Alright, tonight was a good night for me. I met up with my NY gamedev friends from Nocturnal Minds(cool guys BTW) over at Babycastles Arcade. What's Babycastles? Well, it's a bar and arcade. A place where people can get together and meet independent developers and play a couple of indie games in some good old fashioned arcade machines. I heard Messhof was there two weeks ago. GRRRrr!! I missed out!!

After reuniting with the guys, I went around playing games which seemed really interesting. The full list includes:

-Untitled, by Martin Gonzalez

A platforming game where you create platforms to explore in an endless environment that changes the longer you’re in it.

-Clock, by Luke O’Connor

Press any button to jump to the opposite side of the screen to avoid touching the red lines.

-Asterodyssey, by Gametron Studios(Personal Favorite)

Move the Earth out of the path of oncoming asteroids in this mouse-only arcade game. Good use of sounds & the hand-drawn art is nice.

-Auto Cannibalism, by Krimelo(Must Play)

Features RepEating uses of the theme. The low-bit aesthetic, music, and dialog combine to make a hilarious experience. Plus, when was the last time games explored the delicious theme of cannibalism?

After a few games and a few drinks, we got to hear the hilarious(albeit confusing) antics of Blue leader. The guy got on stage and went on a rant on how we are all gamers and … shit I don't know what he was saying. It had a Technicolor background with remixed heavy metal Final Fantasy Music. IT WAS AWESOME!!

I also met Scott Anderson, one of the developers of the innovative and up and coming indie platformer Shadow Physics. In his game you play as a shadow and you have to manipulate the lights and objects around you to solve puzzles. I am quite impressed by the work he put into this project and am really looking forward to it. I will be sure to get this when it comes out on XBLA.

And for those who are wondering, he came up with this idea first. He demoed the game on Tokyo Game Show and GDC last year. However, it seems Hudson soft stole the idea and quickly made the game Lost in Shadow for the Wii. The game is inferior to Shadow Physics since it lacks the tech that makes it unique.

All in all, Babycastles was a great place to visit and I am looking forward to the next meet up. Who knows, I might see Messhof this time. lol.