Kickstarter

Hey all -- so, it's been a while, but I come bearing great news! By the time you read this -- and after only a few technical hitches -- Kickstarter supporters at $25 & higher will have a link in their inboxes containing the next two games in the Venus Patrol-exclusive series: Adam Saltsman & Robin Arnott's minimalist sci-fi/survival horror CAPSULE, and Vlambeer's awesomely parodic lo-fi first-person-shooter GUN GODZ.

And! Now it can finally be told! Even more exciting: the release of GUN GODZ marks the entry of underground hip-hop legend Doseone into the indie game space. Don't know Dose by name? You might recognize the names of the projects he's been associated with over the past several years: cult hit bands like Themselves, Subtle, cLOUDDEAD (alongside Yoni Wolf of Why? and Odd Nosdam), or 13 & God (a collaboration with The Notwist). 

Dose got in touch several months back, having seen the Kickstarter, just to say hello, which kicked some mental-gears in motion, such as: "wouldn't it be rad if a funny indie hip-hop game featured a funny indie hip-hop star?" A few back and forth emails with Dose & Vlambeer later and it actually totally happened: GUN GODZ now features in-game sound-effects, voices and an exclusive title-screen rap by Dose, with beats by GG musician Jukio 'Kozilek' Kallio.

This sort of indie-music/game crossover is exactly what I hope Venus Patrol can both celebrate and help accomplish in the future: tossing a bunch of disparate and otherwise quarantined bits of culture into a pot & stirring until something amazing results -- and helping fans on both sides discover that they're probably fans of the other if they'd only found the exposure.

To that end, here's a bit more of a quick introduction to Dose for the game fans: 

A teaser for MARS SAFARI: an upcoming Cartoon Network series by former ADVENTURE TIME artist Ghostshrimp, featuring beats & voices by Dose & Jel, which I kind of couldn't be more excited for.

cLOUDDEAD's "Rifle Eyes" and selections from a live Doseone/Boom Bip live performance for UK legendary Peel Sessions, both of which showcase his signature million-mile-a-minute staccato freestyle. 

 An XLR8R video feature on Dose & Jel's Freestyle 101 sessions.

And finally (& most novelly) Dose freestyle battling Eminem (!) when they were both just tykes, all the way back at the 1997 Scribble Jam.

To top it off, here's an interview with Dose from The Believer, his web store, where you can buy solo, Themselves, and Subtle albums, and links to cLOUDDEAD albums on iTunes & Amazon, and Amazon & iTunes links for 13 & God. Definitely give it all a listen and think about showing some support, so we can keep bringing you awesome stuff like this in the future!

Hey folks! So, today, consumer blog Joystiq got the drop with the first hands-on look at two of the Venus Patrol-exclusive games, AdamAtomic's CAPSULE (with sound design by Robin 'DEEP SEA' Arnott) and Vlambeer's GUN GODZ!

While they're still not quite ready for public consumption, the site attended our aforementioned party last weekend, where we had a few demo stations for the people of Austin to give each game a quick whirl, before falling in love all over again with JOUST, and ultimately watching Disasterpeace & his drummer Reckahdam (himself an indie developer & compiler of the recent Zelda tribute album) completely kill it with their live rendition of the FEZ soundtrack.

You can find the full writeup and more information over at Joystiq, along with a small handful of new screenshots for both games. 

Elsewhere today, you can find a bunch of Venus Patrol-related love over at Destructoid's Best of 2011: Industry Picks feature, where folks like Double Fine's Greg Rice, AdamAtomic & Vlambeer's Rami Ismail themselves & more give shoutouts not just to the website itself, but to JOHANN SEBASTIAN JOUST (which most of you will understand why it's been buzzing as a year's best) and even a nod to our local Austin indie community JUEGOS RANCHEROS.

Hope everyone's gearing up for a fantastic holidays -- for my part, especially now with weeks of party-planning stress now out of the way, I've been working even over the usual overtime on a number of amazing VP & related initiatives for the new year, including, obviously, the actual launch, and hopefully also a nice holiday surprise for everyone. More on that soon!