Category: Uncategorized

  • Algorithms For Modern Managers: Calculating Christmas Bonus

    Here is the first in a series of “Managment Sucks” “algorithms for modern managers” (written in ActionScript!) private function getManagerChristmasBonus(mgr:Manager, employees:Array) : Number { var managerBonus:Number = 5000; for (var i=0; i< employees.length; i++) { switch (employee[i].status) { case FIRED: managerBonus += 3000; break; case OUTSOURCED: managerbonus += 2500; break;…

  • Flash Game Forever Hunted #8 in Time Magazine Top Games For 2008

    The Flash game Forever Hunted, by Canadian university student, Evan Miller, has been named one of the Top Video Games of 2008 by Time Magazine. Most of the other games on the list were developed by teams of people and appeared on major console or PC platforms. Nestled in between…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Dec 10, 2008

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Dec 10, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This time we cover: The Nov/Dec 25 lines of code contest; Using the factory Design Pattern; Creating the prefect maze with tiles; a $100,000 Flash indie game attempt;…

  • A Midcore Gamer Reviews PC Gamer Magazine: January 2009 Issue

    A Midcore Gamer Reviews PC Gamer Magazine: January 2009 Issue I recently re-started my subscription to PC Gamer after a 5 year break. Ironically, I now do not own a desktop PC any longer (although I have a couple laptops). I play my PC games on a dual-boot iMac (the…

  • I Literally Have Nothing To Post Right Now…

    I find myself at a complete loss today because I have nothing useful to post .I have is tons of stuff 2/3, 1/2, 1/4 finished, but nothing that is ready to go.   Here is a list of what I’m currently working on for the 8bitrocket.com: 1. Brand New Design.  We have…

  • $100,000 Flash Game Revenue Experiment (updated!)

    $100,000 Flash Game Revenue Experiment (updated! now with 25% more free content!)I stumbled upon the APMID web site this morning. APMID stands for Accumulate Profit Margin Investment Destroy  (I have no idea either). The author (unnamed on the post) is attempting to make $100,000 from casual viral Flash games. The…

  • Blast-a-thon retro evolved Hey Hey Shooter Classic added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase

    Blast-a-thon retro evolved Hey Hey Shooter Classic added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase Hey Hey Shooter Classic is a  fast and furious top-down shooter game reminiscent of Geometry Wars Retro. Be sure to check out the achievements and get to the top of the leader boards!  – Developer: Nate Pacyga.…

  • Exceptional Quality Atari ST Remake, Abominaball Added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase

    Exceptional Quality Atari ST Remake, Abominaball Added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase Here is the description straight from author, Richard Davey: Defuse the bombs in the right order in this 50 level arcade puzzle game. Don’t touch the wrong bomb or take too long, and be careful how you plan…

  • Finally: Two New Books About Video Game History Set For Release

    Finally: Two New Books About Video Game History Set For Release If you have followed my ranting on this subject, you will already know that I love books about video games and video game history (i.e not strategy guides) and that I don’t think there are enough of them being…

  • A new Whirled Contest?

    I wrote about and tested www.whirled.com a few weeks back. It is a slick system by which game developers can create single and multiplayer games, and also earn money with them through micro transactions. They have a new contest that just started and will run for three months, and possibly…

  • Tutorial: Using MP3 Files In Flex 3 with Flash Player 9.x

    Tutorial: Using MP3 Files InFlex 3 with Flash Player 9.x This tutorial will explore several different methods to use MP3 files in Flex 3. We will cover simple loading and embedding, as well as strategies for seamlessly looping MP3 files. Some of these concepts can be used for Flash CS2/CS3…

  • The Classic Atari USB Joystick Review

    The Classic Atari USB Joystick Review My first real video game experience was on an Atari 2600 at a neighbors house in 1978.  Although I had played some Apple II games, had a cheap Pong knock-off, and was familiar with the arcade games of the time, the 2600 was the…

  • Atari NerdPodcast #1!!! **BONUS!!**

    This week we unveil another new feature for 8bitrocket.com: The Atari Nerd Podcast!  We have decided that Atari fanboys need a podcast all their own and Jeff and I are only too happy to oblige.  This one has been in mothballs for a couple weeks. It’s very rough, and we…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Dec 1, 2008

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Dec 1, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. I took last week off, so there is a lot to cover: Efficient Multiple Object Collision Detection with groups; Using Game Entities for in game objects; Doom in…

  • New Star Soccer 4 Chronicles #2: 8bitjeff season 2 start

    New Star Soccer 4 Chronicles #2: 8bitjeff season 2 start Note: New Star Soccer 4 (NSS4) is a brilliant independent game by Simon Read. It was released on Windows and Mac platforms in early November and I am spending some of my free time with it, grinding out a career as…

  • Outstanding shoot ’em up Polarity added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase

    Outstanding shoot ’em up Polarity added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase WOW! And that’s a pretty powerful WOW! Thomsampson, Jeb (www.stimunationgames.com),  Vengeance (www.gamesgamesgames.co.uk) and Squize (now at GamingYourWay www.gamingyourway.com)  teamed up to put this game out a while ago, and it has just hit Mochi.  We couldn’t be more happy…

  • Happy Thanksgiving from 8bitrocket.com

    If you are not from the USA, then you might not be aware that today we celebrate a holiday we know as Thanksgiving. You can read wikipedia to find out the details on what is basically a harvest celebration.  It is all of those things, but to most of us…

  • Fresh Kill : Spike Arcade Edition

    Fresh Kill : Spike Arcade Edition  Spike.com, the web arm of Spike TV has launched an arcade filled with games that they claim are just for men (women will get a kick out of some of t these too I am sure).   The arcade currently contains 5 titles that…

  • Keeping up the pace

    Squize, over at Gamingyourway.com has posted a heart tugging piece on Cessation Time Distortion – the brain’s way of dealing with addiction after you have stopping feeding it what it wants. Squize is currently fighting his addicting to nicotine, having quit smoking a week ago. We all have something that…

  • 3d Space Shooter Star Force added to 8bitrocket Retro Showcase

    3d Space Shooter Star Force added to 8bitrocket Retro Showcase Star Force,  a very well made 3d first person perspective space shooter has been added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase. In the game, you pilot a space fighter against hordes of enemy pilots, asteroids and other baddies. It has the…

  • 6 new music clips added to the 8bitrocket royalty free music library

    function DHTMLSound(surl) { document.getElementById(“dummysoundplayerspan”).innerHTML=”http://+surl+“; } function DHTMLSoundLoop(surl) { document.getElementById(“dummysoundplayerspan”).innerHTML=”http://+surl+“; } function stopSound() { document.getElementById(“dummysoundplayerspan”).innerHTML=””; } function downloadSoundLoop(surl) { var locationString=”sounddownload.aspx?”+surl; //alert(locationString); location.href=locationString; } 6 new music clips added to the 8bitrocket royalty free music library I spent the only fee time I had this Saturday creating 6 new music clips…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Nov 20, 2008

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Nov 20, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This time we cover The Casual Collective; Playing Flash games at Maximum Size; A fantastic Atari ST Remake; Smart Game Interface Choices; Kongregate’s Kred system; Box2d Tutorials; The…

  • A Musical Interlude: One Of The Best Song’s I’ve Ever Heard

    I’ve been getting into 60’s punk lately and I “found” this gem from the L.A. 60’s punk/garage band Love fronted by Authur Lee.  If you thought the MC5 and Iggy Pop were the only precursors to 70’s punk, think again (“Seven And Seven is” from “De Capo“, Electra 1967):

  • Alpha And Omega: Phantasy Star and Fallout 3

    OK, so I back-slid to Phantasy Star I last weekend after trying in vain to enjoy Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star III.  The later games have not aged-well, but, even though I can’t stand some of the “puzzles” (too much repetition involved) of the first Phantasy Star title, the game…

  • Flash Maximizer – New Firefox Plug-in for full screen gaming

    The Flash Maximizer 1.06 has been released on the Firefox Ad-On page. Here is the description from the site:–This small extension for Firefox allow you to “maximize” Flash games (and other Flash content) by clicking a button in the toolbar. The Flash content will be reloaded in the full browser…

  • Unique shooter, Split ’em Up, added to the 8bitrocket retro showcase

    Unique shooter, Split ’em Up, added to the 8bitrocket retro showcase Created by Mochi user, mattS, Split ’em Up is a top notch retro shooter. From the eye pleasing gradient arcade font to the retro music selection, this one is pure retro class.  It’s a very fun, unique shooter with…

  • New Star Soccer 4 Chronicles #1: 8bitjeff mid season 1 report

    New Star Soccer 4 Chronicles #1: 8bitjeff mid season 1 report Note: New Star Soccer 4 has been released by Simon Read and his team at Newstargames.com. Being a supporter of both the world footie game and independent computer games, especially Read’s Masterpiece, New Star Soccer 3, I have been…

  • Superb Retro Shooter Hallows Revenge Added to The 8bitrocket Retro Showcase

    Superb Retro Shooter Hallows Revenge Added to The 8bitrocket Retro Showcase Play it now in our Retro Showcase: Created by Mochi developer, Earthwind, in their words: You must defend Earth against the invading fleet of Hallow, a remote planet where Halloween is the normal way of life! The citizens of…

  • iMac Gaming: Playing Fallout 3 With A Boot Camp Partition.

    iMac Gaming: Playing Fallout 3 With A Boot Camp Partition. Note: iMac gaming is a blog about playing games on a 24″, 2GB dual core iMac running at just about 3 ghz with an NVidia 8800 GS graphics chip. When I made the big Mac switch back in August there…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Nov 11, 2008

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Nov 13, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This time we cover a new online game creator; A new blog just about good games; An Interview With Game Jacket; Flash CS4 in the wild; Gimp Shop;…

  • A new Whirled?

    A new Whirled? I get a lot of press releases, and while I read them all, I rarely spend the time to post an entire entry about a single one. Sometimes though, something special arrives and I feel the need to investigate it and tell you guys what I have…

  • Late To The Game: Phantasy Star II : Oops Onto III

    I started Phantasy Star II last night on the GBA.  I played for about 20 minutes and decided I had enough.  Why?  2 things: 1. You cannot [Save] any where.  Why was this taken away from the design of Phantasy Star I?  The GBA version should have added this, but did…

  • Flex Files: Tutorial – Flex 3 HelloWorld in FlashDevlop

    Flex Files: Tutorial –  Flex 3  HelloWorld in FlashDevlop I have decided to start exploring the world of developing Flash games outside the Flash CS3/CS4 IDE. This makes sense for me because I rarely use the time line or the drawing tools inside Flash. Also, I am itching to use…

  • Late To The Game: Sorry, Phantasy Star Is NOT One Of The Best Games Ever Made

    I hate to do this. I like to keep these blogs as positive as possible, but in this case I just can’t do it. I am finished with Phantasy Star. I did not finish the game mind you, but I have finished my time with it. I ran into another…

  • Crispy Gamer’s ‘What If’ = Atari Love!

    Kyle Orland over at my current favorite “general” gaming site, CrispyGamer.com has a new article named “What If” that proposes some alternate video game history…and much of it concerns Atari. Since we just finished an entire week of alternate Atari fantasy named : Project:Save Atari, it’s cool to see that…

  • Epic Shadow’s Corruption Actually Followed The License And Linked Back To Us!!!

    Epic Shadow’s new game Corruption uses one or more of our free music loops,  and  the developers actually used our attribution license to link back to us!!  Very cool Epic Shadow, we really appreciate it.  Thanks! Corruption is a very cool sliding block puzzler that uses the music very well. …

  • New Star Soccer 4 is coming Nov 7th!

    New Star Soccer 4 is coming Nov 7th! I don’t write too many coming soon articles on PC games, but there is one game that is so good, and the wait has been so long, that I just can’t contain my excitement. What game? You ask? Well, the title of…

  • Late To The Game: Phantasy Star #2: Ground To Halt

    Note: I started this series to document my “return” to the old RPG series Phantasy Star played via the Gameboy Advanced cartridge “Phantasy Star Collection”. The previous entry in the series is here: http://www.8bitrocket.com/newsdisplay2008.aspx?newspage=18547 My name is Alis and I have a problem. I’m addicted to walking around the space…

  • Jack’s Beach Blitz RC3 (Final)

    After some very constructive feedback from a few players (Rich D and Mark G especially), I have posted the final version of Jack’s Beach Blitz (save some minor bug fixes). It now has 20 levels (I added 5) and I have modified the player start procedure as well as the…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: My Development Environment and Game Pads / Joysticks for Flash Games

    8bitrocket Diatribe: My Development Environment and Game Pads / Joysticks for Flash Games My Development Environment By Development environment, I don’t mean my IDE, or the other programs and utilities in the dev tools folder on my Mac Desktop. I’m not about to break into a MAC v. PC tirade…