On Tuesday, Juegos attendees Paul Harrison and Will Marsden picked me up in a decadent white minivan, whereupon we drove up to north Austin to the secret headquarters of Nintendo satellite developer Retro Studios (Metroid Prime, Donkey Kong Country Returns). Retro employee Matt Manchester met us out back by the loading dock, where we surreptitiously loaded a very-good-condition Pac Man refurb cabinet into the aforementioned van and hauled it back to my garage in south Austin. The cabinet was tagged with a piece of printer paper, stating “out of order – research repair cost.”
My firm belief is that after researching said repair cost, it was deemed thoroughly not worth it. And thus, like dumpster diving nerds, Juegos Rancheros collected the first artifact (of many) required to assemble the legendary TEXATRON.
Check out that phosphor burn-in! Don't worry, refurb Pac Man cabinet. We will restore you to a former glory never imagined!
Now, it is my profound pleasure to announce that the TEXATRON Initiative: Phase Two is officially underway!
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:
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:
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.
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!]
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.
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!
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