Excitebike
The physics are ridiculous, the celebrations are cheesy, and the tunes are borderline insulting. Translation: it's an absolute blast to play. On a technical level it's a clinic on how to make a game feel smooth and responsive.
March 5, 2010
Temporarily sidetracked with a different Silverlight project but it's all goodness. It'll be featured on this site within a few days, then attention shifts back to RAGE.
Out of Order
A fun, free adventure game by Tim Furnish that doesn't get nearly enough credit.

Play it now
Site Info
More info than you probably wanted to know.
The Short Version

There are two main elements to Checksum Labs: 1) casual development using Microsoft products, and 2) appreciation of old-school games.

If you're seeking emulator ROMs, cheat codes, and such — sorry, this site isn't a resource. But if you ever get the itch to start developing a casual game, you just might like it here.



The Long Version

I was nine years old when Mom brought home a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model III. Not much to look at but its blocky black-and-white graphics pulled me in. I'd sit by the cassette player and listen for the gaps between programs. If that makes sense to you, you belong here.

The family graduated to the Commodore 64/128 in the late 80s; that's when my love of computers skyrocketed. Dad subscribed to some computing magazines, namely Ahoy! and Compute's Gazette. I spent countless hours parked at the Commodore, typing in pages of machine language and listening for the checksum beeps.

Archaic as all this sounds, I miss it. A lot. Everything was primitive beyond belief, but that's what forced imagination to take over. I didn't need every pixel dictated to me. Part of the fun was filling in the blanks.

I've worked at Microsoft for three years and I'm a big fan of newer technologies like Silverlight, but I remain loyal to the essence of simpler times.

Darren Mart
Developer of Checksum Labs

 
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