Five Steps To Get Motivated to Make Your Indie Game

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 31, 2012

Full-time indie game developers have a pretty accessible motivator called “the bank account.”  Sadly, it works best when diminished, which is not it’s preferred state. But let’s say you are a part-time indie, or an aspiring indie, and your ability to keep eating is not tied to the completion and success of your next game. […]

Filed Under: Production - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Game Design: The Same Game, Only Different

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 28, 2012

Today, I’m running a D&D game for my family – well, okay, Pathfinder. Which in and of itself is a very cool thing. My twelve-year-old self would be so impressed. We’re playing the second part of the Age of Worms campaign that came out in Dungeon magazine about seven years ago. It’s pretty well-written and […]

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

Indie Games: After the Gold Rush?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 27, 2012

I guess this is a little bit of a follow-up from yesterday’s post, but allow me to get a little pessimistic for a minute. Except I personally think I’m being realistic. Indie games have been enjoying a gold rush, a boom. Inevitably, after the boom peaks, comes a bust – a contraction. Almost everybody knows […]

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

“Never Gonna Play It.”

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 26, 2012

I spent less money this year on the annual holiday PC game portal sales than usual. Maybe it’s premature to say that, as some portals are still doing sales until the beginning of next year, but so far the year-end sales haven’t hurt my wallet as much as the past. This wasn’t really a factor […]

Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: 12 Comments to Read

A Very Indie Christmas

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 24, 2012

Is it sad that I get so excited about taking time off for the holidays so that I can spend time working on my games? Does Santa have any digital elves that can make me some royalty-free art assets? My wife used to buy me a video game or two for Christmas. She doesn’t bother […]

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

Rare Arcade Game that Beat Atari in Court Unearthed

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 21, 2012

I’d never heard of the arcade game Meteors before. It’s hardly surprising – it sounds like the game had near zero distribution, but it does have the distinction of being the winner of a landmark legal decision in a lawsuit from Atari. The problem was… this was a game that, graphically at least… seems quite […]

Filed Under: Biz, Retro - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

A Trip Back to Baldur’s Gate

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 20, 2012

I started a new game of Baldur’s Gate earlier this year, after finally purchasing a new copy of the game from GOG.COM (I still have it on CD-ROM, plus the expansion, but there was too good of a sale one day at GOG.COM with a convenient digital download and extras). I didn’t get far before […]

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Interview with “Telepath Tactics ” Creator Craig Stern

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 19, 2012

It doesn’t feel like all that long ago that I interviewed Craig about Telepath RPG: Servants of God.  But I guess it was actually two years ago. Time flies. This time, I wanted to chat with him about his “Strategy RPG” in development, Telepath Tactics. This game is approaching its final week on Kickstarter. While […]

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Programming: Algorithms, Deltas, and Exceptions

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 18, 2012

Sometimes I am a little slow, and need to be taught a lesson a number of times. My very first day on my first game development job, I was confronted with the design document for the game that would one day be Twisted Metal (actually, I was introduced to both that doc and the Warhawk […]

Filed Under: Programming - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

The Line Between Controversy and Exploitation

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 17, 2012

Brian Moriarty once inspired me in a Game Developer’s Conference (back when it was CGDC, I think) by talking about the wonderful potential of the medium, how it would be the dominant entertainment medium of the 21st century, and the power of the medium to educate and provoke thought. He said something about how you […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Two Great Arcade Urban Legends

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 14, 2012

On twitter (I’m @RampantCoyote ) I was chatting a little bit about arcade urban legends. Most of the ones I was familiar with were pretty local – some kid pulling my leg claiming to have gone to a totally new world through the Stargate in Defender Stargate (later redubbed Defender II). Or how it was […]

Filed Under: Geek Life, Retro - Comments: Comments are off for this article

One Game A Month?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 13, 2012

Christer Kaitila, a fellow who’s name I am terrible at spelling, and the author of The Game Jam Survival Guide, tried something different this year.  He made a New Year’s Resolution to make 12 games in as many months, and while December’s project (a game jam) isn’t complete, he’s pulled it off. Besides completing twelve […]

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

Rumors of Their Death May Be Exaggerated…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 12, 2012

I complain about the “race to the bottom” in terms of pricing for indie games. It’s a problem for indies. It’s possibly an even bigger problem for AAA studios, as an article by Josh Bycer sums up: Are AAA Studios DOA? My answer to the title is actually, “No, they aren’t, but there will be […]

Filed Under: Biz - Comments: Comments are off for this article

Escapism? You’d Better Believe It

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 11, 2012

Whenever I hear fiction, movies, or especially video games denigrated as useless escapism, my defensive response (and suppression of the desire to smack the critic) isn’t just based on my profession. I tend to trace my love of video games to a couple of days spent in Phoenix as a kid. I’d played and enjoyed […]

Filed Under: General - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Making Games. Faster.

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 10, 2012

I was reading a little bit this weekend about fiction writers “going indie.” I’m not very in tune with the fiction biz, but what little I gleaned sounded like indie is progressing in that industry about at the same pace as indie games, maybe a couple of years behind. However, those writers who have effectively […]

Filed Under: Production - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

How Fast Should Characters Level Up?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 7, 2012

Back in the (somewhat) earlier dice & paper RPG days, one of the key differences between skill-based RPG systems and class/level based systems (which have now married and have had lots of hybrid babies) was the pace of character progression.  In a skill-based system, you typically gained abilities, or points to spend on abilities, after […]

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 14 Comments to Read



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