What do you get when you mix one part METROID, one part 1970’s-era sci-fi film, and one part… gardening?! Find out this Sunday, September 4th, at 4PM, at our fifth edition of JUEGOS RANCHEROS at the Highball, as Austin-local indie studio Tiger Style give us the first in-progress look at their much-anticipated new game, LOST MARS.

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

It’s been just over two years since the release of SPIDER: THE SECRET OF BRYCE MANOR, Tiger Style’s multiple award-winning debut iPhone adventure. At the time, they were a fresh-faced upstart with pedigree that included some of gaming’s most revered franchises like THIEF and SPLINTER CELL, and even did time on Steven Spielberg’s ill-fated secret project “LMNO”.

That game provided an experience much richer and more deep than nearly anything available on the App Store at the time, and showed, early on, not only that the iPhone stood a strong chance of being a true contender in the gaming space, but that Tiger Style itself was a studio worth watching closely.

Tiger Style hasn’t let much slip over those years about what they’ve been cooking up, outside of bits and pieces scattered around designer Randy Smith’s regular column for UK games magazine Edge, but the studio promises a full presentation on the new game, which sees the player “trapped in exotic and dangerous caverns, researching, reviving and cultivating ancient life to uncover the lost mysteries of a forgotten planet.”

Following the presentation, attendees will be the first people anywhere to play the game for themselves and delve deeper into its uniquely atmospheric and moody take on sci-fi action-gardening (!). From what little I’ve been able to play, it’s shaping up to be every bit as smart and engaging as SPIDER was, if not more. You’re not going to want to miss this one!

[You can see a whole slew of first screenshots of LOST MARS over at Tiger Style’s new blog!]

Everything will be kicking off Sunday, September 4th, promptly at 4PM at The Highball, 1142 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704! Come hang out, enjoy the Highball’s Happy Hour drink specials, and say hello to the people changing the way you think about games!

[*PS: Hey everyone! As usual, bring your 3DS again! We’re doing awesome with these StreetPasses!]

After a short break, we’re now back on track with our regular Fistful of Indies series, with the latest selection of indie games both local and global worth paying attention to released over the prior month, presented at our fourth event.

Fully annotated for your pleasure, for the convenience of both event-goers and — hopefully — the wider world of indie game enthusiasts, here’s the list for August 2011:

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Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday afternoon to get a glimpse of what’s to come with our TEXATRON initiative! Alec gave an awesome speech about the philosophy & the friendship behind the Winnitron, we got a ton of positive feedback about bringing it to Austin, and a number of you have already expressed interest in helping us make the TEXATRON amazing!

We’ll be keeping track of everyone who wants to volunteer their time, energy & goodwill to the project and sending out a newsletter as we need people. If you’d like to help, simply send an email to:

and we’ll make sure you’re in the loop!

For everyone else that simply wants to follow our efforts, point your Twitter streams in the direction of:

and we’ll let you know when there’s something to know. We look forward to talking more about it with you all soon!

Did the home console kill off the arcade? Is the idea of gathering in a public space to play games together an outmoded concept of the early 80s? This Sunday, August 7th, at 4PM, our fourth edition of JUEGOS RANCHEROS at The Highball will prove those ideas wrong and be the launching point for the TEXATRON initiative to bring independent game arcade machines to Austin.

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

What began in Toronto with the Torontron soon spread across the Great White North to Winnipeg with the Winnitron, an arcade cabinet built from the ground-up to bring independent games both local and global to the rest of the world, with Winnitron machines soon popping up in such far flung locations as the Netherlands, New Zealand, New York and Australia.

In attendance this Sunday — all the way from Winnipeg — will be Alec Holowka of Infinite Ammo, developer of indie hits like AQUARIA, PAPER MOON and the upcoming MARIAN, and co-founder of the Winnitron project, to tell us more about what the Winnitron is, how it works, and how it’s changing the way we experience indie games across the world.

Following that, we’ll be giving Austin its first chance to play the Winnitron’s selection of games, including cult successes like Messhof’s brilliant swordfighter NIDHOGG and special exclusive two-player versions of games like Vlambeer’s SUPER CRATE BOX and our own Adam Saltsman’s CANABALT.

But more importantly, we’ll be talking more about our long-time goals to bring the Winnitron to Austin as the TEXATRON — a series of arcade cabinets set up around our own fair city showcasing the best indie games from around town and around the world.

Everything will be kicking off Sunday, August 7th, promptly at 4PM at The Highball, 1142 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704! Come hang out, enjoy the Highball’s Happy Hour drink specials, and say hello to the people changing the way you think about games (and cartoons)!

[*PS: Hey everyone! As usual, bring your 3DS again! We’re doing awesome with these StreetPasses!]

Couldn’t make it to our last meeting of JUEGOS RANCHEROS, Austin’s independent game developer collective? Here’s what you’ve been waiting for: the full, hour-long recording of ADVENTURE TIME creator Pendleton Ward (@buenothebear) talking with Capy‘s Kris Piotrowski (@krispiotrowski) and Superbrothers‘ Craig Adams (@the1console) — two of the team behind the brilliant iOS adventure game SWORD & SWORCERY EP — about games, animation and all of the cross-over in between.

The chat is hosted and moderated by Austin’s own Adam ‘Atomic‘ Saltsman (@adamatomic), creator of CANABALT and the Flixel game-creation library, with a few additional questions & comments by yr humble blog post author, Brandon Boyer (@brandonnn).

Anyway, we hope you enjoy what will likely be just the first in a long series of chats by amazing artists and game creators — and hopefully by then we can work out a few of the video kinks and get you something a little more HD and a little less echo-y.

Spread the word (the Vimeo embed code can be found here), and subscribe to JUEGOS RANCHEROS updates either here or via Facebook and Twitter!

Attention indies both local and global: submissions have been opened for the 2011 Fantastic Arcade — taking place here in Austin, TX from September 22nd-29th — with an August 1st deadline already rapidly approaching.

Last year’s debut Fantastic Arcade, if you didn’t manage to make it, kicked things off in great form, bringing indies like Derek Yu, Cactus, Messhof, Jon Blow, Molleindustria and Superbrothers together for a week of panels, talks and general carousing.

Here’s how the festival — operated by Alamo Drafthouse, our local favorite theater organization & an instrumental part of getting JUEGOS RANCHEROS off the ground — describes itself:

Fantastic Arcade fuses the world of independent film and independent gaming. We bring together artists and professionals who are telling stories and creating experiences in film, games and online entertainment simultaneously. At Fantastic Arcade, we showcase a curated selection of brand new independent games as well as a larger sampling of important groundbreaking independent games from the last couple of years.

Attendees are invited to play the games as well as interact with the game developers via panels and nightly parties and happy hours. We also feature both panels with independent filmmakers side by side with game developers and intimate demo sessions by independent game developers. Lastly, we feel that video games rightfully belong side by side with shorts and feature films at Fantastic Fest. The artistic merit of these games will be honored with both audience awards and a juried competition.

Selected games will proceed to the second round of submissions and will be asked to provide a playable version of the game for Fantastic Arcade festival programmers. Official selections for the Arcade will be made based on each game’s art, story, characters, gameplay and, most importantly, connection with the character of Fantastic Fest.

Submit your game to be a part of this year’s festivities by clicking here!