It’s only been a few months since Nintendo released the Switch into the world, but already there’s a little bit of Texas in it! Join us Thursday, June 1st, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door to play it for the first time, as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents Wild Rooster’s Astro Duel Deluxe, the first Austin game to land on the new console.
First released for Windows, Mac, iPad and Apple TV, the new Switch version of the game (ported and published by Austin’s own Panic Button) will be released on May 30th, and now supports up to six players. The new Deluxe version also includes the ability to play anywhere, with multiple controller types, multiple game modes, the ability to choose pilots, instant replay, new music, touch-mode play, CPU opponents, powerups, dynamic arenas and Game Modifiers.
Wild Rooster developer Rusty Moyher will be on hand to answer any questions you might have about making games for brand new hardware, and we’ll have more games & surprises at the event, as well!
The show will begin at 7:00PM on Thursday, June 1st, at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702, with a short introduction at 8:00PM. The event 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!
Have you heard the news? Fantastic Arcade will be returning to Austin, November 17th-19th, in a brand new location and with dozens of brand new games!
Long-time Fantastic Arcade fans will probably notice right away that that’s a little different than before, so we’ve put together this FAQ-type post to help explain what’s new and different this year, and what’s the same as it’s always been.
Fantastic Arcade is now a standalone festival, affiliated with but not actually a part of Fantastic Fest.
While we here at JUEGOS RANCHEROS have been in charge of curation and scheduling of Fantastic Arcade for the past several years, we have now completely taken over all operations of the festival, and are running it separately from Fantastic Fest, the genre film festival it was originally created to run alongside.
Fantastic Arcade will now take place at the new Alamo Drafthouse Mueller location.
While Fantastic Arcade has traditionally been held at the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse, we’re now moving to the Drafthouse’s newest theater, Alamo Drafthouse Mueller.
If you haven’t been to the Mueller Alamo yet, you’re in for a treat. The theater seats are massive, plush, and recline like La-Z-Boys, and there’s a built-in boardwalk carnival-type bar, the Barrel O Fun. In other words, it’ll be a lot like previous years, just nicer.
The arcade space of Fantastic Arcade is still free of charge and open to the public.
Just like all previous years, the centerpiece of Fantastic Arcade will remain free and open for everyone: a suite of laptops with tons of amazing games on each one, and a fleet of mini arcade cabinets, again featuring a new crop of games created exclusively to premiere at Fantastic Arcade.
Where before we only had a smaller space inside South Lamar’s Highball lounge, now we’ll be taking over the entirety of the Barrel O Fun with games, all of which will be playable for the entire duration of Fantastic Arcade.
Attending the talks, developer commentary sessions and nightly tournaments now costs $50 for a 3-day pass, or $10 for a single-day pass.
Here’s the biggest change: just like previous years, we’ll also have three full days of talks, panels, commentary and tournaments inside one of Mueller’s swank theaters, with full bar and food service throughout. Unlike previous years, because of our new independence, we need to charge a ticket price to help cover our costs, and to guarantee you a seat in the theater.
For $50, you’ll be covered for all three days of the festival, and you can purchase that ticket starting right now. Tickets are obviously limited to the amount of seats we have available, so act fast!
If there is room left over, we’ll be selling individual day passes for $10 at the theater itself for those that can’t make it all three days.
The 3-day pass also includes a downloadable bundle of games premiering at the festival.
Just like last year, we’ll be premiering new games at the festival in special custom arcade cabinets, and just like last year, all of those games will be available in a special bundle. This bundle is included in the 3-day pass, so all of those games are yours to keep.
The downloadable bundle will also be available separately.
If you aren’t able to attend the festival or can’t purchase the 3-day pass, we’ll also be selling the bundle separately, like we did last year.
We’ll have lots more news about the new Fantastic Arcade over the coming months, including the developers building new games for the festival, and all of the other exciting guests and tournaments that’ll be part of this year’s show. All of us here are looking forward to seeing you there!
Hey developers: ready to join us again this year for another round of Fantastic Arcade? You now have until August 13th to submit your game for consideration as one of this year’s showcase games!
The 2017 edition of Fantastic Arcade will be taking place at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Mueller, the newest and swankiest of the theaters, from November 17th through the 19th. 3-day passes for the festival itself are available now, which includes a downloadable bundle of games premiering at the show!
You can read about all the changes to this year’s festival right over here.
Shortly after the August 13th deadline, the JUEGOS RANCHEROS board will begin the selection process to determine which games from among your submissions will be showcased during Fantastic Arcade.
All of the games selected will be accessible to both festival attendees and the general public, for free, in a casual atmosphere of camaraderie and love for games, at the Mueller theater’s new Barrel O Fun event center (which you can see above).
If you’d like to submit a game, you can do so now by accessing this form before August 13th. We look forward to playing all of your submissions, and to seeing you all in November for this year’s Arcade!
Just weeks after its release, David OReilly’s existential reality simulator Everything is already a verifiable critical hit. But did you know a good chunk of it was born and raised right here in Austin? Join us Thursday, May 4th, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door, to find out more!
Known best for his multiple-award-winning & frankly sort of essential-viewing animations Please Say Something & The External World, David OReilly first dipped a toe into videogames with the 2014 release of Mountain (then featured as one of our standalone-iest Fantastic Arcade cabinets).
Co-developed with Austin’s own Damien Di Fede (also part of SUPERHYPERCUBE developers Polytron), the two again joined forces for Everything, which also features Eduardo Ortiz Frau on sound design.
The devs describe Everything as “an interactive experience where everything you see is a thing you can be, from animals to planets to galaxies and beyond,” and if you were present at last year’s Fantastic Arcade to see one of our most chilled-out sessions of all time, you know that is no exaggeration.
For our exhibition, we’ll have Damien & Eduardo on hand, who can answer (nearly) any burning questions you might have about how you make a game about, well, pretty much literally everything.
The show will begin at 7:00PM on Thursday, May 4th, at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702, with a short introduction & developer chat at 8:00PM. The event 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!
Spring has sprung, and JUEGOS RANCHEROS has returned! So join us Thursday, April 6, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door — as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents a mix of new & never before seen games, including Vignettes.
Not seen since the 2015 installment of Fantastic Arcade, Vignettes is a delightful puzzle-box of a game and, says the developers, a “kaleidoscope of different moods and settings”, which is officially due to be released soon on iOS and Android. Fans of GNOG and the work of Vectorpark (like his previously-showcased Metamorphabet) will not want to miss this one!
In addition to Vignettes — its first showing in near-final form! — we’ll be assembling even more games to be revealed at the show, and our usual “indie alley” lineup of games made by local developers!
The exhibition will begin Thursday, April 6, 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!
Excited to play the sequel to Messhof‘s long-standing JUEGOS RANCHEROS favorite? Then you will absolutely not want our next meetup — Thursday, February 2nd, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door — as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents Nidhogg 2.
The original Nidhogg has been a JUEGOS RANCHEROS mainstay since our original inception in 2011 — with frequent meetup & Fantastic Arcade appearances — and all signs point to the sequel carrying on that tradition.
Featuring all of the same “fast-paced hilarious stabby action”, but now with a much larger array of new weapons, new stages and new music from Daedelus, Dose One, Mux Mool & more, our Austin debut of Nidhogg 2 stands to be one of 2017’s best shows.
The exhibition will begin Thursday, February 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!
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