Getting Over Gaming Guilt

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 30, 2010

Many years ago, listening to the radio on my commute to my day job at the video game studio,  I heard a report on the radio about how the average American watches over 25 hours of television a week. I was instantly seized upon by a feeling of some kind of moral superiority. Why, I […]

Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

Shoot ‘Em Up (SHMUP) Interviews, and Boss Design

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 29, 2010

What makes a great shoot-em-up (shmup)? I’m not sure I have an answer now after reading this interview with two extremely veteran shmup creators Matthew Doucette and Christopher “udderdude” Emirzian,  but maybe I am a bit closer: Diametrically Opposed Indie Shmups Fight for Justice Some fascinating excerpts: On innovation: “This is one of the most […]

Filed Under: Interviews - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Planescape: Torment Available from GOG.COM

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 28, 2010

Okay, I guess all is forgiven now. Planescape: Torment is now available from GOG.COM I guess this means I can finally give my buddy his copy back.  I’ve had it for many moons now… Yeah, I was one of the idiots who let this one slip past when it was first released. And it’s a […]

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

With Video Games, “Old” is Kind of a Relative Thing, Right?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 27, 2010

April 2, 1996… I was sitting on a bus at CGDC (before it was renamed “GDC”) getting ready to go to Microsoft’s big DirectX party (turned out to be a big toga party). I overheard snippets of conversations around me. A couple of seats behind me, I heard this exchange: Developer 1: So what have […]

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 26, 2010

Okay, I’m being a total fanboy here, but… I actually had *some* time with my extended weekend to delve deeper into the Advanced Player’s Guide for the Pathfinder RPG (a pen-and-paper RPG which is based heavily on the D20 3.5 rules). I’m way impressed. Okay, maybe not so much with the Alchemist class, but the […]

Filed Under: Dice & Paper - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

How Much Should an Indie Game Cost… Revisited

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 24, 2010

Jeff Vogel puts his $0.02 in, again… which I guess makes it $0.04, total: Indie Games Should Be Too Cheap or Too Expensive It’s a curious situation. Generally speaking, “niche” products tend to cost more than those with broad markets. This is for exactly the same reasons Vogel mentions:  “Suppose the market for my retro […]

Filed Under: Biz - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

A Commercial Game in One Month? It’s ON Like Donkey Kong!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 23, 2010

Well, maybe not for me personally since I’m frantically working on another commercial title that’s way overdue… but I’m oh-so-tempted. With an idea… heh… I had back in the 90s. In fact, it got me my job in the mainstream biz. Could be cool to dust it off. See, it’s this cyberpunk action RPG… No. […]

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

Is the “Old School Goodness” Now Poison?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

Ouch. ‘ … the vast majority was utterly flummoxed by the game. As one of them put it, “I’d say for gamers of our generation, an RPG like Ultima IV is boring and pretty much unplayable.” After removing the arrow from my chest, I asked them to explain why.‘ I’ve been chewing on this and […]

Filed Under: Design, Retro - Comments: 13 Comments to Read

It Really Was Just a Publicity Stunt

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 22, 2010

Dear GOG.COM – Next time you choose a PR stunt, try one that doesn’t abuse your customers, okay? Kind of a jackass move that I thought was beneath you. Faking your own death was merely lame, but not allowing downloads of purchased games was not cool. That being said, I’m glad you are still around, […]

Filed Under: Biz, Retro - Comments: 17 Comments to Read

Derek Yu on How to Finish a Game

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

I think I need to permanently bookmark this piece and re-read it weekly. Derek Yu offers fifteen solid tips for actually finishing a game. It’s called, mysteriously enough: Finishing a Game I have been known to actually finish games from time to time. So I do have some perspective on this, though probably not as […]

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

Indie RPG News Roundup – Sepember 21, 2010

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 21, 2010

Back in the early 90’s, I was a poor struggling college student, and felt overwhelmed by the sheer quantity and quality of computer RPGs coming out at the time.  This was just on the PC (and, to a lesser degree, on friends’ Macs and Amigas). I really had no clue what the console world offered. […]

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

Minecraft – Playing With Fire

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

Okay, I’ve only dabbled in the runaway indie hit Minecraft. Somehow I’ve managed to avoid getting sucked up into its soul-consuming vacuum of endless possibilities. However, this particular tutorial video had me laughing so hard I started coughing at the end. Hat tip to Indie Games – The Weblog for this one!

Filed Under: General - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

R.I.P. Cyclopean?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 20, 2010

Cyclopean, the indie RPG based on the horror fiction of H. P. Lovecraft, has been canceled. Quoth Scott, the developer, that after two years, “What I’ve got is basically a ton of writing and nothing else.  And Ted, still the only other member of Team Omega, just isn’t able to dedicate those 20+ hours/week to […]

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

R.I.P. GOG.COM?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 19, 2010

Please, say it ain’t so! But this is what is on the gog.com website today: Dear GOG users, We have recently had to give serious thought to whether we could really keep GOG.com the way it is. We’ve debated on it for quite some time and, unfortunately, we’ve decided that GOG.com simply cannot remain in […]

Filed Under: Biz, Retro - Comments: 21 Comments to Read

Frayed Knights: Tool Time

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 17, 2010

Time for another update on Frayed Knights, the “quick” and “easy” indie RPG that was somehow going to magically take only a few months of my spare time to complete. This update is going to be super-ultra-sexy. Which in this case means, “Totally boring unless you are a programming or design geek.” My apologies. Abraham […]

Filed Under: Design, Frayed Knights - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Best Game Cover Art?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 16, 2010

One annoying tendency I’ve discovered with some  indie digital download games is that there’s a depressing lack of cover art sometimes. It seems this is more often an issue with newer indies on their first release, as they tend to be far more willing to invest in an impressive cover piece on their second or […]

Filed Under: Art, General - Comments: 9 Comments to Read



« previous top