So What Happens After Steam Opens the Floodgates?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 28, 2013

So Steam’s Greenlight was a failure. That may be a pretty harsh thing to say. For many developers and fans, Greenlight was pretty awesome. But as Valve founder Gabe Newell explained recently, “[Steam] should stop being a dictator and move towards much more participatory, peer-based methods of sanctioning player behavior. Greenlight is a bad example […]

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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

Driftmoon Released!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 26, 2013

In some ways, I think my fondness for Driftmoon may lay in the fact that it’s been in development even longer than Frayed Knights. Seven frickin’ years. Or nine, depending on how you count it. Anyway – for the patient, this long-awaited game has finally been released. And it can be had right now for […]

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

Vespers 3D – Act 1 Nearly Complete?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 25, 2013

A long time ago, I interviewed Mike Rubin about his “3D Interactive Fiction” project, Vespers 3D.  In fact, it was the first time I interviewed another game developer. You can check out the interview here – Part 1 and Part 2. While it has had a development period that almost makes Frayed Knights look like […]

Filed Under: Adventure Games - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

This is how the world ends: A bunch of post-apocalyptic game setting variants

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 22, 2013

I’m a fan of “post-apocalyptic” settings in fiction and computer games, though I realize it’s as hard a term to define as “role-playing games” (or “indie games”, for that matter). Over the years, we’ve had tons of video games taking place in a post-apocalyptic setting. And, happy me, we’ve got several new games coming soon […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Guest Post: Craig Stern on graphics, imagination, and immersion

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 21, 2013

While Jay is out of town, some very talented folks have graciously offered to help out with the articles. Today’s article is brought to you by game author Craig Stern. And the letter G. Craig Stern is an indie developer currently working on the turn-based tactical RPG Telepath Tactics. He is the founder of IndieRPGs.com, […]

Filed Under: Biz, Guest Posts - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

Guest Post: “Run Away!” by Lars Doucet

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 20, 2013

While I’m out of town this week, I’ve invited some very talented individuals to help me with posts. Seriously, I think they are way more interesting than I am. Today, Lars Doucet has a very well-thought-out post about an RPG option that really should be more interesting and better used than it typically is… Hi […]

Filed Under: General - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Guest Post: Random Gamer on Choosing Your Game Engine, pt 2

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 19, 2013

(This is a continuation of yesterday’s post from Random Gamer, a long-time community member, and frequent contributor both on the blog and in the Forums. He’s earned war stories the hard way on indie game development. You can read Part 1 here. Enjoy!) The last time, I talked about some of the lessons I’ve learned […]

Filed Under: Game Development, Guest Posts - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Guest Post: Random Gamer on Choosing Your Game Engine, Pt 1

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 18, 2013

Today’s (and tomorrow’s) post comes from Chris “Random Gamer” Rovers, a long-time regular here in the Rampant Games community. An experienced developer in the “real world,” he’s got some lessons to share about picking the right tool to fit your game project (or vice versa). You can read part 2 here. I’m one of those […]

Filed Under: Game Development, Guest Posts - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Why the Battle of Hoth Was a Disaster – For the Empire

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 15, 2013

Just last week, I re-watched The Empire Strikes Back with my youngest daughter, who couldn’t remember the original Star Wars movies all that well. Yes, it’s been that long. Yes, I’ve been failing in my duties as a geek parent. The movie reminded me of just why I used to love Star Wars. And it […]

Filed Under: Movies - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

An Inconvenient Combat

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 14, 2013

The game was “Western Hero,” many years ago. It was a dice-and-paper RPG based on the Hero game system, the same one that fueled the Champions superhero RPG. The designers had taken pains to make Western Hero not very superheroic – following the style of movies and books about the American “Wild West” of the […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Talking Indie Games: Drinking From the Firehose

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 13, 2013

It was approximately ten years ago that I first made my tentative explorations into the whole “indie game” thing. Even having been an ‘insider’ in the games biz, and having seen (and, sadly, dismissed) the first couple of indie game festivals at GDC, I really had no clue. And to be honest – there wasn’t […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Guest Posts Wanted

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 12, 2013

Hey indie fans! I’m gonna be out of town next week, and while I’m trying to get some articles pre-written, I can always use some help. Got a rant or commentary relating to RPGs, indie games, adventure games, classic gaming, game-making, whatever? Please send it my way. You can use the feedback address. Or jayb. […]

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Rampant Games - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

The High-Level Game: More Than Just Bigger and Badder

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 11, 2013

Many years ago, when the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons was still current and even kinda new, Necromancer Games created a revision of a Gary Gygax module called “Necropolis” (or, officially, “Gary Gygax’s Necropolis”). This was a massive revision and expansion to an original module created for his “Dangerous Journeys” game system, following his […]

Filed Under: Design, Dice & Paper - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Four Joys of Dice & Paper Gaming

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 8, 2013

Back in the old days, when we stone computers and stuff,  computer RPGs were really not much more than an attempt to provide a pale imitation of the tabletop gaming experience for existing Dungeons & Dragons fans to get their “fix” when a real game session wasn’t convenient. With game names like “DnD” and so […]

Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

An XBLIG Post-Mortem

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 7, 2013

XNA – Microsoft’s game library for XBOX, Windows, and Windows Phone – is riding off into the sunset. The “XBox Live Indie Game” marketplace is probably not far behind. And now one of the most successful developers in that space has a sobering analysis of its failures: What Went Wrong With XNA / XBLIG? All […]

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