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PAX East 2015 & Indie Games Live!

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We went to PAX East! Despite there being waist-high snow everywhere in downtown Boston and Shu flying directly to the show from GDC that same week, this ended up being damn fun.

pax-east-2015-madness

I believe the word is “teeming.”

Crystal Brawl got accepted into Indie Games Live, a cool game party held in an underground club!

crystal-brawl-indie-games-live-2015

Setting up for a night of gametimes

crystal-brawl-indie-games-live-2015-2

Indie Games Live wooooo!

Pluuus, Mike from Game Informer showed up, played the game and not only included us in their list of PAX East’s Amazing Indies, but had such a good time he wrote this gem:

“Towerfall and Samurai Gunn touched off a wave of arena multiplayer games. I’ve played a number, and Crystal Brawl stands out as one of the best.”

Works for me!

Mercato Art Mastermind (and occasional lead programmer) Chris also showed off his other game Rad Raygun, which always recruits a few superfans at these things.

We also demoed both the analog and digital versions of Nika for Brad at BoardGameGeek…

pax-east-demo-nika-2015

Hands-on Nika demo

… and we streamed some Crystal Brawl at Gung Ho’s booth! You can catch the whole thing here (the sound is fubar’d at the start, but comes back after about a minute).

crystal-pax-east-stream-2015

Gung Ho was streaming indies all day!

There was a ton of other cool stuff, like ominous music racer Thumper, the return of Harmonix’s Kickstarted Amplitude, and Extreme Exorcism from our buds at Golden Ruby!

jet-set-radiooooo

JET SET RADIOOOOOOOO

 

We Survived MAGFest 2015!

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MAGFest is a beast unto itself. Arcade games as far as the eye can see. An ocean of console games for almost every system in creation. Tournaments, concerts, field games, big games, weird game merch, impromptu jam sessions – all happening around the clock for the entire four days of the festival!

We brought Crystal Brawl last year as part of the MAGFest Indie Videogame Showcase, and this year we returned with reinforcements – the whole Death By Audio Arcade squad!

Maybe it was the concerts, maybe it was discovering awesome new indie & arcade games, maybe it was trouncing foes at our old favorites, maybe it was the non-stop partying, maybe it was the “holy-shit-there’s-a-huge-blizzard-coming-so-let’s-change-our-bus-tickets-to-6:30AM-and-not-sleep-so-we-can-play-games-all-night-until-we-have-to-leave” burst of adrenaline, but this year’s fest was just the best.

If you’re reading this at all, consider coming next year!

Miles of games!

Miles of games!

Whaaaaaaaat in the hell

Whaaaaaaaat in the hell

Late night air hockey

Late night air hockey.

#magfest

#magfest

Virt in concert!

Virt in concert!

People got pretty into Crystal Brawl. A few folks remembered it from last year and were all about it!

People got pretty into Crystal Brawl. A few folks remembered it from last year and were all about it!

Magic + Risk Legacy = Whatever this crazy variant is called!

Magic + Risk Legacy = Whatever this crazy variant is called!

Concert at MAGFest

The convention center where it all happens.

The convention center where it all happens.

Time machines!

Time machines!

NeonFM!

NeonFM!

Check out more pics here on Facebook!

Introducing the NYC Arcade!

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Last night was the first edition of the NYC Arcade, a cool new playtest night from Brian & GJ over at The Sheep’s Meow! Over 50+ indie game devs brought their projects to Microsoft’s space in Times Square, and a whole lot of people showed up to play!

We brought improved versions of both Nika and Crystal Brawl, and everyone had a grand game-playin’ evening. Plus, we got to check out a bunch of our local favorites and see some cool newness all in one place!

Even more pictures can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.419345798242054.1073741832.306348229541812&type=1&l=da34be2ba6

Crystal Brawl at the Smithsonian American Art Museum!!!!

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WHAT! So by an amazing turn of events, our arcade version of Crystal Brawl was featured at a game event at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in DC!

...So our game is going in here? What universe is this?

…So our game is going in here? What universe is this?

We were invited down to the pop-up event as part of the illustrious Death By Audio Arcade, courtesy of the fine folks at MAGFest (which we’re also heading to in January!), and it was just nuts. Over a thousand people showed up!

WHAT IS GOING ONNNN

WHAT IS GOING ONNNN

Not only did the DBA Arcade have its own section, alongside the venerable Killer Queen, but there was also a classic arcade section, a collection of console setups ala MAGFest, panels and talks, plus curated sections from Games For Change, IGDA Baltimore, Philly and DC, and the museum itself!

Killer Queen always draws a crowd!

Killer Queen always draws a crowd!

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A mini version of MAGFest's venerable console setup.

A mini version of MAGFest’s signature console setup.

Crystal Brawl and X-Men, a perfect pair.

Crystal Brawl and X-Men, a perfect pair.

Behind every arcade machine is a tired, phone-checking developer.

Behind every arcade machine is a tired, phone-checking developer.

It was a really bizarre (and humbling) experience to see our homemade games and cabinets alongside amazing works of art.

After the night wrapped, the awesome folks from MAGFest packed up the DBAA cabinets to take to their warehouse in DC until MAGFest in January. If you’re heading down for the fest, we’ll see you there!

Death By Audio Arcade Cabinets Invade Maker Faire!

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Holy crap! So not only did the Death By Audio Arcade (including Crystal Brawl Arcade) get into Maker Faire, but we won Editor’s Choice *and* Best in Class ribbons!

Death By Audio Arcade at Maker Faire

Maker Faire is a huge weekend-long event celebrating makers of all kinds. Electronics, art, crafts, games, music, technology, weird innovativeness – there was so much there to absorb it was kind of overwhelming in the awesomest of ways.

Death By Audio Arcade at Maker Faire

Death By Audio Arcade at Maker Faire

Death By Audio Arcade at Maker Faire

Return of the BFIG!

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Once again, we journeyed up to Boston for BFIG, the Boston Festival of Indie Games! This year they hosted the games floor in the massive indoor track a level above last year’s space. So cool to see this event growing and pulling in more indies from all over the place.

Pre-gaming with an indie dev pizza party on the lawn!

Pre-gaming with an indie dev pizza party on the lawn!

Our Crystal Brawl setup at BFIG. So many games, man... SO MANY GAMES

Our Crystal Brawl setup at BFIG. So many games, man… SO MANY GAMES

Death By Audio Arcade @ LWLVL! (Low Level)

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So lwlvl (Low Level) happened this weekend. A whirling art show, a series of concerts, an arcade game gallery – it’s kind of hard to properly describe what exactly happened, but it was definitely an awesome time.

lwlvl low level

Photo by Marjorie Becker of Chiptography

Photo by Marjorie Becker of Chiptography

And of course, the Death By Audio Arcade made an appearance, including our Crystal Brawl cabinet!

lwlvl low level

lwlvl low level

Photo by Marjorie Becker of Chiptography

Photo by Marjorie Becker of Chiptography

Photo by Marjorie Becker of Chiptography

Photo by Marjorie Becker of Chiptography

More pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/84555579@N08/sets/72157646860327601

Nika Available on Kickstarter

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The non-digital version of Nika, the Greek war-themed board game designed by myself with beautiful art by our own Chris Hernandez, is now available on Kickstarter! Here’s a preview of the lovely box it’ll come in:

Nika box

The campaign has gone great so far, thanks in part to our publisher Eagle Games, but there’s still a long way to go to hit some of those stretch goals. If you want to help us get there, support the game and tell your friends about it!

Global Game Jam 2014 Roundup

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This year, a bunch of us Mercatoites participated in the Global Game Jam, the world’s biggest simultaneous game jam! The GGJ holds special significance for us since the team first came together at last year’s event where we made the bacon-oriented platformer Gird Up Your Loins.

The theme for this year’s jam was, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Based mainly out of NYU’s jam site at their Brooklyn campus (with Nathaniel contributing from LA), Mercato folks in various teams ended up working on six games – one of them even won an award!

Here’s the final tally:

Nyoncat and Bleuteuth Flock Ink Blot Ballet
Nyon and Bleuteuth live in a world of neon lights. Control the environment around them as you choose the paths they take. Will Nyon catch Bleuteuth and knock his lights out, or will Bleuteuth escape to shine another day? The choice is yours! Flock is adorable. I can’t really say anything more without spoiling it. A random Rorschach physics dancer generator.
By Mark Anderson, Anthony Conta, Chris Hernandez, Yury Pavlotsky, Ben Serviss, Neil Sveri By Josh Raab, Jenny Jiao Hsia, Nathaniel Chambers By Jon Stokes, Eleanor Howe
Official Jam Page Official Game Page Official Jam Page
Play Now! Play Now! Play Now!
 
Ant Simulator Prototype Thing Harmony Couch Surfing
Simulating what it might be like to experience the world as an ant, where everything you know about the world comes from pheromone trails left behind by your colony mates.
**Winner for Best Visuals at the NYU game jam site!**		 You are the leader of a cult. The world is going to end in 10 days. You must recruit as many true believers as possible! Sometimes, when people keep assuming you’re something you’re not, when the same old routine starts weighing you down, the only way to find yourself is to take a chance on something crazy.
By Chris Hernandez By Nick Robalik, Nathaniel Chambers, Joe Kowalski, Mike Lazer-Walker, John Bujalski, Chris Wolf, Erwin Perez By Ben Serviss
Official Jam Page Official Game Page Official Jam Page
Download Now! Play Now! Play Now!