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.

(more…)

Coming the same day as Nicalis has released a revamped downloadable Nintendo 3DS version of Pixel’s indie classic Cave Story (now, honestly, the most essential version of the game, don’t hesitate to pick it up), Nintendo has kept the good news rolling with a breakdown of the games coming to the 3DS’s e-Shop throughout the rest of the year.

Most notable among them is NightSky, the ambient dream-like platformer from Knytt creator Nifflas, long-loved around these parts. The game will be published, like Cave Story, by Nicalis, and is due for release in just three weeks time.

Nintendo has also, somewhat surprisingly, announced that the three of the four minigames known collectively as Guild01 will be released separately as individual downloads, one per month, much in the same way that they broke up Toshio Iwai’s Electroplankton into its constituant pieces.

Originally released in Japan this past Spring as a retail cartridge, the Guild01 collection contains minigames created by a number of big-name designers: Killer7 & No More Heroes producer Suda 51 has contributed the shooter Liberation Maiden, SimTower & Seaman creator has put together the luggage-sorter Aero Porter, and Yasumi Matsuno — best known as a designer on Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story has created the RPG “short story” Crimson Shroud.

Missing from the bunch, somewhat unfortunately, is Omasse’s Rental Weapon Shop from comedian Yoshiyuki Hirai: a rhythm-forger meant to tell the side-story of all the weapon shop owners you encounter in any given RPG.

The games will be joining 3D puzzler Pushmo sequel Crashmo, Virtual Console releases of Zelda II, Wario Land II and Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels as well as demos of WayForward’s Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d you steal our garbage?!! throughout October, November & December.

Chris Schlarb — the man behind the gorgeous lullaby score for Nicalis’s Night Game, the latest from Knytt creator Nifflas — has written in to let us know that he’ll be playing 30 minutes of live music created for and inspired by the game as part of the Slow Sound Festival, this Thursday, September 17th.

The show will be accompanied by, says Schlarb, “projected footage from the game. It’s possible that some of that footage is heretofore unseen.” The Slow Sound Festival will be taking place at 2226 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA. 90814, and starts at 8pm, with a $5 entry fee.

For more details, check the Festival’s Facebook event page.

Nicalis’s other upcoming WiiWare game — its original Night Game, from Knytt creator Nifflas — continues to shape up with previously unseen new… is vehicles the right word? The video also shows off more of the game’s fantastic ambient score from Asthmatic Kitty’s Chris Schlarb. Nintendo has listed the game as a fall 2009 release.

Part of me wishes the game would procedurally generate new levels for me to roll through every day, no matter how aimless — gaming needs its own version of the bedtime story, and this seems as close as anything’s ever come to fitting the bill.

Finally easing the frustration I’ve had in trying to capture what’s going to make Nicalis’s forthcoming WiiWare platformer Night Game unique, the first trailer has come online that perfectly captures all its serene charm: no enemies apart from physics and friction, just the simple joy of exploration.

As previously noted, the game is up for both the design excellence and grand prize awards at this year’s Independent Games Festival, and shares more than a passing resemblance to freeware hit Knytt Stories, both games having been created by Nicalis’s Nicklas ‘Nifflas’ Nygren.

For a cleaner version of the trailer, head over to GoNintendo, who got the exclusive on this first video footage.

Nicalis home [YouTube via TinyCartridge]

Previously:< The Offworld Guide to the 2009 Independent Games Festival – Offworld
Nintendo's Q2 Wii/DS outlook: Desktop Tower Defense, Punch-Out …
A deeper look at Knytt Stories – Offworld