Category Archives: Welcome Post

Top 10 Articles Of 2014

We’re almost a fortnight into 2015 and I hope it’s been going great for everyone. Here at 16-BIT Shock HQ, things are moving along at a brisk pace. Work on game projects resumed early last week, after a short holiday break.

top,Top,TOP,10,ten,Ten,TEN,8,16,16bit,16Bit,16BIT,16 bit,16 Bit,16 BIT,16-bit,16-Bit,16-BIT,blog,blogs,blogging,Blog,BLOG,Blogs,BLOGS,article,articles,Article,Articles,sprite,sprites,Sprite,Sprites,animation,Animation,onionskinning,onion skinning,skinning,Skinning,japan,Japan,japanese,Japanese,Nippon,ARTS,ART,art,2d,2D,D,d,bitmap,bitmaps,Bitmaps,bmp,*.bmp,.bmp,BMP,*.BMP,graphics,graphics,edit,editting,editing,editor,soft,software,package,program,suite,digital,Digital,amiga,Amiga,AMIGA,Commodore,commodore,COMMODORE,64,C64,ibm,IBM,Ibm,PC,DOS,pc,dos,Dos,MS,ms,MS-Dos,MS-DOS,ms-dos,ms dos,80s,80's,90s,90's,8bit,8-bit,16bit,16-bit,24,24-bit,24 bit,color,colour,256,colors,colours,vga,VGA,video,Video,painting,draw,drawing,pixel,pixels,pixelate,pixellate,pixellated,pixelated,line,lines,dot,dots,matrix,low,hi,high,resolution,bit,rate,depth,page,pages,Project,project,PROJECT,Projects,projects,PROJECTS,indie,dev,indiedev,IndieDev,GameDev,artist,artists,ARTIST,ARTISTS,manga,anime,studio

Before moving on with fresh content for the new year, let’s take this opportunity for a brief recap of top posts on this blog. Several articles proved to be quite popular with readers and it would be great to showcase them again. Particularly for those who discovered this blog, only recently. The following list features a quick rundown of those posts truly, resonating with folks during 2014, and my personal viewpoint of why that is the case.

Just click on the relative heading and you will be taken directly to the article:

  1. Tools Of The Trade – GameMaker : Studio – Certainly the most read article on this site by a large margin, and quite understandably so. With the explosion of indie game development in recent years, everyone is looking around for the best ways to make games. This article gives a brief overview of one of the most popular game engines in existence today.
  2. Project MSG – Early Development – The game project I’ve been working on and has fortunately excited a few people. It’s a 2D retro-style shooting game with a top-down view perspective set within a cyberpunk universe. Many folks loved the logo and the pixel-art style, and in turn generated some interesting conversation between us. I appreciate all the input I’ve received and will be sharing more about this project in the near future.
  3. Developing For Vintage Hardware – It’s a no-brainer why this post struck a nerve, after all the number of retro gaming and computer aficionados keeps growing. Homebrew development is both intriguing and reinvigorating within the game development scene. Vintage consoles and computer systems, with their limited capabilities offer alternative, frankly more interesting roads for creative expression.
  4. Cybermanga – I’m a huge fan of anime & manga, particularly from the 80’s – 90’s. And it seems so are plenty of people visiting this site, even attracting significant traffic from Japan. The influence of these art forms play a big part in my own creative path and this post gives a brief overview.
  5. This Is For Retro Lovers – On the 2nd of June 2014, I wrote this blog’s very first post. Short, sweet and straight to the point – ultimately setting the general tone for future articles. Surprisingly it attracted a far larger audience than I was expecting, considering it was very early days for the blog.
  6. The 16-BIT Shock Design Philosophy – Probably one of the more important articles I’ve written here. The goal was to convey the direction that my game development projects were to take. Worth a read for recent visitors.
  7. Prototyping And Arcade Presentation – A fairly recent article, managing to gain far more traction than I was expecting. I covered an issue in games that I feel should gain more attention, and that’s the matter of how they are presented. Arcade games in particular are a great example of how this could be done.
  8. Anti-Establishment – Another one of those articles that had a significant impact with readers. Further reiterating key points from the 16-BIT Shock Design Philosophy article. Perhaps a tad more cheeky, but still attracting small trickles of traffic several months after it was published.
  9. Tools Of The Trade – GraphicsGale – At one point, pixel art seemed like it was a dying art form. Fortunately it has been rejuvenated recently with all the interest in retro and indie gaming. One of the better, if not the best pixel art editor is GraphicsGale. A personal favourite of mine which I go into more detail in this post.
  10. FM Synthesis & Video Games: Kick Drums & Toms – Last but not least, is this excellent article by Joe Giliver from Ocular Audio. Joe’s vast knowledge in music composition and FM synthesis is a great help in understanding what is substantially niche subject matter. Lately FM synthesis, is enjoying growing interest which is in line with the resurgence of retro gaming, computing and 80’s synthesizer music.

Plenty of reading there, great way to start the new year I would think. Future articles will tread similar ground for the most part. However, there will be a shift in focus around the periods when I’ll be releasing my game projects. Naturally there will be greater emphasis on these as should be expected.

 

 

 

 

Advertisement

This Is For Retro Lovers

Welcome Post, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Welcome to the official site of 16-BIT Shock. It’s great to have you here and hope you will find much of value in the coming weeks and months. There’s plenty in store for those with a penchant for some retro gaming goodness.

Expect a blog that will be updated regularly, primarily for game project updates as well as other related topics. Straight to the point, expect a wider scope of subject matter to be covered, beyond the boundaries of gaming.  It wouldn’t be out of place to talk about the intricacies of an electronic medium such as video games, without referencing electronic music. The two go together like hand in glove that it would be a missed opportunity to ignore the connection.

And there’s much that’s positively retro in music these days as much as it is in gaming. An auspicious occurrence which is one of the reasons 16-BIT Shock came to be. A love for explosive, colourful, pixelated worlds with an ear to synthesized melodies are the raison d’etre.

Capturing the purity, the nostalgia and perhaps even some of the pretentiousness of a bygone era and reflecting that into today’s digital spaces.

Stay Righteous, Stay Retro!