Category: Uncategorized

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

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Dec 17, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This time we have: How to create heat seeking missiles in AS2; more on the Whiflash game beta; How to make a game in Flex; New games in…

  • Top 10 Most Played Mochi Flash Games of 2008

    Top 10 Most Played Mochi Flash Games of 2008gigaom.com is reporting today a list of the 10 most popular games on the Mochi ad network. All 10 are very well done, addictive games. The list includes 3 of my favorite games of all time:Bloons Cube Crush And Fancy Pants Adventure…

  • 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;…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

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

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: Nov 1, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. It’s been a couple weeks since I have had time to do a mash-up. I have been busy with my new game and some other 8bitrocket towers duties…

  • New 8bitrocket Game Goes Live (Again) : Jack’s Beach Blitz Release Candidate 2

    After making some last minute story and graphics changes, I have finally finished release candidate #2 for my latest game, Jack’s Beach Blitz. It started out as a simple re-skin of Pumpkin Man for Halloween, but eventually turned into a completely different game, roughly based on the same game engine.…

  • Late To The RPG Game: Phantasy Star

    Over the past few years I have been making an attempt to find and play many of the Japanese RPG games that I otherwise missed when they were originally released. For many years I had an aversion to Japanese RPGs because I felt they were too heavy on story and…

  • New 8bitrocket Game Goes Live: Jack’s Beach Blitz

    New 8bitrocket Game Goes Live: Jack’s Beach Blitz I have finally put the finishing touches (at least for tonight) on my latest game, Jack’s Beach Blitz. It started out as a simple re-skin of Pumpkin Man for Halloween, but eventually turned into a completely different game, roughly based on the…

  • Premature Rocket Launch

    This type of thing happens as you get older. Jack’s Beach Blitz was launched yesterday (last night), but unfortunately needs to be brought down for maintenance. The current version on GameJacket will not work. This is not a technical issue, it is an editorial issue.

  • A Military Version Of Atari’s Missile Command: Rich Adam , “Chuck” react….

    A few months ago (April 30th 2008 to be exact) we wrote a story about a possible “military” version of Missile Command. The most controversial part of the story was this: While information on the Army Battlezone project is freely available today, in the early 80’s it existed as only the…

  • Making Games: Jack’s Beach Blitz Pre-Mortem

    Making Games: Jack’s Beach Blitz Pre-Mortem I have been working all weekend long to put the finishing touches on Jacks’ Beach Blitz. I failed to hit my deadline of having all 15 levels complete by today, but I have put a 99% complete 5 level preview on both Flash Game…

  • 8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #7: A Modest Proposal: The VGS-8200

    8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #7: A Modest Proposal: The VGS-8200 Note :This week we are exploring some ideas that we believe could help Atari -Infogrames pull itself out of their current difficulties, while at the time time treating Atari’s illustrious past with the reverence befitting befits the world’s first video…

  • 8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #5: Remake And Download Quality Atari 8 And 16-bit Computer Games

    8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #5: Remake And Download Quality Atari 8 And 16-bit Computer Games Note :This week we are exploring some ideas that we believe could help Atari -Infogrames pull itself out of their current diffculties, while at the time time treating Atari’s illustrious past with the reverence befitting…

  • Making Games: Jack’s Beach Blitz Part 4

    Making Games: Jack’s Beach Blitz Part 4 Note: I have been working on a game the last few weeks in my spare time to try and hit the Halloween holiday (sic – I know it really is’;t a holiday per se, as we have to work that day, but what…

  • 8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #4: Atari 7800/Lynx/Jaguar Games That Should Be Remade In The 21st Century

    8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #4: Atari 7800/Lynx/Jaguar Games That Should Be Remade In The 21st Century Note :This week we are exploring some ideas that we believe could help Atari -Infogrames pull itself out of their current difficulties, while at the time time treating Atari’s illustrious past with the reverence…

  • 8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #3: 10 Lesser-Known Atari Coin-ops That Would Make Kick-Ass Casual Games

    8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari  #3: 10 Lesser-Known Atari Coin-ops That Would Make Kick-Ass Casual Games Note :This week we are exploring some ideas that we believe could help Atari -Infogrames pull itself out of their current difficulties, while at the time time treating Atari’s illustrious past with the reverence befitting…

  • 8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari Week Starts!!!

    8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari Week Starts!!! Anyone who follows the game industry closely knows a few facts about the name Atari: Atari, as an actual company was shot in the stomach in 1984 by Warner Exec Steve Ross and then died a slow and painful death over the next 20…

  • 8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #2: Top-10 Atari 2600 Games That Could Have Been Franchises

    8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #2: Top-10 Atari 2600 Games That Could Have Been Franchises 8bitrocket.com’s Project: Save Atari #2: Top-10 Atari 2600 Games That Could Have Been Franchises Note :This week we are exploring some ideas that we believe could help Atari -Infogrames pull itself out of their current difficulties,…

  • Making Games: Jack’s Beach Blitz Part 3

    Making Games: Jack’s Beach Blitz Part 3 I have changed the name of my game from Pumpkin Man Beach Blitz to Jack’s beach blitz. Although the original name of the character in Pumpkin Man was Percy, I think Jack (for Jack-O-Lantern) is a better fit and much more catchy. I…

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

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: October 17, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This time we cover the latest Flashkit Game Contest; The FHM game contest; New games by Squize, Richard Davey, Steve Fulton, Terry Paton, and Brent Silby; A new…

  • Making Games: Pumpkin Man Beach Blitz Part 2

    Making Games: Pumpkin Man Beach Blitz Part 2 For the last week I have been working on a new game with the working title Pumpkin Man Beach Blitz. It is going to be a cross between Gauntlet and Wizard of Wor using the basics of an engine I created this…

  • Daphnie’s Balloon Castle goes Live! Becomes A Mochi Featured Game!

    Our latest game, Daphnie’s Balloon Castle went live on our site and through Mochi Distribution today.   As a nice bonus, Mochi put it up as one of their Featured Games in the Publishers section.   I’m not sure what the criteria is for this (it might have been slow day for…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: October 08, 2008

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up: October 08, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. (New Format: less scatological, more awesomeness). I have separated the Retro content and the survey of new games into separate posts to help keep this organized (and shorter).…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:October 01, 2008

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:October 01, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. Wow, it’s already October. This year has flown by but the freelance (and corporate) Flash game industry is as strong and vibrant as ever. This time we cover GPL…

  • R.I.P. Game Theory Show

    One of my favorite gaming podcasts, GameTheoryShow has bitten the dust today.    The show featured Gary Witta, Colin Campbell and Kris Graft (among others),  discussing games and the game industry in a way that harkened back to the best game journalism from publications like Next Generation.    The show made our list…

  • 7 More Games Added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase

    7 More Games Added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase In our search for the best retro inspired Flash games on the infobaun, we have come across to two developers who each have created multiple games we feel need to be added to our showcase. Both deflogic and Jess Hansen have…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:September 22, 2008

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:September 22, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This week I decided to find search out some new sites (or ones I haven’t covered in a while), as well as cover the usual suspects… This time we…

  • Great”General”Gaming Blog

    I’ve talked a bit about Edge-Online in the past, but today they proved again that they are one of the best “general” game sites on the interbaun.  This week they started a new feature  by Colin Campbell that collects the best links from the gaming world.   Today’s best quote is…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:September 16, 2008

    The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. It’s time to hit my favorite Flash sites and see what’s new in game development. This time we cover some new Zarjaz from Squize; Updates to the Pixel Blitz Engine; An Atari ST classic re-made; Game design…

  • 8 More Mochi Games Added to the 8bitrocket Retro Showcase

    I have been keeping a keen eye on the latest games uploaded to Mochi Ads and have selected 8 games to add to our Retro Showcase. It is difficult to select games for this showcase because even though many good retro inspired games exist on Mochi, we need to make…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: September 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 week we have a great video that tells the plight of most developers; game creation software for Facebook users; Many cool new games; Game design blogs and…

  • Nick Bilyk’s Optimizing Actionscript Artcile

    Super cool 8bitrocket friend, Alan Donnelly, sent over a link to one of the best AS3 Optimization articles I have ever read. Spare no time getting over to Nick’s site to take an extended read.

  • Domino Multiplayer by Lorenzo Nuvoletta has been added to our Retro Showcase!

    Lorenzo keeps pumping out great Retro Multi-player games and we keep adding them to our site! Multi-player lets you play the classic against the world. This turn based game is a great example of the Nonoba Multi-player engine. Check it out! What’s more retro than Dominoes?

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web Mash-up: September 3, 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 the Pixel Blitz Engine EXPLODES!; A new Multi-player classic from Lorenzgames; Common game development mistakes to avoid; A Flash Game License First Impressions Review; A Hand…

  • 8-bit Rocket’s Top-10 Midcore/Casual/Retro Game Predictions For The Next 12 Months

    Since September is just starting and many Midcore/Casual gamers and gamer-parents are gearing up for what is really the new year (new schools and/or classes, new and returning tv shows, NHL,NBA,NFL, world Futbol leagues restarting, etc) we’ve decided to buck the trends and make this our month to make yearly…

  • Tutorial: AS3 Basic Blitting #2 : Rotation – Part 1

    Tutorial: AS3 Basic Blitting #2 : Rotation – Part 1 In this tutorial will will explore basic blitting from a tile sheet to a single blit canvas. We will do so by implementing a common animation problem – rotation. We will also demonstrate the simple math tricks that are used…

  • SoundSnap.com – awesome free sounds for your games

    My buddy, Chris Cutler, sent me a link to this site today (www.soundsnap.com) and I have been exploring it on an off in the limited free time I have had tonight. There are literally 1000’s of great sounds and music free for you to use in your games. Here are…

  • Norm Soule’s Pixel Blitz Engine Released

    Norm Soule’s Pixel Blitz Engine Released The incredible Mr. Soule as been hard at work on an engine that will help you created blit rendered games. Features include (from his site) * Pixel-level collision detection * Layer effects * Horizontal and vertical scrolling * Parallax scrolling * Virtual timeline nearly…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:August 25, 2008

    The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. It’s time to hit my favorite Flash sites and see what’s new in game development. This time we cover The difference between “distance between points” methods in AS3; MAME Goes the way of Flash; 50 ways to…

  • Atari: The Golden Years A History, 1978-1981 Update #2

      I reported on Thursday that my second article on Atari History launched on Gamasutra:Atari: The Golden Years A History, 1978-1981 , and then I updated with the news that it had hot the front page of SlashDot (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?no_d2=1&sid=08/08/21/2135202 Today I noticed that it has been picked-up by Kotaku.  They…

  • Atari History Part 2: 1978-1981 Launches On Gamasutra: Updated!

      The second part of my “History Of Atari” launched today on Gamasutra.  “Atari: The Golden Years A History, 1978-1981” is long, and self-indulges a lot with the history of the Atari computer line (because the story has told in many places before).   If have a bit of time, please…

  • GameStorm! Launches

    To help with our new GameStorm! Retro/Casual Game Design Podcast, we have just launched “GameStorm!: The Retro/Casual Game Idea Generator“.  Here’s our “blurb” about it: “Never Again Can You Say You Don’t Have An Idea For a Game! This is not that game, but a tool for developers and would-be…

  • New Flash Game Blog: Norm Soule

    Norm Soule, who created the great game Magma (featured in our Retro Showcase) has a brand new blog dedicated to Flash Games. One of his latest entries is a very cool example of a pixel displacement filter created with particles and he wants YOU to have his code too! Nice…

  • Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:August 18, 2008

    Flash Game Development Inter-web mash up:August 18, 2008 The latest in Blog entries and articles that might interest Flash game developers. This time we cover FlashGameLicense.com; How people are cheating and hacking Flash games; How to Pause and Resume a sound in AS3; How to implement A* in AS3; 6…

  • 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…