Monthly Archives: July 2010

No More Corporate Teat – #4 – Feast or Famine

It has been exactly one week since I stepped outside corporate America to have a go on my own as an independent developer. Those 16 years spend toiling under the thumb of increasingly Office Space and Dilbert-esque corporate environments cannot … Continue reading

Posted in Flash Game Development | 6 Comments

Atari “Asteroids” Movie Director’s Quote

In a recent interview with ComingSoon.net , the director of the upcoming Asteroids movie, Lorenzo di Bonaventura had this to say about the concept: “…we really went after a mythology on the level of “Star Wars.” We’ll see if we … Continue reading

Posted in Atari Nerd | 4 Comments

No More Corporate Teat – #3 – The First Day

Today was the first real work-day of my non-corporate development life. Since I have an iPad contract that starts up soon (I am a little scared as the client is delaying a little on getting it initiated) I decided to … Continue reading

Posted in Flash Game Development, iPod/iPad Develpment, TwinEngine | 6 Comments

A TRON “Legacy”?

There will be a new TRON movie out this year and no one could be happier than I. I loved the first TRON movie when it was released back in 1982. While it was not a great movie, it came … Continue reading

Posted in Atari Nerd | Tagged | 7 Comments

RSS Feedburner Feed Fixed

One thing we forgot when we moved the site was to update the Feedburner to point to the new site. I just remembered to do it this morning. Here is the new Feedburner RSS link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/8bitrocketcomBlog …which also happens to … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

No More Corporate Teat – #2 – The Last Day

Today was my last day as an employee of a major corporation. I am very sad to leave so many of my friends, but excited at what the future holds. I am in the midst of setting up the consulting arm of 8bitrocket Studios called Twin Engine Web Systems. There isn’t much there yet, but I will be adding to it very very soon.

On Monday I start on an iPhone game development contract, which will be a very nice change of pace. I will be noting my progress here (as if you needed another gave dev diary to waste your time reading). Continue reading

Posted in 8bitrocket History, Flash Game Development | 5 Comments

Tutorial Mess : Please Help

In our recent move, there was simply no good way way to move over all of our tutorials.  We altered the format so many times in 3.5 years, that moving them to something structured like Word Press was a huge … Continue reading

Posted in Tutorials | 2 Comments

Does The Windows 7 Phone Open-Up Silverlight Games Development?

Microsoft recently released the beta of the Windows 7 development tools, and Silverlight is big part of that release.   Silverlight can used in conjunction with the XNA framework which gives Windows 7 Mobile apps access to Xbox Live, among other … Continue reading

Posted in Silverlight | 4 Comments

New 8bitrocket.com Site Opens

If the DNS has propagated, you should be looking at the brand-spanking new 8bitrocket.com web site. It should look much like the old one, but a bit more generic as well. We are working on theming to get back a … Continue reading

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 4 Comments

No More Corporate Teat – #1 – I Quit!

This is the white (wipe) -board I have used weekly for 13 years to note to-do lists and other things necessary for my day job. I only have one more “to do” this upcoming week and that is to pack my belongings and not let the door hit me on my way out. Continue reading

Posted in 8bitrocket History, Flash Game Development | 1 Comment

The Polish Adobe Flex User Group Really Likes ‘The Essential Guide To Flash Games”

We’ve reached Poland!  The Polish Adobe Flex User Group just reviewed The Essential Guide To Flash Games, and they seem to really like it! “In my opinion, it is the most valuable book about seriously flash games developing available on … Continue reading

Posted in Essential Flash Games Book | 2 Comments

Undercooked: The Origins And Evolution Of 8bitrocket.com


In The summer of 1996 we started a site named WheatMedia.com, dedicated to web design. This was our first domain name, and first real foray into tackling the World Wide Web. Continue reading

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 1 Comment

Contest: Jay Is Games Casual Gameplay Design Contest #8

Design a game that incorporates the theme Sandbox . It doesn’t have to be complex nor large in scope.  You may use any browser-based technology platform Due date: August 1, 2010 Contest Site: http://jayisgames.com/archives/2010/06/game_design_competition_8.php

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Contest: Kongregate is going mobile

Here’s your opportunity to contribute to the mobile world. Adobe and Kongregate are working together to bring you the Mobile Flash Game Contest with Adobe Flash, which we’re giving away nearly $30,000 in prizes! We are hoping to engage users … Continue reading

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Contest : Flash Game License “Cell Your Flash Game”

The rules are simple: submit a high-quality Flash game that can be played and enjoyed on Android 2.2 smart phones. You can enter a brand new game or port one of your existing games, and you can enter more than … Continue reading

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Contest: Mochi Media – Mobile Gaming Contest with Adobe

Mochi Media and Adobe are putting on a Flash game contest and extending through the fall. You may remember that Mochi was one of the first to develop a mobile site for Android with Adobe’s new Flash player. Well, this … Continue reading

Posted in Contest Tracker | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Essential Guide To Flash Games Conspiracy?

Over at GamingYouWay.com, they might have found some sort of odd conspiracy from the pages of the Essential Guide To Flash Games Book, and all over the web. Here is a quote: Continue reading

Posted in diatribe, Essential Flash Games Book | 2 Comments

Reviews Section

This is the new “reviews” section that collects all of our reviews together!

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8bitrocket Discovers WordPress! Move Will Occur Within The Next 2 Weeks

We have decided to move 8bitrocket.com to Word Press.  We have experimented with it in the past couple days, and it appears that it will help us solve a lot of problems (and of course, add new ones).  We are … Continue reading

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 4 Comments

Flash Not Even Close To Dead: 5 Reasons Why Flash Still Lives At The Top And May Never Be Defeated

5 Good reasons why Flash is here to stay (and most involve Google). 1. YouTube.com : Even though youtube.com added some HTML 5 video support, it’s still Flash that makes youtube.com tick. Embedding, full-screen video, standard codecs, interactive elements, variable … Continue reading

Posted in Flash Game Development | 2 Comments

Flash/Adobe/HTML5/Apple Wars Bring Opportunity To Developers: 721% Rise In HTML5 Job Postings

The Apple/Flash wars have had a nice side-affect for freelance job seekers: Opportunity. According to freelancer.com,  there was a 721% rise in HTML5 related job posting in Q2 2010.  This made HTML5 the #2 ranked technology in the “Freelancer.com Fast … Continue reading

Posted in Flash Game Development | Leave a comment

What Does A $49.99 Safe And Sane Firework Look Like?

I bought a single firework this year for $49.99. Ever wonder what one of those looks like when fired? Here is your chance to *not* spend $49.99 next year. To be honest, this was far better than all the other … Continue reading

Posted in diatribe | Leave a comment

The Day The Soccer Peaked: Landon Donovan Penatly Kick Goal Vs. Ghana 2010 World Cup

This video I took at the Arcata Theater in Arcata CA, the home of Humbolt State. It’s a small town in Northern, CA. We were on vacation , and this theater was showing the USA vs. Ghana game. There were … Continue reading

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Customizable Full-Screen Flash Fireworks Show

Here is a link to our customizable, Flash Fireworks show.  This is a link to the .swf so you can view it in full-screen mode.  Enjoy!

Posted in Flash Game Development | 1 Comment

The Retro Roms Blog – An amazing source to find new games for old tech

I stumbled across the Retro Roms blog today. This is a great site that focuses on new games for retro hardware. It also has some great general posts on the subject. Here are a couple of the ones that kept … Continue reading

Posted in Atari Nerd | Leave a comment