While it may not reach the masterful heights of Travis Pitts’ “Madness of Mission 6“, the terrifying blank void tragedy of Deaddreamer’s “druqs” is as close as I’ve seen anyone come, in the honestly too-under-populated arena of “surreal & vaguely realistic re-interpretations of Pac-Man lore”.

Bonus points, though, for what I’m guessing is possibly not one but two veiled Aphex Twin references? [via YKBXTXBXLX]

[Every Friday on Venus Patrol, designer Dominique ‘Dom2D‘ Ferland presents TIGSource DevLog Magazine, a visual guide to the newest & most interesting in-development games making the rounds on the invaluable TIGSource forums. Looking for inspiration, or just the very first look at the amazing games we’ll be talking about in the future? Click any image to learn more, and come back each Friday for the latest picks!]

Don’t mind the huge creepy eyes staring at you in Environmental Station Alpha – focus on all the good stuff on the forums this week! Pixel art western The Wild West, mysterious point and click platformer The Remnant and 4-player arena party game Greedy Piggy Chase (shameless plug!) make their first appearance, while Rock Boshers DX sees a release on Playstation Mobile.

Kentucky Route Zero was one of the first best surprises of 2011 (as well as one of the first Kickstarter projects I had zero hesitation in donating to), a “magical realist” bluegrass adventure game pitched by Chicago-based indie Cardboard Computer that was as gloriously close to approaching the work of the Coen Brothers and Jeunet & Caro as games can probably come (see its initial trailer below and the references should become a bit more clear).

Still deep in development over the past two years, the game’s raised its head just above the surface only a rare handful of times, while Cardboard Computer head Jake Elliott let loose a small flurry of similarly abstract & haunting micro-adventure games like Balloon Diaspora, Ruins and M83-collaboration We Were You.

Cut to today, when Elliott has finally officially revealed the latest look at the game (at top), with a new and frankly completely jaw-dropping aesthetic overhaul by new collaborator Tamas Kemenczy, that should perfectly illustrate why this re-instantly became one of my most anticipated games.

Elliott says the new plan is to break up the game into five more-manageable acts to be released throughout 2013 after an initial drop in December. While you wait, do as I do on those cold & solitary half-drunken nights, and loop the soundtrack clip above ad infinitum, a washed-out version of bluegrass standard What Would You Give (In Exchange for Your Soul) by in-game band, The Bedquilt Ramblers, who elsewhere in the game’s score go even more amazingly ambient — and every bit as infinitely repeatable — thanks to remix work by the Ramblers’ Ben Babbitt. Keep an eye on the game’s official website for more upcoming information.

There’s sort of no better way to spend an hour or so of your Wednesday than with Exotworking‘s just-released game, The Visit, which, finally, fully considers — to all of its various logical conclusions — the ethics of retro-platformer sociopathy.

It’s a brief, perfect short-story of a game which initially formed out of a 48 hour jam, by Irina Gross, Benedikt Hummel, and Majus Fietzek, who you may recognize as the developer who landed himself a Double Fine internship by putting together a fully playable adventure game “application”.

Just as funny (if not as anarchist & severe) as TheCatamites’ Murder Dog, you’ll be finished with The Visit when you’ve branched out on all six punchline paths, only the three most obvious of which I’ve yet found, each as satisfying as the last — the best kind of mid-week distraction. [The Visit, via Tim Schafer]

Lessons in Pokemon anatomy in the fantastic style of vintage kaiju illustration by artist Ryan ‘Rye-Bread‘ Mauskopf, currently employed by BustedTees, where — not coincidentally — you can find wearable versions of this + Charmander + Squirtle, plus a bonus Pikachu coming in the near future. [via Technabob]

Belly up to the bar to get an earful of the hard life of a Pokemon trainer whose glory days are now behind him, from Cartoon Network & DC illustrator and Warner Bros art director Dan ‘Mr Hipp‘ Hipp, who’s selling the original piece here, if you act fast.

[UPDATE: both of these wallpapers have been updated further to fit properly on the iPhone 5 — click here for the newer versions and one additional wallpaper!]

As if I didn’t have enough latent guilt about impulse-upgrading to an iPhone 5 I didn’t necessarily really need, the first thing I realized on activation was that the extra row of icons had unceremoniously broken my favorite part of the phone: my original Noby Noby Boy wallpaper, which saw BOY playfully looped around each of your icons, and surprises hidden under each which only revealed themselves as you opened an adjacent folder.

And so, I registered my complaint with Katamari Damacy & Noby creator Keita Takahashi, who, even though he hadn’t yet upgraded himself, offered to alleviate the situation by creating an newer, longer version, and even threw in a brand new GIRL version for our troubles.

And so, presented below the fold, both of the wallpapers to adorn your own device, in wistful memory of the game that very shortly will be leaving the mortal coil of the App Store itself. If you’re still working the iPhone 4/4S, you can find the original BOY version here, with the shortened GIRL version promised to appear in the near future.

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Super interesting news from Robin Hunicke — formerly designer and producer on games like Boom Blox, Journey and Glitch — and Martin ‘Pizzacity‘ Middleton, who joined thatgamecompany in 2006 to work on the PS3 port of flOw before creating much of the underlying technology of both Flower and Journey, as both have announced the foundation of Funomena, a new San Francisco based indie studio.

The duo have also announced that they’ll be collaborating with a number of TGC alum & friends including Journey and Monaco composer Austin Wintory, former thatgamecompany art director Matt Nava, and SuperBetter design director and San Francisco Global Game Jam organizer Chelsea Howe for their upcoming projects.

While there’s no formal announcement of their first project, Hunicke has hinted that they’ll be working with a non-profit on a game involving the use of pedometers, in an effort to tackle issues like childhood obesity — keep an eye on the Funomena blog to see more as the project takes shape.

The game that first put VVVVVV & Super Hexagon creator Terry Cavanagh on many peoples’ radars, for its mix of twitch platforming & narrative twists, Don’t Look Back — first released to the web in 2009 — has just been released as a free download for iOS and Android devices.

Though it came across the momentary and slightly cynical hitch above in its journey to the App Store, you can grab the iPhone/iPad app here, or find it for your Android either on the Google Play store, or as a direct download to install to your device.

It’s a clever short story of a game that you’ll wrap up before you know it, but it’s a stepping-stone type journey in a couple different senses, serving first, it seems, as a stop along the way not just to Cavanagh’s own development path to VVVVVV — if you’ve played the latter, you’ll feel it on your way through here.

This mobile release also seems to been a proving grounds which provided him with the knowledge that VVVVVV just might work on mobile devices as well, with it now being teased as an upcoming game on his Distractionware site.

And then, without warning, the wonderful news I have been waiting for quite literally since the launch of the PlayStation Vita itself: Sony’s stateside blog has just announced that Frobisher Says, the minigame collection from Hohokum & Passing Time developers Honeyslug will finally be released in U.S. as a free download on October 23rd.

Though often compared to games like WarioWare for its fast-paced & fractured play, Frobisher‘s less a frenetic exercise in reaction time and more a petulant and self-aware tour through the Vita hardware itself, guided by the titular narrator, played — pitch perfectly — by Kevin Eldon, who you almost certainly know, even if you don’t know you know (or, at least, you should know), from appearances in British comedies like Spaced, Black Books, Brass Eye, Jam & I’m Alan Partridge.

The game also contains a laundry list of amazing illustrators & fellow indie artists, from co-creator Dick Hogg (the same as behind the Venus Patrol Training Facility logo) to Johnny Ryan, David ‘Swatpaz‘ Ferguson, Greg Wohlwend & Pixeljam.

Long story short, it’s an essential download and the best reason to get re-acquainted with your Vita since Sound Shapes — expect to hear more here on it closer to its release.