Guest Post – Ultima 7: Shut Up, Iolo!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 8, 2014

Today’s guest post comes from Curtis Mirci. It’s a follow-up from my post a few days ago about Ultima 7‘s lack of modern assistance or hand-holding. Maybe he’ll come back to it later and try it again. Maybe. But I do have to agree – I do tend to mentally suppress memories of this particular […]

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Retro - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

The secret of level thirteen…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 7, 2014

I just discovered this over the weekend. It’s one part of those ‘movies’ of the 1980s which were actually three or more stand-alone short films. This one was apparently entitled “Nightmares,” and the segment was called, “The Bishop of Battle.” Young Emilio Estevez stars as a video game hustler in the apparently thriving practice of […]

Filed Under: Geek Life, Movies, Retro - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

I Wanna Hold Your Hand: Thoughts on Ultima 7

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 3, 2014

Since it’s now for sale again after nearly twenty years via GOG.COM, when a friend told me he had never played Ultima 7, I made a gift of it to him. I was kinda excited to hear what he thought of it, but I was not immune to one noteworthy fear: What if he didn’t […]

Filed Under: Design, Retro - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Something Old, Something New: New RPGs That Revisit Old Territory

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 12, 2014

My family happened to be in the neighborhood of Brigham Young University campus (where we met, actually) a few weeks ago, and we decided to show my daughter the school. I hadn’t visited the ol’ alma mater in over a decade, and wasn’t quite prepared for all the changes. I mean, it had changed a […]

Filed Under: Game Announcements, Retro - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

The Must-Play Classics of PC Gaming

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 21, 2014

Okay, Kotaku has a fun list – a relatively complete list of the greatest classics of PC gaming. There are some that leave me scratching my head (TRESPASSER? Seriously? Just to see how bad things can get?), and an embarrassingly high number of them that I have never played. The one rule was that it […]

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: 17 Comments to Read

Twenty years of Doom

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 11, 2013

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of Doom‘s release. I guess, in a very round-about way, it is because of that day in 1993 that I became a professional game developer. Doom took the industry by storm, and I think it was a not-insignificant factor in convincing a bunch of engineers from the simulation industry to […]

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Guido Henkel Talks About Arkania, Writing, and Really Old Ports With Matt Barton

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 3, 2013

I posted a couple of links last week to the previous parts of the interview, but I found this part to be even more… I dunno… informative? inspirational? Probably both. This is the “last ditch” effort to get his new RPG off the ground via the Deathfire Kickstarter Campaign. It’s not quite half way there […]

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Ghost Town of Norrath Pt 3 – Design Thoughts

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 20, 2013

This is the conclusion of a three-part series. You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here. All-in-all, it’s pretty remarkable that EverQuest is still running today. While it’s far removed from its heyday, the fact that it’s still around – running under a different monetization plan than originally envisioned, and in an era […]

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

Ghost Town of Norrath pt 2

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 19, 2013

So, as I promised in yesterday’s post, here are some thoughts on the changes that have been made to EverQuest over the years to keep it (at least minimally) viable while numerous competitors have come – and in  competition has grown, and in some cases become nothing but a memory. The trend, as things progress […]

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Jeff Atwood Revisits Masters of Doom

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 22, 2013

Somebody lost my original copy of Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, so I was forced to buy another copy. Forced, because that’s a book I feel belongs in my permanent library. In fact, I think it is mandatory reading for any indie game developer (or aspiring indie). […]

Filed Under: Game Development, Indie Evangelism, Retro - Comments: Comments are off for this article

D&D and Computer RPGs

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 2, 2013

Tom’s Hardware has a nice little retrospective about the influence of Dungeons & Dragons on computer RPGs throughout the short little history of video gaming, including some comments from two guys who were involved in brief renaissance of D&D-inspired RPGs, Chris Avellone and Feargus Urquhart. I’ll letcha read it now, and, as usual, apply my […]

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Are You Cooler Than A 20+ Year Old Game?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 26, 2013

Long-time readers are probably well aware of my fascination with the Ultima series (and spin-offs) up until the mid-90s. And how Ultima Underworld – along with Ultima VII – hold a special place in my heart. The games are now over twenty years old, which kinda boggles my mind. I haven’t really sat down and […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights, Retro - Comments: 20 Comments to Read

RIP LucasArts

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 4, 2013

My birthday is over, but the party continues!  Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon is on sale for 50% off right now via this site, and also Desura.  Even though I’ve been at the indie thing for a long time and know how it works, I’m still surprised at how many people I’d expect to […]

Filed Under: Adventure Games, Biz, Frayed Knights, Mainstream Games, Rampant Games, Retro - Comments: 16 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

I’m Too Young For Reboots and Remakes!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 5, 2013

When movies I loved as a kid started getting remade, I started feeling old. Remakes, in my mind, were for old black-and-white movies or foreign films. I could barely tolerate them when they were movies from my childhood that I barely remembered.  Although, admittedly, by “tolerate” I often mean “enjoyed, albeit with grumbling.” But reboots […]

Filed Under: Biz, Retro - Comments: 14 Comments to Read

The Rise and Fall of the Arcade

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 27, 2013

Another great article about the history of the game arcade (primarily in the U.S.A.) – For Amusement Only: The life and death of the American arcade While I want to believe in Bushnel, I’d have to agree that I can’t really figure out how the coin-op arcade could make a comeback. It’s a cool idea […]

Filed Under: Links & Tidbits, Retro - Comments: 7 Comments to Read



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