Author Archives: 8bitjeff

Chuck is gone, but it will leave a lasting impression (to modern nerds at least)

Posted on January 28, 2012 by 8bitjeff

The TV show Chuck had it last two episodes last night and while it never achieved a huge TV audience, it represents the type of modern,  innovative, quality TV programming that can exist if those involved use the same creativity … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 2 Comments

Corporate Development Work Almost Killed Me

Posted on January 20, 2012 by 8bitjeff

Corporate Development Work Almost Killed Me First the good news.  I no longer work for a large corporation and I am am doing very well health-wise.  Except for a few minor exercise related injuries,  I am the healthiest I have been … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 6 Comments

Stop SOPA and PIPA: To quote an old NRA slogan. If you OUTLAW web sites, only OUTLAWS will have Web Sites.

Posted on January 18, 2012 by 8bitjeff

Even our Book Publisher is against SOPA and PIPA O’Reilly, (our book publisher) is one of the many companies with intellectual property that would supposedly be “saved” by massively under-thought and over-protective SOPA and PIPA online Intellectual property bills, is going dark … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History | Leave a comment

Where is the Point Blank Remake?

Posted on January 9, 2012 by 8bitjeff

Point Blank and Point Blank 2 were 2 of the best party style games for the original Playstation. You needed a “gun controller” that oddly hooked up to the video “in” on your TV and to the controller port to make it … Continue reading →

Posted in diatribe | 6 Comments

HTML5 Canvas Game: Tic Tac Pro Quack The Glass – Goes Gold

Posted on December 23, 2011 by 8bitjeff

8bitrocket in conjunction with Producto Studios and in association with TicTacDontion.com is proud to announce the launch of our HTML5 Canvas only game targeted to work on ANY HTML5 browser platform (mobile or desktop). 8bitrocket and Producto Studios did all … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History, HTML5 Canvas Games, Producto Studios | 1 Comment

What the hell are you running from?

Posted on December 16, 2011 by 8bitjeff

When I was in 5th grade I started to run. I ran with a friend named Richie and we would circle the play ground of our Manhattan Beach  grammar school 20 or 30 times per recess. I was never interested … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 1 Comment

8bitrocket Blows The Roof Off DevCon5! :)

Posted on December 8, 2011 by 8bitjeff

Well, maybe the roof stayed on, but our presentations were a quite bit more successful than we imagined.  We’ve received tons of feedback, and it’s all been great.  Maybe we should do this kind thing more often… We met some … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 9 Comments

Steve and I will be presenting on the HTML5 Canvas at Devcon5 on Wedensday

Posted on December 6, 2011 by 8bitjeff

The conference is in Santa Clara on Wednesday and Thursday. We have a three hour block from 2-5PM on Wednesday to present. The first half will be an introduction to the Canvas and some actual code examples to get everyone familiar … Continue reading →

Posted in HTML 5 Canvas, HTML5 Canvas Book, HTML5 Canvas Games | 2 Comments

The People You Will Meet At Your Garage Sale

Posted on December 3, 2011 by 8bitjeff

Garage Sale People (originally written in 2004) What better way to meet the neighbors than to have a garage sale. Actually we called it a “yard sale”, and by neighbors I mean the cheapest freaks I’ve ever had the displeasure … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History, diatribe | 6 Comments

Who Cares! Well, actually, Producto Studios and The Who Do!

Posted on November 29, 2011 by 8bitjeff

8bitrocket in conjunction Producto Studios is proud to be a small part to a big cause. Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant, and Dave Grohl rocked an amazing fundraiser to benefit the UCLA Daltrey/Townshend Teen Cancer Program and Producto rocked the website design. Long … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History, Producto Studios | 2 Comments

Texture Packer Makes Sprites Easy to Export From Flash. For Corona, as well as Cocos2d, and more.

Posted on November 7, 2011 by 8bitjeff

I have a huge new gig that includes taking 100′s of pre-existing Flash animations and using them  to create a cross platform mobile application for a kids television network. The goal is to take the current Flash site (luckily in … Continue reading →

Posted in Corona Development, iPod/iPad Develpment | 9 Comments

iOS 5 Has SUPERCHARGED the HTML5 Canvas

Posted on October 26, 2011 by 8bitjeff

Wow! Just freaking wow! My current two gigs are both HTML5 gigs, so that book we wrote is getting a lot of use. One of the apps is first-person game that is basically a simple shooter with some animation and sound. … Continue reading →

Posted in HTML 5 Canvas | 7 Comments

And the Man on the Hill said HTML5, build it and they will come…

Posted on October 11, 2011 by 8bitjeff

This really is just a “state of the union” for 8bitrocket (8bitsteve and 8bitjeff) to go over some of the events that have transpired over the first 9 months of the year.     We like to keep these brief … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History, diatribe | Leave a comment

Our HTML5 Canvas Book Already Made a Profit

Posted on October 8, 2011 by 8bitjeff

Less than 5 months after being published and in spite of one Amazon reviewer that was angry because the book was too long (?) and targeted at beginners (not entirely correct, by way) we received a modest royalty check for Q2 2011 this week. … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History, HTML 5 Canvas, HTML5 Canvas Book, HTML5 Canvas Games | 4 Comments

Literally, there would be no 8bitrocket without Steve Jobs

Posted on October 6, 2011 by 8bitjeff

8bitSteve ,  Eric Barth, and I   literally created our first “8bitrockets” by programming long basic programs on Eric’s Apple IIe. The programs used the Print statement and ASCII character set to slowly scroll our Star Wars inspired creations on … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 1 Comment

The Flash CS5.5 Air Package to iOS Kicks ass!

Posted on October 2, 2011 by 8bitjeff

I had avoided upgrading the Flash CS5.5 for a few months because the job I had  didn’t really need it and I had been exploring Corona and Cocos-2d for iOS development. Then, just last week, I was asked what it … Continue reading →

Posted in Apple, Flash Game Development | 1 Comment

A Tribute to the Child-Oriented Consumer Goods Company “New Media” Department Golden Era (2001 – 2006)

Posted on September 23, 2011 by 8bitjeff

Note: This is a true story that depicts real events from the perspective of the author.  Most real names of the people and the places involved have been changed or left out on purpose. Everyone involved will recognize the company and … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History, diatribe | 2 Comments

HUGE New 8bitrocket Inter-Web Mashup for Sept 18, 2011

Posted on September 18, 2011 by 8bitjeff

We have been sent and have come across quite a few news items in the last weeks or so that need to be at least touched on. Our HTML5 Canvas Book is going to be on Special Until September 28th … Continue reading →

Posted in Inter-Web Mash-Up | 1 Comment

A small case study in a Flash to iPad HTML5 Conversion

Posted on September 15, 2011 by 8bitjeff

The Project A few weeks ago, John and I over here at Producto Studios were asked to create an interactive, single-page, Power-Point style application for a small company (in Flash). The app was to contain multiple drop-down box syle animations … Continue reading →

Posted in HTML 5 Canvas | 3 Comments

The 8-Bit Game: Digesting Archon

Posted on September 15, 2011 by 8bitjeff

The word “Archon” roughly translated from Greek means the ruler of a particular nation or state. The 8-bit computer game, Archon was the king or ruler of “real-time” strategy in the early 80′s well before the genre was actually “invented”. … Continue reading →

Posted in Atari Nerd, The 8-bit Game | Leave a comment

Why I love The Flash Platform

Posted on September 6, 2011 by 8bitjeff

The simple answer is that it is just as fun as using my Atari 800 or Atari ST. I assume the same goes for you Apple IIe/ IIGS / Mac Classic folks as well as the C64 / Amiga, and … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 18 Comments

Dear Large Game Development Company Engineering Job. It’s not you, it’s me. Thanks for the memories. We can still be linked in buddies if you want to.

Posted on September 4, 2011 by 8bitjeff

Dear Large Game Company Engineering Job. It all seemed so great at the beginning (don’t they all?). Our courtship was a whirlwind romance of travel, interviews with interesting people, deep thoughtful discussions on game design, and veiled promises of the … Continue reading →

Posted in 8bitrocket History | 18 Comments

Taito is going after unlicensed Space Invaders re-makes

Posted on August 25, 2011 by 8bitjeff

The news has been filled recently with game companies using legal means to go after trademark and copyright offenders who infringe on classic and retro intellectual property. The latest to come across our news feed is that Taito (now part of … Continue reading →

Posted in Atari Nerd | 8 Comments

The 8bit Game: Digesting Bruce Lee By Datasoft Software (1984)

Posted on August 21, 2011 by 8bitjeff

Bruce Lee is an 8-bit computer platformer / beat-em-up that is fondly remembered by owners of almost any 8-bit computer system from the early 1980′s. The first version was programmed by Ron Fortier (with visuals by Kelly Day) in 1983 … Continue reading →

Posted in Atari Nerd, The 8-bit Game | 4 Comments

The 8bit Game: Digesting Zeppelin By Synapse Software

Posted on August 15, 2011 by 8bitjeff

Zeppelin was released for the Atari 400/800/XL computers in 1983 by Synapse Software. Synapse was a premier developer/publisher at the time for Atari Computers. Zeppelin was programmed by William Mataga, who was also responsible for such Atari 8-bit classics as … Continue reading →

Posted in Atari Nerd, The 8-bit Game | 2 Comments