Richard Moss
@mossrc.bsky.social
Writer/Director: *TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming*
Author: *A Tale of Two Halves*, *Shareware Heroes*, *The Secret History of Mac Gaming*, a book on Age of Empires 1 dev (TBA)
Co-Writer/producer: FPSDOC
Australian
[email protected]
Author: *A Tale of Two Halves*, *Shareware Heroes*, *The Secret History of Mac Gaming*, a book on Age of Empires 1 dev (TBA)
Co-Writer/producer: FPSDOC
Australian
[email protected]
Pinned
Richard Moss
@mossrc.bsky.social
· Jul 15
TerrorBytes Ep. 1 – Enter the Survival Horror | Full Documentary Episode (FREE)
YouTube video by CREATORVC LIVE
youtu.be
The feature-length first episode of @terrorbytesdoc.bsky.social is now free to watch on YouTube. Dozens of interviews digging into the history and evolution of horror in games, written and directed by me. And if you like it, you can buy the whole series from terrorbytesdoc.com. youtu.be/TA2aZVn9FvE
Reposted by Richard Moss
This is absolutely heartbreaking news.
Nick Thorpe
@hkt3030.neocities.org
our incredible features editor, sadly passed away yesterday. He was an incredible asset to the magazine and a compassionate and fantastic friend. My thoughts go out to his friends and family.
I just can’t believe he’s gone
Nick Thorpe
@hkt3030.neocities.org
our incredible features editor, sadly passed away yesterday. He was an incredible asset to the magazine and a compassionate and fantastic friend. My thoughts go out to his friends and family.
I just can’t believe he’s gone
December 2, 2025 at 6:23 PM
This is absolutely heartbreaking news.
Nick Thorpe
@hkt3030.neocities.org
our incredible features editor, sadly passed away yesterday. He was an incredible asset to the magazine and a compassionate and fantastic friend. My thoughts go out to his friends and family.
I just can’t believe he’s gone
Nick Thorpe
@hkt3030.neocities.org
our incredible features editor, sadly passed away yesterday. He was an incredible asset to the magazine and a compassionate and fantastic friend. My thoughts go out to his friends and family.
I just can’t believe he’s gone
Fifteen years ago today, I got my first paid writing assignment. I had responded to a call for "evergreen" feature pitches at my (then-)favourite website, Ars Technica, and was shocked that they actually wanted me—a student with hardly any experience with long-form writing—to write for them.
December 1, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Fifteen years ago today, I got my first paid writing assignment. I had responded to a call for "evergreen" feature pitches at my (then-)favourite website, Ars Technica, and was shocked that they actually wanted me—a student with hardly any experience with long-form writing—to write for them.
Reposted by Richard Moss
Our Black Friday deal just dropped! Discount code BFCM25 at bossfightbooks.com for 20% off your order.
November 26, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Our Black Friday deal just dropped! Discount code BFCM25 at bossfightbooks.com for 20% off your order.
Reposted by Richard Moss
Rebecca Heineman is a goddamn legend among women. She did SO much great stuff, from her impossible game ports, to tirelessly keeping the mac gaming scene alive, to making sure that the Kinect works when you're wearing a skirt, to making the worst version of DOOM kinda glorious in its own way.
My trailblazing game industry bad-ass friend Rebecca Heineman has passed away.
Fuck cancer.
Friends, let’s not forget her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca...
Fuck cancer.
Friends, let’s not forget her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca...
Rebecca Heineman - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 17, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Rebecca Heineman is a goddamn legend among women. She did SO much great stuff, from her impossible game ports, to tirelessly keeping the mac gaming scene alive, to making sure that the Kinect works when you're wearing a skirt, to making the worst version of DOOM kinda glorious in its own way.
A broad history of the key early football/soccer game that I called "a stroke of genius" (albeit one compromised by intense tech constraints) in my football games history book A Tale of Two Halves.
Still at it! Championship Soccer was delayed from its intended fall 1980 release window, coming along in February, with an endorsement by Pele and an early example of a cutaway scene in a video game: www.atariarchive.org/blog/peles-c...
(Pele’s) Championship Soccer (Soccer) – February 1981, Atari Archive
Atari didn’t take long to open up 1981 with a new release, as Championship Soccer – or Pele’s Championship Soccer, as it was quickly rebranded -...
www.atariarchive.org
November 17, 2025 at 11:05 PM
A broad history of the key early football/soccer game that I called "a stroke of genius" (albeit one compromised by intense tech constraints) in my football games history book A Tale of Two Halves.
Reposted by Richard Moss
I put together an electronics kit + book intended as a gentle introduction to transistors and early computer logic gates (resistor-transistor logic or RTL).
I set up a Tindie store page for the little over a dozen I have readied. (I'll create a web site soon.)
www.tindie.com/products/jca...
I set up a Tindie store page for the little over a dozen I have readied. (I'll create a web site soon.)
www.tindie.com/products/jca...
Transistor Logic Pixie by EngineersNeedArt on Tindie
An educational kit to learn about transistors and simple logic gates. Easy for beginners and a stepping stone to more advanced electronics.
www.tindie.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:55 PM
I put together an electronics kit + book intended as a gentle introduction to transistors and early computer logic gates (resistor-transistor logic or RTL).
I set up a Tindie store page for the little over a dozen I have readied. (I'll create a web site soon.)
www.tindie.com/products/jca...
I set up a Tindie store page for the little over a dozen I have readied. (I'll create a web site soon.)
www.tindie.com/products/jca...
Reposted by Richard Moss
Rebecca Heineman is a giant in the game industry. May she be long remembered.
My trailblazing game industry bad-ass friend Rebecca Heineman has passed away.
Fuck cancer.
Friends, let’s not forget her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca...
Fuck cancer.
Friends, let’s not forget her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca...
Rebecca Heineman - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 17, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Rebecca Heineman is a giant in the game industry. May she be long remembered.
Interesting assertion in this essay on postjournalism that the switch from an advertiser- to reader-funded model locked the New York Times and other traditional news outlets in ideological filter bubbles that suppress balanced views and amplify extremist ones. andrey4mir.substack.com/p/postjourna...
Postjournalism and news sourcing: supplying opinions instead of news
Postjournalism insulated the media in their ideological filter bubbles, including their bubbles of experts
andrey4mir.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Interesting assertion in this essay on postjournalism that the switch from an advertiser- to reader-funded model locked the New York Times and other traditional news outlets in ideological filter bubbles that suppress balanced views and amplify extremist ones. andrey4mir.substack.com/p/postjourna...
Reposted by Richard Moss
Dialing back to the 1990's and the first commercial Glider (4.0) game…
Ward Hartenstein blew my mind when I downloaded his "Hands-Off House" from AOL. You don't touch the controls to play—the house itself takes care of moving the glider along.
B&W version playthrough:
youtu.be/nIzy_Fmjexs
Ward Hartenstein blew my mind when I downloaded his "Hands-Off House" from AOL. You don't touch the controls to play—the house itself takes care of moving the glider along.
B&W version playthrough:
youtu.be/nIzy_Fmjexs
Glider 4.0 || Hands-Off House
YouTube video by James Howell
youtu.be
November 9, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Dialing back to the 1990's and the first commercial Glider (4.0) game…
Ward Hartenstein blew my mind when I downloaded his "Hands-Off House" from AOL. You don't touch the controls to play—the house itself takes care of moving the glider along.
B&W version playthrough:
youtu.be/nIzy_Fmjexs
Ward Hartenstein blew my mind when I downloaded his "Hands-Off House" from AOL. You don't touch the controls to play—the house itself takes care of moving the glider along.
B&W version playthrough:
youtu.be/nIzy_Fmjexs
Ron asked some excellent questions and got me sharing a few stories I rarely tell from across my 15 years writing about videogames and technology.
An amazing conversation with @mossrc.bsky.social - author and Macintosh gaming expert!
youtu.be/3q4Lgoreb74
youtu.be/3q4Lgoreb74
Let's Chat with Richard Moss - author and Macintosh gaming expert!
YouTube video by Ron's Computer Videos
youtu.be
November 8, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Ron asked some excellent questions and got me sharing a few stories I rarely tell from across my 15 years writing about videogames and technology.
Reposted by Richard Moss
Join us for an entertaining discussion of gaming, writing and what it takes to get a passion project over the finish line.
Let's Chat w/ Richard Moss - author and Macintosh gaming historian!
youtu.be/3q4Lgoreb74
Let's Chat w/ Richard Moss - author and Macintosh gaming historian!
youtu.be/3q4Lgoreb74
Let's Chat with Richard Moss - author and Macintosh gaming expert!
YouTube video by Ron's Computer Videos
youtu.be
November 6, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Join us for an entertaining discussion of gaming, writing and what it takes to get a passion project over the finish line.
Let's Chat w/ Richard Moss - author and Macintosh gaming historian!
youtu.be/3q4Lgoreb74
Let's Chat w/ Richard Moss - author and Macintosh gaming historian!
youtu.be/3q4Lgoreb74
Found in a box of Playmobil, of all things, which my almost-four year old is now enraptured by.
Didn't know I had this. (It's the mascot for USA '94, the first World Cup after the back pass was outlawed.)
November 1, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Found in a box of Playmobil, of all things, which my almost-four year old is now enraptured by.
The Retro Gamers Podcast interviewed me about some of the processes behind — and stuff covered in — TerrorBytes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYhV...
The Retro Gamers Podcast - Episode #421: Talking Terrorbytes
YouTube video by The Retro Gamers Podcast
www.youtube.com
October 24, 2025 at 11:45 PM
The Retro Gamers Podcast interviewed me about some of the processes behind — and stuff covered in — TerrorBytes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYhV...
Reposted by Richard Moss
The responses this post is getting, combined with the animating grievances of large swathes of politics, has convinced me we need a kind of society wide PSA about how Buying Things Is Optional.
You don’t think video games should cost $100? Don’t buy the videogame. Buying Things Is Optional.
You don’t think video games should cost $100? Don’t buy the videogame. Buying Things Is Optional.
AAA video games should cost $100 on launch. this would still be extremely cheap for the amount of time and enjoyment you get out of them! But an audience of whiny babies has kept them literally at the same price for *two decades* despite both general inflation *and* sector-specific costs rising
October 23, 2025 at 4:47 PM
The responses this post is getting, combined with the animating grievances of large swathes of politics, has convinced me we need a kind of society wide PSA about how Buying Things Is Optional.
You don’t think video games should cost $100? Don’t buy the videogame. Buying Things Is Optional.
You don’t think video games should cost $100? Don’t buy the videogame. Buying Things Is Optional.
Reposted by Richard Moss
Imagine a browser where you type in “Taylor Swift” and it doesn’t even admit that her website exists. I write about Atlas, ChatGPT’s new anti-web browser that should come with a warning label. www.anildash.com/2025/10/22/a...
ChatGPT's Atlas: The Browser That's Anti-Web - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
www.anildash.com
October 22, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Imagine a browser where you type in “Taylor Swift” and it doesn’t even admit that her website exists. I write about Atlas, ChatGPT’s new anti-web browser that should come with a warning label. www.anildash.com/2025/10/22/a...
The Broken Sword: Reforged Collector's Edition is huge! About 1.5 times taller and double the thickness of a traditional big box game. My OG copy for scale.
October 23, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The Broken Sword: Reforged Collector's Edition is huge! About 1.5 times taller and double the thickness of a traditional big box game. My OG copy for scale.
I spent so much time playing New Star Soccer 2010 back when it came out. The life sim stuff at the series' core was augmented by a deeper football simulation wherein your player attributes would go up and down in real time during matches, based on your performance — like it's simulating confidence.
Millions of people are familiar with the hit mobile game New Star Soccer, but few know of its roots as a series of excellent indie PC/Mac games.
October 21, 2025 at 12:29 PM
I spent so much time playing New Star Soccer 2010 back when it came out. The life sim stuff at the series' core was augmented by a deeper football simulation wherein your player attributes would go up and down in real time during matches, based on your performance — like it's simulating confidence.
Reposted by Richard Moss
Always nice to find a stash of old CM2 source code and data disks. These would’ve been backups I sent to Mum for safekeeping back in 1994!
October 16, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Always nice to find a stash of old CM2 source code and data disks. These would’ve been backups I sent to Mum for safekeeping back in 1994!
Reposted by Richard Moss
🚨🚨🚨
We are live! Welcome to Design Room, a new independent games media site.
• We specialize in oral histories like the Final Fantasy 7 and Street Fighter 2 ones I (@mattleone.bsky.social) did at Polygon
• Our first big story is on Shadow of the Colossus: bit.ly/4hjwz8n
• See more: designroom.site
We are live! Welcome to Design Room, a new independent games media site.
• We specialize in oral histories like the Final Fantasy 7 and Street Fighter 2 ones I (@mattleone.bsky.social) did at Polygon
• Our first big story is on Shadow of the Colossus: bit.ly/4hjwz8n
• See more: designroom.site
Design Room
Video game oral histories
designroom.site
October 14, 2025 at 2:00 PM
🚨🚨🚨
We are live! Welcome to Design Room, a new independent games media site.
• We specialize in oral histories like the Final Fantasy 7 and Street Fighter 2 ones I (@mattleone.bsky.social) did at Polygon
• Our first big story is on Shadow of the Colossus: bit.ly/4hjwz8n
• See more: designroom.site
We are live! Welcome to Design Room, a new independent games media site.
• We specialize in oral histories like the Final Fantasy 7 and Street Fighter 2 ones I (@mattleone.bsky.social) did at Polygon
• Our first big story is on Shadow of the Colossus: bit.ly/4hjwz8n
• See more: designroom.site
Reposted by Richard Moss
An ad for Commodore International Soccer, one of the best (and most popular) football games of the 1980s.
October 12, 2025 at 9:42 AM
An ad for Commodore International Soccer, one of the best (and most popular) football games of the 1980s.
I played this when it came out and bounced off it in confusion, then tried again 25 years later and loved it. It's like old-school hip-hop as a computer game, effortlessly blending references and samples from all over the place into a unique, mostly-cohesive whole.
Philips SV Eindhoven Manager was a late 90s Amiga freeware game by a couple of Polish guys who called themselves Frey United. It is like nothing else, with constant, creative sampling of pop culture to add sparkle to the dryness of a football management simulation.
October 9, 2025 at 9:18 AM
I played this when it came out and bounced off it in confusion, then tried again 25 years later and loved it. It's like old-school hip-hop as a computer game, effortlessly blending references and samples from all over the place into a unique, mostly-cohesive whole.
Reposted by Richard Moss
'Night and the City' by Chris Donlan remains one of the finest online articles on game urbanism ever. Somehow simultaneously personal, historical, and objective it is an excellent read, and a reminder that L.A. Noir remains truly unique.
Find it here: www.eurogamer.net/night-and-th...
Find it here: www.eurogamer.net/night-and-th...
October 9, 2025 at 6:22 AM
'Night and the City' by Chris Donlan remains one of the finest online articles on game urbanism ever. Somehow simultaneously personal, historical, and objective it is an excellent read, and a reminder that L.A. Noir remains truly unique.
Find it here: www.eurogamer.net/night-and-th...
Find it here: www.eurogamer.net/night-and-th...
Reposted by Richard Moss
Found the collection of 160 games made in world builder on the ScummVM website and this is all I will be talking about this month
www.scummvm.org/games/#games...
That 2nd game, Pirate Attack, has a really nice story from the designer from two years ago
www.macintoshrepository.org/19772-pirate...
www.scummvm.org/games/#games...
That 2nd game, Pirate Attack, has a really nice story from the designer from two years ago
www.macintoshrepository.org/19772-pirate...
October 8, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Found the collection of 160 games made in world builder on the ScummVM website and this is all I will be talking about this month
www.scummvm.org/games/#games...
That 2nd game, Pirate Attack, has a really nice story from the designer from two years ago
www.macintoshrepository.org/19772-pirate...
www.scummvm.org/games/#games...
That 2nd game, Pirate Attack, has a really nice story from the designer from two years ago
www.macintoshrepository.org/19772-pirate...
The Continuum web/JS port now has a bunch of fan-made "galaxies" (level sets) in addition to the original one, and apparently one of the galaxies was just a 17-level sampler pack for the full 75-level set advertised in this incredible flyer.
October 8, 2025 at 3:29 AM
The Continuum web/JS port now has a bunch of fan-made "galaxies" (level sets) in addition to the original one, and apparently one of the galaxies was just a 17-level sampler pack for the full 75-level set advertised in this incredible flyer.
This thread is the most even-handed take I've seen on the Bitmap mess, and I share his "second-hand anxiety" about the book content being ravaged. As an author with two books they've published, I'm especially sad to see the poor judgement and worried about implications from the ongoing fallout.
Quick thoughts on the Bitmap Books controversy: the whole "going back on your apology" thing seems like a massive mistake. The original apology felt reasonable -- the author still benefits from having the work published, but Dyer publicly acknowledges the problem respectfully.
🧵
🧵
October 7, 2025 at 9:45 PM
This thread is the most even-handed take I've seen on the Bitmap mess, and I share his "second-hand anxiety" about the book content being ravaged. As an author with two books they've published, I'm especially sad to see the poor judgement and worried about implications from the ongoing fallout.