The Indie Community and Rock Stars

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 17, 2013

First – an announcement: SHOW ME THE SALES! – Almost Over! There’s only a day left in the Show Me the Games sale. This sale is the only one that is 100% indie-driven, 100% indie-revenue (and 100% indie games), so if you really want to support the indies, this is the way to go. About […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

Why Are Most Indie Games 2D Instead of 3D?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 16, 2013

This question was posed in the “Ask Me Anything” Reddit yesterday, and I thought I’d cross-post and elaborate on my answer here: Why are most indie games done made with 2D graphics instead of 3D? Obviously, I’m something of an exception to the general rule, as I do 3D games (at least, the ones I’ve […]

Filed Under: Game Development, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 22 Comments to Read

How to get pirates to complain about piracy…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 30, 2013

It seems that this story went viral yesterday – which could only help the game’s sales… Game Dev Tycoon forces those who pirate the game to unwittingly fail from piracy (AKA Best Anti-Piracy Measure Ever!) It’s very clever – a nice “shame on you” against the pirates. Will it have ANY effect on piracy? I […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 12 Comments to Read

Love or Money?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 29, 2013

I was going to say that indie gaming has changed a lot in the years I’ve been involved. But after I thought about it a while, it really hasn’t. Ratios have changed, many of the players have changed, a few definitions have changed, but fundamentally it’s stayed the same. Here’s my gripe. I don’t really […]

Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Indie Gamers and Hipsters… And Name a Frayed Knights 2 Character!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 5, 2013

Hey folks! The sale on Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon continues! 50% off until the 16th. That’s the day after tax day for us U.S. dwellers. If you are trying to figure out what to do with your weekend, this is a great choice!  And guess what? It NEVER requires you to be online […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

Concerning Garriott, Game Designers, and Corporate Overlords

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 21, 2013

Richard Garriott de Cayeaux offered a couple of controversial “zingers” (as he himself described them) in a recent interview with PC Gamer. The quote that caused the fuss was, “But other than a few exceptions, like Chris Roberts, I’ve met virtually no one in our industry who I think is close to as good a […]

Filed Under: Biz, Design, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 22 Comments to Read

RPGs: Is Old-School the New School?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 18, 2013

As I’ve said before, the term “old-school RPG” is becoming decreasingly useful. Not that I dislike it – it still brings a smile when I see it in the descriptor of an RPG. The assumption is that people are being inspired by the right games – whatever games those are. But it meant they are […]

Filed Under: Design, Indie Evangelism, Retro - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Talking Indie Games: Drinking From the Firehose

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 13, 2013

It was approximately ten years ago that I first made my tentative explorations into the whole “indie game” thing. Even having been an ‘insider’ in the games biz, and having seen (and, sadly, dismissed) the first couple of indie game festivals at GDC, I really had no clue. And to be honest – there wasn’t […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Indie Games: After the Gold Rush?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 27, 2012

I guess this is a little bit of a follow-up from yesterday’s post, but allow me to get a little pessimistic for a minute. Except I personally think I’m being realistic. Indie games have been enjoying a gold rush, a boom. Inevitably, after the boom peaks, comes a bust – a contraction. Almost everybody knows […]

Filed Under: Biz, Casual Games, Indie Evangelism, Production - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

One Game A Month?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 13, 2012

Christer Kaitila, a fellow who’s name I am terrible at spelling, and the author of The Game Jam Survival Guide, tried something different this year.  He made a New Year’s Resolution to make 12 games in as many months, and while December’s project (a game jam) isn’t complete, he’s pulled it off. Besides completing twelve […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

When Is It Too Early to Talk About an Indie Game?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 30, 2012

Many years ago, when the blog was young, I was trying to decide how I’d talk about upcoming games in the exciting, growing indie games field that hardly anybody knew about. I faced a little bit of a quandary. At the time, something like 95% (or more) of all indie game projects failed. Early on, […]

Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 13 Comments to Read

What “Non-Open” Looks Like

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 17, 2012

Do not mock Apple or the current marketing buzzwords, or you will be denied! By itself, it’s a pretty minor thing, and Terry removed the offending comment and has since been accepted for the app store. But I do think this serves as a reminder of the inherent risk of building a business whose existence […]

Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Indie Games: Competition and Authorship

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 8, 2012

One of the complaints about the “Old-School RPG(s)” proposed by Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall was about “celebrity designers” and how they can command so much more Kickstarter backing than other, worthy indies working on similar projects. I thought I’d take some time to address it here. As an aside, there was a complaint that […]

Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Retro Required!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 5, 2012

We game developers are ALWAYS copying past games. We have to. There’s simply far too much that has gone before for us to even be capable of reinventing the wheel.  Even the most innovative games out there borrow from tried-and-true examples. We always build upon a foundation of what has come before us.  Anything else […]

Filed Under: Biz, Design, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall to Make an Old-School RPG (or Two)?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 3, 2012

I love that “Old School RPG” is such a marketing thing now that it’s being used as the working title of this project. Worries about shark-jumping notwithstanding… An Old-School RPG by Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall! As have many other fans, I’ve told Brenda that I would be absolutely thrilled if she were to helm […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 11 Comments to Read

That Sound You Just Heard Was the Other Shoe Dropping on the Heads of the Publishers

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 20, 2012

Congratulations! You have won. “You” meaning gamers and independent (not necessarily indie) game developers. This has happened, according to Forbes. Publishers have tried to use developers with a reputation (in this case, Obsidian) as false-fronts for Kickstarter campaigns. The interesting part about the article? It’s “Publishers.” Plural. I sincerely doubt these were big, AAA publishers. […]

Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 5 Comments to Read



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