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Richard Moss

TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming – A Spine-Chilling Journey into Gaming’s Darkest Corners

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If you’ve ever felt your pulse quicken while creeping through the foggy streets of Silent Hill, or if you still get shivers remembering the first time a zombie turned its head in Resident Evil, then brace yourself—because TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming is about to take you on a deep dive into the genre’s terrifying history.

A Love Letter to Horror Gaming

Horror in gaming has always been about more than just jump scares. It’s an art form—one that thrives on tension, atmosphere, and a creeping sense of dread that lingers long after you put down the controller. TerrorBytes is a five-episode documentary series that explores this unique world, shining a light on the creators, innovations, and eerie legends that have shaped horror gaming into what it is today.

With a stacked cast of over 50 industry legends, including Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka, DOOM co-creator John Romero, and Deadly Premonition director Swery65, this is no ordinary gaming retrospective. Even horror movie icon John Carpenter joins the fray, proving that the love of horror knows no boundaries between mediums.

John Carpenter
Akira Yamaoka

What’s Lurking in the Shadows?

Each episode of TerrorBytes dissects a different aspect of horror gaming’s evolution:

  • Survival Horror – The genre that made you count every bullet and check every shadow.
  • Licensed Horror Games – From Friday the 13th to Alien: Isolation, the best (and worst) horror adaptations.
  • FMV & Interactive Horror – A look at the eerie rise of full-motion video and cinematic storytelling in horror.
  • The Indie Horror Revolution – How small teams and solo developers are redefining terror.
  • Cursed & Controversial Games – The legends, mysteries, and moral panics that have haunted the genre.

From classic franchises like Resident Evil and Clock Tower to modern indie nightmares like Iron Lung and FAITH: The Unholy Trinity, TerrorBytes doesn’t just explore games—it dissects them like a mad scientist in a horror flick.

How to Get Your Hands on TerrorBytes

Ahead of its April release, TerrorBytes has launched a final pre-sale campaign, giving horror fans the chance to score exclusive perks. Pre-ordering grants early digital access to the first two episodes, your name in the credits, a digital copy of FPS: First Person Shooter, and access to the Darkness Unlimited streaming service—a must-have for horror aficionados.

A Documentary Born from Fear and Passion

Richard Moss, writer and director of TerrorBytes, sums it up best: “Horror games provide an incredible breadth of experience, emotion, and catharsis away from the conventional gaming power fantasy.” Producer Daniel Richardson adds, “It has been a dream come true shooting all over the globe with the people that shaped horror gaming history.”

For those brave enough to delve into gaming’s darkest corners, TerrorBytes is shaping up to be an essential watch. Don’t miss out—secure your copy now at terrorbytesdoc.com and prepare to confront the evolution of horror gaming like never before.

image source: TerrorBytes

 

Docuseries – TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming

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Our good friend Richard Moss, who has written some awesome books and produced great podcasts, has now turned his talent into movie making, specifically a documentary series called TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming.

TerrorBytes will be five hour-long episodes, each digging into a different aspect of horror gaming — survival horror, licensed (and unlicensed but closely-inspired by film/book/TV) horror, FMV and interactive movie horror, indie horror, and “cursed and controversial” horror games (i.e., horror games that were banned, censored, or that never existed beyond an urban myth).

To whet your bloodthirsty appetite, TerrorBytes will be interviewing 40 well-known people from the horror gaming genre, including (but not limited to!):

  • Ken and Roberta Williams (Sierra co-founders; Phantasmagoria)
  • Jane Jensen (Gabriel Knight)
  • David Mullich (I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Dark Seed II)
  • Graeme Devine (The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour)
  • Rob Fulop (Night Trap)
  • Noah Falstein (Sinistar)
  • Hifumi Kouno (Clock Tower)
  • Hubert Chardot (Alone in the Dark)
  • Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill composer)
  • John Romero (DOOM, Quake)
  • James Rolfe (aka The Angry Video Game Nerd)
  • Christopher Carton (author of A Guide to Movie Based Games)

TerraBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming can be pre-ordered now, but you better hurry if you want all the ghoulish goodies, as this pre-sales window closes on March 3rd!

image source: TerrorBytes



I’m Too Young To Die: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 1992–2002 – Book Review

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Just in time for Christmas comes Bitmap Books’ I’m Too Young To Die: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 1992–2002 book, making the perfect gift for those that are into video games history of the First Person Shooter variety.

There is no doubt the 1990s laid the foundation of one of the most enduring gaming genres, the First Person Shooter, or as we lovingly call it these days, FPS. We recall in high school getting a 3.5″ floppy with the shareware version of Wolfenstein 3D. To say the game blew our mind, would be the understatement of the century! Even with our humble low-spec PC, the game ran at a phenomenal speed. DOOM and DOOM II (and their many many community made WAD files) kept us very busy during the mid 90s, which almost cost us a few exam results at college! Once Quake hit our computers, followed by GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64, the FPS genre had embedded itself in gaming folklore, with many fans around the world enjoying the gaming experience. Ah, those were the days.

I’m Too Young To Die: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 1992–2002 by Stuart Maine captures the fledgling days of FPS during its experimental and formative years, from 1992 till 2002. The book captures everything there is from the FPS golden age, covering some 180+ titles, from 007: Agent Under Fire through to Zero Tolerance and ZPC!

For the uninitiated, the book has a great intro by the author, Stuart Maine and a Foreword from one of the pioneers of the genre, John Romero. It then breaks down the genre in its constituent parts, so if you had never played an FPS, you most probably will after reading the overview and breakdown. Whether obscure oddities or genre-defining behemoths, first-person shooters transported players to alien worlds, alternate universes and the shores of Hell itself, and in doing so helped to trigger the 3D-graphics arms race.

The meat of this heavy book is the coverage of 180+ FPS titles, containing in-depth research and hundreds of eye popping screenshots. I’m Too Young To Die covers it all, from the classics that defined the genre, including DOOM and Quake, Half-Life, Deus Ex, GoldenEye 007 and Halo; multiplayer-only games such as Starsiege: Tribes, Unreal Tournament and Quake III, along with mods like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress; experimental games that pushed the genre in new directions, including Gun Buster, Codename Eagle, Assassin 2015 and Trespasser; forgotten games like ZPC and ReVOLUTION; and hidden gems like Dust, Wrath of Earth and Azrael’s Tear.

But wait, there is more! Even though the focus of this book is from 1992 to 2002, it acknowledges the precursors to first-person shooters, by charting the genre’s inception and evolution through maze and role-playing games, from Maze War, Spectre and 3-D Monster Chase, through to MIDI Maze, The Colony and Corporation to name just a few.

The in-depth interviews with industry legends such as Ian and Chris Andrew (the Freescape games), Scott Miller (Apogee and 3D Realms), David Doak (GoldenEye 007 and TimeSplitters), Randy Pitchford (Gearbox Software), Karl Deckard (Metroid Prime and Valve’s Prospero), plus many more is a huge highlight of what is an outstanding book. There is always something new that we learn in interview from people that were there at the time.

As we mentioned from the top, this book would be a great Christmas gift for yourself or someone that is into first-person shooters. We’ve read lots of gaming related books over the years – all being quite good, but this one is our current favourite – it’s brilliant!

Specifications & Where To Buy:

  • Title: I’m Too Young To Die: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 1992–2002
  • Publisher: Bitmap Books
  • Pages: 424 pages
  • Size: 210mm × 297mm
  • Print: Edge-to-edge high quality lithographic print.
  • Cover: Hardback. Sewn binding for enduring quality and the ability to lay flat for ideal double-page image viewing. Spot varnished cover and dust jacket highlighting key elements against a matte background.
  • Price: AU$69.99
  • Buy from: PixelCrib – the gaming culture specialists and purveyors of rare, high-quality video game memorabilia and collectibles



Disclaimer: I’m Too Young To Die: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 1992–2002 book was kindly provided by PixelCrib for this review.

The Secret History of Mac Gaming: Expanded Edition – Review

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We have known Richard Moss, the author of The Secret History of Mac Gaming: Expanded Edition (TSHoMG-EE) book, for quite a while now. To say we have great admiration for Richard would be a gross understatement.

Speaking to Richard in the past, it was quite evident where his love and passion was focused when it came to retro computing – the Apple Macintosh. Being an award winning journalist and avid game historian, we were glad to see Richard having his book published, as it’s just brilliant, even if you aren’t an Apple Macintosh fan – if you are remotely into retro computing or old school games, then this is a great read!

Let’s start with the physical aspects of the book. The look, feel and presentation of this tome oozes quality everywhere, as we come to expect from Bitmap Books – from the hardback cover (and use of colours) hitting the nostalgic bit of our heart, to the gorgeous blue coloured page edges, it’s truly stunning! The 480 pages are filled with edge-to-edge high quality lithographic print, with sewn binding for enduring quality and the ability to lay the book flat, which is ideal for double-page image viewing.

Richard goes into detail in how the Macintosh changed video games and how it challenged the medium to be more than child’s play and quick reflexes. With human design in mind (as with contemporary Apple products!), TSHoMG-EE informs the reader in how the Macintosh made human-computer interaction friendly, inviting, and intuitive. Of course, one would argue (as the author does), that Mac gaming led to much of what we now take for granted as PC gamers, with the old Apple spawning some of the biggest franchises in video games history — including Myst, Halo, and SimCity.

The Secret History of Mac Gaming: Expanded Edition draws on a combination of archival material and around 80 interviews with key figures from the era to tell the story of those communities and the game developers who survived and thrived in an ecosystem that was serially ignored by the outside world. It’s a book about people who followed their hearts first, and market trends second – showing how clever, quirky, and downright wonderful video games could be.

This newly-expanded edition adds around 70 pages of extra content, including a foreword by The 7th Guest co-creator and id Software and Apple alum Graeme Devine, plus an annotated timeline, over 60 extra images, an icon gallery, and more than 6,000 extra words added to the chapter narratives — on top of the 115,000 words from the 1st edition — covering a variety of additional game and developer stories, including the tales behind Snood, Chaos Overlords, The Dungeon of Doom, and more. It also revises and updates the design, based on reader feedback, to provide a better reading experience. A nice touch is the “Where Are They Now” section in each chapter – giving insight into the career path of key people.

We are suckers for books that delve deep into their subject matter, and this book is no exception. It is beautifully presented and written to draw the reader into the world of the Apple Macintosh and its library of video games that became iconic. We highly recommend The Secret History of Mac Gaming: Expanded Edition book, as it is informative, fun and engaging, the three key ingredients of any great book. This tome deserves to be on your bookshelf.

Availability



Disclaimer: The Secret History of Mac Gaming: Expanded Edition book was kindly provided by PixelCrib for this review.

Ludiphilia: A Podcast About Play, People, And Things

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LudiphiliaAfter doing a number of podcast interviews, it was quite refreshing to have been invited on Richard Moss’ Ludiphilia podcast. Ludiphilia weaves the subject matter into a fascinating, heartwarming and a compelling story about play, the people and all other things in-between!

We have to give credit to Richard for doing an amazing job in the scripting, editing and the narrative of this podcast – we were blown away by the final result. Take a listen *smiley*

 

The Secret History Of Mac Gaming

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Mac_Original-1984-Mac-128k-BrochureApple’s history in gaming goes a long way back. Heck, even my first computer gaming experience was on an Apple ][e playing the awesome text adventure, Transylvania way back in 1983. The Apple line of computers had its avid gaming fans and also paved the way for many a developers that cut their teeth on the trusty computers. When the Apple Macintosh computer was launched in the mid 80s, it’s built in screen, graphical user interface and the mouse pointing device were at the bleeding edge of computing. Apple may have aimed the computer at the business end of town, but the beloved Mac was also thriving in the gaming community too. Sadly, not much has been written or shared with the gaming masses about the Mac gaming communities, till now.

The Secret History of Mac Gaming, a new crowdfund book project by talented freelance writer Richard Moss, aims to tell the story of those Mac communities and the game developers who survived and thrived in an ecosystem that was serially ignored by the outside world. It’s a book about people who made games and people who played them — people who, on both counts, followed their hearts first and market trends second. How in spite of everything they had going against them, the people who carried the torch for Mac gaming in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s showed how clever, quirky, and downright wonderful videogames could be.

The work draws on archive materials as well as 60+ new interviews with key figures from Mac gaming’s past, including: Craig Fryar, who is co-authoring several chapters, Robyn and Rand Miller, Patrick Buckland, John Calhoun, Andrew Welch, Ben Spees, Matt Burch, Ian and Colin Lynch Smith, Steven Tze, Mark Stephen Pierce, Jonathan Gay, Bill Appleton, Steve Capps, Charlie Jackson, Peter Cohen, Trey Smith, Dave Marsh, Joe Williams, Brian Greenstone, Craig Erickson, Rick Holzgrafe, Chris De Salvo, Ray Dunakin, Glenda Adams, Rebecca Heineman, Eric Klein, Marc Vose and many more.

The book will be a 304 page hardback, printed on 120 gsm fine art paper, with a bookmark, head and tail bands, and a four colour jacket printed on clear plastic stock. So if you have (or had) an interest in Mac gaming or are hungry to know more about the history of Mac gaming, then pledge for Richard Moss’ The Secret History Of Mac Gaming book!


source: Unbound