stage and everything is right on time. We have checked and…

  • The Essential Guide To Flash Games Made a Profit! (really)

    Essentially because of many of you, our book, the “Essential Guide to Flash Games, Building Interactive Entertainment in As3”, actually paid Steve and I a royalty yesterday (even with that crazy-long title). After receiving a years worth of the most puzzling (I wish I could show one here) advance recoup…

  • For Those Still Compiling We Salute You : 10 Reasons Classic Game Programmers Matter

    A while back, coworker and I were talking today about the recent interview with Steve Woita in Retro Gamer magazine.  We’ve both met Woita ( my co-worker in-person and myself virtually though this site), but my co-worker was blown-away that a few days prior, Woita had been “suggested” to him…

  • 8bitrocket.com Joins Up with Oracle-Retro!

    The denizens of 8bitrocket.com have  “beat around the virtual bush” for many weeks about the new “large company” they are working for, and today is the day they can reveal the name: Oracle!  Yes, the world’s largest database company is starting a retro-evolved games division, and 8bitrocket.com are joining-up! 8bitsteve…

  • Hotel Room Chrysalis

    As 8bitjeff awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic code de-bugger. He was laying on his soft, as it were, free food fattened belly  and when he lifted his head a little he could see he was still housed in a…

  • The Game Shift 001: Thoughts On Week 1

    I recently moved from working in a highly structured corporate development environment at one of the world’s largest toy companies to a loosely structured start-up environment at one of the world’s largest game companies. The Game Shift is a chronicle of that change. Day 1: Orientation Day 1 was a…

  • 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…