Already in its fifth year, the independent-games festival IndieCade continues to grow and attract a wide range of submissions. One of the things I noticed with several of the selections for 2011 -- many of which were on display at the festival's booth during the E3 conference earlier this year -- was how colorful and alluring the graphics were. If you get a chance to make it out to Culver City, California, for the show this October, make sure to keep an eye out for these vibrant games:

Hohokum

What do you do in Hohokum? Well, you get to fly around as a wide-eyed, snake-like creature and mess around with a watercolor-style environment. The title is purposely vague about its in-game goals. This gives the gameplay a relaxing atmosphere, and so does the art style featuring many muted colors. The whole package feels like a wonderful combination of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie and Noby Noby Boy. It instantly caught my attention while I was touring the IndieCade E3 booth. Expect to find Hohokum on the Mac and PC someday, but in the mean time, check out the game's blog for the latest.

Ibb and Obb

While playing VVVVVV, did you ever wish it had a co-op mode and displayed more than four colors at a time? If so, maybe you should give Ibb and Obb a spin when it comes out for the PlayStation Network and PC this August. This indie title takes the gravity-switching mechanics of VVVVVV and adds puzzles that rely on color-dependant teamwork. Gravity works more or less how Sir Isaac Newton described it, yet everything is inverted in the lower half of the screen. In order to access a level's underbelly and progress through the game, the loveable pink and green critters take turns passing through respectively colored portals. Playing local co-op makes conveying your puzzle-solution ideas -- and admiration for Ibb and Obb's trippy visuals -- to a buddy that much easier. For the most recent updates, refer to the game's official Facebook page.

Where Is My Heart?

This comic-book-inspired platformer about a family of monsters who are lost in a forest has some of the best pixel art I’ve seen since Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. As strange as it sounds, this can actually be a bad thing since the colorful illustrations might make navigating the levels' discontinuous panels more difficult. On the tiny PSP Go screen, the demo of Where Is My Heart at E3 still looked fantastic, and thankfully, the full experience is slated to drop as a Mini for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. Check out the game's blog for more.