RPG Design – More on Simplifying

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 14, 2011

I played through the first couple of levels of the first Eye of the Beholder game the other day (“research”).  I’d only really played the second game in the series to completion, so it was fun to revisit the original (well, original AD&D-branded imitation of Dungeon Master, at least).  Going through a couple of levels, […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

RPG GOTY 2010 Voting

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 13, 2011

Just wanted to direct your attention to this poll at RPG Watch: Game of the Year (RPG) Awards 2010 You actually get three choices for your first, second, and third-place choices. I wonder how they are going to weight it? If one game is on almost everybody’s second-place award, but no game is a consistent […]

Filed Under: General - Comments: 12 Comments to Read

Then and Now…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 12, 2011

Some things change. Other things… not so much. Then: Arguments would get heated over Colecovision vs. Intellivision vs. Atari Now: Arguments will get heated over XBox 360 vs. Playstation 3 vs. Wii. Then: We’d keep pumping quarters into a machine for extended play. Now: We keep pumping digital dollars for DLC for extended play. Then: […]

Filed Under: Geek Life, General - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

Does GIMP Cut the Mustard for Indies?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 11, 2011

Here’s an explanation as to why professional artists prefer Photoshop to Gimp , I guess: Why GIMP is Inadequate I’m not a professional artist, so I doubt I’m qualified to comment on the author’s specific points.  But the arguments seem reasonable – and GIMP (I guess it’s just GIMP now, and no longer “The Gimp”) […]

Filed Under: Art - Comments: 16 Comments to Read

Send Me Your Indie RPG News…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 10, 2011

Have you heard about new (or upcoming) indie RPGs / Roguelikes in the last month or so? Updates? Something interesting going on with indie RPGs or otherwise newsworthy that hasn’t been mentioned here before? Please send me the info for an upcoming indie rpg news round-up:

Filed Under: News - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

Flash Love Letter, Set To Music

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

Based on DanC’s “Flash Love Letter” article from 2009 explaining why Flash was such a powerful platform for indie game developers, somebody has now gone and put  (a hyper-abbreviated version of) it to music. I laughed my butt off watching this thing – so be warned if you are watching at work. But I think […]

Filed Under: Casual Games - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

The Race to the Bottom

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 7, 2011

A fellow developer observed the following the other day: Back in the 1980s, we used to dump quarters into arcade machines to play just a few minutes of a game. Now, gamers grumble and agonize about whether or not to pay a few quarters to permanently own a ridiculously sale-priced indie game. Painfully true. Even […]

Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 17 Comments to Read

Frayed Knights: The State of Alpha

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 6, 2011

I figured I’d provide a li’l ol’ update on the development of Frayed Knights, that piece of RPG vaporware that’s getting way too serious & deep for something that’s supposed to be all tongue-in-cheek & stuff. It was also supposed to be released by now, if I recall way back when as I was designing […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights - Comments: 13 Comments to Read

The Top Freeware Indie RPGs of 2010

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 5, 2011

I’ll give you a hint: The #1 freeware indie RPG of 2010  rhymes with “pesktop pungeons.” Top Freeware Role-Playing Games of 2010 Kinda weird that The Spirit Engine 2 is on the list, but I suppose it did kinda-sorta go “donation-ware” this year. Was it this year? Man, it’s hard to keep track…

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

How Do You Roleplay in a CRPG?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

According to the CRPG Addict, … it works something like this. If I were to boil it all down, it would come down to this: You use your imagination, and invest yourself into the game. Although as he suggests, a lot of that depends upon how well the game allows you to do that. I […]

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

2011 IGF Finalists

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 4, 2011

The 2011 Independent Game Festival finalists have been announced. I gotta say, for once I’m pretty psyched about the finalists for the grand prize. I am not familiar with Nidhogg, but the rest of the ones on the list are pretty dang cool. Part of me says, “Duh, of course Minecraft will win,” but I’m […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: Comments are off for this article

Story Isn’t Cheating

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 3, 2011

Hey, it’s been a whole four weeks since the last argument about narrative vs. gameplay, so it’s time for another brawl! Craig Stern of Sinister Design weighs in with this article on the inclusion of narrative (and attractive graphics, sound, etc) in games: Against Narrow Game Design Apparently I’ve not been paying attention to the […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 11 Comments to Read



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