Play some of the best of the modern indie gaming scene, with a focus on experimental multiplayer games, and meet the designers behind them. Curated by Venus Patrol, all but one of the games are publicly unavailable, either unreleased or exhibited only at events. Live performances by Disasterpeace, composer of the FEZ soundtrack, and Portland’s own NES cover band, EMULATOR.

Nidhogg

Winner of last year’s Nuovo Award at the GDC, Nidhogg is a brutally fast-paced swordfighting game for two players. Best enjoyed in public, it only appears at events and can’t be played any other way. Messhof aka Mark Essen joins us from Los Angeles to show it off.

Proteus

Pushing the boundaries of traditional gameplay, Proteus is a currently-unreleased game of exploration and discovery by Ed Key with a reactive soundtrack by composer David Kanaga. Winner of last year’s Indiecade Audio category, Proteus was nominated for this year’s IGF Nuovo Award.

BaraBariBall

Like a psychedelic Super Smash Bros. meets Volleyball for the NES, BaraBariBall is a competitive sports game for two or four players created for NYU Game Center’s No Quarter exhibition. Its creator, Noah Sasso, will be joining us from Brooklyn, NY.

Big Bucket’s New Game

Big Bucket Software, the creators of Mac/iOS 8bit-sky-is-falling platformer The Incident, will be previewing their as-yet-untitled new game exclusively at XOXO Arcade. Portland-based designer Neven Mrgan will be joined by partner Matt Comi from Perth, Australia.

Super Hexagon

Terry Cavanagh, the Irish madman behind games like VVVVVV and the world’s only kitty MMO, built the hypnotic and addictive Hexagon in less than 24 hours. Super Hexagon is the newly-released iOS sequel, fleshing Hexagon into a full game playable at XOXO Arcade.

Johann Sebastian Joust

Joust is a mix between dance and combat, challenging up to seven people to move their opponents’ controllers while protecting their own. Created by Die Gute Fabrik in Copenhagen, the Indiecade award winner can only be played in person, and we’ll be playing the newest build straight from the developers.

Minecraft in Real-Life

Ben Purdy is taking his popular Minecraft in Real-Life hack, an interactive 3D projection-mapped Minecraft cube, and debuting it as a competitive two-player game.

An eclectic, genre-bending lineup of musicians at the intersection of art and technology, who have used the Internet in new ways, independently and directly to their fans, without sacrificing creative or financial control.

8 PM The Kleptones

For the last decade, Brighton-based one-man mashup artist The Kleptones has helped define remix culture. Fusing pop culture soundbites with hip-hop and rock, his A Night at the Hip-Hopera is widely regarded as one of the best mashup albums ever made.

9 PM Julia Nunes

To keep in touch with friends back home, Julia Nunes started posting ukulele songs from her dorm room on YouTube to stay in touch with her friends. Five years later, she has over 50 million video views, nearly 200,000 subscribers, and a legion of dedicated fans, who helped her independently self-publish four albums.

10 PM MC Frontalot

In 2000, MC Frontalot released the song “Nerdcore Hiphop”, instantly naming the budding genre of rap about traditionally geeky subjects. On his last five albums, Front’s covered everything from Dungeons & Dragons, text adventure games, 0-day exploits, and annoying bloggers.

11 PM The Limousines

Indietronica duo The Limousines self-released their first album in 2010, scraping the money to make a big budget music video for $500, attracting MTV plays and a million YouTube views. After a bad experience with their label, they decided to go completely independent, using Kickstarter to fund their new album, hitting their goal this week.

We’re screening four of our all-time favorite film and video projects on the top floor of the YU Contemporary, with the creative people behind them to answer questions about their work. Get your popcorn and Red Vines ready.

7:30 PM Selections from 2 Player Productions

Portland-based 2 Player Productions are the documentary filmmakers behind two of Kickstarter’s biggest successes, Minecraft: The Story of Mojang and Double Fine Adventure. Cofounders Paul Owens and Asif Siddiky kick off the night with unseen footage from both projects.

8 PM Indie Game: The Movie

In this Sundance award-winning documentary, filmmakers Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky follow four critically-acclaimed developers as they risked everything to finish their games. Funded on Kickstarter, it broke new ground as the first feature-length film distributed on VHX and Steam.

9:45 PM Heat Vision and Jack

Ten years before Community, Dan Harmon got his start writing the best unaired television pilot of all time — Heat Vision and Jack, about a crime-fighting astronaut and his motorcycle friend. Directed by Ben Stiller, and starring Jack Black and Owen Wilson, the Internet cult classic is just about the best thing ever, and Fox rejected it. Maybe Dan Harmon can tell us why.

10:30 PM Star Wars Uncut: The Director’s Cut

Take the most-loved sci-fi adventure ever, split it into 15-second clips, and ask thousands of fans to remake their favorite segment however they see fit. The result is the Emmy-winning Star Wars Uncut, arguably the most insane and impressive fan-film of all time.

There are more microbreweries in Portland than any city in the world, and it’s widely known as a mecca for beer geeks. Some of the best in the Pacific Northwest are within walking distance of XOXO. Here’s a quick tour of some of our favorites with a couple interesting events along the way.

1. 1 Cascade Brewing Barrel House

   One of the only breweries in the country specializing in sour beers lies directly across the street from XOXO, with a killer patio and great snacks.

2. 2 Green Dragon Brewpub

   Massive patio space with 54 beers on tap, and home to the experimental Buckman Botanical Brewery.

3. 3 Hair of the Dog

   World-class brewery behind six of the top seven highest-rated Oregon beers on RateBeer.

4. 4 Dig A Pony

   Cheap drinks and a great menu in a cool space, and host to Kickstarter’s meetup at 7 PM.

5. 5 Burnside Brewing

   One of Portland’s best new breweries, their free outdoor screening of Ferris Bueller starts at sundown.