Category: 8bitrocket

  • …palindromes… goes live

    Our new game, …palindromes… has been released today for distribution.  You can play it below:  http://games.mochiads.com/c/g/___palindromes___/palindromes.swf …palindromes is a word game.  the object is to unscramble the palindromes as fast as possible.  click any two letters to swap them. This game was created as a test to see if this…

  • Silverarcade Goes Live: A Couple Of Our Games Featured

    The guys over at SilverArcade have launched their portal dedicated to games made in Silverlight.  They are offering a $.50 eCPM, which is quite good. Since they have acceptsed a couple of our games, and since I think it is a cool idea, I’d like to see them build some…

  • 8bitrocket On Twitter: 4/20/2009

    OK, we have finally entered 2008!  8bitrocket now has a Twitter account. You can follow our useless updates here: http://twitter.com/8bitrocket Here are updates in a Twitter Widget: http://static.twitter.com/flash/widgets/profile/TwitterWidget.swf

  • Slowdown Revisited

    So our close colleague mentioned earlier this week that we were “slowing down”.  However, that is not entirely the case. We here at 8bitrocket.com are simply “focusing” our content on what is important: our games.   We are going to write about our games, post our games, podcast about our own…

  • 4K Game: 96% Useless Fluff

    So I just finished added our pre-loader, title screen, mochi ads and mochi leaderboard, and some support code for those those things to my 4K games and it is now 100K! In reality, 100K is not that much, but think about 100K in terms of a percentage of actual gaming…

  • Wired On “Design Under Constraint” = 4K Game competition

    Wired has a nice article  about “designing under contraint”, and how it can boost both productivity and creativity. Here is a quote: “The idea of operating within constraints’of making more with less’is especially relevant these days. From Wall Street to Detroit to Washington, the lack of limits has proven to…

  • 4K Game Competition Game #2 (game spoiler)

    4K Game Competition Game #2 (game spoiler) I have decided to post my contest entry also. This is NOT the exact same game as I added one line of instruction text and the Mochi Services (which bloated it to 16K). Also, I am having some problems with the Mochi High…

  • 4K Game Competition Game #1 (4K Spolier)

    OK, here is my entry into the 4K game competition.  It’s actually 8K now with the Mochi services added. http://games.mochiads.com/c/g/neon-bricks-4k/4kbreakout_mochi.swf Neon Bricks 4K is take on the classic game of Breakout.  The basic rules are no different than Breakout: destroy all the bricks to advance to the next level.  The…

  • K. Thor Jensen’s Tidal added to the 8bitrocket Retro Arcade

    K. Thor Jensen’s Tidal added to the 8bitrocket Retro Arcade. This is final arcade game addition for the week (unless I find a great one for the weekend, or someone sends me a gem) as I am going to concentrate on adding to a couple other blog series I have…

  • Mine-X 4K

    Mine-X 4K is an Asteroids like game played in a 360 degree scrolling world. It was my entry into the Game Poetry / Gaming Your Way 4K game contest. This version is 16K with the addition of Mochi Ads and Leader Boards only.

  • Is There Anything Better Than 800 Found Bytes (4K Spoiler)

    When I was starting a new project to take my 4K game and turn it into a 32K monster yesterday, I noticed something odd.  My code would not  compile.  On further inspection, I had forgotten to include a custom class in my new project.  A custom class, that is, that was…

  • 4094 Bytes!!! (4K spoiler)

    OK, so now I’m down to 4094 bytes!! Whoo hoo.  The game is finished too.  I’m, very happy with the results, as it is the exact type of game that I’d like to play.  Some things I learned from people who commented here and from other message boards that I…

  • K-razy A** Line of Code (4K Spoiler)

    If it wasn’t for the spirit refreshing 4K game contest, I never would have thought of the need to write a line of code like this: tempPart.bitmapData = new BitmapData(2, 2, false,((type ==1)?((explodeCtr % 2 ==0) ? aCR[1]: aCR[2]):aCR[3]) ); The good thing is that comments do not count against…

  • …and I’m at 4.8K…damn

    I’m not usually associated with high performance Flash programming around here, as Jeff does most of that kind of writing.  I usually settle into puzzle games, kids games, and games that never see the light of day. However, this 4K thing has me energized.  It reminds me of the the…

  • I’m at 3.9K!!!

    I have been focused in my limited free time this week on getting my 8K game down to 4K. I still have at least one more optimization to do and then a couple things to add, but I am at 3.9K! Here are a couple of the things I needed…

  • 7.3K and counting

    7.3K and counting Just a quick update from the house of the 4 deathly ill. Between trips to the doctor, drug store, and even a complete (although partially disastrous) appearance at my day job, I was able to get an almost code complete version of my 4K game going.  The…

  • Where’s the cash for Flash (updated)

    This would normally go into the Weekly Mash-Up, but Chris Hughes sent it over this morning and it was too late for this week, too early for next week, so here it is: A very well researched and put together Gamasutra article on making money from casual Flash games. Squize…

  • Development Diary – Micro Robot Maze #2

    Development Diary – Micro Robot Maze #2 A few weeks back I started to make my Generalized Flex Game engine built around blitting and a modified Model View Controller / State Machine structure. I needed a reference application to build on top of the engine, so I chose to make…

  • Flashgamedistribution.com in Beta

    I just wanted to give a shout out to our friends over at Flashgamelicense.com, who have created yet another arm of their casual Flash game empire with Flashgamedistribution.com. Currently you can sign up for the beta, and your account will be linked to your Flashgamelicense account (if you have one).…

  • Building A Generalized Flex Game Control Part 3

    Building A Generalized Flex Game Control Part 3 In part 1, I discussed and mused over what parts of the MVC pattern (if any) to implement in my Flex game control. In part 2, I dug down into my thoughts on the rendering engine and how I was unable to…

  • Flex Game Development: When a blank screen equals success

    Flex Game Development: When a blank screen equals success The is part 2 of my series on designing a generalized game control in Flex. The control is actually in AS3, and will have no MXML, so it can easily be modified to work in the Flash IDE as well as…

  • 8bitrocket Micro Chip Maze Game Engine released

    8bitrocket Micro Chip Maze Game Engine released The Micro Chip Maze engine is an xml and tile sheet based pacman style game engine that can easily be re-configured and re-skinned for any site, brand or other use.  It has been built in AS3 using the latest bitmapdata techniques, so the…

  • Happy New Year From 8bitrocket!

    We hope you and yours had a great 2008, New Years Eve, and will have a fantastic 2009. Make and keep those resolutions if you can.  2009 will bring a lot of new stuff to 8bitrocket.com as we look to expand our footprint by creating more games and tutorials across…

  • 8bitrocket.com 2 Year Anniversary:Stats Plus 2.0 Beta Version Preview

    This week marks the 2 year anniversary of 8bitrocket.com. Last year at this time we reported the following stats: From December 14 2006 until Dec 14 2007: 1. Page Views: 129,911 2.Visits: 64,702 3. Alexa Ranking: 512,183 At that time, Jeff and I set a personal goal to get an…

  • Development Diary – Micro Robot Maze #1

    Development Diary – Micro Robot Maze #1 In my last game development post I wrote a little bit about the generalized game engine that I am fashioning in Flex AS3.  I was stuck as to exactly how to proceed after posting that entry. I spent a few days going over…

  • Work in progress: A Generalized Game Engine with AS3 in Flex

    Work in progress: A Generalized Game Engine with AS3 in Flex So, I made the move to Flex about a month back, and have spent most of my time experimenting with how to create a generalized Game Engine. I started with the idea that I would combine the use of…

  • Flex Files: Sound Exploration – Loop an Mp3 with a ByteArray?

    Flex Files: Sound Exploration – Loop an Mp3 with a ByteArray? After reading through all of the documentation on loading and embedding sounds in Flex Framework swf file, I have come to the conclusion that Adobe has been and continues to have its collective head in the sand when it…

  • Google Analytics Adds Flash Tracking

    Today on the Google Analytics blog they announced a full suite of new features that can help track viral Flash content.  These features go far beyond their previous offering, which was simply a JavaScript pass-through.  You can check out the new features for yourself over here: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2008/11/want-to-track-adobe-flash-now-you-can.html

  • Free Flash Game Development Tool Kit

    Free Flash Game Development Tool Kit My latest quest has been to create both a Windows and Mac Free Flash Game development tool kit. I have heard some rumors and horror stories about some of the popular free tools available, so I decided to take a look for myself and…

  • Retro Blaster – A look back (and forward), plus a new high score.

    Retro Blaster – A look back, plus a new high score. The first independent Flash game I ever released on the harsh Flash gaming public was my Asteroids/Blasteroids loving tribute called Retro Blaster. It was finished after many false starts, and well before Mochi or GameJacket allowed us to derive…

  • 8bitrocket Fresh Kill Flash: A Biased selection of new (to us) Mochi Games.

    8bitrocket Fresh Kill Flash: A Biased selection of new (to us) Mochi Games. Games get on this list in one of two ways: 1. They are in the 25 newest Mochi games feed when I start writing this entry, or I find them else where on Mochi (on the days…

  • Making Games: Pumpkin Man Beach Blitz Part 1

    Making Games: Pumpkin Man Beach Blitz Part 1 Last weekend (not two days ago, but 8 days ago), we decided it would be a good idea to make a second version of Pumpkin Man for Halloween. It started off as quick re-skin with the hero negotiating a beach setting to…

  • Tutorial: N-way tile-based blit fine scrolling in AS3 (part 3)

    Tutorial: N-way tile-based blit fine scrolling in AS3 (part 3) This is a long tutorial, so it has been split into 3 parts: In this tutorial we will discuss the theory and practice behind 360 degree n-way blit fine scrolling in AS3. What does that mean? N-way scrolling is a…

  • Tutorial: N-way tile-based blit fine scrolling in AS3 (part 2)

    Tutorial: N-way tile-based blit fine scrolling in AS3 (part 2) In this tutorial we will discuss the theory and practice behind 360 degree n-way blit fine scrolling in AS3. What does that mean? N-way scrolling is a means by which you can scroll the screen in any direction based on…

  • Tutorial: N-way tile-based blit fine scrolling in AS3 (part 1)

    Tutorial: N-way tile-based blit fine scrolling in AS3 (part 1) In this tutorial we will discuss the theory and practice behind 360 degree n-way blit fine scrolling in AS3. What does that mean? N-way scrolling is a means by which you can scroll the screen in any direction based on…

  • The Best Portals For Residual Game Plays

    The Best Portals for Residual Game Plays We make retro inspired games, and so far none of them have been a HUGE hit on the home page of any major portal. Although I would love to have a big hit game, I also understand what the kids want to play,…

  • New RSS Feeds And Updates + RSS Validator!

    I’ve been working for the past week to upgrade our RSS Feeds to be compatible more modern technologies.  The main feed (http://www.8bitrocket.com/8bitnewsrssfb.aspx) is now more compatible with RSS 2.0 and Atom, and now displays a proper description for each blog entry. Also, I have added new “Category” specific feeds.  These…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: Tile-based BitmapData Fine Scrolling

    8bitrocket Diatribe: Tile-based BitmapData Fine Scrolling I’m currently working on a 4 way scrolling car driving game, somewhat like Atari 800/C64 Rally Speedway or Mattel Intellivision’s Auto Racing. I have “borrowed” (for testing purposes only” the graphics from a very early Atari/Kee Games coin-op called Super Bug, which in itself…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: Drawing Vector Primitives into a BitmapData Object in AS2 and AS3.

    8bitrocket Diatribe: Drawing Vector Primitives into a BitmapData Object in AS2 and AS3. That doesn’t sound too difficult, and it really isn’t. I received an email question this weekend from a game developer who was stumped at how to accomplish this in AS2. I knew it was pretty easy to…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe – Dynamic Sprite Sheets and What’s on Jeff’s DVR

    I have been working on a few new projects that require speed and blit operations. This has given me the opportunity t to research and re-fine my methods. At one time I used arrays of bitmapData objects, pre-cached from movieClips. Those were especially needed when I was working with designers…