• Adobe Max Report #2: Adobe Takes On Mochi With their Own Game Distribution, Ad Serving, and Monetization (updated)

    Ok, Adobe Max day #1 was even better than Day #1. Here is a run-down. Adobe Distribution First off, we were shown Adobe’s answer to Mochi ads and Monetization, Adobe Distribition Services . Here are some of the features of the service: Sharing : Easily distribute your app and game…

  • Flash Indie Game Interweb Mash-up (plus Mochi Game reviews): October 6, 2009

    Flash Indie Game Interweb Mash-up (plus Mochi Game reviews): October 6, 2009 I have a lot of updates that I have been putting off, so I will try to quickly squeeze them in here today… Book Update: Working on a book is hard. No whining here, just a statement because…

  • Adobe Max Report Day #1

    OK, so here are my notes from Adobe Max Day #1: 1. Biggest News: Flash On The iPhone.  This does not mean it can run Flash apps in the browser, but it does mean that you can compile to native iPhone apps kind of like you make Projectors for Windows. …

  • 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…

  • Mochi Game Of The Day Review: Arthropod Armada By Rocketslap

    Mochi Game Of The Day Review: Arthropod Armada  By Rocketslap Arthropod Armada is a very well done side scrolling blaster in the R-Type genre. Instead of a piloting a space ship an organic alien underworld, you are a  flying bug soldier on a mission to defend your homeland from evil…

  • Essential Guide To Flash Games Book: Recursive Function Puzzle Game.

    I just finished this last night, so I’m a bit excited about it (or is that exhausted)?  Anyway, I wanted to show that this book is not just about the types of things you have read previously on this blog.  This game, “Color Drop” uses recursive functions, a simplified mini-State…

  • Essential Guide To Flash Games Book: Chapters 4 , 5: Flack Cannon

    Here is another short preview of our book The Essential Guide To Flash Games from Friends Of Ed.  The first real game discussed in the book (taking up over 70+ pages) is named Flack Cannon.  The game is a take on Missile Command in which you try to defend your…

  • Mochi Game of The Day (Sept 28, 2009) – Star Fish by Photonstorm

    Mochi Game of The Day (Sept 28, 2009)- Star Fish by Photonstorm Star Fish made it to Mochi today. I saw a pre-release of this little gem a few weeks back and have been anticipating it’s release on Mochi. It is a high quality casual game that you would expect…

  • Flash Game Development Interweb Mash-Up: Sept. 27, 2009

    Flash Game Development Interweb Mash-Up: Sep. 27, 2009   It has been quite an interesting 3 weeks since the last mash-up. The new ‘day job’ web site launched after 9 months of corporate hand wringing, scope changes, and development disasters. It came out nicely, but is still keeping me slaving…

  • Essential Flash Games Book #2 (chapters 6 and 7)

    Essential Flash Games Book #2 (chapters 6 and 7) I have just completed (finally) chapters 6 and 7 of our upcoming Essential Flash Games Book. These two chapters go into exhaustive detail on creating a maze-based, over-head 2D shooter in the Armor Attack genre. The game is not one that…

  • Adobe MAX, L.A. Oct. 5-7

    http://max.adobe.com/widget/MaxWidget.swf I just learned yesterday that I am going to Adobe MAX in L.A. in October.  There are only a few sessions that I want to attend, so if anyone wants to meet and talk Flash, Games, Flash Games, or anything else, drop me a line. Unfortunately, as it stands…

  • The Scariest/Best Flash Game Contest Ever : Revisited – UPDATED!

    Almost 2 months ago we reported on what we thought might be the scariest/best Flash Game Contest ever created. The Stonking Great Game Contest From The Escapist Magazine: Well today we received an update about the contest.  It seems that they have upped-the-ante a bit by adding a bunch of…

  • Email Of The Month

    We get all sorts of email requests here.  Most of them are from reasonable people who need help or ask questions.  We like those.  However, sometimes we get emails that are simply mind-bogglingly awesome in the boldness of their requests.  Here is the best one we have received in a…

  • Mochi Game Video Reviewcast #1!!

    Reviewcast! We review a bunch of the latest Mochi games and you get to see them in action! (kind of) OK, we tried hard to make this work, but I’m not so sure it is the right way to do it. I’d give us a D+ or C-, mostly for…

  • Essential Flash Games: The Book #1

    Essential Flash Games: The Book #1 One reason that there have been fewer tutorials, mash-ups, reviews, etc on the last few weeks is that Steve and I are deep into our first book on Flash game programming. Friends Of Ed is the publisher and we have a deadline to finish…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up : September 14, 2009 (9 new games reviewed)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up : September 14, 2009 (9 new games reviewed) First impression mini game reviews covering a variety of the latest Mochi games.  The grading has been toughened up a bit because the quality of games has reached a new level in the last few months. I have…

  • The Dark Spire: Super-Old School 8-bit computer RPG on the DS: A Perfect Flash Game Candidate?

    When people talk about “old school” role playing games these days, they are usually referring to Final Fantasy or Dragonquest or some other JRPG released near the end of the 80’s. Those are good games mind you, but hardly old school. To me, “old school” RPGs are nothing of the…

  • Mochi Game Of The Day Review 9/10/09: Green-Gray World (Updated) An unauthorized port of an indie PC Game?

    Mochi Game Of The Day Review 9/10/09: Green-Gray World (Updated) An unauthorized port of an indie PC  Game? GAME OF THE DAY: Green Gray World: Not For Losers (a stolen game?) Note: It has been brought to my attention that this game looks and plays very much like an indie…

  • Mochi Game Of The Day Review: Castle Quest

    Mochi Game Of The Day Review: Castle Quest GAME OF THE DAY: Castle Quest Castle Quest is a side scrolling RPG by Axis Games, where you are tasked with hacking, slashing, and casting your way through seven beautifully drawn levels of bad-ass retro action. You start with just a simple…

  • Mochi Game Of The Day Review: Heat Rush

    Mochi Game Of The Day Review: Heat Rush I have been really really extra busy on a big “day-job” project that has left the corridors of 8bitrocket towers a little empty for the last few weeks. I miss doing all the game reviews and will commence with more of them…

  • Nintendo Chooses Sides on AS2 vs AS3 Battle: AS2 wins

    Nintendo released a new updated for the Wii Internet channel that supports AS2 content, but reports itself as Flash 9.  How could this be?  Well, it’s because the new support for Flash in the Wii opera Browser is actually for Flash Lite 3.1, which supports only AS2.   It looks like…

  • Flash Game Interweb Mash-up: Monday, Aug 31, 2009: Flash Game Distribution Reviews

    Flash Game Interweb Mash-up: Monday, Aug 31, 2009: Flash Game Distribution Reviews One cannot live by Mochi games alone. I burned myself out after 3 weeks of reviewing virtually every Mochi game launched (during that time frame), so I have decided to take a little detour and review the latest…

  • “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…

  • Atari Nerd Retro Gaming Interweb Mash-Up: August 24, 2009

    First off, some Nolan Bushnell stuff: A Story about uWink Hollywood , plus a story about Nolan Bushnell getting back into the game business with Battleswarm! Here is a retro style Flash named Zapataur that will help you save an actual brick and mortar arcade from extinction, just by playing…

  • Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Mochi Game Reviews,nbsp; Tuesday Aug 25, 2009

    Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Mochi Game Reviews  Tuesday Aug 25, 2009 Wow, what a haul today. Great games all around. This is what happens when you take a few days off.  Games covered this time: Bug Box,  Kahoots, Crazy Go Nuts 2, The Unfortunate Necromancer, Little Farm, Pirate Golf Adventure,…

  • JayIsGames.com Gives .+.palindromes.+. plus A Nice Review

    Sometimes I wonder how to get games promoted on well-known web sites.  Sometimes I wonder why some of our more high profile games seem to get lost in the shuffle.   Days like today do not make this puzzle any easier to solve.  Today, JayIsGames.com decided to post a positive review…

  • Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Blogs, Sites and Mochi Game Reviews, Friday Aug 21, 2009

    Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Blogs, Sites and Mochi Game Reviews, Friday Aug 21, 2009 For a second straight day I am doing a Mochi Review AND Site, Blog, and Game Mashup. I am a sadist, and I hate myself. I even have two games of the day today, one Mochi…

  • Indie Game I.P. Issues Start To Heat-Up

    We here at 8bitrocket.com spend a lot of time trying to educate small developers on the issues of Intellectual Property” (I.P. or IP). Why? Well, one because we love you. Two, because we both have vast experience working for major corporations that really take the issue of “Intellectual Property” seriously.…

  • Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Blogs, Sites and Game reviews,Thursday Aug 20, 2009

    Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Blogs, Sites and Game reviews,Thursday Aug 20, 2009 This is a combined Blog / Site Mashup as well as a Mochi Game review Mashup all in one.  I figured why not try to do as many of these as possible, as often as possible There is…

  • 2008 Prediction Results, Plus 10 New 2009 Predictions!

    Last year we made 10 predictions for the next 12 months It’s time to evaluate our progress and make 10 more predictions for 2009-1010 . First, the results from last year. Not too shabby. Some of the more “out there” ones(Atari and Bushnell, Sierra and the Williams) actually proved to…

  • Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Blogs, Sites and Game reviews, Aug 18, 2009

    Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Blogs, Sites and Game reviews, Aug 18, 2009 This is a combined Blog / Site Mashup as well as a Mochi Game review Mashup all in one.  I had to take a weekend break because it was my wedding anniversary. My wife was already not pleased…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 (18 Games Graded)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 (18 Games Graded). I am still catching up with the non-featured games today. It will possibly be Sunday before I actually get to them all (sans most of the Dress Up games). There are some nice quality games, some puzzling ones, and…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up:Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. Kick Ass Game Day.

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up:Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. Kick Ass Game Day. All great games today! Just this batch will have you playing awesome free games for weeks. Who needs a Wii or Xbox Live Arcade with this set of gems? Pretty much all of them could have been Game of…

  • 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,…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up:Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2009 (14 Games Graded)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up:Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2009 (14 Games Graded). .Again, Wednesday seems to be “new release” day at Mochi. I couldn’t get to all the games (many of them Dress up games), but I will attempt to cover them all this week as releases slow down. 8bitrocket Featured Game…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009 (11 Games Graded)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009 (11 Games Graded). My hat’s off to the Mochi staff once again for always doing a great job of selecting the Featured games. I do (once in a while) find games that I think should have been featured that the over-worked Mochi…

  • 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…

  • Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: Monday, Aug 10, 2009 (26 Games Graded)

    Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: Monday, Aug 10, 2009 (26 Games Graded). So, I take one day off (Sunday) and the “fit hits the shan”. There are so many truck loads of new Mochi games every day, and I have no idea how portal owners keep up (if they do at…

  • Flash Game Interweb Mashup (including Mochi Reviews) Aug 8, 2009

    Flash Game Interweb Mashup (including Mochi Reviews) Aug 8, 2009 This is a combined Blog / Site Mashup as well as a Mochi Game review Mashup all in one.   Let’s start with the games. Here are the titles on tap for today: Mochi Game Reviews: Multitask:  Play multiple mini-games…

  • 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…