JUEGOS RANCHEROS’ FISTFUL OF INDIES: JULY 2015


7.6.2015

Brandon Boyer

Leave a reply

Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of the Austin, TX independent game community JUEGOS RANCHEROS, we do a very casual & chatty rundown of the ten or so games from the previous month for the audience, to give people — especially those outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed. The featured games are both local and global, and both indie and, on occasion, a bit-bigger-budget — what binds them together is simply that they’re all amazing.

In keeping with the tongue-in-tobacco-packed-cheek tone, we call these run-downs A Fistful of Indies, which are presented here on Venus Patrol for your reference, in addition to their home on the JUEGOS RANCHEROS site.

(more…)


HEY NYC: COME SEE VENUS PATROL AT BABYCASTLES WITH QRION ON MAY 9TH


11059363_10103356865596470_183887568327376875_n

4.28.2015

Brandon Boyer

Leave a reply

Missed our GDC party and have been kicking yourself ever since? If you’re in the NYC area, you’re in luck: Venus Patrol is partnering with local DIY videogame space Babycastles to bring you an all-day, all-ages event on May 9th, featuring Qrion — the Sapporo-based producer who became an actual honest viral sensation on Vine based on her Venus Patrol/Wild Rumpus party appearance in March.

To celebrate that success, we’re bringing her back for another show — which has since expanded into her first ever full U.S. tour — where she’ll be supported by Anamanaguchi’s Peter Berkman (who also gave an incredible performance at our party), and, super excitingly, NYC’s Doss, another local favorite who you can preview below.

(more…)


JUEGOS RANCHEROS’ FISTFUL OF INDIES: APRIL 2015


4.6.2015

Brandon Boyer

Leave a reply

Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of the Austin, TX independent game community JUEGOS RANCHEROS, we do a very casual & chatty rundown of the ten or so games from the previous month for the audience, to give people — especially those outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed. The featured games are both local and global, and both indie and, on occasion, a bit-bigger-budget — what binds them together is simply that they’re all amazing.

In keeping with the tongue-in-tobacco-packed-cheek tone, we call these run-downs A Fistful of Indies, which are presented here on Venus Patrol for your reference, in addition to their home on the JUEGOS RANCHEROS site.

(more…)


JUEGOS RANCHEROS’ FISTFUL OF INDIES: DECEMBER 2014


12.17.2014

Brandon Boyer

Leave a reply

Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of the Austin, TX independent game community JUEGOS RANCHEROS, we do a very casual & chatty rundown of the ten or so games from the previous month for the audience, to give people — especially those outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed. The featured games are both local and global, and both indie and, on occasion, a bit-bigger-budget — what binds them together is simply that they’re all amazing.

In keeping with the tongue-in-tobacco-packed-cheek tone, we call these run-downs A Fistful of Indies, which are presented here on Venus Patrol for your reference, in addition to their home on the JUEGOS RANCHEROS site.

(more…)


WATTAM IS KEITA TAKAHASHI’S NEW GAME AT FUNOMENA


wattam_logo

12.6.2014

Brandon Boyer

Leave a reply

Back in June of 2013, Venus Patrol announced at our HORIZON press conference that Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi had joined upstart studio Funomena to create their first major game, and now that game has just been revealed.

While they’re still remaining tight-lipped on the actual gameplay, Funomena says Wattam — a combination of the Tamil and Japanese words for “making a loop” — provides a hint to what the game will be about, “making connections between different types of things.”

Above is the first trailer for the game just revealed at the PlayStation Experience event, which introduces Wattam‘s main-character mayor, with more details expected to trickle out throughout 2015, all of which you’ll obviously probably be seeing here.

See more posts about: , , ,


JUEGOS RANCHEROS’ FISTFUL OF INDIES: NOVEMBER 2014


11.7.2014

Brandon Boyer

Leave a reply

Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of the Austin, TX independent game community JUEGOS RANCHEROS, we do a very casual & chatty rundown of the ten or so games from the previous month for the audience, to give people — especially those outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed. The featured games are both local and global, and both indie and, on occasion, a bit-bigger-budget — what binds them together is simply that they’re all amazing.

In keeping with the tongue-in-tobacco-packed-cheek tone, we call these run-downs A Fistful of Indies, which are presented here on Venus Patrol for your reference, in addition to their home on the JUEGOS RANCHEROS site.

(more…)


JUEGOS RANCHEROS’ FISTFUL OF INDIES: AUGUST 2014


8.13.2014

Brandon Boyer

Leave a reply

Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of the Austin, TX independent game community JUEGOS RANCHEROS, we do a very casual & chatty rundown of the ten or so games from the previous month for the audience, to give people — especially those outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed. The featured games are both local and global, and both indie and, on occasion, a bit-bigger-budget — what binds them together is simply that they’re all amazing.

In keeping with the tongue-in-tobacco-packed-cheek tone, we call these run-downs A Fistful of Indies, which are presented here on Venus Patrol for your reference, in addition to their home on the JUEGOS RANCHEROS site.

(more…)


A HOLE NEW WORLD: BEN ESPOSITO’S KACHINA BECOMES DONUT COUNTY


donutcounty_shop_august2014

8.11.2014

Brandon Boyer

3 Replies

Originally pitched as a physics-based toy that let you “play with the creatures and artifacts of North American mythology”, Ben Esposito’s Kachina quickly became one of my most anticipated games back in 2012, with its vaguely Katamari-in-reverse mechanics that allowed you to swallow up successively larger objects with a player-controlled hole that grew wider every time something fell in.

After its showing at various festivals throughout 2013, including last year’s HORIZON conference, news about the game went somewhat dark, as Esposito simultaneously continued development on Perfect Stride — the first-person skateboarder he’s creating with LA game collective Arcane Kids — as well as that collective’s numerous side projects like the cult hit Bubsy 3D.

But now, Esposito has just revealed that he is re-imagining Kachina as something new: Donut County, which is set to make its debut at this year’s Fantastic Arcade in Austin, Texas on September 18th.

(more…)

See more posts about: , , ,


GANG BEASTS, MOUNTAIN, DONUT COUNTY ARCADE CABINETS COMING TO FANTASTIC ARCADE


fa2013cabs

8.11.2014

Brandon Boyer

Leave a reply

After another couple long weekends spent with a few hundred excellent games, the first eight selections of this year’s Fantastic Arcade have just been announced, each of which will be given the full arcade-cabinet overhaul (as above, from last year) and put on public display for all Fantastic Fest & Arcade-goers in Austin, TX from September 18th to 21st.

Once again, the games have been selected by the operators of Austin indie collective JUEGOS RANCHEROS (aka Adam Saltsman, Jo Lammert, Rachel Weil, Wiley Wiggins & yours truly), with some of those games also serving as public tournaments throughout the festival’s five days — full information on each follows below.

Photo Jul 13, 10 12 06 PM

Banana Chalice

Developer: Kyle Reimergarten

The next major game from Kyle Reimergarten — creator of Fantastic Arcade 2013 selection (and one of my overall top 2013 games), FjordsBanana Chalice is a tunnel shooter about cats, bananas and monsters, with all of the off-kilter and lo-fi home-spun charm that by now has become his signature. Reimergarten promises as much mystery and magic out of Chalice as he brought to Fjords, which is to say, a lot.

(more…)