Kickstart Your Weekend With Puzzle Football

Last night's Game On Austin event brought a bustling crowd of all ages to Empire Automotive, and we're keeping all eyes on the gaming scene with this week's column.

From college students to kids and parents and everyone in between, gamers of all stripes dove into local developers' products on iPad, PC, Xbox One, and more. The team at Part Time Evil also set up shop with Puzzle Football: Quest of the Gridiron, which is still in development and is slated to hit the App Store next year.

The concept behind the game is simple: Take the addictive qualities of puzzle games like Bejeweled and Candy Crush, and add in a little more action. You have your usual tile-connecting element when trying to build up your playbook, and then you pick teammates to run the plays and see how you stack up against your opponent. Check out this pitch video to get a little more explanation on the process.

So as you can also gather, they're putting together an Indiegogo campaign to help finish this project out. They want to get the RPG progression running smoothly, as well as build a solid stable of teams and equipment options. If they exceed their $16,500 goal, they'll work on developing versions for Mac, Facebook, and Windows Phone 8 (in addition to the Android, iPhone, and iPad ones already planned); customizable characters and pass-and-play are on the wishlist as well.

If they don't meet their goal, that's OK too; Indiegogo's flexible funding lets them keep anything that's been pledged. And no matter how much they earn, they're donating 5% to the NFL's Play 60 program to help kids stay involved in physical fitness after school – that's a good play, no matter who you're rooting for.

So check out the rewards, scope out the project, and get in the game to keep supporting local developers.

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Kickstart Your Weekend is a series intended to showcase Texas film and tech projects that are crowdfunding their way to a goal, be it distribution, a prototype, or production costs. If you have a project that we should know about, email us at filmflam@austinchronicle.com.