Subscribe to the RSS feed or get Attract Mode blog posts delivered to your inbox.
I talk about videogames and give out discount coupons. You should follow me on Twitter here.
These blog posts are tagged “Cactus”
IndieCade '09 came to a close last night, and it was officially the best videogame event / conference / festival I've ever been to. It was totally laid back: the perfect environment for everyone to relax and talk shop.
You hear it all the time—and it's completely true—you will never find so much love, goodwill and camaraderie as there is in the independent videogame scene.
Everyone was really excited that Keita Takahashi (creator of Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy) was coming to the festival. That's what happens when you make one of the best games of all time.
Since the fest is on the smaller side, everyone was able to hang out together for the 4 days. After it ended, about 40 of us headed to Robin's house for a surprisingly gourmet barbecue.
While scarfing down a gorgonzola mushroom burger and some salmon, I asked Keita if he had played any of Cactus's games. When he said he hadn't, we busted out a laptop and fired up the Tuning demo.
Soon we had a dozen indies passing around the laptop trying to finish the demo, which in true Cactus fashion is punishingly difficult. Turns out Tuning is a great party game. Who knew?
Photos by Elliot Trinidad
Adam
October 05, 2009
Cactus / IndieCade / Jonatan Söderström / Keita Takahashi
View Comments
I'm super grateful to the guys at Area5 for devoting a good chunk of their latest CO-OP episode to the Game Over/Continue? event. The whole episode is great (even the Squarespace commercial is worth watching), but if you want to scrub ahead to the GO/C coverage, it starts at about the 27 minute mark.
It's an entire episode focusing on indie games, starting with innovative IGF titles like Blueberry Garden and The Unfinished Swan and finishing with an extended look at the art and games of Game Over/Continue.
These guys know what they are talking about. It's not surprising that the best video coverage of the videogame scene is being created by people who understand and appreciate indies as much they do the mainstream.
I was bummed at the thought of The 1UP Show coming to an end. But since its rebirth as CO-OP, I think the show has been better than ever. Like Jason says in the episode, they are free to cover what they want instead of doing things like running around GDC trying to film trailers and other nonsense. Hmmm, freedom and time to focus on quality… It's amazing what a little bit of independence can do.
Adam
April 06, 2009
Anna Anthropy / Area5 / art / artxgame / Cactus / Calvin and Hellen's Bogus Journey / CO-OP / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / events / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Octopounce / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
View Comments
Wow. The Game Over/Continue? show at GRSF last Friday was crazy and fun. A big “Thank You!” to everyone who came, all of the game makers and artists, and the whole Giant Robot crew. Hugs and thanks are also in order for Brandon Boyer, Jenn Frank and Eric and JC over at Tiny Cartridge who all did a lot to help promote the show.
I drove up to San Francisco on Wednesday, and by Thursday night I was starting to stress just a little bit. Only Anna and Saelee had finished their game, and Cactus hadn’t even started yet! Luckily that night Cactus, Derek, Hellen, Calvin and I were able to make a trip over to Deth’s studio. Cactus started coding while Deth was painting and scanning his art. A part of me thinks Cactus was procrastinating just to prove that his GDC lecture, Four Hour Game Design, was more than just talk.
When everyone arrived at the show on Friday evening with their finished games, I was really impressed my mind was blown. All of the games were original, quirky and totally fun to play.
…that is, once you were able to push your way through the crowd and play them! There were way more people at the show than any of us had expected. People from every corner of the indie game scene showed up, and it was great to finally meet a bunch of “internet friends” in real life. It was particularly inspiring talking with Jim Munroe about all of the cool projects he has going on in Toronto.
Looking back through the pictures now, I’m noticing there were a bunch of people I didn't get a chance to talk to. Oh well, too many cool people, too little time. I guess we will have to wait until next year, Messhof, Tiff and Tale of Tales duo.
The games were only available to play the opening night of the show, but all the videogame-inspired art will be at the GRSF gallery until April 15th. If you are in San Francisco, you should definitely check it out. I’ll even provide a map for all you lazy lamb chops.
Keep checking the feed for another blog entry focusing on all four games from Game Over/Continue.
Update: Well, there's really no reason for me to give you a post summarizing the games when Brandon has already done it better than I could have.
Photos via my phone and Giant Robot’s Flickr
Adam
March 31, 2009
Anna Anthropy / art / artxgame / Cactus / Calvin and Hellen's Bogus Journey / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / Eric Nakamura / events / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Octopounce / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
View Comments
I can't wait to see everyone at the show!
What's this artxgame thing? Could there possibly be more collaborations in the future? Interesting…
Adam
March 16, 2009
Anna Anthropy / art / artxgame / Cactus / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / events / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
View Comments
Brandon over at Offworld announced an exciting project today that I've been cooking up with Eric from Giant Robot.
The Game Over II show will open on March 27th at GRSF in San Francisco.
We've partnered up artists and indie game makers to create four new games that will be showcased at the event.
The Teams
If you are going to be in San Francisco for GDC, make sure to stop by! GRSF is only a few miles away.
Go check out the post at Offworld for all the details, and keep watching this blog and Giant Robot for more updates.
Also, a big ‘THANK YOU’ to all the artists and indies that are participating. I can't wait to play your games!
Adam
February 11, 2009
Anna Anthropy / art / Cactus / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
View Comments
It’s an exploration to what actually defines a game. You can win or fail in the game, but there is no user input or interactivity of any kind. I was tempted to leave the graphics out completely, but I figured that the white progress bar is abstract enough.
— Petri Purho
Developers: Petri Purho, Heather Kelley, Jonatan Söderström
Release Date: February 2, 2009
Platform: PC
Price: Free
Download
Via Polytron Corporation
Adam
February 04, 2009
Cactus / Heather Kelley / indie games / 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho
View Comments
Paraluxx is a collection of gag comics and illustrations based on the games of indie favorite Cactus. Created by Madamluna, the book includes characters from Clean Asia!, Mondo Medicals, Psychosomnium and God Came to the Cave, as well as a cameo by the salaryman from Jesse Venbrux’s Karoshi.
The fanbook is free, and you can view it online. Nice work, Madamluna!
Via Cactus Squid
Adam
January 10, 2009
Cactus / comics / indie games
View Comments
