Lore

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 28, 2012

How many of you actually pay attention to the optional “lore” in an RPG? Reading / listening to exposition about the background, paying attention to the little details about the setting and backstory? I’m kind of middle-of-the-road. Frankly, too many game worlds have some pretty boring lore. Many tomes end up going into the “TL,DR” […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 14 Comments to Read

Frayed Knights 2: Stripping!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 27, 2012

Judge:Sergeant Highway. Drunk and disorderly, assault on an officer, urinating on a police vehicle? Highway (Clint Eastwood): Well, it seemed like the thing to do, sir. — Heartbreak Ridge (1986) Hindsight is a great thing. Sometimes it reveals that the thing that seemed to be the thing to do, maybe wasn’t the best thing to […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights - Comments: 11 Comments to Read

Utah Indie Night – September 2012

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 26, 2012

Utah Indie Night was at Utah Valley University this time – another new venue! Pizza was served, but alas, our hosts only imagined a moderately large crowd.  I’m not sure how many were actually there, but for the formal presentation we had standing room only, in spite of several extra chairs brought into the room. […]

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History or Hate?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 25, 2012

So while I theoretically approve of the sentiment, there’s a problem with blanket policies preventing games from using real-world cultures, races, and governments as “enemies.” Like this one: App Store Rejects World War II Game Over Japanese Flags This is about a full step worse than banning games (and movies, etc.) on account of swastikas. […]

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: 15 Comments to Read

What Is an Old-School RPG?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 24, 2012

I’m going to make a confession. This is a big one, coming from a designer of an “old-school style” CRPG, and from a guy who’s constantly harping on the joys of old-school gaming. I don’t know what the hell “old-school” means. Sure, I was there playing these old classics when they were new, and I […]

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: 16 Comments to Read

Swords & Sorcery Underworld Gold Released

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 21, 2012

OlderBytes has released Swords & Sorcery Underworld Gold. It’s amazing how much time can be spent in polishing and tweaking, huh?  While he’s already begun work on the sequel, creator Charles Clerc has been putting a lot of time, effort, and money into creating what I’d term a “remake” of his original game. I had […]

Filed Under: Game Announcements - Comments: 2 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

March to the Moon!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 19, 2012

Curtis (AKA Califer), a good friend and fellow veteran of Sensory Sweep has released March to the Moon, a funky, goofy, shooter-with-RPG-elements which is really a lot of fun. Version 1.1 was just released for PC and XBLIG, and it’s getting good reviews for the 360. It perhaps lacks a little bit of curb appeal […]

Filed Under: Game Announcements - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

Is Old-School is Back In Session?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 18, 2012

Maybe it’s just because it’s the object of my focus, but it feels like “old-school” RPGs are back in favor … at least a little bit… everywhere but at the big publishers. Game journalists are talking about it. Kickstarters for games like Wasteland 2, Dead State, and now the huge response to Obsidian’s Project Eternity […]

Filed Under: Biz, Design, Retro - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Indie Innovation Spotlight: FTL

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 17, 2012

I haven’t done one of these for a while. And while I’ve done some spotlights on some pretty old games (including one from the early 90’s!), I haven’t put the spotlight on any really new games.  That’s partly because “new” is a relative thing, and quickly loses it’s shine. But mainly it’s because I’m so […]

Filed Under: Indie Innovation Spotlight - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

Frayed Knights: The Story So Far

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 14, 2012

It’s a little challenging to talk about the Frayed Knights storyline without getting into spoilerific details, but I’ll try to keep it as light on the spoilers as possible. Originally, Frayed Knights was intended as a single game, which I expected to clock in at around sixteen hours of gameplay. It grew. It grew a […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Swords & Sorcery Underworld: Gold Coming Out Next Week

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 13, 2012

The same time as Torchlight II. Swords & Sorcery – Underworld Gold Announcement So the big question: Which game do you get? Both of ’em, of course. 🙂 But now that you have both, which one do you play? In all seriousness, that’d be a tough call. I’ve been playing the beta of Gold for […]

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

Top RPGs of All Time? I Can’t Say…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 12, 2012

IGN is releasing a multi-part article about the Top 100 RPGs of All Time, which caused the inevitable lashback and arguments. Which is exactly what these kinds of lists are supposed to do, I think. If they serve no other purpose, causing discussion (often heated) about classic computer and console RPGs is a wonderful thing. […]

Filed Under: General - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Build Your Own Bundle, and Get a Free Game Engine!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 11, 2012

Want to make your own indie gaming bundle? Gamers Gate’s got you covered with the Indie Fort 3 Bundle. Pick any 3, 6, or 9 games at $1 per minimum, and be sure and kick in some extra cash for the developers. There are a LOT of RPGs and games with “RPG Elements” in this […]

Filed Under: Deals - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

Audacious Game Features

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 10, 2012

Last month’s article, “Going Big When You Are Small,” was inspired by the discussion about the ability for Might & Magic 4 & 5 to “merge” on the player’s hard drive to create a total game that was larger than the sum of its parts. Apparently, I needed to write what I did, because I […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 14 Comments to Read

Math is for Game Development!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 7, 2012

Okay, this one’s for the kids. Wanna make videogames? Learn to love math! I’m not sure if videogames or sending space ships to other planets represent the culmination of all that great work by the mathematicians  and scientists of the past like Euclid, Archimedes, Newton, Decartes, Acharya, and Fibonacci. But it ranks pretty highly up […]

Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: 11 Comments to Read



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