Among other exciting news, this year’s event will feature new, commissioned works by Nina Freeman, Tyriq Plummer, George Buckingham, Daniel Linssen, Powerhoof, and Catt Small.
Visit fantasticarcade.com for all the info!
JUEGOS RANCHEROS is excited to share DEEP SOUTH AFRICA, a trio of games from developers based in South Africa. Join us this Thursday, Sept 6th, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door for a look at Semblance, Helping Hand, and Frog Smashers.
Created by duo Nyamakop, Semblance is described as a “true platformer”. What does that even mean? Well you can literally manipulate platforms with your body in this soft and squishy world. Come check out one of the first games from South Africa to be released on the Switch.
Every play a dialogue driven narrative game, but only wanted to respond to every character by giving them the finger? Well in Helping Hand you can! Along with a variety of different hand gestures you can navigate this Adult Swim show-esque game with just the use of 5 fingers.
Known for their breakout hit BROFORCE, the SA collective known as Free Lives decided to run a game jam on a remote island. It’s kind of like survivor but with game developers and no one actually gets voted off. Frog Smashers is the only game to come out of Game Jam Island. It tells the tale of a simple misunderstanding at a bus stop that leads to the end of frogkind.
We’ll be showcasing all these games and more Thursday, September 6th, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702, with a short introduction at 8:00PM. The show is free, all ages, and open to all the public, so come join us as we drink, play and meet the people changing the way we think about games!
JUEGOS RANCHEROS is excited to share HOT LOCAL FLAVORS, a collection of upcoming and recently released games created in and around our very own Austin, Texas. Join us this Thursday, August 2nd, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door for a look at Red Star Azimuth, The Indie Game Legend 3D, Imperishable Memories, and more!
[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]
We’re mesmerized by the visual landscape in Red Star Azimuth. Manuela Malasaña is creating a first person hacking puzzle game with am 80’s vaporwave aesthetic. Manuela has been posting some stunning images on her twitter feed. Come see why we’re hyped at getting a first look of the memory prism inside of “Vaporland”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Continuing in first person perspectives, we’re excited to show Jeff Lindsay’s The Indie Game Legend 3D. A cult-classic dungeon shoot em ‘up created during the early days of the TIGSource forum is reimagined and expanded as a first-person shooter-vania. Come learn the history and explore the future of this underground labyrinth. Try to rescue captured indie game creators in this quirky underground adventure.
Previous Juegos Rancheros artist resident Jennifer Raye returns! We’re excited to show the near-final release of her Imperishable Memories. Journey through this narrative shoot ‘em up and explore unforgotten emotions and experiences. Can you grab a hold of the past…or perhaps enemies on your way?
All of these local developers will be here to show off their latest creations. Come say hi!
We’ll be showcasing all these games and more Thursday, August 2nd, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702, with a short introduction at 8:00PM. The show is free, all ages, and open to all the public, so come join us as we drink, play and meet the people changing the way we think about games!
Juegos Rancheros put out a call for new leadership and we’re happy to say some real fine folks stepped up to help! These new board members will help with bringing you new monthly events to celebrate indie games in Austin, managing the annual Fantastic Arcade festival, and collaborating with the Museum of Human Achievement on artists residencies for the Arcade of Anything gallery space.
Without further ado, we proudly introduce the newest additions to the Juegos Rancheros Board of Directors— Saam Pahlavan, Rusty Moyher, and Autumn Taylor. Here’s a little more information about each one of our new board members:
Saam Pahlavan is an award winning independent game maker and co-founder of the infamous Taco Illuminati based out of Austin, TX .
His passion for videogames extends into a long series of excellent game ideas , interviewing fellow developers, and being a local folk hero.
Rusty Moyher is the independent videogame creator who builds and publishes work under the moniker Wild Rooster.
With a passion for bringing people together, his projects often focus on local multiplayer experiences including his long-running Astro Duel series and the critically-acclaimed party game BLOOP He also co-created, kickstarted and released the seven-part Retro Game Crunch collection and runs the nightly tournaments at Fantastic Arcade.
Autumn Rose Taylor is a community organizer and business/communications professional that lives and breathes virtual reality.
In addition to her community efforts with JUEGOS RANCHEROS, Taylor co-organizes VR Austin, the annual VR Austin Jam, and focuses her community work on diversity and advocating for women/non-binary individuals in the video game and virtual reality industries at large. She is currently Studio Director at Owlchemy Labs.
These good people applied to board membership during our recent call for new members. That application is now closed, but we are looking for help with committees working on Fantastic Arcade around the corner on October 25-28, as well as our local monthly events highlighting the best in indie games from around the world and in our own backyard. To find out more information about about getting involved in these committees, email juegosrancheros@gmail.com.
We are excited for the contributions of our new board members and future contributions of committee members to the Juegos Rancheros organization, the indie games community in Austin, and beyond.
Juegos Rancheros has completed its review of conduct concerns regarding the organization’s former president, Brandon Boyer. Spanning numerous individuals and incidents, the reports we received indicate a pattern of unacceptable behavior toward women, including emotional manipulation leading to fear of professional retaliation. Thus, we stand by our decision to dismiss Boyer from the board and any future leadership roles in Juegos Rancheros, including Fantastic Arcade and other Juegos Rancheros-sponsored events. We thank all those who came forward to bring light to these incidents, and we ask our local and online communities to join us in respecting their privacy.
Making inclusive spaces requires consistent, challenging work. We have taken a number to steps to help to make things right, including improving our Safe Spaces Policy, instituting an incident response team, and growing our Board of Directors to maintain fresh, diverse voices in leadership. We will provide more information about all of these steps in an upcoming blog post.
JUEGOS RANCHEROS is proud to present KNIGHTS AND BIKES – A hand-painted game about little girls kicking up hell on a small British isle in the 80’s- this Thursday, July 5th, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door.
[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]
This unbelievably stylish and soulful game features the talents of Tearaway and LittleBigPlanet creators and is being published by the good folks at DoubleFine Presents. Come get a hands-on sneak preview of the game, alongside local indie games in development.
A short introduction begins at 8:00PM. The show is free, all ages, and open to all the public, so come join us as we drink, play and meet the people changing the way we think about games!
