Category: Uncategorized

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: Getting rid of the old stuff

    With a new baby in the house, plus a 3 and 1/2 year old starting to figure out what it means to have a little brother taking up space that was once all his, I have been under the gun to purge into storage (or the bin) as many things…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: August 12, 2008

    A selection blogs, articles, tutorials, games, and more that might be on interest to Flash game developers (or any other game developers). This week we have new stuff on monetizing games; sponsor lists; DZONE and Stumble Upon for game devs and site owners; game usability; a discussion on libraries, frameworks,…

  • 9 Interesting Stories And Blogs About How People’s Lives Were Affected By Their 8-Bit Computers And Video Games

    Since we often write long-winded stories about how 8-bit computers and video games affected our lives, I just took a look out on the interweb to see if there were any other people wasting their precious living moments doing the same. There are. Here are a few good ones: We…

  • Retro Game Showcase: Back In Action

    OK, I’m back at a house and back in the saddle ready find some cool retro-inspired games to waste some of your precious time. This week we have 5 more. I’m sorry the review descriptions are short, but I’m still getting back into the swing of this. Gravitroids A really…

  • Top 10 Grown-Up Gaming Web Sites/8-bit “Olympic” Themed Video Games

    I thought of two subjects for a diatribe this weekend. One was about Olympic themed games from the 8-bit era (because err, the Olympics were on TV), and the other was about the recent “explosion” of gaming sites geared towards “grown-ups” (because I am one now). However, since neither one…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: August 8, 2008

    A selection blogs, articles, tutorials, games, and more that might be on interest to Flash game developers (or any other game developers). This time we take look at a smattering of news and happenings in the Flash Game World: An early look Gamingyourway.com’s latest brace; N+ goes the way of…

  • R.I.P. Computer Gaming World err… Games For Windows mag.

    I received an issue of PC Gamer in the mail yesterday. It’s not strange for me to receive magazines on gaming subjects, but what is strange is that I never subscribed to that particular magazine, and have never received one in the mail before. After looking at the jiffy bag,…

  • Atari Nerd Chronicles: R.I.P. My Boyhood Classic Arcade, Castle Park, Redondo Beach CA.

    Most video game fans from the “golden age ” (roughly 1978-1983) frequented an arcade that they felt was “their own”. For many kids in the South Bay cities of Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan Beach in Southern California, that arcade was Castle Park in Redondo Beach. Castle Park was built in…

  • Space invaders Multiplayer Added to the Retro Showcase

    8bitrocket.com is proud to announce the addition of Lorenzo Nuvoletta’s retro evolved re-make and tribute to the Taito Classic, Space Invaders. Space Invaders Multiplayer employs the Nonba Multiplayer engine to add a very interesting twist to the classic retro action. You and a partner from anywhere in the world can…

  • GameSetWatch Reviews A Flash-Based MMO With Some Of My Games

    One of my favorite sites, GameSetWatch.com has recently posted a review of a kid’s based MMO that I have done some work for. While the review is not really favorable, the cool part is that they highlight a couple of the games on the site, and BOTH of them are…

  • Google Can Now *See* The Text In Your Flash .SWFs: Things To Consider

    I’d heard something about this a few weeks back, but today I decided to look into it more.  It seems that the Google Bots can now index .SWF files for text content.  While this seems to be good news for people who have shied away from creating Flash-Only sites because…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: Micro Retro Mash-up, Air Battle Hour 3

    I have now moved into the 3rd hour working on the first game for my Micro Retro Mash-up. The game is based on the Atari 2600 launch title, Air-Sea Battle. I have chosen to create just an Air battle using part of my existing Boids of Death game engine. I…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: July 28, 2008

    A selection blogs, articles, tutorials, games, and more that might be on interest to Flash game developers (or any other game developers). This week we have things you can learn from creative programmers, a couple entries on sponsorships and contests, game planning, path finding, creating a game arcade portal, a…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe July 27, 2008

    New Royalty Free Music Loop Section! Our brand new royalty free music loop section has just launched. I took the “BETA” off tonight and added another 100 or so new pieces of music. Over the last 10 years Steve and I have produced close to 300 custom songs for various…

  • Creating Free Sounds and Music for your Flash Games

    Many Flash game developers work for months polishing up a game’s graphics and game play only to realize that they lack one important element: a suitable sonic experience for the user. While some users want no sound at all, (it’s always a good idea to have some sort of volume…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: July 17, 2008

    A selection blogs, articles, tutorials games, and more that might be on interest to Flash game developers (or any other game developers). This week we have entries ranging from generating 3D cube primitives to efficient game development. We also have 6 new retro-styled games to check out. Flash game Blogs…

  • Flash Retro Game Showcase #7: July 15 2008

    Steve has been collecting a decent back log of well made retro games, but has not had a chance to add them to the showcase in a couple weeks.  To help him out a little, I have chosen 5 new deserving entries into our showcase. MJ1912 First up is a…

  • Dispatches From The Transient Programmer #3: Digital Dream Home?

    I’ve been working for the past few days on a game to salute one of the “amenities” at the hotel here, namely the “Free Beer”. The game is named “Free Beer” and in it, you simply make an attempt to drink as much “free beer” as possible before you get…

  • Atari Movie: War Room Debate On The Upcoming Atari movie

    Not much on the proposed Atari movie front for the past couple weeks, but I did stumble on this episode of  an online  “show” named The War Room in which these four guys, (most which know very little about Atari), debate the idea of the Atari movie,  It’s pretty entertaining.…

  • Fresh Kill Five: July 9, 2008. A Biased pick of cool Flash games

    This week we take a look at 4 games by MyGame.com and a great new pinball title by gamingyourway.com. I only call this a biased pick because I choose mostly retro style games to showcase. Plus, we all bring our own biases to the table when we critique anything, so…

  • Dispatches From A Transient Programmer #2: Free Beer

    As a transient programmer (with a family) we are living in a “suite” hotel.  I never realized the the true purpose of these establishments until a few weeks ago when I went looking for a place for us to stay during our “gap”. At a regular hotel, you get a room,…

  • 8bitocket Diatribe July 8, 2008

    iWoz never an Apple Fanboy Back in the 80’s I was an Atari fan boy. The 2600 was the first video game system that Steve and I would kill for, and to this day I still play my Atari ST and 800 favorites via emulation. That being said, I always…

  • Dispatches From A Transient Programmer #1: The Move

    I believe that crime stories in the local newspaper are written in way to make the reader feel more comfortable about their surroundings, no matter how awful the story, so that people will stay put and continue to buy newspapers. A good example of this is the use of the…

  • Free Flash 4th Of July Interactive Fireworks Show

    This is just a quick reminder to say that you can enjoy our Free Fireworks Flash interactive Fireworks show on the 4th Of July (or any other day).  I originally built this Flash “interactive toy” to entertain my 4 year old daughter (now 10)  in 2002 when we could not get…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: July 3, 2008

    This one is more MASHY than usual. Along with the regular Flash only focused material, this week I decided to concentrate on the world of game creation as a whole, and especially retro game programming. I have mostly chosen only those sources that I feel will aid Flash game developers…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe June 20, 2008

    The World of 8bitrocket Things have been busy here at 8bitrocket towers. Steve is moving to a new house and I am preparing for a new baby to arrive into my old one. These little life experiences have left little time for brand new games and tutorials, but we do…

  • Management Sucks Finally Finds A Suitable Game!!

    Finally, a game about work. I’ve been looking for a good Flash game to launch the Management Sucks game repository for some time. Idea Killer from Othmar Wicke (http://www.otwic.com/) is just the type of game I have been looking for. In this one you play a jaded customer of an…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up : June 24, 2008

    The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This week we take a look at new Flashgamelicense features, Mochiland articles, GameJacket opportunities, optimization, source control, Color Fill (again), Law Of The West Pinball, as3gaming.com, and PixelWelder’s custom event broadcaster class. What’s new in Monetization?: Flashgamelicense…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe June 23, 2008

    Another Two Gone It seems that corporate America and creative talent just don’t seem to mix very well these days. Steve and I work at a rather large American company and we have been fighting all powers that be for 12 years now to ensure that we keep a cutting…

  • Flash Retro Game Showcase #6: June 19, 2008

    A depressing week as far as “new” retro inspired games go. It is getting more and more difficult each week to sift through the wealth of “new” “super click”, “dress-up” and other “copy-and-paste-grammer ” (coined by Chris Cutler) developed game engine re-skins to find legitimate contenders for this list. I…

  • Atari Nerd Chronicles: Kenny Brown and The Atari 400

    When Kenny Brown moved to Manhattan Beach in 1980 from Philadelphia PA and started 5th grade in my class with Ms. Nash, I did not like him at all. The Dodgers were playing to win the National League West that year, and Kenny could do nothing but root for the…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up : Jun. 17, 2008

    The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This week we take a look at the latest Mochiads Friday winner; generating friendly URLS and AS3 platform games; Interdisciplinary tensions (teaching programmers some needed design skills), cool games from Sokay and GamingYourWay; flashperfection.com collection of game…

  • Fresh Kill Five: June 16, 2008. A biased pick of fun new Flash Games

    This week we once again  visit Agame.com and Mochiads to find games that we love to play. Our choices: Captain Zorro, Uchuforce 2, Speed X, Diamond Frog and Midnight Race. Finding good games to play is not as easy as it sounds. There are so many stinkers out there now,…

  • John Harris Asks: Where Are The Atari Fan boys?

    John Harris over at Gamasutra.com has a fantastic new artical named “Game Design Essentials: 20 Atari Games” in which he spends a massive amount of time (23 pages!) discussing the brillant game designs that came out of Atari’s coin-op division from 1972-1998. At the beginning of the article, John asks…

  • J2Games.com And The Return Of Bill Kunkel, The Game Doctor

    Bill Kunkel, the pioneering video game journalist who’s alter ego “The Game Doctor” appeared in the original Electronic Games magazine from the 80’s as well as the 90’s version, has finally returned for the 21st century as “The Game Doctor” with a regular column on the retro game site J2Games.com.…

  • Flash Retro Game Showcase #5: June 12, 2008

    OK, we are back. Sorry we missed you last week, but we were having trouble with our main source of games. Mochi Publishers. It seems that their service is so popular now that it has become very difficult just to get to their site to find games!! Since I have…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: June 9, 2008

    The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This week we take a look at some new Mochiads additions; A look a free dev tools from GamePoetry; Emanuele Feronato’s latest (and best), and a fresh kill 3 selection of games from both Triqui, and Kongregate.…

  • 8bitrocket Diatribe: June 5, 2008

    Some New Game Development Steve and I have both started some new personal games. Mine is going to be a Galaga / Demon Attack / Spider Fighter tribute, while Steve is going a completely different route with an Arakanoid / Tetris / Ceiling Zero style game. I started my a…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: June 2,2008

    The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. In Adopt Some Coding Conventions for Projects: Sloppy Code SUCKS!, Colby Williams tackles the thorny issue of using coding conventions and give you some examples of his application od standards. Also available are his Actionscript 3 Math…

  • Scotty Dawg Flash Blog Launches

    One of the best Flash developers in the world,  Scott Delamater  has finally launched his own Flash related development blog, Le Maitre d’Something .  Scott is a Flash savant.  Anything he has to say on the subject should be read by anyone with even a remote interest in the topic. …