Unity 3.5 – Public Beta Now Available

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 22, 2011

Okay, I’ve been kinda excited about this. What an awesome Christmas present! Unity 3.5 Beta Release And for more detail, you can check out the release notes. These are all good and welcome things, though for some reason I was expecting a major change to the UI system with this release, and I didn’t see […]

Filed Under: Game Development - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Can RPGs Be Easy to Learn Without Being “Dumbed Down?”

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 20, 2011

I feel a little hypocritical after my (day-job related) business trip to Asia. I loaded up my computer with some really serious RPGs – probably way too many – as entertainment. I had some other game types, too, but I filled my hard drive with a good subsecti0n of my “unplayed RPGs” library. I figured […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 13 Comments to Read

Guest Post: Information: The Tool Players Need To Use Choice-Driven Character Development Systems

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 15, 2011

Today’s post is part three of three by Colter Cookson. I want to thank Colter and the others who have contributed guest posts the last two weeks while I’ve been in Thailand. It’s helped a lot. Anyway, here’s Colter: In my last two posts-The Case for Choice in Character Development Systems and Guidelines for Designing […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Guest Post: Guidelines for Designing Choice-Driven Character Development Systems

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 14, 2011

Colter Cookson continues his thoughts on character creation and development in today’s post. Part three will arrive tomorrow around this time… and at a point where I should be somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. But today, Colter goes from rationale to some (hopefully) practical ideas for RPG design. I’ll let the rest speak for itself. […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Guest Post: The Case for Choice in Character Development Systems

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 13, 2011

Today’s guest post is the first of a three-parter by Colter Cookson. I’ll include the bio at the end of part 3, but he’s tackling the character creation aspect of CRPGs with a bit of a vengeance. I’ll let you read the rest. Thanks Colter! I have a confession to make: I’ve lost sleep over […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

Choose Your Own Enemy

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 9, 2011

I’ve expressed thoughts on story (at least traditional storytelling) and games a few times similar to Paul Spooner’s guest post this week. But we’re so tied to the concept of linear narrative that it’s very hard to come up with viable alternatives. It’s a holy grail that pretty much changed Chris Crawford’s career forever… I […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 11 Comments to Read

Guest Post: Storytelling and Games

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 7, 2011

I’m off in Thailand for the next two weeks, which makes a great opportunity for guest posts. Today’s post is near and dear to my heart, about storytelling and games.  Author Paul Spooner of http://www.peripheralarbor.com talks about why stories seem stupid in modern games, and where the real problem may lay… Traditional storytelling has no […]

Filed Under: Design, Guest Posts - Comments: 11 Comments to Read

Matt Chat Interview with Jay Barnson, Part 3

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 5, 2011

I’m in Thailand for the next two weeks, which may cause the blog schedule to get a little erratic if I find myself running behind. We do have some guest posts coming up which I hope you will enjoy. In the meantime, here’s part three of Matt’s interview with me. In this section, we move […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights, Game Development, Interviews - Comments: Read the First Comment

Creativity and Game Design: A Lesson from 1988

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 2, 2011

I don’t usually have time to listen to podcasts or watch long videos. But sometimes they are very worth it. This is one of those times. I went to the Game Developer’s Conference for about five years. It changed its name from the Computer Game Developer’s Conference during one of those years – about ten […]

Filed Under: Design, Retro - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Learning from the Arcade Classics

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 23, 2011

There are a pair of great articles from Ben Garney and Eric Hartman about learning game design from the old arcade games (via MAME) . These are pretty insightful articles — at least they were for me. They made me think a little. They could be narrowly interpreted to only include action games, but I […]

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Out of Alignment

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 17, 2011

A lot of hate has been directed at the D&D alignment system since… well, since the beginning. The two-axis graph mapping someone’s personality with respect to good vs. evil and law vs. chaos has been a source of confusion, concern, and venom for over three decades now. Personally, I think part of it is because […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

The Problem with Programmer Graphics…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 8, 2011

I saw this on my calendar the other day. I can relate. For many (most? all?) people, failing to obtain a minimum threshold of quality – or even failing to match the particular style they prefer – causes this sort of reaction. They’ll never look past the graphics to see the game underneath. Actually, that’s […]

Filed Under: Art - Comments: 13 Comments to Read

A Game In 0 Hours…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 7, 2011

I tried. I didn’t quite succeed. But I did come out with a game I consider somewhat fun with a little extra work. I participated in the 0-hour game jam. The idea was to make a game in the hour that exists before Daylight Savings Time turns the clock back… that missing hour between 2 […]

Filed Under: Free Games, Game Development, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 11 Comments to Read

If Quake Was Made Today…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 2, 2011

As a bunch of “old-school” RPG fans hang out here, we’re accustomed to griping about how “dumbed down” RPGs have become over the years. But it’s not just our favorite genre. As much as we complain about RPGs becoming first-person shooters, first-person shooters aren’t what they used to be, either. To illustrate this point, this […]

Filed Under: Biz, Design, Retro - Comments: 11 Comments to Read

48 Hour Game Jam? How About a Zero-Hour Game Jam?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 28, 2011

This is a cool idea: Make a game in that hour between daylight savings time, between 2 AM and 2 AM. A game in zero hours! Ludum Dare – 0h Game Jam! Make a Game in Zero Hours! It’s a tough one, no doubt.  And as an international competition, with different countries (notably the United […]

Filed Under: Game Development - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Player Skill and Character Skill

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 24, 2011

In my mind, for a game to qualify as an RPG, it has to implement at least some of the player’s commands through the filter of character skill. The canonical example is attacking an enemy. In many kinds of  non-RPG games, the player hits if he (or she) has aimed correctly, and does damage based […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 8 Comments to Read



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