Hello Internet denizens. Three quick pieces of news for you!

First of all, just wanted to update everyone with our newest trailer:

Second, we’re excited to be part of the Gamercamp Magazine Launch Party tonight, 7pm at the Pacific Junction Hotel. Event details can be found here. Join us!

Next in the news, Juan Aguacate (the luchador from Guacamelee!) has been announced as part of the new Minecraft Skin Pack 3 coming out this Friday, Oct 19 on XBLA. Pretty awesome:

More details about the other characters in the pack can be found here!

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G is for Gamercamp… and Guacamelee!

We’re happy to share that Juan, our dashing luchador from Guacamelee!, is going to grace the cover of Gamercamp’s new magazine.  You might think a modest Mexicano agave farmer would shy away from the spotlight.  As it turns out, once Juan puts on his luchador mask, he’s capable of doing things he never thought he would do before, like beating up re-animated skeletons, entering different dimensions at will, posing for magazine covers, and turning into a rooster (to get to those hard-to-reach places).  All in the name of saving El Presidente’s daughter, of course.

For those not in the know, Gamercamp is a celebration of Toronto’s exciting game development scene.  It’s two days that are crammed with talks, workshops, and opportunities to play some of Toronto’s best indie games.  Our very own Chris Harvey will be one of the speakers this year.  He’s one of the founders of Drinkbox Studios and our resident technical guru/benevolent overlord.

Artist’s rendering of ‘The Harv’

Chris will touch on the creative process here at Drinkbox Studios as it relates to our past, present, and future endeavours.  But Chris is only one of the talented industry vets that will be in attendance speaking on topics such as programming, design, production, and so much more!  You can’t take a few steps without seeing someone who is doing/has done/will do something amazing.  That includes yourself if you happen to pass by a mirror.  I encourage you all to attend this year!

Also be sure to check out some of the events leading up to Gamercamp.  There’s a games night at Bento Miso on October 1st, a game writing workshop October 27th, and a Gamercamp social where Peter Chapman (@PeterChapmanEsq) will be among the performers.  Peter is a fantastic musician who has contributed a lot of music toward our games, About a Blob, Mutant Blobs Attack, and will be heard in Guacamelee.  Es un mundo pequeño después de todo!  Get yer butt to these events!

To wrap things up, muchos gracias to Gamercamp for picking Juan to be on the cover of their magazine.  And be sure to pick up a pass to this year’s Gamercamp whether you’re a developer, student, or just love games!

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Hey all, Graham here.

Even though 2 weeks have gone by, I’m still recovering somewhat from the PAX weekend madness.

For those who haven’t heard, our PAX Prime adventure began when our plane was delayed out of Toronto, not leaving enough time for us to make our connection in Calgary. The ONLY option that would get us to Seattle in time for the start of the show was to rent a car and drive from Calgary to Seattle – 12 hours, overnight.

We got to the show floor about 6:30 am and finished setting up our booth 10 minutes before the doors opened. Then we worked the booth the whole day, with people stealing off to grab an hour of sleep here or there.

Regardless, we’re really happy about how the show went, and got a lot of positive response from fans and the media. For those interested, here are links to some coverage (in the order they were posted): IGN, Press2Reset, Destructoid, Game Front, New Game Plus, Polygon, ScrewAttack, Twinfinite, JTM Games, Co-Optimus, Level Save, Aria Blarg.

Also, a HUGE thanks to the public who came out to try the game. Some of you were brave enough to embarrass yourselves with our blow-up luchador, and we’re ready to announce the winners of the contest! Our three favourite luchadores are:

El Baño (The Toilet) – Seen here in full tea-bag position. Note: he was playing his PS Vita in the photo, but it got cut off.

Las Teclas del Mago (The Magician’s Keys, as in keyboard keys) – Actually happens to be a friend of Geems, a winner for the Mutant Blobs Attack contest at last PAX.

Señor Amor (Mister Love) – Also happens to be Ryan Creighton, friend of DrinkBox, but this did not bias the decision, we swear!

We are going to put these luchadors in to Guacamelee somewhere. Keep an eye out!

Thank again to everyone who participated, and looking forward to seeing some of you at Indiecade!

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Hello Internet, Graham from DrinkBox here.

One of the new features of Guacamelee! that we’ll be demoing at PAX this coming weekend, is the ability to use the PS Vita as a controller for the PS3 version of the game. This is done by simply connecting the Vita to the PS3 while Guacamelee! is running (via Remote Play):

You may be wondering, “Why is that desk so messy? Are those Rold Gold pretzels?” and perhaps also “I love my PS3 controller.. Why would I want to play the game with a Vita as the controller?”

Well there are a number of reasons. First, the Vita has an amazing D-PAD. It’s like your left thumb is receiving a massage from a Swedish masseuse. If you prefer to play with a D-pad, it’s a pretty nice method of control.

You can also use the Vita as a second controller if you want to play in co-operative mode and don’t have 2 PS3 controllers. Note: this is only possible if you have at least one friend, or are ambidextrous.

But, the biggest convenience this mode of play offers is that the mini-map is displayed on the Vita screen at all times. This will help to guide the player to their next destination, or find secret areas, without having to pause the gameplay to enter the mini-map.

As NeoGaf has pointed out, we may not be the first to do this, but we still think it’s pretty cool, and actually a useful way to play the game.

If you’re coming to PAX, be sure to stop by and try it out. We’ll be at booth 772, in the Indie MegaBooth right across from the PAX 10! You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see an inflatable luchador.

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Hey all, Graham here.

Chris Harvey and I just got back home from E3 this morning on the red-eye. In Chicago we were in such a rush to catch our connection I left my Vita on the plane. I had to sprint across the airport and lucky I got it back (*whew*).

Anyway enough about the commute.. I really just wanted to share a few of the highlights from the week

Sony had us set up on their second floor (media-only) in a very professional looking booth. WE had stations for both the PS3 and Vita versions of Guacamelee!

Hello my name is Chris Harvey and I am a robot

That's us upstairs

We were even on the big screen from time to time

Guacamelee on the Big Screen

Over the course of the three days there were a lot of meetings with great press folks as they were filed past us by Sony PR. We even had a few special meetings away from the booth with the Giant Bomb guys, and were on the PlayStation Live Cast (Chris on camera, me playing the game)

Giant Bomb E3 Podcast

PlayStation Livecast

And at some point, someone came by and put these on the wall next to our station (woot!)

Award Nominations!

That’s right, two nominations from Destructoid for Best Downloadable and Best Indie game, two from IGN for Best PS3 and Best Vita game, and one from X-Play for Best Platformer.

We’re super happy with how the show turned out, and would like to thank everyone who stopped by to try out the game!

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Hey all,

We’ve just announced Guacamelee! coming out with the support of the PlayStation Pub Fund! Yes, this means the game will be downloadable on the PlayStation®3 and the PlayStation®Vita.

You can check out the details, or ask any questions you might have on the PlayStation Blog here.

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PAX East is fast approaching, and we’re finally able to share the details of the incredible Indie MEGABOOTH with everyone.

16 great indie developers have banded together to take a large piece of the show floor and overwhelm you with 20 games (including Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack and Guacamelee!).

Also, as part of the fun, the developers have created a bizarre scavenger hunt called the Indie MEGA Passport which will give you a chance to win a very exclusive collectible button!

Check out the official website, and follow the official Twitter or Facebook for the latest news!

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Hey all, just wanted to let everyone know that one of the co-founders of DrinkBox Studios, the one and only Chris Harvey, will be speaking at GamerCamp in Toronto this Sunday.

The talk, entitled “DrinkBox Days – Bringing Blobs and Guacamelee To Life” will be held at 4:30pm at George Brown College (230 Richmond St East).

Chris plans to give an overview of the development process for Mutant Blobs Attack and Guacamelee, talk about lessons learned and how we have changed things since the development of Tales from Space: About a Blob.

There are a lot of other great speakers planned. Check out the full list here.

We also plan to show Mutant Blobs Attack and Guacamelee to the public at the “MakerU Play-Test Zone” on Friday afternoon. This event starts at 1:15pm and is being held at the CSI Annex (720 Bathurst Street). Hope to see you there!

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Hey guys. DrinkBox recently attended the Digifest First Person Show with playable versions of Mutant Blobs Attack and Guacamelee. Megashaun and Darcy from The Electric Playground were there filming, and the footage can now be viewed online here:

http://www.elecplay.com/all/digifest-2011-first-person-show/

They were kind enough to edit out most of my awkward pauses.

In addition to clips of Guacamelee and Mutant Blobs Attack,  you can see clips from other great Toronto games such as They Bleed Pixels  (with music by Megashaun) and Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure!

The video of the whole episode can be viewed below. Our part starts about 18:30 in.

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If you live in the New York City area and are interested in trying out Guacamelee! you are in luck. The game will be showing at Pictoplasma NYC this Friday and Saturday (Nov 4 & 5).

Pictoplasma is a festival that highlights contemporary character design in all forms. For more information on the exhibition, check out the event website here.

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