Computer RPGS: The Wallflowers of the Steam Age? Part 2

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 11, 2014

In light of Computer RPGS: The Wallflowers of the Steam Age Part 1, are computer role-playing games worse off in the age of cheap, plentiful games than other genres, and if so, why? What inhibits people from starting them, and once they start, what makes them give up long before the game is complete? From the […]

Filed Under: Biz, Design, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

RPG Maker Bundle Discount – And a Contest!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 3, 2014

If you ever thought about making a game with RPG Maker, now would be the time. And there’s only a little over a day left, so do it fast: Humble Weekly Bundle: RPG Maker Pay What You Want Bundle Of course, whenever I see something like this, I assume that there’s a brand new version […]

Filed Under: Deals, Game Development - Comments: Read the First Comment

Research – Going Down the Rabbit Hole

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 23, 2014

Today’s post is actually on another site – in this case, Xchyler Publishing. I’m a guest poster there today… Author Spotlight – Jay Barnson: Researching the Story, or Down the Rabbit Hole This is another article that could have been written about game design as easily as story development. And for me, it’s often one […]

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

RPG Design: Random Starts, and Playing Weaknesses

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 20, 2014

3D6. For those unfamiliar with dice-and-paper gaming, that means rolling three standard 6-sided dice, and adding their values together. Back in the old days of D&D, that was how your character was created. 3D6 created ability scores, from a range of 3-18, with 10 being defined as “average.” In the most hardcore tradition, you rolled […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

What Is Steampunk (to me)?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 19, 2014

I do not have a “steampunk” game in development right now (but I do have a few ideas I’d love to explore in the future). My short story, “Dots, Dashes, and Deceit” is being released in the anthology Terra Mechanica: A Steampunk Anthology in two weeks. I love the subgenre, and I thought I’d try […]

Filed Under: Books, Design - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Early Access Done Right?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 14, 2014

Brad Wardell of Stardock Entertainment has some experience with “Early Access” games… and some real success stories. After some of the discouragement and bad examples going on last recently, I’m glad he’s chimed in about what – in his view – Early Access should and should not be. 5 Things about Early Access You Should […]

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

The Revolution – And Unreal Tournament – Will Be Televised

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 9, 2014

I gotta hand it to Epic – even when they go “small,” they go big. First it was with totally re-pricing the new Unreal Engine so that it was affordable to small indies. And now, they are making the development of their next game in their flagship series, Unreal Tournament, as completely open as they […]

Filed Under: Biz, Game Development, Mainstream Games - Comments: Read the First Comment

“Valence Electrons, First-Person Shooter”

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 7, 2014

I vaguely remember high school chemistry. I remember working out the formulas, figuring out how you got molecules sharing electrons or whatnot. I guess I better remember the term “covalent bonds” rather than really understanding what it means. It’s been a while. So, sadly, I haven’t been much help with my daughter’s homework for that class. […]

Filed Under: Design, Geek Life - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Belated BASIC Birthday

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 6, 2014

I didn’t realize that last Thursday was the 50th anniversary of the release of BASIC. Wow. And I thought it was pretty old when I was first introduced to it when I was twelve. BASIC stands for “Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.” But not really. I think they just came up with whatever words fit […]

Filed Under: Programming - Comments: 13 Comments to Read

Texting the Player

Posted by Rampant Coyote on May 5, 2014

I’ve been a fan of text in games since… well, since I discovered the original Colossal Cave Adventure. I’ve actually mourned the slow demise of text in games, although I admit I am sometimes the one who will skip it. I blame lousy writing. Peter Angstadt has some valuable bits of advice for encouraging players […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Game Design, Research, and Mortality

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 25, 2014

A weird, personal note today. Several years ago, I did a great deal of research for a game I still want to do someday. I backed off on it because I realized I didn’t have the chops yet to pull it off. So I put it on the shelf for a while. I haven’t given […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: Read the First Comment

Lord British Wants *You* to Port His RPG…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 17, 2014

This looks like fun for programmers around here… Before there was Ultima, before there was even Akalabeth: World of Doom, there was…. DnD1. On a PDP 11 mini-computer. There’s a one-month contest going on at Richard Garriott’s Portalarium – a contest to port his first computer RPG to Unity and to the browser. This is […]

Filed Under: Programming - Comments: Read the First Comment

Game Dev Quote of the Week – Getting it Done

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 10, 2014

Designer / Developer Chris DeLeon , speaking on the matters of … uh, how to finish your game: “It’s common now to see developers finish game jam games more ready for public release than their long-term projects. The two main factors that seem to contribute are having a smaller scope and an unmoving deadline. The […]

Filed Under: Production, Quote of the Week - Comments: Comments are off for this article

Game Dev Quote of the Week: A Bird In the Hand Edition

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 4, 2014

Christer Kaitila, noted game-jammer and the creator of the One Game a Month initiative, wrote an article at the beginning of the year about how to succeed at making one game a month. It was really tough to pull out a single quote out of a fantastic advice-packed article, but here’s one: “Perfection is, by […]

Filed Under: Production, Quote of the Week - Comments: Read the First Comment

I Wanna Hold Your Hand: Thoughts on Ultima 7

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 3, 2014

Since it’s now for sale again after nearly twenty years via GOG.COM, when a friend told me he had never played Ultima 7, I made a gift of it to him. I was kinda excited to hear what he thought of it, but I was not immune to one noteworthy fear: What if he didn’t […]

Filed Under: Design, Retro - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Game Dev Quote of the Week: Interesting Decisions

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 14, 2014

This game design quote comes from Bruce Shelly, a designer of Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, and Age of Empires fame, from the way-back machine of 2001… and, as it is the season, it’s from GDC. “Presenting the player with interesting and well-paced decisions is the rocket science of game design. Players have fun when they are […]

Filed Under: Design, Quote of the Week - Comments: 3 Comments to Read



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