Doing anything particularly romantic between May 24th and June 8th? No? Good, because I’m super happy to announce that Venus Patrol is organizing the first in what I hope becomes a regular series of game jams, this time dedicated to the lonesome future west-world theme: the space cowboy.

The game jam, hosted with the help of itch.io, is open to developers worldwide, and will run for two weeks, after which it will be judged by players for the week following on a variety of to be determined criteria like romance and psychedelia.

The idea for the jam came, obviously, after I finally got it together to watch all of Cowboy Bebop in one crazy week-long marathon (which I suggest you do or re-do in advance) and realized no game had quite struck that perfect tone the series did — an ineffable feeling I also get from Cory Mcabee’s film The American Astronaut and Lisa Hanawalt’s web-comic Coyote Doggirl.

And hopefully you’ll find that feeling just as evocative and inspiring, because just as exciting as the jam itself is news that our Austin indie collective JUEGOS RANCHEROS will be showcasing the best of the games from July 2nd through the 6th in the real-life mystical West Texas high desert town of Marfa, as part of the Marfa Film Festival.

A few of us just got back from Marfa late last night, where we met with Film Festival organizers & location-scouted the area we’ll be carving out and dedicating to your Space Cowboy games, and there’s a whole lot of expectation from all parties involved that This Is Going To Be Really Cool for the thousands of people that attend the Fest.

We’ll be putting out more detailed information at the official Space Cowboy Game Jam site and open up for your submissions on the 24th of this month, but in the meantime start clearing off your calendar, dreaming up big ideas under an endless starry sky & discussing collaborations on twitter via the hashtag #spacecowboygamejam — we’re all crazy excited to see what you come up with!

Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of 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 for your reference, each fully annotated & linked up for your pleasure.

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You may have caught little snippets throughout the history of JUEGOS RANCHEROS meetups, but the time has finally come to bring it all together! Join us at Austin’s North Door next Thursday, May 1st, at 7:00PM, as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents the first look at the final release of Sportsfriends, the new gold-standard indie multiplayer collection.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

We introduced Austin to Sportsfriends mainstay Johann Sebastian Joust a full three years ago (!), and again many times since, but — with the collection having just passed Sony certification and been cleared for release on PS3 & PS4 — this will be the first time to catch the final version of all four Sportsfriends games under one roof!

As you can see previewed in the video above, included will be Foddy’s Pole Riders, Ramiro Corbetta’s Hokra, Noah Sasso’s BaraBariBall, and… what’s this? Hmmmmm… I can’t quite tell, but it feels like a version of J.S. Joust that will feel right at home in Austin…

With any luck, we’ll also have some wicked prizes for the local champions, so you’re definitely going to want to meet us Thursday, May 1st, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702! The show is free and open to all the public — come drink, play, and meet the people changing the way you think about videogames!

Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of 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 for your reference, each fully annotated & linked up for your pleasure.

(more…)

Bummed out that you missed the debut of the ultimate game of competitive feline poise & grace? Then join us next Thursday, April 3rd, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door, as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents Musclecat Showdown, a new game from Major Bueno & Bee and Puppycat creator Natasha Allegri!

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

Musclecat Showdown was originally conceived & devised for That Venus Patrol Wild Rumpus Party at this year’s Game Developers Conference — which went down barely a week or so ago — and ended up being so amazing that we’re ready for it to begin its world-tour, starting right here in Austin!

In it — as captured above by David ‘CandyHam‘ Vileta — both players act as playground-conflict mediators between two rival schoolchildren, who settle their score by having an afterschool house-pet pose-off.

In phase one, you’ll get pumped in your respective full-length mirrors, and then meet on the field for the showdown itself! Follow your owner’s directions or get squirted with spray-bottles! Do them proud and find out who is the real ultimate musclecat!

Doors will be open Thursday, April 3rd, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702! The show is free and open to all the public — come drink, play, and meet the people changing the way you think about videogames!

As you might recall or have seen yourself, our February meetup consisted of local developers Tiger Style taking to the stage and giving Austin the first look behind the curtain at their upcoming game Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon.

The game — a sequel to the 2009 iPhone original Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor — is set to expand on the first with an even larger and richer world, which again layers super approachable web-slinging and insect-eating mechanics over the deeper, unspoken mysteries of the locations in which it takes place, left for the player to delve into and uncover of their own accord.

To help give everyone everywhere equal opportunity to prepare to piece together those mysteries, we present here full video of the night’s proceedings. Above you’ll find a complete walkthrough of some early levels that introduces many of the mechanics you will remember from the first, as well as a number of new features, including one that changes the content of the game based on the time & weather around you in the real world.

And, at top, Tiger Style co-founder Randy Smith gives some background on the locations, magic & secret societies which inspired the fiction of the game, which will be followed by some additional new material appearing on Tiger Style’s own blog soon… along with more information on the game itself, which you can find right here.