The Indiepocalypse Continues: Arcen’s Story

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 29, 2016

This sucks. So Arcen has a critical success that is a commercial flop, for various reasons, and this small indie team is going to have to be gutted as a result. I was talking to a friend on Facebook today, and I mentioned that when the market gets like this, when supply totally outgrows demand […]

Filed Under: Biz - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Computer Beats Go Champion, Shaking the AI World

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 28, 2016

The first game I ever played over the Internet (as opposed to a dial-up BBS, waaaay back in the day) was the game of Go. I was learning to play the game as part of a class in AI. Our big project for the semester was to create a competitive Go-playing program. So besides playing […]

Filed Under: General - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Atari Vault Coming to Steam

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 27, 2016

“Atari Vault” is coming to Steam. With, like, global Steam leaderboards for Atari games. Which is cool. What’s unclear is exactly what original format these games will be – arcade, the 2600, the 5200, or even some of the Atari PC / Windows games? The ones mentioned by name – Centipede, Asteroids, Tempest, Missile Command, […]

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: Comments are off for this article

The Strange RPG Keeps Getting Stranger: Five Nights at Freddy’s World Released, Removed from Steam

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 26, 2016

Five Nights at Freddy’s is a very popular jump-scare horror game series by indie developer Scott Cawthon. I’ve played the first one. I was amused. My kids, however… my kids loved it. They and their friends didn’t want to play it, mind you. Maybe because it was too scary? No, they wanted to watch other […]

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Design: Why RPGs Shouldn’t Be Too Short

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 25, 2016

Several years ago I wrote an article musing over the possibility of “short-form” RPGs… like the equivalent of a short story vs. a novel.  In retrospect, I think I understand the reasons why. Live and learn. In general, RPGs are about character development. This happens on the mechanical level, as you level up from a […]

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InSomnia RPG is Going Back to the Crowdfunding Well

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 22, 2016

This is both unsurprising and disappointing. InSomnia – now described as a “retro-futuristic” RPG (previously a “dieselpunk” RPG… I’m not sure if that’s a new direction or simply a way to describe it to people who don’t know what dieselpunk is) – is running out of money after a quarter-million was spent in development. They […]

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Mystery Game Sales: Cool Discovery Tool, or Sign of the Indiepocalypse?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 21, 2016

Lately, it seems that “mystery games” are becoming more popular around popular indie game distribution sites. Pay your money now, find out what you get later. There are a lot of examples, but I’ll point out some big ones: Humble Bundle is doing this with a subscription service. Random games every month. GOG.COM has done […]

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Book Impressions: Stay Awhile And Listen

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 20, 2016

What a great age we live in! As a kid I was lucky to find a handful of books that would talk about my niche hobby, video games. Today? Not only are there plenty, but there are books devoted just to individual games. I’m not talking strategy guides or licensed novels about the really popular […]

Filed Under: Books, Retro - Comments: Comments are off for this article

Mythica 4: The Iron Crown now crowdfunding

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 19, 2016

I’ve heaped a bit of praise on the Mythica films. I have a slight bias because I’ve worked with them before when they were involved in a game project, and they are locally produced (Go Utah!). But mostly I think they are just decent low-budget fantasy films… better than a lot of what’s on TV, in […]

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John Romero Releases New Level for Doom

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 18, 2016

Yeah. This happened. It's been 21 years since I made a DOOM level. Here's my version of E1M8 using DOOM1.WAD. https://t.co/ueKM7gBbXd pic.twitter.com/NlmA9aIALN — John Romero (@romero) January 15, 2016 A new Doom level by John Romero himself. It is entitled, “Tech Gone Bad,” and it’s… pretty brutal. Here’s a video of a playthrough (on full […]

Filed Under: Geek Life, Retro - Comments: Read the First Comment

Quick Take: A Lady of Spirit (and the Magnificent Devices series)

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 15, 2016

Before my first steampunk short story was published (in Terra Mechanica: A Steampunk Anthology – plug! plug!), I was trying to get an idea of the modern “lay of the land” in the steampunk literary field, and I came across the Magnificent Devices series by Shelly Adina. At the time, there were only four books […]

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Frayed Knights 2: January WIP Stuff

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 14, 2016

How about an eye-searing jumble of work-in-progress images from Frayed Knights 2? Sure! I should have had an artist work on this, but it was late and I thought I’d show once again why I should stick with design and programming. Anyway, I was really trying to show some of the maps without actually, you […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Indie In Arcade Cabinets

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 13, 2016

The arcade is dead. Well, mostly.  There are a couple of them still around in my area, which I need to go to more frequently, because it’s FUN and I want to support them. But these delightful places that in some ways defined my youth are no longer a thing. A going concern. Like phone […]

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

Quick Take: Hellhound On My Trail

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 12, 2016

A rock band that changes its name for every gig. A new bassist with an unpleasant past haunted (literally) by the ghost of his brother, contemplating suicide. Some twists on religious tradition and mythology. A giant attacking hellhound and swarms of demonic giant flies. And lots of guns, knives, swords, and chase scenes. That pretty […]

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Farewell David Bowie

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 11, 2016

David Bowie was an old-school veteran rocker by the time I was old enough to pay attention. But where others of his generation of rock legends had died, burned out, or faded away, he kept reinventing himself and staying current – and producing hit songs. But as much as I enjoyed many of his songs, […]

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And the next uber-cheap computer is…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 8, 2016

Okay, the Raspberry Pi Zero at $5 is pretty dang amazing. Phenomenal, really.  Its more powerful siblings are also pretty impressive. They made waves. So of course… it’s competition time! Well, more competition. Next out of the gate is the PINE 64, now in a crowdfunding & manufacturing phase. While the release of the Pi […]

Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: Comments are off for this article



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