(This is part #3 in our continuing series on topics related to the Mochi Game Development Fund).

Almost every game portal, MMO, online console platform, and viral game service offers some kind of "award/reward" systems for game players.  The idea is to give players a reason to play the game beyond the intrinsic value of the game-play itself.   These rewards/awards are usually referred to as extrinsic rewards, because they are not necessarily related to the game, but how player plays the game.  

Here are some examples. 

An intrinsic reward for a space shooter, would be to give the player a bolt-on extra weapon for maneuvering successfully around some asteroids to pick-up the floating bonus icon.  This is still an "award", but it is used in game-play to help the player get further in the game.  The value on the award in inclusive to the game itself.

An extrinsic award for the same game would be to award the player a "badge" that they display on their portal profile for reaching level 5 of the game.  The "badge" has no intrinsic value in the game, it is simply an achievement for bragging rights to other players. Furthermore, this extrinsic reward might have it's own value (such as Microsoft Gamer Points) that transcends the single game, and turn a system of games into a meta-game.
(more after the jump)

pdated: Do You Want A Free Copy Of Our Book? Review It On Your Web Site (closed)

Ok, the response was overwhelming and we have enough offers to review the book now. We are in talks with the pubisher about the number and type (PDF v. Paperback) of review copies that will be available.

Thanks to all that signed up. We will have an update next week on availability. We will contact all of those offering to assist in reviews via email to update when and if copies will be available.

ochi Game Developer's Fund Chronicles #2:   Ouch My Face Hurts! A Facebook Social Games Deep Dive

So I've never really played a "social" game on Facebook before today.  Since those types of games were propped-up by some as the "second coming" at FGS, and because the Mochi Game Developer Fund is looking for "social" games, I decided to experience these amazing monetary achievements for myself and see what I've been missing.  I'm not talking about successful Flash games with truly addictive game play that have been made to work with Facebook (i.e. Desktop Tower Defense),  I'm talking about the holy grail according to the four social games panelists at FGS: ones that have been built with Facebook in-mind from the ground-up.

Taking a cue from that very same Social Games Panel at FGS, I went to visit one of the "ladder owners",  Zynga,  to see what games they advertise on their web site. I clicked on a game that I've never heard anyone talk about, Coaster Kingdom (sorry, I refuse to link to it).  I'm a huge fan of Roller Coaster Tycoon, and I thought this would be right-up my alley. 

However, when I got to the "game", my "deep dive" knocked me into reality as my head smacked the very bottom of this wading pool rather quickly and  it still hurts from the shock of it all.  What I found was really not a game at all,  just a fancy disguise on-top of the Facebook friends, awards and payments system


(much more diatribe after the jump)

ew 8bitrocket Game Release: BlasterMines

BlasterMines is the second game released as a demonstration of the Essential Flash Games Book.  Unlike Tunnel Panic (from 2 weeks ago) very little was changed or added to this game from the book version.

BlasterMines is an update of the game Mine-X 4K that I created for the Game Poetry 4K game contest in 2009. Every line of code was changed and optimized for render speed from the 4K version. Sounds were added, the game loop timer was changed to a time-based step timer, the particles and projectiles were placed in pools for re-use and much more. The control was modified to just use the mouse and the ship auto-fires so no one gets a bad case of "mouse finger".  Also, this chapter in the book (chapter 11) shows the reader how to create my frame rate profiler, and add pause and mute functionality to the game framework we build throughout the chapters.


...[more]

aiku: The The Genesis Of The Mochi Game Development Fund

Mochi Media
Their API seeds sprouted
A new business

Game Developers
Flocked to their code empire
Looking for freedom

In-Flash ads promised
Monetized free-to-play games
Indie devs saw green

They soon discovered
The slavery of Flash games
Was e. C. P. M.

As games were launched
Wealth storm dreams turned into
A penny sprinkle

Devs turned then to
Licenses and sponsorships
A market was born

But some still craved
A universal platform
Mochi was not done

The pennies flowed
And Mochi kept on building
Pennies begat Coins

Coins were a gamble
Was gold in the hills named
"Microtransactions"?

Paying customers
Required better game dev
Better meant bigger

Bigger took more time
Time meant cash, and the pennies
Just did not add up

Shanda met Mochi
Social games met Viral games
Love was in the air

Mochi And Shanda
Sitting in a money tree
Ten thousand G's high

Promise to make games
Social in nature? Then they might
Just throw you a branch

They are ready to
Start doling out the goods, are
You ready to answer?

ssential Flash Games Book Launched


So, the book is finally out. It contains 12 chapters and 13 games to create (some very small, some quite large). We developed our own moderate OOP framework that all of the games use as an outline. Each game can be compiled in both the Flex SDK (we use Flash Develop) and the Flash IDE (CS3 and beyond).  There is virtually no time-line based code (except in chapter 1 and in the chapter 12 IDE preloaer). The idea was to teach how to make games with pure AS3, bitmaps, sounds, and the drawing API using an OOP method and our own design-pattern created specifically for games.

It took a long time with many revisions. I hope it is a valuable tool for those who need it.

Now we take a deep breath and hope that more people buy it than pirate it (or at least those that use it will buy a copy).

Note: The page length is wrong on all the sites. We went 250 pages over the 400 page mark they set for us. There just was not enough space for all of our diatribes and what not. The actual page length is 650+

o our book is out, which is cool.  You can even "buy" it now.   However, one look at the the "download" sites shows me how fruitless it is to write anything these days.   Here is an image from one of those "download" aggregation sites:

(Update: This was fake site.  See comments below.  My relief is only matched by my embarrassment.   At least you know I don't pirate stuff myself!)


(see image after the jump)

have to tell you, after going to FGS (Flash Gaming Summit) on Monday, the rest of the week has been a complete drag.  I can't "get over" meeting all the great, serious Flash Game Developers out there, and finding out how much we had in common.  I know the GDC follwed FGS, but GDC is hardly focused on Game Development any longer, opting to grow into more of an E3. 

My question to you is this:  how long do you think FGS should be?  How much good content do you think could be collected and shown that would interest serious Flash developers?

Head over here to take our poll and tell us what you think

If you know 8bitrocket.com then you know we love Flash games. You also know that we love retro games. You also know that we love retro-evolved games, and that we love to interview and gleen game development knowledge from the masters and creators of the genre, the 8-bit and 16-bit programmers for systems like the Atari 2600, atari 800 and Atari ST. Last week we were please to find out a "perfect storm" was brewing along these lines, and was visiting our site. Steve Woita, A genuine Atari 2600 programmer not only contacted us, but told us that he was using our tutorials and information to help make his own Flash games. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING could be more exciting to us than to have one of our heroes not only contact us, but treat us like peers in this odd and fascinating journey through the world of Flash games.

(more information and an interview after the jump)