We Need to Kill WHAT to Make Better Games…?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 12, 2012

I said on Twitter that there was so much wrong with this article I didn’t know where to begin. But now I’ll begin. First off, the article in question Why We Need to Kill Gameplay to Make Better Games First I’ll cover the points of agreement. The author is absolutely right when he says, “I […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 20 Comments to Read

Randomly Speaking

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 9, 2012

Craig Stern of Sinister Design had an insightful essay on randomness (or, rather, non-determinism) in games this week. I thought I’d talk about it a little bit. I’m a big fan of Go (I even dropped a serious chunk of change on Many Faces of Go – which was well worth it, IMHO). Chess a […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

A Couple of 2D Game-Making Options

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 8, 2012

As most folks reading this are well aware, 2D games have made a resurgence, and it’s not restricted to indies. Nor are indies restricted to 2D. But modern technology has really blown the doors off the potential of 2D games from the bad ol’ days where developers had to hand-roll assembly code routines for sprite […]

Filed Under: Programming - Comments: 14 Comments to Read

Driving 4 Dollars: A Game In Five Hours, But One Doesn’t Count.

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 5, 2012

A half-hour before the Zero Hour Game Jam (in my time zone), I still wasn’t sure what I was going to make. Part of me wanted to see how Unity could handle something along the lines of a “Bullet Hell” shooter. Part of me wanted to do something completely traditional – a 1980-era arcade game […]

Filed Under: Free Games, Game Development - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

A Game In Zero Hours – Again!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 1, 2012

For those living in Europe, this is already past. But in North America, in those areas where Daylight Savings Time changes come to an end this weekend, we have an opportunity once again to play Time Lord and create a game in that we begin at 1 AM and finish by 2 AM — when […]

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

Frayed Knights 2 Update: Cranking Spells Up To Eleven

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 25, 2012

I wanted to run an idea off you. This kinda runs contrary to my talk about simplification, but not really. Technically, I’m already going down this path, but nothing is final. But now that it’s looking more and more feasible (and likely), I thought I’d solicit some input on the spell system – definitely one […]

Filed Under: Design, Frayed Knights - Comments: 15 Comments to Read

Something Old, Something New… And Everything Else!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 24, 2012

I recently confessed that I really don’t know what “old-school RPG” really means, mainly because it’s something that represents different things to different people. In the latest issue of Knights of the Dinner Table, comic creator Jolly Blackburn confessed the same kind of quandary in an editorial about the “old-school” mentality of dice-and-paper gamers. He […]

Filed Under: Design, Mainstream Games, Retro - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

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

Parlay?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 16, 2012

You know what few RPGs have anymore? Or really, what few RPGs ever had, the D&D Gold Box games by SSI being one of the more prominant counterexamples? The ability to talk yourself out of a general encounter. Or to parlay, in general. Nowadays, you may get the option as a special, ‘canned’ option. But […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 12 Comments to Read

Matt Chat: Josh Sawyer and Project Eternity

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 10, 2012

I wanted to point you folks to this week’s Matt Chat. With only six days to go on the Kickstarter, Project Eternity, which is already at over double its goal, it’s worth taking a look at if you want to take the potential risk to get in early on this one. Because the game is […]

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

Retro Required!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 5, 2012

We game developers are ALWAYS copying past games. We have to. There’s simply far too much that has gone before for us to even be capable of reinventing the wheel.  Even the most innovative games out there borrow from tried-and-true examples. We always build upon a foundation of what has come before us.  Anything else […]

Filed Under: Biz, Design, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Build, Buy, Bestow, or Bereave: Equipment Acquisition in RPGs

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 2, 2012

Back in the old dice & paper days, equipment upgrades – the cool, magical kinds – were things you acquired as loot and as rewards. Occasionally there’d be some low-level, generic magic swords for sale at a shop, but magical gear was mainly a reward bestowed by the DM or module designer for surviving and […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 17 Comments to Read

Rolling A New One…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 1, 2012

With another (short) campaign completed, I stepped out from behind the Game Master’s screen Saturday night and joined the rest of the group creating a character for a new campaign. I really do enjoy this. I always have. I remember creating heroes and villains for Champions in geometry class while Mr. Droneburg lectured on using […]

Filed Under: Design, Dice & Paper - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Lore

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 28, 2012

How many of you actually pay attention to the optional “lore” in an RPG? Reading / listening to exposition about the background, paying attention to the little details about the setting and backstory? I’m kind of middle-of-the-road. Frankly, too many game worlds have some pretty boring lore. Many tomes end up going into the “TL,DR” […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 14 Comments to Read

Is Old-School is Back In Session?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 18, 2012

Maybe it’s just because it’s the object of my focus, but it feels like “old-school” RPGs are back in favor … at least a little bit… everywhere but at the big publishers. Game journalists are talking about it. Kickstarters for games like Wasteland 2, Dead State, and now the huge response to Obsidian’s Project Eternity […]

Filed Under: Biz, Design, Retro - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Audacious Game Features

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 10, 2012

Last month’s article, “Going Big When You Are Small,” was inspired by the discussion about the ability for Might & Magic 4 & 5 to “merge” on the player’s hard drive to create a total game that was larger than the sum of its parts. Apparently, I needed to write what I did, because I […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 14 Comments to Read



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