Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

RIP LucasArts

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 4, 2013

My birthday is over, but the party continues!  Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon is on sale for 50% off right now via this site, and also Desura.  Even though I’ve been at the indie thing for a long time and know how it works, I’m still surprised at how many people I’d expect to […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Biz, Frayed Knights, Mainstream Games, Rampant Games, Retro - Comments: 16 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



Matt Chat: Interview with Lori and Corey Cole and Dave Marsh

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 29, 2012

Matt Barton interviews Lori and Corey Cole of Quest For Glory and Shannara fame, and also Dave Marsh, designer of Shadowgate. They are all doing Kickstarters right now. It’s a biggie:  


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Interviews - Comments: Comments are off for this article



Picture: Worth 1000 Words, Costs 5000

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 22, 2012

My favorite death in the original Zork adventure game came from my attempt to brush my teeth using a tube of what appeared (according to the description) to be toothpaste.  Apparently, it was actually “All-Purpose Gunk,” a kind of fast-acting glue. The result was… well, it was actually hilarious, and not entirely unexpected. But one […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Art, Retro - Comments: 6 Comments to Read



Want a job with some legendary game-makers? Try this!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 2, 2012

Note: You may need to be a Monkey Island fan to truly get all the humor of the following. But I think everyone can appreciate it on at least one level: Okay, so the company with some legendary ex-LucasArts game-makers are funded to make an actual honest-to-goodness graphic adventure game.  You’d love to get the […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Biz - Comments: 4 Comments to Read



A New Legend Forms Around Legendary Adventure Game Designer

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 10, 2012

So file this one away under “Adventure Games Are Dead and Other B.S. the Games Industry Tries to Sell Us.” There’s really only one topic I could comment on today, and that is the amazing crowdfunding success experienced by Double Fine Productions. In case you missed it (it’s sort of the top story everywhere in […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 13 Comments to Read



A Brief History of Zork

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 8, 2012

I think many readers will already be familiar with this story, but there are some interesting details to be found therein: Eaten By a Grue: A Brief History of Zork. I’m glad it wasn’t called “Dungeon,” though I think the legal threat by TSR over the name is extremely lame. I still can’t figure out […]


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



Adventure has Ever Been With Us…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 9, 2011

Okay, more of an open-mic kinda thing here, but I thought I’d ask some questions today, if ya’ll don’t mind. #1 – Do you play modern adventure games (graphic adventure games or Interactive Fiction) today? For example,  the Blackwell series, Gemini Rue, the Sherlock Holmes series, Scratches, Blue Lacuna, Telltale Games’ titles (Monkey Island, Back […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games - Comments: 18 Comments to Read



Revisited: “How Do I Get Past the Harpies?”

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 4, 2011

Word from testers have been coming back over the last couple of weeks. Seeing other people enjoy a world that you’ve created is a tremendous feeling. It’s also motivating – you see parts that aren’t working well (these guys are testing the game, so I get a lot of that), and want to fix them. […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Geek Life, Retro - Comments: 5 Comments to Read



You Mean Gabriel Knight Wasn’t Completely Accurate?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 2, 2011

My interest in visiting New Orleans probably originated with Anne Rice back in the late 80s. But sometime in the early-ish 90s, I played Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, which gave me another shot in the arm to some day visit the historic location. Some movies, stories, and playing an RPG set in Crescent […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Geek Life - Comments: 7 Comments to Read



Puzzles and RPGs

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 11, 2011

It felt somewhat serendipitous that I found this excellent interview with Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games – maker of commercial indie graphic adventure games – while I was in the middle of adding some more adventure-game-esque puzzles to Frayed Knights.  It provided extra fodder for thought on things I’ve been a-pondering lately, including puzzles […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Design - Comments: 9 Comments to Read



King’s Quest – New, Old, and Reduxed

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 28, 2011

Yeah, this one’s been all over the news this last week, but I figured I’d provide the link here as well. Whether you were a fan of the original, or if this will be your first experience with the King’s Quest games, this high-quality fan-made remake looks pretty dang awesome: King’s Quest III Redux: To […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games - Comments: 6 Comments to Read



Adventure Puzzles in the Age of Internet Walkthroughs

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 29, 2010

Telltale Games is turning into a “big indie,” and I do not begrudge them their success. I’m really pleased with these guys for doing their part to keep the graphic adventure game genre alive, and doing a great job with their licenses. If you haven’t played any of their games yet, go try out a […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games - Comments: 10 Comments to Read



Twelve Games of Christmas #11 – Puzzle Bots

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 23, 2010

I talk here about old-school style cRPGs a lot. I do miss the heady days of massive mainstream releases that were so huge I couldn’t keep up, with titles like Ultima VII and Darklands and Wizardry 7 and Eye of the Beholder getting announced on a quarterly basis. Those days, it felt like it just […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Game Announcements - Comments: 9 Comments to Read



“Jet Lamp” Report

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 14, 2010

Muke Rubin wrote up some thoughts on the “Jet Lamp” event I announced here last week – the showing of the text adventure documentary “Get Lamp” and the Q&A session with the creator here in Salt Lake. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it, but a lot of other people could… JET LAMP SLC – A Few […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games - Comments: Comments are off for this article



Room Escape Games and Micro-RPGs

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 10, 2010

Classic graphic adventure gaming has had a bit of a casual resurgence lately with the appearance of “Room Escape” games. If you haven’t played any yet (and I’ve only played a couple), they are basically tiny adventure games, usually written in Flash, that have gained quite a bit of popularity. They take place in a […]


Filed Under: Adventure Games, Casual Games, Design - Comments: 9 Comments to Read



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