JUEGOS RANCHEROS’ FISTFUL OF INDIES: JANUARY 2013

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 curious onlookers from 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, each fully-annotated, -linked, and off-the-cuff blurbed, in addition to their home on the JUEGOS RANCHEROS site.

Interlocked

Developer: Armor Games | Platform: iPhone/iPad | Get it: AppStore

“… the object here is that you’re given a mess of wooden blocks that are all holding each other in place, and — one by one — you’ve got to eventually untangle this mess until they’re all free. You can try this one on the web for free, but I recommend getting your fingers directly on it on your iPad or iPhone.”

VESPER.5

Developer: Michael Brough | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“…done for a game jam late last year that was themed after the word “ritual”, and that’s exactly what this game is — it allows your monk here to make one move a day throughout its world, and forces you to take 24 hours to reflect on that move and your new surroundings. I haven’t come close to finishing this yet, but I love the idea of a game being a regular part of your daily routine.”

Mastaba Snoopy

Developer: gods17 | Platform: Web | Play it: Here

“…set 14,000 years in the future, where a single alien entity has sort of swallowed the entire universe and contains multitudes, all of which are like increasingly dense corruptions of the world of Peanuts comics, its only real understanding of former human life. I won’t go much further than that, you should just definitely go spend several minutes with it.”

Slayers

Developer: White Whale | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“…a 2 player spinoff of God of Blades, made right here in Austin by our friends at White Whale. They call it a mix of football, Bushido Blade and Robert E Howard, which is just about right, and they’ve partnered with Venus Patrol to release this as a free Mac & PC download — you should definitely give this a go at your next party.”

Save The Day

Developer: Denki | Platform: Web | Play it: Here

“…a super cute & fun game where you’re piloting this fire-fighting chopper here to rescue citizens and take them to these landing pads you see, which unlocks new areas. It’s a very time limited game, so the fun is in replaying it every day to try and get further into its world & work your way up the high score tables. Denki understand ‘fun’ more than most, and this one definitely is.”

Pixeljam Octology

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

“Pixeljam have just released a little platformer game called Potatoman Seeks The Troof along with 7 other games in a package called ‘Pixeljam Octology’, which I highly recommend. You not only get this, but a full album with a custom visualizer for each track, some software to make pixel comics, and downloads of a bunch of their old games, all of which are some greatest hits from years past.”

Little Inferno

Developer: Tomorrow Corporation | Platform: PC/Wii U | Get it: Here, Wii U eShop

“… a critique on consumer culture, a critique on free to play games, and an amazingly satisfying virtual fireplace all wrapped in one, tied together with a really intriguing semi-post-apocalyptic story.”

Spaceteam

Developer: Sleeping Beast | Platform: iPhone/iPad | Get it: App Store

“… 2 to 4 of you connect your iPhones together, and run through a star pilot simulation where you all have to give each other orders to carry out, but in essence, it’s just a really amazing excuse for four drunk people to yell nonsense at each other. This was one of the biggest surprises of 2012 — it came out of nowhere and is fantastic fun.”

Knytt Underground

Developer: Nifflas | Platform: PlayStation 3/Vita, PC/Mac | Get it: PSN, PC/Mac

“…this is a huge, deep amalgamation of basically every beautiful idea Nifflas has ever had, which spans many many hundreds of rooms to explore on a quest to stop the end of the world.”

Hundreds

Developer: Semi Secret & Greg Wohlwend | Platform: iPhone/iPad | Get it: AppStore

“…the first best game of 2013, an ambient puzzle game for your iPad that you 100% need to grab before you go to bed tonight. I guarantee you’ll get deeply hooked into it almost instantly.”