Flickering Torchlight and Replayability

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 2, 2010

I chatted with a bunch of folks last week and over the weekend about Torchlight.  Torchlight impressed the heck out of me when I first played it. I managed to snag it while it was sale, but it would have been well worth it at full price.  It’s an excellent action-RPG, and I think I […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 14 Comments to Read

What Makes Game Programming Awesome

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 29, 2010

It was the summer of ’83. Or so I think. Up late on the Commodore 64, music turned low so as not to wake my parents. After making a few little Space Invaders and Missile Command clones, I was going to tackle something in the adventure / RPG genre (the two weren’t quite so separate […]

Filed Under: Programming - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

RPG Alternate History Game Jam – August 9th – 15th

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 21, 2010

RPGDX has a new not-a-contest going in about 3 weeks. Make an RPG in a week with the theme “Alternate History.” This sounds really, really cool. Dunno if I can afford to participate or not, but I really want to. Details here Start dreaming up ideas for “What If” scenarios now…

Filed Under: Game Development, News - Comments: Comments are off for this article

The “F**k Off!” Heard ‘Round the World…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 19, 2010

So the story is now last week’s news, apologies have apparently been extended and accepted, hug-hug-kiss-kiss there’s nothing more to see here, move along… But I think it’s interesting in hindsight to see what happened with a slightly fuller view of the story. According to Cliffski’s blog and a couple of other sources, it kinda […]

Filed Under: Game Development, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

Staying Motivated When Making Games

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 7, 2010

Cliff Harris is one of the more successful true indies out there. It’s comforting to know that even he has problems staying motivated sometimes. But he’s kindly offered a set of tips for indie game makers about how to stay motivated. How to Stay Motivated Whilst Programming a Game This is not new territory for […]

Filed Under: Game Development, Programming - Comments: Comments are off for this article

Building Character

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 5, 2010

I used to love making characters for RPGs. Both for pen-and-paper RPGs and for computer RPGs. Making your character was half the fun. Then it got old. Kinda. I assumed it was just that the problem was that I had been getting older, and less patient, more “mainstream,” or something. And so for years, I […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Game Design: All Or Nothing, and Deviants

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 21, 2010

Okay, is it just me, or did old-school RPGs really tend to hit players early with things like diseases and poisons, when they are too low level to afford proper cures? Assuming this isn’t simply a gross mis-interpolation based on a couple of examples, my guess might be that this was simply because there was […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 22 Comments to Read

Story and Consequences

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 14, 2010

Craig Stern of Sinister Design asked several indie game developers about the role of narrative in games in an article entitled, “Why Have Narrative In Games.”  Now, they were all RPG developers, which is traditionally a very story-heavy genre, so the answers were perhaps unsurprising. My own answer is probably the biggest outlier, as I […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Lone Wolf or Party Animal?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 7, 2010

Okay, RPG fans, here’s my question for you: In CRPGs, are you a lone wolf, or a party animal? Do you prefer to play RPGs where you control only one character (though maybe you have a henchman or something to help you out), or do you prefer the kinds of games where you control a […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 24 Comments to Read

Avadon: You Work For Bluebeard…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 4, 2010

… Except his name is Redbeard. Jeff Vogel has begin his developer diary series on his new game / trilogy / series / franchise, Avadon: The Black Fortress.  His first post is on where his idea came from: Avadon Developer Diary #1 – Where Ideas Come From In this case, it came from an opera. […]

Filed Under: Design, Indie Evangelism - Comments: Read the First Comment

What If Game Design Hasn’t Progressed In 30 Years?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 2, 2010

Matt Barton proposes an interesting thought experiment over at Armchair Arcade: Some Thoughts Towards a Non-Linear Game History His not-quite-so-preposterous idea: What if game design hasn’t truly progressed since 1980, merely changed fashion? If you could somehow make yourself blind to the technological / graphical improvements, has game design really advanced in thirty years? I’d […]

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

Why Are RPGs So Hard to Create?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 1, 2010

Computer RPGs have a reputation for being among of the most difficult and time-consuming game genres to develop. This is one of the reasons so few mainstream developers shy away from them. But why is that? Maybe I should ask this question of people like Amanda Fitch, Jeff Vogel, or Inidinera Falls. They make it […]

Filed Under: Game Development - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

Rampant Coyote’s Gone Bye-Bye. What Have You Got Left, Egon?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 31, 2010

I’m dreaming about game content now. Sanity may be no more than a distant memory. I woke up from a vivid dream about 3D models of creatures for Frayed Knights. With accompanying stat blocks that would have been appropriate in a pen-and-paper RPG. And an additional chart showing completion levels. Somehow in my dream a […]

Filed Under: Geek Life, Production - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

It’s the Voice Acting’s Fault

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 24, 2010

I’ve complained about it before. Shamus Young complains about it better. Y’know, for a brief, glowing moment in the history of our hobby – pretty much the late 90’s – it seemed like we almost had it right. The text was supplemented by voice, but it was limited –  enough to help visualize characters.  But […]

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

How to Sell Your Indie Game

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

I had to hunt down this resource on the old blog to find it again, and thought I’d repost it here for aspiring indie developers: Amanda Fitch of Amaranth Games (Aveyond, Aveyond 2, Aveyond: Lord of Twilight, etc.) has put together a quick-and-dirty guide for newbie game developers on how to sell their indie games. […]

Filed Under: Production - Comments: Read the First Comment

Making Epic 3D Dungeons, Part 2 – Applying the Lessons

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 21, 2010

A couple of weeks ago, in Making Epic 3D Dungeons, I talked about the evolution of the classic “dungeon” paradigm from dice-and-paper gaming through the development of computer RPGs, and how its fared through the pseudo-3D and finally fully 3D presentation. There are a couple of additional resources I want to recommend: Brenda Brathwaite article […]

Filed Under: Art, Design, Frayed Knights - Comments: 6 Comments to Read



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