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.