Category: Features

  • John Russell Fulton: Isn’t Artistic Talent Supposed To Jump A Generation?

    I can’t draw to save my life.  Neither can Jeff.  While be both can do a bit of  “abstract” work practical art has pretty much escaped us.  However the rest of our family has all kinds of talent in spades. The most “famous” artist in our family is John Russell…

  • R.I.P. Gary Coleman And 80’s Portrayals Of Video Games

    Gary Coleman died yesterday at the age of 42.  He was best known from his role on the TV show “Different Strokes”.  It was sad to see him go, as he never really appeared to achieve that he set out to do in life. It is interesting to note that …

  • Game Design Inspirations: Some childhood 70’s non-electronic games and books

    Game Design Inspirations: Some childhood 70’s non-electronic games and books Growing up in the 70’s Steve and I didn’t always  have access to electronic and video games. It was 1981 before we had our first 2600, and before that we had but a smattering of hand-held electronic games that failed…

  • Retro Scan: Original Atari ST Action Interview with Jeff Minter (1988)

    Retro Scan: Original Atari ST Action Interview with Jeff Minter (1988) A couple weeks ago I was hunting around in Steve’s garage and found the May 1988 issue of ST Action magazine. I scanned in the review of Dungeon Master in that issue and put it on the site. This…

  • Atari History Orgasm Hits AtariAge.com Forums As Nolan Bushnell Shows Up to Defend Himself

    It was an unprecedented moment in the history of Atari fandom, and it happened over the past few days.  After, it was announced last week that Nolan Bushnell would join the board of directors of Atari SA, the message boards at Atariage.com lit-up with excitement and terror.  Some Atari fans…

  • Retro Scan: Original Atari ST Action Review – Dungeon Master

    Retro Scan: Original Atari ST Action Review – Dungeon Master I was sifting through the treasure trove that is Steve’s garage the other day when I came across a classic issue of ST Action magazine. The issue is May 1988 (the first year of the publication) and it is filled…

  • No More Printed Game Manuals For “The Environment”, or “Pay Twice For What You Used To Get For Free”

    The Gamer’s Blog has a very interesting story about Ubi Soft jettisoning printed game manuals as a “green initiative”.  thsoundman writes: “No more man’u’als? Ubisoft announced this week that they will be ditch’ing the trend of print’ing instruc’tion man’u’als for new games under the ‘green’ ini’tia’tive.  While no other pub’lish’ers…

  • Ouch My Face Hurts! A Facebook Social Games Deep Dive.

    Mochi Game Developer’s Fund Chronicles #2:   Ouch My Face Hurts! A Facebook Social Games Deep Dive So I’ve never really played a “social” game on Facebook before today.  Since those types of games were propped-up by some as the “second coming” at FGS, and because the Mochi Game Developer Fund…

  • New 8 Bit Weapon Sony Loop Library

    New 8 Bit Weapon Sony Loop Library We make a lot of loop-based music here at 8bitrocket. One of our favorite tools is Acid by Sonic Foundry (and now Sony). Sony always has new sets of loop libraries to fill the need for unique and new game music construction. For…

  • Apple/Adobe/HTML 5 Saga: Who Is Big Brother Now?

    Apple/Adobe/HTML 5 Saga: Who Is Big Brother Now? Well, I never expected to be writing about HTML5 years before it will be finished, but the whole iPad/No Flash support saga has me up at night wondering if we need to move sooner than later. First off, far from Apple relenting…

  • Why Does Apple Hate Flash: The HTML 5 Canvas Might Be The Answer

    Why Does Apple Hate Flash: The HTML 5 Canvas Might Be The Answer Many people on the web have been questioning why Apple “really” hates Flash and why it has not been included in the iPod Touch, iPhone, or new iPad. Everything from “Flash runs slow” to “Flash is not…

  • Tables Turned: One Of My Favorite Game Jounalists Interviews Me

    Last week I spent over an hour talking with one of my favorite game journalists, Tom Chick, about one of my favorite games of all-time, Roller Coaster Tycoon.    Actually, we seemed to discuss many things other than Roller Coaster Tycoon, but it was still fun. You can listen to it…

  • I Play/Read All This Stuff At Once???

    I noticed yesterday that I have too many games being played and books being read at exactly the same time.  All of these games/books are being played/read at different times, when I’m doing different things. -Mac: M.U.L.E. (new version)-PC (Mac Bootcamp): Dragon Age Origins-PC Laptop:  (no game) making a video…

  • The office politik: Twilight v. The Atari 800

    The office politik: Twilight v. The Atari 800 Ok, so I really want to write something about Flash games or indie games, or retro games, but every ounce of my energy for and interest in those topics is being funneled into the final revisions for the book. I would love…

  • R.I.P. Art Clokey: Creator of “Gumby” and “Davey And Goliath”

    Art Clokey was one of the masters of “stop motion” animation. He is best known for the “Gumby” cartoons. Gumby : The Small Planets There were a few episodes the dealt with space. This one stands out as the best….and most bizarre. “My beautiful arpeggio ruined!”   Art Clokey was…

  • Writing A Technical Book: The Stuff No One Tells You

    We are finishing-up the final parts of the book “The Essential Guide To Flash Games“. The Amazon release date is wrong, as the whole process is about a month behind. We are sorry for anyone who expected to get this thing next week, but honestly, (HONESTLY), the book is much…

  • Bruce On Games: You don’t want to work in the video game industry

    This is great!  The same Bruce who is fighing off a libel lawsuit aginast makers of Evony (read: Bruce appears to be the victim in this one) has a new article called You don’t want to work in the video game industry where he lists 12 really good reasons why you…

  • Game Macropayments: A Developer Subscription Model?

    I was thinking about this on the way home yesterday, and I thought I would run it up the old 8bitrocket.com flag pole to see what people think. After writing about what I might pay for using Micropayments a few weeks back, it occurred to me that there is another…

  • “B.A. PANTS’ (not underwear for the UK folks, but trousers)

    ‘B.A. PANTS’ (not underwear for the UK folks, but trousers). Note: This diatribe is only tangentially related to Flash game development. Read at your own risk.   I used to wear jeans and skate shoes to work every day. I did this for nearly 10 years even though I was an…

  • One Of The Best Mainstream Game Articles In A Long Time: The Magic of Wii Sports Resort @ IGN

    Michael Thomsen @ wii.ign.com has written what I believe is one of the best gaming articles I have ever read.  His piece, The Magic of Wii Sports Resort is notable not just for it’s structure and style, but also for its sentiment and passion.  Thomson writes about about game narrative,…

  • Micropayments In Flash Games: What Would You Pay For?

    There has been a lot of discussion lately about Micropayments in Flash games. New service offerings such as Mochicoins and Gamersafe promise untold riches for Flash developers beyond sporadic licenses and advertising pennies. Both the aforementioned services have plans to limit the amount of games in the system by vetting…

  • R.I.P. John Hughes

    R.I.P John Hughes. I did not think I would feel this bad the day the filmmaker John Hughes died.   The trailer above is for the “Breakfast club”, widely regarded as the best teen movies of the 80’s  It is also one of the few movies that I can distinctly recall…

  • Expressing An Emotional State Of Mind In A Game

    There are games I’d like to create, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to approach them. Many of these games have to do with true emotions that are difficult to describe in game form, however, I still feel the need to make them. Games are…

  • Random Game Design Notes From Chris Crawford

    A few years ago I hosted an all-day game design session with Chris Crawford. After the session, I took some notes and shared them with my colleagues. These notes were geared-towards “Kid’s” games, but many of them hold true for any kind of indie/Flash/Retro/etc. game that you might be building…

  • Great Free Online Book On Eary Computer Games: Let’s Tell a Story Together

    I’ve always wondered how long it would take to create a text adventure/graphical text adventure engine for Flash.   I *know* the marketability of text adventures is not great, and I know the audience is limited, but for someone like me who played the original Infocom and Scott Adams adventurs games…

  • More Algorithms For Modern Managers

    I’ve been looking for these for a very long time, and I finally found them. We came up with these many years ago, and I think they still hold-true today.  The following are 21st Century “algorithms” that modern managers can use to figure out their daily evil. Figuring Out Who…

  • Post-Retro: Have We Entered The Era After “Retro Games”?

    There is a sense these days that the concept of “Retro” games is disappearing. This does not mean that there are no retro inspired games being made, but it means that “retro” has been enveloped into the mainstream, and “retro” does not really exist any longer as it’s own genre..…

  • E3: Gaming Cameras For Motion Control: Have They Really Thought This Through?

    Both Microsoft and Sony announced camera-based game control solutions at E3 2009.  At the same time, Nintendo has said they rejected this kind of technology years ago in favor of the Wii-mote. Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President said recently: “Until they say when they’re releasing it, how much it costs and what…

  • Mad Avenue Blues: The eCPM Is Low For Everyone!

    This video has been making the rounds of people in the advertising industry since it was posted last week. It’s focus is the Madison Avenue advertising industry, but many of the topics included should be very familar to viral Flash Game developers. So you think games are getting bad eCPM…

  • E3 2009 Indie Game Report #3 – Indiecade 2009

    E3 2009 Indie Game Report #3 – Indiecade 2009 One of the best things at this years’ E3 was Indiecade 2009 preview.  Indiecade is a group that puts on events to showcase and promote independent games and indie game developers. It accomplishes this by staging a series on international events…

  • E3 Retro / Indie Report #2

    E3 Retro / Indie Report #2 What can I say? So far, E3 2009 has been a little underwhelming. Most of the big companies are here except Atari (other than the Ghost Busters car and some people dressed up in Ghost Busters costumes), but the web / indie / and…

  • E3 Retro Report #1: Watch Steve Wiebe Try To Break The Donkey Kong World Record

    You can keep-up on Steve Wiebe attempt to break the donkey Kong World Record with the video feed below. http://www.justin.tv/widgets/jtv_player.swfWatch live video from G4TV – Steve Wiebe Donkey Kong Cam on Justin.tv

  • The History of 8-bit Computer Games in The USA #1 : CGW Nov/Dec 1981

    The History of 8-bit Computer Games in The USA #1 : CGW Nov/Dec 1981 I never read Computer Gaming World Magazine when I should have. When I finally purchased a PC in 1992, I started to read it and kept doing so as a subscriber until it died late last…

  • Diatribe: Writer’s Block and Video Ads

    I’ve had writer’s and programmer’s block for about a week now.  I’m sorry there have not been any “interesting” blog entries coming from me since then.   To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the reception to “…palindromes…”.  While I knew it was not a blockbuster, the Flash game…

  • How can Casual game designers use the list of top selling comsumer items?

    How can Casual game designers use this list? In the Sunday newspaper (yes, I still get one of these ancient documents) this morning there was a list of the top 10 selling consumer products (in the USA I presume). I’m not quite sure how accurate the list is, or how…

  • Wiiware Support For Flash Met With Fear, Derision:Analysis

    Reports came out this week that Nintendo would start supporting Flash as a development platform for Wiiware. While there was some positive support, for the most part, this news was met with derision, fear and hand-wringing from the Wii gaming communities.   At Cubed3: “Nintendo does have strong policies and…

  • When Golden Age Video Games “Wore The Leather Jacket”

    I’ve been reading Benjamin Nugent’s American Nerd lately.  One of the aspects of nerdom that he points out is the need for nerds to “coin phrases”.  Obviously, we at 8bitrocket.com have tried our share of this.  From “Midcore Gamer” (between “casual” and “hardcore”) to “vink” (virtual ink) we have attempted…

  • Garage Sale Treasure Hunt: Zelda , Mario Nelsonic Game Watches for $1.00 Each!

    Yesterday I was at a “Save The Teachers” rummage sale in California (they are firing teachers right and left here because our state budget is out of whack and parents are bit concerned about 50 kid classrooms with no aids, librarians, PE, music, etc). Anyway, this rummage sale was interesting…

  • PC Gamer Subscription Chronicles 2: Into The Black Hole

    PC Gamer Subscription Chronicles 2: Into The Black Hole In the first entry of this series, I relayed a mildly amusing story of how PC Gamer has inexplicably lost my new subscription, The event is seemingly suspect as it came directly after I published an article that was mildly critical…

  • …palindromes… now on FlashGameLicense.com : Update

    My newest game, …palindromes… is now up on FlashGameLicense.com.  …palindromes… is a departure for me as a game designer.  It is a pure word game aimed at an audience who loves words and word game challenges. In …palindromes… your job is to unscramble a series of words before the time…

  • PC Gamer Subscription Chronicles #1: Where Are My #$@! Magazines?

    Some of you who have been paying close attention may have seen this story from back in December.  Back then I thought it would be fun to do a review of PC Gamer Magazine.  I had just started a new subscription through my daughter’s Girl Scout magazine drive. Since it…

  • Steve’s List Of The Top-10 Most Insanely Addictive Mid-Core Game Ever Created

    OK, this is kind of “time-out” from other content.  While I’m working on some Silverlight entries, new Flash games, etc, I thought I would go back a bit and name my Top-10 “Insanely Addictive” games of all time.  These are not necessarily the “best” games of all time, just 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…

  • It keeps staring at me, but I had no choice…

    Until now that is. It bugs me that the last post on the blog for 3 days was about music. Don’t get me wrong, because the Gaslight Anthem rocks, but they really have nothing to do with game development.  I am stuck in a hotel while my kitchen is being…

  • Sand Dune Park: Goodbye/Hello

    Growing up in Manhattan Beach, my favorite place to play, bar none, was Sand Dune Park.  It was a park like no other. It’s main feature, an enormous 100 foot or so high sand dune hill sloping at about a 30 percent grade, was the only piece of “play equipment”…

  • A Comprehensive List Of Documentaries/TV/Shows/Movies About Video Game and Computer History

    If you know me, you know that I love a good movie or tv show that covers one of my favorite subjects, especially if it is non-fiction. However, the selection of these types of movies and tv programs that cover the world of video game and computer history has never…

  • Grand Theft Auto:Intellivision

    Following closely on Jeff’s post last week about Minus World’s Modern Atari Classics  comes this YouTube video of Grand Theft Auto Intellivision.  (Thanks to Intellivision Lives for heads-up on this one) (Note: This one is NOT FOR THE KIDS)

  • Gaming The System: Can Playing Games Help My Dad’s Memory?

    My dad is losing his mind. I know it’s a common story, an elderly parent on the cusp of alzheimer’s, but it’s still tough to watch when it’s zoomed-in close-up of someone you love. My dad, who at one time was one of the sharpest people I have ever known,…

  • R.I.P Jerry Reed, “East Bound And Down”, Smokey And The Bandit

    Back in May 1977 my dad told my brother and I that we were going to see a “sleeper” film at the theater. Star Wars was out the same week, but we would have to wait months to see that movie. Instead of an adventure filled with Rebels, Imperials, droids,…

  • Super Mario RPG: Devolution Is The Best Solution

    A couple years back I received Paper Mario: 1000 Year Door for the GameCube (to play on my Wii). At the time, I was playing many of the of Final Fantasy games via GBA and DS, but as soon as I played Paper Mario I knew I had found my…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: Separated at Birth: Sarah Palin and Tracy Flick

    I was up late last night finishing my latest tutorial, so I was a little late to the game hearing the announcement that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be the vice presidential candidate on the ticket with John McCain. This certainly is not a political blog, and since both Steve…

  • The Temptation Of The Unreleased Game

    The second installment of my History Of Atari for gamasutra.com was published last week. It was very difficult to write Part II (1978-1981), not for a lack of information, but because there is simply too much . Believe it or not, since there is not much written material about Atari…

  • …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…

  • 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…

  • 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.…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Bob Cringely Discovers The Major Flaw Of I.T. In the 21st Century

    I like Bob Cringely, but in recent years he has rarely written about anything that I can relate to.  However, his new series of I.T. related columns has really hit the mark  This week’s column has, probably, the single best quote I have read about the state of I.T. in…

  • Wii Opera Browser: A Storm In A Tea Cup?

    I’ve been creating a few demos of Flash games designed for the Nintendo Wii Opera browser, and writing a few blog entries about the process for the past few months. I even convinced the people at my Day Job to create a section highlighting all the games we currently offer…

  • Final Wii Browser: Thoughts Redux

    Last week I complained that the final version of the Wii Opera Browser did not support anything greater than Flash 7.0    Now it, it turns out, that this was neither Nintendo or Opera’s fault.  This information was brought to my attention earlier this week by fellow deveoper Chris Cutler (the…

  • Final Wii Browser: Thoughts

    The “final” Opera browser was released for the Wii yesterday, and after using it I have mixed feelings. They added and fixed a few things that must be noted: better interface more responsive button clicks better performance However, one glaring omission is support for Flash 8.   With tons of Flash…

  • Retro Gone Berserk Day Two – When you can’t draw, you improvise

    Today I had time to work on the very very basic Flash version of the demo game. I have decided to make it as close to Bersek as possible for this first tech demo.  I currently have a room generated and a player running around the room, controlled with the…

  • Retro Gone Berserk Day One

    I was able to squeeze in a little work on the new game between trips to various shopping centers for Christmas presents. One thing I wanted to research is how collision detection is done in these overhead perspective retro games. I fired up the Atari 800 KRAZY Shootout first to…

  • I’m itching to start a new game.

    With Retro Blaster nearly complete, I have decided to start on a new game. This one will be very simple. I plan to do a few simple games in the next few weeks to try out my bitmap animation techniques in a variety of more simple shooters.  Since I love…