JUEGOS RANCHEROS’ FISTFUL OF INDIES: NOVEMBER 2011

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 — both local and global, and both indie and occasionally a bit-bigger-budget — for the audience, to give people — especially those curious onlookers from outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed.

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

The IGF Pirate Kart

Developer: Various | Platform: PC | Get it: Here

“a massive community effort to bring together a number of smaller ideas that themselves couldn’t stand alone in a competition like the IGF. As with any compilation, some of the entries in this work better than others, but there are some truly interesting things in here, from people you’ve heard of before as well as those you haven’t.”

The Difference Engine: Ada Lovelace games

Developer: Various | Platform: Web | See them all: here

“… The Difference Engine is a new initiative to help people who’ve never made a game before to create their first, beginning with this group of women here, who, after the workshop, will themselves go on to lead meetings of their own and spread game creation like a beautiful virus..”

Retroid

Developer: Flat Black | Platform: iPhone/iPad | Get it: App Store

“…a super simple little shooting game based on the Voxel engine Bob Sabiston’s been developing for a while now, and if you’ve got an iCade machine — which turns your iPad into a little mini arcade cab — he’s also built support for that into this.”

Loop Raccord

Developer: Plural Games | Platform: iPad | Get it: App Store

“… a very hard game to describe, essentially what you’re doing is taking a bunch of clips of old public domain films and mixing them until they create one loop of continuous motion.”

Ruins

Developer: Cardboard Computer | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“… a short but super beautiful little adventure game, the official description about this one is that it’s ‘a game about a dog chasing rabbits through a shadowy, dreamlike landscape’, but there’s a bit more going on here that’s better left experienced than explained.”

Wizorb

Developer: Pixeltao | Platform: Xbox 360, PC | Get it: Xbox Live Indie Games, PC

“… a curious little mashup of Breakout and a traditional RPG, with some graphics by superstar animator Paul Robertson, whose work you might recall from the Scott Pilgrim game.”

Keyboard Drumset Fucking Werewolf

Developer: Cactus | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“…the latest from indie game superstar Cactus, a collaboration with a Swedish indie band called Fucking Werewolf ASSO, which plays basically like a multi-stage collection of minigames that add up to an amazing interactive music video.”

Ready Steady Bang

Developer: Chambers Judd & Ed Barrett | Platform: iPhone/iPad | Get it: App Store

“… more or less the most minimalist but still compelling game you can imagine, not just aesthetically, the point here is to wait for the computer to say ‘ready, steady, bang‘, and then both players try to quick-draw touch the screen before the other.”

Aquaria

Developer: Bit Blot | Platform: iPad | Get it: App Store

“an iPad port of 2007’s crazy gorgeous underwater adventure game that works beautifully on the device.”

Serious Sam: The Random Encounter

Developer: Vlambeer | Platform: PC | Get it: Steam

“… a traditional Japanese RPG with random turn based battles taken into the Serious Sam world, which tosses a few hundred enemies at you at a time. As with every Vlambeer game, it’s super funny and super thoughtful, and it’s actually the first game they’ve ever charged money for, so you should definitely show them some support.”