Turn the Disk Over!

What's Happenin' Now

2008-07-15T20:58:00.001-07:00

It's been ages since I've updated the blog, as I've been extremely busy. It will probably continue to be quiet here for another few weeks, possibly followed by a re-launch. If you want to stay in the loop, I would subscribe to the feed or, better yet, sign up for the newsletter here: http://www.fleacircusgames.com/news.php TTFN

Full Circle

2008-04-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'm amazed at how everything is inter-connected, through TIME and SPACE. For instance, I just realized that my first attempt at making computer games was with Garry Kitchen's GameMaker on the C=64. Which probably explains why I now make games on the computer in my KITCHEN. Well, it's the area right next to my kitchen, but I think it counts because it's the same tiled area, and not

New Name

2008-04-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Washington Mutual is trying to go by "WaMu" in some sort of embarrassing attempt to be hip or something. Well, no one (no one!) is better than me at embarrassing themselves while trying to hip. So from now on, my name is JoSko.

Lotus

2008-03-25T00:11:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, I spot something that reminds me I'm not in Kansas any more. Which happens 24/7 because I've never actually been to Kansas, but... This particular time, it was a Lotus Elise in the parking lot of Long's Drugs. It reminds me of when I used to drive along the mountain freeways, escaping cops in my Lotus Esprit in Test Drive for the Commodore 64. Sorry about the small

Extracting MySQL Table with Perl

2008-03-02T01:20:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, I have to extract an individual table from my MySQL archive files. Here's a small Perl script to do that. Example: % perl extract_table.pl dump_20080301.sql dt_show_saved Code: #!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; my $usage = "\nUsage: $0 \n\n"; my $fileName = shift || die $usage; my $table = shift || die $usage; my @keepLines = (); my $

Barbarian Roller Rally on MobyGames

2008-02-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

Barbarian Roller Rally has an entry on MobyGames now, and is one of the better write-ups I've seen. While Moon Patrol had the player jumping over craters and shooting UFOs in a lunar buggy, this game differs in that it is now piles of rocks and stalagmites the player must direct a loinclothed warrior to jump over, while decapitating unwholesome humanoid monsters with single thwacks of his mighty

Super Tuesday

2008-02-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

Viva la Revolución

Designing the Flea Circus Games Logo

2008-01-18T19:16:00.001-08:00

A couple months ago, I showed how the Joystick Johnny interface was developed, from beginning to end. In the same vein, the following image shows how the Flea Circus Games logo progressed from the early ideas to the final version. Each logo is presented in chronological order, left-to right. Keep in mind I was still deciding on the company name and the look of the web site while I was

Better Late Than Never

2008-01-16T00:31:00.000-08:00

Non-Stop Action Hero was named one of the Top 20 Freeware Arcade Games of 2007 by indiegames.com. The game was actually released in 2005, but I like to think it has improved with age. And yes, I still think all awards are inherently evil, but it's actually quite an honor to be on the same list with games like Chalk and Gesundheit.

And the winner is...

2007-12-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased to announce that the 2007 Flea Circus Games Employee of the Year is... Joe Lesko! Congratulations, me!!! Except, well, while I'm honored, I'm afraid I shall be giving up my Employee of the Year Award. Yes, that's right. I am protesting the overuse of awards, praise, grades, and other methods of behavioral manipulation that is rampant in our schools, workplaces, and homes. I

Reflections 2007

2007-12-14T01:00:00.000-08:00

The end of the year is always a time of reflection for me. I tend to look back on the past year and think about what I did right. Sometimes I'll spend hours thinking about it, before giving up. But this year... you might think that releasing a computer game or a web game is worthy of the top honor. But now that I've thought about it, I'm probably most proud of the fact that I have avoided

Micro Marching League

2007-12-05T23:26:00.000-08:00

The last 30 hours have been crazy. Last night, I launched the early beta of Micro Marching League -- a web game that lets you design marching band/drum corps drill shows. I've been wanting to do a drum corps game for a long time, but to do a complete game would be a huge project. Well, last month I decided I needed a project to brush up on my DHTML, so I bit the bullet and prototyped a

GameTunnel Review: Joystick Johnny

2007-11-25T02:58:00.000-08:00

Russ at GameTunnel did a mini-review of Joystick Johnny for the November "What's New in Indie" roundup. Read Review Joystick Johnny brilliantly captures the feel of an arcade in the early 80s and reminded me how much I enjoyed games like Venture and Twin Tigers when I played them in the arcade.

Duke-O-Maker

2007-11-17T14:46:00.001-08:00

Mkem has released another total conversion of Million Dollar Game Maker, this time with Duke Nukem graphics and sound effects. Duke-O-Maker There's even a YouTube video this time:

Slideshow: Designing the Joystick Johnny Interface

2007-11-06T19:35:00.000-08:00

I put together an annotated slideshow documenting the progression of Joystick Johnny from prototype to final product. You can see most of the awful graphics, dead ends, and stupid ideas I came up with along the 10-month development cycle. The pages are arranged so you can easily compare each version. View Slideshow

Some Changes

2007-11-04T22:08:00.000-08:00

I've been sick with a cold for the past week, the longest I can remember being sick in at least 8 years. So I've been using that as an excuse to take a break on promoting Joystick Johnny, though I still have a whole list of things left to do on that. I've still managed to get some other things done, though. Mainly I've been putting together my portfolio/resume for a job. Right now I'm looking

Review at ClassicGaming.com

2007-10-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

Joystick Johnny Review at ClassicGaming.com With Joystick Johnny, we've got something new that manages to feel like something old, and I'm saying that in a very positive way. Creator Joe Lesko has taken cues from mini-game collections along the lines of Wario Ware or Mario Party, and added a retro spin that makes it probably the best collection of old games you'll play this decade.

Marketing Mode

2007-10-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated the blog in a while because there hasn't been much to talk about. Things have been going slow because I'm in the marketing phase of things, which is completely new to me. I've read at least a dozen marketing books to date, but I've never really done it. I've experimented with download sites, but I've found them rather useless because of the large volume of software already

Ooh La La

2007-09-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

I've been spending most of my time getting the marketing stuff going. My press release "hit the wires" a few hours ago, so it's on most of the major game sites now, and there are a few pending reviews out there as well. Also, Johnny was on the cover disk in this month's Joystick magazine, from France.

Joystick Johnny - v1.01 Update Available

2007-09-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

The first update is out! - Adjustable Time Limit / Time Bonus - Minigames are balanced better, based on current player stats - Ton of bug fixes and graphic improvements Check the manual for full release notes. If you already have the full version, just go to your "My Downloads" page and you can get the installer (2 MB).

Heeeeere's Johnny!

2007-09-13T23:58:00.000-07:00

Born September 13th at 11:59PM, and weighing in at 20.5 MB... The full version of Joystick Johnny has arrived and is ready to rock your world with over 25 minigames, a truckload of hidden treasures, and a kick-ass electro-pop soundtrack. Joystick Johnny Website And get $4.00 off with this easy-to-remember discount code: BEFL005D2 (good until next week)

Release Candidate

2007-09-13T04:46:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's really true. The current build is ready to go live! I swear, Joystick Johnny has been like the T1000. Every time I think he's finished, he comes back for another fight. In the past 48 hours, I've quashed at least 30 bugs and used up 8 boxes of shotgun ammo. However, my policy is not to deploy right after work is completed, especially since the installer and merchant page will take

In the Danger Zone

2007-09-07T05:06:00.000-07:00

A release candidate for Joystick Johnny is very, very close now. It's so close, I'm tempted to postpone it just for old times sake. The only thing left to create are a handful of sound effects. After that, I'll play it about 30 times through to do some final polishing. All that should be done tomorrow night (that's tonight for you normal people -- it's 5AM here and I'm just now going to bed.)

Joystick Johnny - Release Date!

2007-08-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

A tidal wave of obnoxious proportions is on its way, which meteorologists have dubbed Johnny. Unlike most disasters, we know exactly when this one will hit: Saturday, Sep 8th So board up your homes, stockpile your favorite Rush albums, and wear a snug-but-not-too-tight safety helmet. Oh yeah, and have $19.95 handy. Official disaster tracking website (with Super-Doppler 9000 radar)

Unfair

2007-07-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today I made my daily trek down to Park street to forage for food. Normally on a Sunday, I go for Weinerschnitzel. Sure, the food is mediocre, but they make up for it with very colorful paper wrapping, which I can't resist. Today, however, the city decided to have a fair, which is another way of saying they turned the street into a mall with no shade and a bunch of drunks. And there were a