Category: 8bitrocket

  • 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…