The Rise of the Microconsoles Continues…
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 28, 2013
Google is apparently going to enter the fray with an Ouya-killer of their own. Possibly in response to Apple’s potential push for supporting game controllers and having gaming integral with Apple TV: Forbes: Google Takes Aim at Gaming Market With New Android Video Game Console WSJ: Google Building Android Game Console The rumors of Apple […]
Filed Under: Biz - Comments: 8 Comments to Read
Are Publishers Getting Interested in Old-School PC RPGs Again?
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 27, 2013
Hmmm… in answer to the title query… yes, maybe publishers big and small are getting interested in that genre they happily left for dead years ago. After some high-profile Kickstarter successes, publishers are thinking… no, not that they were wrong, but rather, that the market has now changed. That’s the excuse I remember…. Publishers may […]
Filed Under: Biz - Comments: 10 Comments to Read
How Much Time Does Indie Development Demand?
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 26, 2013
Andrew Lamb, on Gamasutra, writes about Dispelling Some Myths for the Indie Studio Newbie. I really enjoyed the article. I’d say much the same things if I’d written it myself. So kudos to Lamb. But I wanted to talk about one of his points – about how much time and effort it takes to develop […]
Filed Under: Game Development - Comments: 2 Comments to Read
Happy Ouya Day
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 25, 2013
I try not to be a cheerleader for the Ouya, but dang it – it’s the first big “indie console.” It’s hard not to be rooting for it. Today is kind of crucial, as the Ouya is finally being launched to the rest of the world. Sales today may determine whether or not the little […]
Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 8 Comments to Read
The Prototype Problem
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 24, 2013
There are parts of the software development cycle that may seem counter-intuitive to people new it. Thanks to crowd-funding and the increased visibility into the development process from the indies, gamers and crowd-funding “backers” may find themselves in a difficult place of witnessing what may appear as a train-wreck as they follow development. Oftentimes, it’s […]
Filed Under: Game Development - Comments: 9 Comments to Read
What Does DRM Mean to You?
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 21, 2013
So when you are talking about “Digital Rights Management,” DRM, the sort of thing that used to be called “copy protection,” there are a lot of arguments out there. While there are “book answers” out there, I’m more curious as to what you guys think / feel. The whole DRM thing (which has been brought […]
Filed Under: General - Comments: 27 Comments to Read
Booyah – The Ouya! A Quick Take
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 20, 2013
I received my Ouya just before having to leave town. I’m doing that a lot lately, have you noticed? Anyway… I haven’t had much of a chance to play with it (as expected), but I’ve been able to put a couple of hours into it. But as usual, the console itself is not really the […]
Filed Under: Impressions - Comments: 4 Comments to Read
How to Not Screw Up a Superhero Movie
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 19, 2013
I saw Man of Steel the other night. I was really looking forward to it, but the final product was… well, it wasn’t bad. We’ve all seen plenty of bad. This was good, but could have been great. I wouldn’t call myself a huge comic-book fan when I was growing up. For a while I […]
Filed Under: Design, Movies - Comments: 11 Comments to Read
GOG.COM holds a massive sale
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 18, 2013
I guess it’s that time of year again… GOG.COM No DRM Summer Sale The “Definitive Dungeons & Dragons Bundle” would be extremely interesting to me… if I didn’t already own every single game in the bundle. In some cases, twice. Or, in the case of Baldur’s Gate, three times… And Torchlight is free for a […]
Filed Under: Deals - Comments: 3 Comments to Read
Physical Media Loses More Traction…
Posted by Rampant Coyote on
Gamasutra announced yesterday that it will no longer publishing the monthly NPD numbers for retail game sales. The reason? The numbers are becoming increasingly meaningless. They stress that they still respect the NPD and the job they do – but the numbers can now be more confusing than they are helpful. This is mainly because […]
Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism - Comments: Read the First Comment
Why PC Gaming Rocks: PCs Are Already Emulating the Xbox One…
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 17, 2013
In terms of scandals currently making the rounds in the news here in the U.S.A., this would definitely be such small potatoes as to hardly warrant a comment. But it’s funny, and game-related. Those Xbox One games played at E3 last week? Thanks to some well-timed pictures and a crash to the desktop, we know […]
Filed Under: Biz, Mainstream Games - Comments: 4 Comments to Read
Nuking BlueSnap
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 14, 2013
I’m going to be officially canceling my account with BlueSnap (formerly Plimus) in the next few days. They’ve got some new policies that make them a very poor partner for low-volume indies (and courtesy of The Long Tail, since I quit using them as a primary distribution partner a long time ago, I’m permanently low-volume). […]
Filed Under: Rampant Games - Comments: 10 Comments to Read
Frayed Knights Update: How’s Unity 3D Working Out?
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 13, 2013
I got a great suggestion a few weeks ago for a Frayed Knights Dev Diary thingy about my experiences working with Unity 3D. Brilliant idea! The only trick is, I’m not really sure how to answer it. My first reaction is, “Huh? I’m using Unity? Oh, yeah, I guess I am.” It doesn’t sound like […]
Filed Under: Frayed Knights, Game Development - Comments: 6 Comments to Read
Making Short and Sweet Games
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 12, 2013
This was supposed to be what the one-game-per-month idea was supposed to be about (which I’ve not really done much to participate in). But the other day I saw this ad: There’s a part of me – the kid who spent way too much time and money in the arcades in his youth – who […]
Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: Read the First Comment
The PS4 Promises to be Indie-Friendly. Also, They Clobber the Xbox One.
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 11, 2013
The Xbone pre-E3 presentation yesterday was, based on most media reports, something of a dud. Maybe it just got reported that way because that’s what many people were expecting, but… based upon what I saw / read, the response was likewarm at best. Many of the Xbone’s “features” were, IMO, not consumer-friendly. They have restrictive […]
Filed Under: Biz, Mainstream Games - Comments: 6 Comments to Read
It’s E3 Again!
Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 10, 2013
Okay, it’s time for E3 once again! This year I’m once again enjoying it from the comfort of my own web-browser. This week, we can expect the following: 1) More information on the next generation of consoles! How will they be more bad-ass than anything that has ever come before in the history of mankind? […]
Filed Under: Biz - Comments: 2 Comments to Read