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Introducing the Fantastic Arcade 2018 Bundle!
Bring Fantastic Arcade home to you with six amazing and exclusive games, presented by Austin’s independent game collective JUEGOS RANCHEROS!
We brought together six of the most talented indie developers from around the world to create new games, all of which made their debut at the ninth-annual Fantastic Arcade, which took place in Austin, TX, October 25th through 28th, 2018.
All proceeds from the sale of this bundle benefit our non-profit organization. Help us showcase more amazing games both here in Austin and a city near you, and commission more fantastic developers to create new games like these!
Included in this bundle are all six games you see here:
Grass Stains, by Nina Freeman / Star Maid Games
(2 Controllers recommended to play)
Grass Stains is a local multiplayer game about two little kids, their dog, and a soccer ball on a summer day. Kick the ball too hard at your friend and you might just knock them over. Will you play fair and help them up, or tease them while you score point after point? It’s up to you!
Contributors to Grass Stains include Nina Freeman, Aaron Freedman, Diego Garcia, and Amos Roddy. Nina was the designer for Lost Memories Dot Net, Cibele, how do you Do it? and Kimmy, as well as part of the Fullbright team (Tacoma).
Paper Planet Pop, by Tyriq Plummer
Brave robot Pop is in trouble! Stranded on a strange planet and hunted by the Hand of Hate, he must fend off wave after wave of threats: Coinsteroids, pinvaders, cosmic jellysquid, and space pirates galore! Though Pop is no pushover, the presentiment persists: How long can our plucky protagonist persevere in this petite planetary predicament? Find out in: PAPER PLANET POP!
Tyriq Plummer is a developer and game artist best known for their work on the roguelike platformer Catacomb Kids. Tyriq also has a reputation as a inventive game jam participant, with numerous Ludum Dare titles to their name.
WiFi Robots, by George Buckenham
Did you know: your phone is secretly also a robot? And everyone else in the venue’s is, too! Connect them together and hack them all.
George Buckenham is a prolific programmer for games (Beasts of Balance) and procedurally generated text (Cheap Bots, Done Quick!), as well as one of the minds behind rogue party-game revelers The Wild Rumpus.
Breaker, by Daniel Linssen
BREAKER is a weird blend between breakout, space invaders and ikaruga, and features an original, responsive soundtrack by Dubmood with sound effects by Martin Kvale.
Daniel Linssen is an Australian developer and artist best known for the games Roguelight, Windowframe and numerous Ludum Dare jam games. Daniel’s games have consistently inventive play mechanics and lovely, muted color palettes.
Kaiju Super Datetech, by Powerhoof
A Giant Monster has appeared in Kyoto II! The city’s only hope is for you and your company to construct a Colossal Robot, maneuver your creation to the target creature, and… ask it out to dinner? Or a film? Or something?
Cooperate in building a perfect match for the kaiju, and compete against rival companies to romance the lonely monster in KAIJU SUPER DATETECH!
Powerhoof are Australian indie developers who delighted attendees with their surprise Fantastic Arcade tournament of Regular Human Basketball. With their multiplayer dungeon crawler Crawl, they’ve become known for a keen artistic style and multiplayer action.
ComPETition, by Catt Small
(Controller required to play)
ComPETition is a competitive cat petting game for two players. Who will win the cat’s affection before it gets bored? Who will be scratched into shame? Grab a friend and find out in this fuzzball extravaganza!
Catt Small is an interactive designer and developer who works in user experience and games, as well as organizing and advocating for marginalized groups in tech. Catt previously created the multiplayer game Breakup Squad, as a part of NYU’s 2016 No Quarter Exhibition.
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An unstoppable torrent of games fill out FA 2018!
Following our announcement of brand new games from the artists behind Breakup Squad, Catacomb Kids, Beasts of Balance and Cibele making their debut at Fantastic Arcade, we have just announced more than 20 additional games rounding out this year’s showcase lineup.
The games join the 10 previously-announced Spotlight games coming to Austin, TX’s Alamo Drafthouse Mueller this October 25th-28th, and were chosen by JUEGOS RANCHEROS from the hundreds of games submitted from developers around the world.
The following games will be included as part of our official Fantastic Arcade selection:
Wrong Box Dev. Molly Soda, Aquma
What’s on that old ~2003 computer at your parents house?? Does it even work? Wrong Box is a love letter to a time when PCs and the Internet were a little less awful.
Semblance Dev. Nyamakop
Semblance is a puzzle platformer where your character and the world it inhabits is made of playdough. Squish, squash and deform your character and the world to solve puzzles in Semblance’s soft, bouncy world.
Russian Subway Dogs Dev. Spooky Squid Games
A fast-paced systemic arcade game inspired by the real-life stray dogs of the Moscow metro. Can you steal enough food to survive? Juggle vodka, cook wildlife, bark fire and more in this surprisingly deep arcade game!
Joggernauts Dev. Space Mace
Joggernauts is a cooperative switching game about trying NOT to kill your friends while jogging through an ugly-cute alien universe.
Holedown Dev. grapefrukt
Balance your plan between ball bouncing patterns and unpredictable, surprising bounces in this mesmerizing and curious game oozing with charm. Immerse yourself in a world of extravagant minimalistic art while jamming out to an original space acid soundtrack as you keep digging further underground.
Fortune 499 Dev. AP Thomson
Fortune-499 is a game about money and magic. You play a fortune teller working in the magical resources department of a large corporation. You engage in day-to-day office activities such as forwarding emails, attending meetings, fighting back hordes of monsters, and dealing with printer jams. With some tricky magic up your sleeve and your job on the line, it’s up to you to build a future out of the hand you’ve been dealt.
dino game Dev. Sokpop Collective
dino game is about ladders, systems, and tall things. You fell from your UFO. Learn the rules of a foreign place, and find a way to get back to your space-ship!
Deity Driving Dev. Graceless Games
DEITY DRIVING is an adventure car game where you chase raspberries, deal with dim gods, bowl in cyberspace, all with the goal to become less and less intelligent – go shrink that IQ!
Consume Me Dev. Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson
Consume Me is about the cut-throat competitiveness of dieting where the opposing team is yourself.
Bill Hates Videogames Dev. Saam Pahlavan, M.James Short
Bill Hates Videogames is a game about an asshole named Bill that gets sucked into a videogame and is trying to find his way out.
As we do each year, we’ll be bringing the worlds most unusual tournament games to the big screen each evening of Fantastic Arcade. In addition to previously announced games and secret titles from Catt Small and Powerhoof, expect this year’s tournament lineup to include:
Jar Wars
The four-player VR hit of 2017 is back, with a custom Fantastic Arcade arena and new surprises!
“Jar Wars is like a 2v2 VR nerf-fight where all the fighters had to chug half a bottle of bourbon before they were allowed into the arena” - Adam Saltsman
Red Hot Ricochet Dev. Wyatt Yeong
It’s high noon in this barren wasteland, and only one of you is making it out alive. Sure, you could try and shoot them right between the eyes - but where’s the fun in that? Red Hot Ricochet is an intense game of ricochet duels, and you’ll need wise shooting, lucky bounces, and a bit of triggernometry to win.
Sausage Sports Club Dev. Luckshot Games, Chris Wade
Sausage Sports Club is a physics game about floppy animals playing sports!
Sloppy Forgeries Dev. Jonah Warren
Sloppy Forgeries is a fast-paced, two-player local multiplayer painting game. Each player is given a mouse, a blank canvas, and a few simple paint tools. Each round, a famous painting from art history is revealed. Players race to copy the painting as quickly and accurately as possible.
Sticky Cats Dev. Team Sticky Cats
Sticky Cats is a fumblecore party game in which each player controls a sticky cat with a craving for fish. Players must traverse a house, steal a fish, and make a dash for the exit while sticking to everything and causing mayhem along the way.
Friday night we’ll be journeying to Real World: WI†CH H⏀US∃ - courtesy of our pals at The Museum of Human Achievement!
“This is the true story of seven witches picked to live in a house (game together) and have their lives on display to find out what happens when witches stop being polite and start getting real.”
You’ll be treated to a tour of each witches room complete with specially selected Fantastic Arcade games plus a performance by Void Egg and 98 Dads Creative Suite 2018.
Here’s some of the cursed games that will be available for play:
Cyberpet Graveyard Dev. Nathalie Lawhead
At some undocumented point in the early 00’s there was a critical malfunction in the cyberpet factory. This meltdown led to the miss-creation of several unlikeable and unwanted cyberpets. Nobody knew what to do with them. They never made it past quality assurance, and therefore never made it to CD-ROM.
🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧
Due to the unsettling nature of these virtual companions, they were eventually banned to the cyberpet graveyard. The cleanup crew hired to capture and ban everything did a groundbreaking job, because these cypberpets would never to be loved or loved by again. It is only until now that digital archeologists have uncovered the remaining files of these strange unwanted creatures. Thanks to their efforts you can download this forgotten relic.
🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧
Warning: Rejected cyberpets. Download at your own risk. Disclaimer: We accept no liabilities if you download these little punks.
Data Mutations Dev.
“a renunciation of the hyper-individualization data mutation is open source art/the open source artist we embrace the genepool we mutate each other until we find a better solution”
Diana the Huntress Dev. Stefanie Franciotti, Morgan Cira
Mystics, Murder and Missing Heads! Diana the Huntress is a true crime RPG, inspired by a cold case worked by one of the co-creator’s grandfather.
In the small town of San Marcos, Diana Martinez must use her wit and strength to solve the mysterious murders of her roommates before becoming the next victim. Can you take Diana from the hunted to the Huntress? It’s a wild ride as Diana navigates small town jerks and the town’s own psychic cult. But revenge is on her mind, and nothing will stop her.
Diana the Huntress is a lo-fi thriller, featuring the art and music of Austin’s Stefanie Franciotti. Morgan Cira is the brains behind the story, picking up where her grandfather left off.
Ghost Dentist VR Dev. Jerry Belich
a humorous body-horror experience where you, a ghost with a dental practice, possess your incoming patients in order to to their dental work. Of course, since you have possessed them, you are actually performing the dental work on yourself. Your patient is still aware, reacting with their eyes, tongue, and expressing pain. Too much and you’ll get kicked out of their body!
Jazz Mickle’s Pro Cap Wearer Dev. Jazz Mickle
Jazz Mickle’s Pro Cap Wearer is a vignette dress-up game, built to evoke the very particular feel and aesthetic of early-2000’s skateboarding games, and similar games of that era. In Jazz Mickle’s Pro Cap Wearer, the player designs a baseball cap for their avatar (a skull)
Levedad Dev. solimporta
levedad is a game about capturing time through the contemplative gaze of long exposure photography. It is finding beauty in an ever-changing space where time passes with you and through you.
Tender Mystic Hotline Dev. Rachel Weil
An unusual dial tone, a television psychic, electric dreams. Tender Mystic Hotline is an interactive installation piece by Rachel Simone Weil, whose work in obsolete electronics, love, nostalgia, and the divine come together to form a familiar-yet-alien interactive experience.
The Static Dev. Pol Clarissou
The static has come for our enclave, and as our sight is enshrouded, we too start to forget.
Tuned Out Dev. Shallow Games
A collection of 15 arcade games for 2-4 players that can be switched between instantly like the channels of a TV, challenging players to juggle all games at the same time to achieve the highest possible score.
More details on panels and events will be revealed in the coming weeks, on the Fantastic Arcade website. Sign up for the Fantastic Arcade Fans mailing list for news as soon as it is announced.
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First wave games announced!
JUEGOS RANCHEROS is proud to announce the first wave of attractions for this year’s Fantastic Arcade, hosted by the Alamo Drafthouse Mueller this October 25th-28th (full, four-day passes go on sale SEPT 6th). As we did last year, JUEGOS RANCHEROS has commissioned games from some of our favorite developers to premiere at the festival, all of which will be simultaneously released worldwide via a bundle on itch.io. This year’s commissioned works will be created by Nina Freeman, Tyriq Plummer, George Buckenham, Daniel Linssen, Powerhoof, and Catt Small. Five of these as of yet secret creations will be inhabiting custom built arcade cabinets in the Barrel O’ Fun, and two will be part of our special event tournament lineup- games that no one will have played before, so anyone can win! Below the fold is the first press release for the upcoming 2018 Arcade with more information on our arcade cabinets and the first Spotlight selections chosen from your submissions, alongside links, images and videos for all the games detailed below. We can’t wait to see you all again in Austin during October!
FANTASTIC ARCADE MAKES RETURN TO ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE WITH NEW GAMES BY THE CREATORS OF SAMURAI GUNN, BEASTS OF BALANCE, CRAYON PHYSICS & MORE
OCTOBER 25 - 28, 2018AUSTIN, TEXAS
International Games Festival Premiering Six Custom Created Games Alongside Stellar Lineup Of Underground And Independent Games
AUSTIN, TX – Sept 1st, 2018 – Organizers of Fantastic Arcade, have announced the return of its yearly festival, which showcases the best in cult and independent games. Now in its ninth year, the latest installment of Fantastic Arcade will feature brand new games from the creators of beloved indie hits like Samurai Gunn, Crayon Physics, and Beasts of Balance, alongside a wide variety of work from fresh and up-and-coming talent.
Fantastic Arcade will again be located at the Alamo Drafthouse’s Mueller location — the chain’s newest theater — and its built-in boardwalk carnival-esque bar, the Barrel O Fun.
The event will feature a selection of more than 30 independent games from around the world, alongside custom-built, free-to-play arcade cabinets and exclusive tournament events. Seven new games were comissioned by Juegos Rancheros to premiere at the event. These games were created by from some of the festival’s fan-favorite developers, detailed below alongside the ten “Spotlight” games. The 2018 lineup of games have been chosen from hundreds of submissions by Juegos Rancheros, Austin’s independent games collective operated by Adam Saltsman, Wiley Wiggins, Katie Kizziar, Rachel Simone Weil, Rusty Moyher, Autumn Rose Taylor, and Saam Pahlavan alongside Fantastic Arcade Technical Director Joshua Fields and artistic advisor Zac Traeger. In addition to the selection of free play games on display and open to the general public at the Barrel O Fun and the upper floors of Alamo Drafthouse Mueller, Fantastic Arcade will once again feature a number of special events, panel discussions, developer talks, and game tournaments from October 25th-28th, including a halloween-flavored art-installation/party at Austin DIY art space The Museum of Human Achievement. Full, four-day passes are available starting September 6th at the Fantastic Arcade website, and will include a downloadable bundle of all original games being created for this year’s festival, and a ticket to our MoHA Spooky Arcade event on Friday October 26th.
“We’re thrilled by the batch of games we have in store for our Fantastic Arcade family this year,” said Wiley Wiggins, Juegos Rancheros co-founder and Fantastic Arcade Creative Director. “And we’re excited as well to have more members of our community begin to step into leadership roles, helping us proudly defend our mantle as the best underground videogames party in the universe.”
Dozens more additional games will be announced as part of the full Fantastic Arcade lineup in the coming weeks, alongside a schedule of its talks special nightly tournaments — an annual fan-favorite tradition — exposition plays, panel discussions, and developer talks.
Juegos Rancheros would like to remind all attendees, developers and staff that the event is covered by our Safe Spaces Policy, which can be reviewed in its entirety at the Fantastic Arcade website.
This year’s Premiere games will be created by:
Tyriq Plummer
Tyriq Plummer is a developer and game artist best known for their work on the roguelike platformer Catacomb Kids. Tyriq also has a reputation as a inventive game jam participant, with numerous Ludum Dare titles to their name.
Nina Freeman
Nina Freeman is the creator of Lost Memories Dot Net, Cibele, how do you Do it? and Kimmy, as well as being part of the Fullbright team (Tacoma).
George Buckenham
George Buckenham is a prolific programmer for games (Beasts of Balance) and procedurally generated text (Cheap Bots, Done Quick!), as well as one of the minds behind rogue party-game revelers The Wild Rumpus.
Daniel Linssen
Daniel Linssen is an Australian developer and artist best known for the games Roguelight, Windowframe and numerous Ludum Dare jam games. Daniel’s games have consistently inventive play mechanics and lovely, muted color palettes.
Catt Small
Catt Small is an interactive designer and developer who works in user experience and games, as well as organizing and advocating for marginalized groups in tech. Catt previously created the multiplayer game Breakup Squad, as a part of NYU’s 2016 No Quarter Exhibition. Catt will be creating a special tournament game for Fantastic Arcade 2018.
Powerhoof
Powerhoof are Australian indie developers who delighted attendees with their surprise Fantastic Arcade tournament of Regular Human Basketball. With their multiplayer dungeon crawler Crawl , they’ve become known for a keen artistic style and multiplayer action. Powerhoof will also be creating a special tournament game for Fantastic Arcade 2018.
Game titles, screenshots and other details from these teams’ ongoing work will be revealed closer to their festival debut, when they will be made available as a downloadable bundle on itch.io for purchase worldwide.
In addition, the following ten Arcade Spotlight titles will be highlighted during Fantastic Arcade, chosen from the hundreds submitted to this year’s festival.
By Free Lives
Over a thousand years ago the human race teetered on the edge of extinction. They were helpless against the mighty behemoths of the land. And then, salvation… Cricket was invented! Go alone, or take a friend of your choice, on a journey through the rich, and exquisitely accurate, history of cricket.
By Teknopants
The long awaited sequel to the fan-favorite game that lies deep in the DNA of Fantastic Arcade, Samurai Gunn 2 features a new, expansive adventure mode and an updated versus mode. Adventure with a friend through a medieval metropolis on the brink of crisis—fight or fly past your foes to discover the mystery behind Gunn City’s ghostly threat. Or battle together with a group of 2-4 friends in versus with improved controls, new levels, and new characters!
By Mossmouth
The sequel to the treasured, award-winning, never-the-same-game-twice platformer from master game designer Derek Yu comes to Fantastic Arcade- Follow Ana Spelunky and her friends on an exciting new adventure as they journey deeper than they could have ever imagined…
By Kitfox Games
Boyfriend Dungeon is a new take on the traditional dungeon crawler, where the transformation of humans into weapons is used as a metaphor for intimacy and trust.
Grace Bruxner Presents: The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
Grace Bruxner Presents: The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game is a 3D sleuth game with amazing characters and multiple great cutscenes. You play as The Detective, a private investigator (who is also a frog), tasked with solving the mystery of a haunted island. The resident of the island has been hearing spooky noises for weeks and hired ghost scientists to come to the island and investigate, but they can’t figure it out. In desperation, they’ve called you in to help crack the case. Grace was a hit at Fantastic Arcade 2017 with her game ALIEN CASENO, and her idiosyncratic sense of humor and artistic style.
By Foamsword
KNIGHTS AND BIKES is a hand-painted action-adventure set on a fictional British island in the late 1980s. Players will take on the roles of Nessa & Demelza to explore an island with their bikes. They’ll uncover treasure, mystery and trouble. This leads to them ultimately attempting to steer the ancient island away from modern ruin.
An absurdist mind-and-body romp through the highest clouds to the ocean deep, Museum of Symmetry is the explosive feel-good alter-universe of cartoonist and animator Paloma Dawkins—a room-scale VR experience with 2D animation in a 3D playground.
Noita is a magical action rogue-lite set in a world where every pixel is physically simulated. Fight, explore, melt, burn, freeze and evaporate your way through the procedurally generated world using spells you’ve crafted yourself.
By Triband
WHAT THE GOLF? is the golf game for people who don’t play golf. Every golf course is a surprising new type of golf, some brilliant or hilarious, others simply absurd.
A Memoir Blue is an atmospheric journey through the memories of Miriam: a champion swimmer, who on the day of her greatest success dwells on her childhood memories of her mother and a special trip they took.
More games, tournaments and talks will be revealed in the coming weeks, on the Fantastic Arcade website. Sign up for the Fantastic Arcade Fans mailing list for news as soon as it is announced.
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Fantastic Arcade 2018 Submissions are live!
Game submissions for Fantastic Arcade, the independent video game showcase hosted by Alamo Drafthouse and curated by Juegos Rancheros, are now open! Full instructions are available at http://fantasticarcade.com/submit. Submissions to Fantastic Arcade will remain open until the August 13th deadline. A panel of Fantastic Arcade curators will select this year’s Showcase and Spotlight games from among those submissions, in addition to the original titles which will premiere in custom-built arcade cabinets.
Taking place October 25-28, Fantastic Arcade will feature more games, tournaments, special screenings, talks, parties, food and prizes than ever before. We’re excited to return to Alamo Mueller, with its superior AV equipment, over-sized reclining theater seats, individual tables, private, gender-neutral bathrooms, 2nd floor patio, and kookoo carnival-themed event space/restaraunt/bar.
Sign up for the Fantastic Arcade Fans mailing list for up to the minute news and event info.
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