Turning Down Zynga

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 29, 2012

Going indie isn’t easy. Staying indie isn’t, either. This article at Gamasutra brought a tear to my eye. Well, almost.  Okay, maybe not, but it was still pretty cool. So this dude’s company hits the big time, and gets bought out by a fabulously wealthy game publisher known for… well, known for being kinda nasty.  […]

Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Independent Games Festival 2012 Winners

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 8, 2012

The problems of the IGF largely derive from its current size and importance. So really, these are the right problems to have. As Brandon Boyer said in his intro to this years’ awards ceremony, they are constantly reevaluating what they are supposed to be for the indie games community. There were 50 games submitted to […]

Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

GDC Week!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 5, 2012

It’s GDC week this week. This always makes me a little sad. I miss going, even though it’s been over a decade since I last attended. One day I’ll go back. Maybe when Rampant Games is making enough money to justify the trip. I don’t know if I’d even recognize GDC from what it was […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

And Yet More IGF Problems

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 1, 2012

I don’t want to disparage the IGF right before the awards, ‘cuz I’m sure they will be awesome, and the games will be too . If they may not necessarily the best indie games of 2011,  they will at least be quite worthy of attention. But this post confirms some deep-rooted suspicions about the competition, […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 16 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

Why Indies Rock – Example #488

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 27, 2012

The Day Job has gone into full-on crunch mode, making the blogging thing difficult.  I apologize. I’m gonna do my best, but it’s going to be rough going for another couple of weeks. So today I’m just going to pass along a link provided by Craig Stern, of Sinister Design (Telepath RPG) and IndieRPGs.com. He […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 15 Comments to Read

RPGs, IGF, RTFM, KISS, and How Those Acronyms Can Be Used To Make a Better Game

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 16, 2012

I decided to enter the 2012 Independent Games Festival (IGF) in spite of my general feeling that the chance of Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon becoming a finalist was pretty small (over 560 entries this year!). It’s not that the game is unworthy – not at all.  While I’m obviously biased as the creator, […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

The Indie Plunge, or, “WOAH! The Water Is Cold!”

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 13, 2012

I feel a little guilty about this, as I’m directly referenced as an example in Matt Barton’s latest development diary expressing his frustration, disappointment, and lowered expectations as he pushed for making a 3D RPG. He’s done some amazing stuff over the last few months, going from nothing to three(?) released games, including one commercial […]

Filed Under: Game Development, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Ten Tips for Becoming an Indie Game Developer

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 12, 2012

Post-Mortems on indie games always seem more interesting to me than post-mortems on big-studio games. It may be because they are just less conventional overall, or that the post-mortems I read of mainstream games usually conform to the Game Developer Magazine “5 things that went right / 5 things that went wrong” formula. I dunno. […]

Filed Under: Game Development, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Bite-Sized Hardcore Gaming Manifesto

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 4, 2012

Cliff Harris breaks things down in a way that I think many of us here feel. The industry these days likes to divide the market into two groups: Hardcore gamers with lots of time on their hands and a passion for realistic violence, high-action, and long games; and the casual gamers, who are almost exclusively […]

Filed Under: Casual Games, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

Guest Post: What Indie Games Can Get Away With

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 8, 2011

Today’s guest post comes from a local – Utah blogger and commenter on the indie games scene Rachel Helps, of The Ludi Bin. It’s short, sweet, and very on-target, and I’m wasting your time by commenting on it instead of letting you get to the meat of it, so here you go: As triple-A titles […]

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Indie Game: The Movie

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 1, 2011

I live in Utah, and the Sundance Film Festival isn’t far away. I’ve just never had much of an interest in going. But this year… one of the films admitted into Sundance has my interest. I still don’t know if I’ll go, but this time I just might: Indie Game: The Movie It looks… painful […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism, Movies - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Frayed Knights: Indie Game of the Year?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 30, 2011

Will Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon be the indie game of the year? That’s your call. But you can vote here. Click the link to go to the voting page for Frayed Knights. This type of contest favors the smaller, less niche games that have gotten a lot of coverage and cheap downloads. That […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights, General, Indie Evangelism - Comments: Read the First Comment

Last Chance for “Show Me The Sales”

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 27, 2011

There are now less than 24 hours remaining on the “Show Me the Sales” promotion. There are some great games on the list… many of which I already own. ‘Cuz they rock. Space Pirates and Zombies, Scoregasm, VVVVVV, Planet Stronghold, Laxius Force III, Gratuitous Space Battles, Magical Diary, Evochron Mercenary… And of course, Frayed Knights: […]

Filed Under: Deals, Indie Evangelism, Rampant Games - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Matt Chat Interview – With the Rampant Coyote!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 20, 2011

I feel like an old-timer going off telling stories that nobody wants to hear or something. But I appreciate the chance Matt Barton (author of “Dungeons & Desktops” – the history of computer RPGs) gave me to participate in his show. This is part 1 of our interview, where I talk mainly about making games […]

Filed Under: Frayed Knights, Indie Evangelism, Interviews - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Ten Reasons *Not* to Become an Indie Game Developer

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 18, 2011

Considering going indie? Hey, I’ve been calling myself an “indie evangelist” for years now (before it was cool!). I’m always encouraging folks to make their own games. I think it’s awesome! You don’t need to quit your day job (in fact, at first, you’d best not…) and live in a cardboard box to do it […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 18 Comments to Read



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