Don’t Buy Frayed Knights! (Er, yet…)

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 31, 2013

Never thought I’d write that! This is not an April Fool’s joke. I don’t do those. I’m just saying if you haven’t bought Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon yet and have been holding off this long (REALLY? Why not? SHEESH!), you may want to wait just a few hours longer – until Tuesday. April […]

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The Ouya – SHIPPING!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 29, 2013

I’m excited for this console. I want mine NOW. I’m a little concerned to hear about the controller issue, though I guess it was too much to hope for that it’d be perfect right out of the chute.  It’ll be kinda dumb if the ‘best’ controller for the Ouya turns out to be an XBox […]

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Namco Releases the Year’s Best Video Game Ad

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

Just IMHO…

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Frayed Knights 2: How do you spell that spell?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 28, 2013

A while ago I talked about doing something kinda weird for Frayed Knights 2 – Random spell generation. (And note – the picture to the right is FK1. The special effects in FK2 are currently minimal and not very photogenic). It got mixed in, across several permutations, with a completely revised initiative system.  Which doesn’t […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Deep Exploration: 32 Ideas for making exploration more interesting in CRPGs

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 27, 2013

In computer RPGs, there are a number of gameplay “loops” or cycles that all interact with each other. A nice blend of cycles keeps the game varied and interesting. You’ve got the combat cycles – nice, repeating elements that (hopefully!) stay varied enough between different enemies and growing player character power and varying resources that […]

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Do customers, developers, and press HAVE to be at each other’s throats?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 26, 2013

So are gamers, game developers, and the gaming press really becoming increasingly hostile towards each other? This article suggests as much:  Entitled Gamers, Corrupt Press, and Greedy Publishers My original comment when dozens of game developers and press-types began sharing this article was, “Thank goodness I’m an indie… I haven’t seen much of this.” And […]

Filed Under: Biz, Mainstream Games - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

The Richard Garriott Matt Chat

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 25, 2013

Matt interviews Richard “Lord British” on Matt Chat! Don’t tell me you haven’t been wanting this one forever, even if some recent controversy may have dampened your enthusiasm! My only regret is that it is so heavily focused on his upcoming project that it doesn’t follow the usual format of chronologically revisiting interesting points along […]

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Might! Magic! X! Legacy!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 22, 2013

It’s ALIVE!!!!! Okay. This fills me with happy. I guess they looked at what all of us indies were doing, and said, “Holy cow! Maybe there’s still gold in them dar hills!” Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly the gist of what they said. Now, to be fair, I doubt that Frayed Knights: The Skull […]

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Concerning Garriott, Game Designers, and Corporate Overlords

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 21, 2013

Richard Garriott de Cayeaux offered a couple of controversial “zingers” (as he himself described them) in a recent interview with PC Gamer. The quote that caused the fuss was, “But other than a few exceptions, like Chris Roberts, I’ve met virtually no one in our industry who I think is close to as good a […]

Filed Under: Biz, Design, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 22 Comments to Read

Utah Indie Night, March 2013

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 20, 2013

Tonight’s Utah Indie Night was pretty awesome, in spite of… well, me not really playing any games. First off, Adam Ames of True PC Gaming spoke to us about dealing with “the other side.” His side. The press. He’s been doing this for about twelve years, at several different websites and now as editor-in-chief of […]

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Frayed Knights 2 Update: Items Get To Play Roles, Too

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 19, 2013

A lot of the effort with the Frayed Knights sequel has gone into items. I’ve talked about them before. In Frayed Knights 1, I went super-generic: Every item type could  potentially do (almost) everything. You could click on your helmet to launch a fireball, consume a potion to cast any (non-targeted) spell, etc.  While it’s […]

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RPGs: Is Old-School the New School?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 18, 2013

As I’ve said before, the term “old-school RPG” is becoming decreasingly useful. Not that I dislike it – it still brings a smile when I see it in the descriptor of an RPG. The assumption is that people are being inspired by the right games – whatever games those are. But it meant they are […]

Filed Under: Design, Indie Evangelism, Retro - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Telepath Tactics off to a Fresh (Kick) Start

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 15, 2013

Craig Stern of Sinister Design has re-launched the Kickstarter campaign for his upcoming fantasy RPG, Telepath Tactics. As you may recall, I interviewed him during the last campaign. The new and improved campaign has a more modest goal (hopefully he’ll actually blow past his original goal), TONS of funding reward levels, and is two-thirds of […]

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The SimCity Deception

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 14, 2013

I’m a developer. I recognize the impact of software piracy all too well. Stating it as simply as possible: Software piracy remains a serious problem for game developers, which also makes it indirectly a serious problem for gamers, too. Now that is out of the way. But I want it noted that I sympathize with […]

Filed Under: Biz, Geek Life - Comments: 13 Comments to Read

How Do I Know When My Game Is Finished?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 13, 2013

I saw this question on a forum recently: “As a ‘lone wolf’ developer, how do I know when my game is finished and ready for release?” Snarky answer: It’ll be ready approximately three to six months after you are completely sick of it. Real Answer: This question probably reveals more about you and your process […]

Filed Under: Game Development, Production - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Frayed Knights Development: Stuck in a Dungeon

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 12, 2013

I’ve been staring at the same dungeon walls for months now. I began to feel as if I were trapped in a literal dungeon. The dungeon in question is a test case area in Frayed Knights 2 that has lots of little interactive objects already set and ready for testing. It’s sort of like a […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights - Comments: 9 Comments to Read



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