GameChangers Open House

The Hand Eye is a community partner in this Centre for Social Innovation project GameChangers.

GameChangers is a game design competition for diverse teams to collaborate, network, support and mentor people in software and game development. No game experience necessary — people bring an interest to collaborate and learn along the way. We’ve got amazing response from students in comp sci and professional coders who are into making games as a creative outlet and building community.

It all started with the goal to increase the number of women in tech.  We’re excited that this creative hands-on project has emerged as a way to help make this happen by creating mentoring relationships. Both men and women are welcome to participate.

Interested in being on a team? Come out to the Open House on this Sat Feb 4th from 4pm – 6pm.

Interested in giving direction or feedback as a mentor? Shoot over an email.

Mare Sheppard and Mark Rabo have contributed posts to the GameChangers blog.

Iteration Not Hibernation!

We’re not doing a Hand Eye Social in February, so we’re co-presenting D-Pad instead. D-Pad is a new series at Interaccess, an art gallery that has hosted the Torontron, put on by Skot Deeming, the organizer of Winnipeg’s Data Dances and other videogame event goodness.

Friday Feb. 3rd, door at 8pm (performances at 9:30)
Interaccess Gallery (9 Ossington Ave. at Queen W.)
$5

Check out the Interaccess page and the Facebook page.

Toronto Global Game Jam

D.A.R.C. Productions’ Troy Morrissey and Toronto Skillswap’s Randy Orenstein are organizing the Toronto instance of the Global Game Jam.

It’s happening at George Brown College, Jan 27-29.

From the GGJ FAQ:

The GGJ brings together talented individuals from within your community. It is a unique opportunity for people to push their skills and challenge their way of working. Participants work concurrently with developers around the globe; we rally around a central theme, and then have 48 hours to create a game.

To find out how to register for this free event check out the official site.

If you’re interested in helping out (especially if you’re able to sponsor snacks or photograph the event) get in touch with them.

TIFF Nexus Women in Film, Games and New Media Day

Friday, December 9
1pm to 7:30pm
TIFF Bell Lightbox

Subscribers to the The Hand Eye Society blog get a discount on the Women in Film, Games and New Media Conference — you can get industry tickets for $60 for the day here.

There’ll be time to meet the creators and play the videogames made through our Difference Engine Initiative  if you missed your chance at our community presentations, a keynote by Leigh Alexander (who wrote this Gamasutra article about the DEI), and a panel with some of the DEI participants and Mare Sheppard hosted by Jade Raymond. Some promo copy:

Come meet the filmmakers, game developers, interactive producers, broadcasters, creative agencies, technology hackers and transmedia storytellers who can help your upcoming projects succeed in our evolving media landscape. In partnership with WIFT-T, this fantastic learning and networking opportunity is designed to introduce creators to emerging media technologies as well as offer them unique chances to meet professionals from across diverse sectors.

Gamercamp Update: Grab The App, Catch The Iron Chef Competition, and Prepare For The 8-Bit Cereal Breakfast

We’re just one week away from Gamercamp Lv3, the annual celebration of the artistry, innovation, and power of play. This year’s programming is our strongest yet, with inspiring talks, brilliant demos (including the neat Hand Eye-led Peripherals Initiative), an afternoon game jam, film screenings, tournaments, and more.

For a glimpse at some of the neat things going on, check out our infographics-loving poster, snazzily designed by Benjamin Rivers!

The Gamercamp app, powered by Guidebook, was just released and is the best and easiest way to organize your time at the festival. Just head to m.guidebookapp.com and you’ll find our event listed on the home page. If you have an Apple or Android smartphone, you can download the Guidebook app and search for Gamercamp in it—one advantage is that the app saves the information locally, so even if you lose connectivity, you still have that goodness available.

We also have news that 12 brave competitors will be entering into Gamercamp Stadium for our Iron Chef Competition held on Friday as part of MakerU! Co-organized with Game Prototype Challenge, the Iron Chef Competition will be an intense three-hour jam where our competitors will have to make up a game around a secret ingredient.

In addition to Iron Chef, MakerU is an afternoon of creating where attendees can try their hands at video games, board games (with Board Game Jam co-organizer Adam Clare), and physical games (with Recess.TO’s David Fono and Kate Raynes-Goldie).

Finally, we need some help. We’re bringing back the 8-Bit Cereal Breakfast, where attendees are encouraged to dress in their pajamas, bring a bowl and spoon, and prepare for a fun morning of cereal and cartoons. Except we need to decide what cereals to bring: head over the our Facebook page to answer what we should feature for Lv3. Crushed cookie bits, anyone?

If you haven’t picked up your passes yet, do so now! Grab some buds and get set for what is destined to be another epic festival. Full details are available at www.gamercamp.ca!

Thanks and see you there! 

- Jaime

[Bonus Gamercamp content unlocked: Listen to this TIG Podcast interview with GC organizers Jaime and Mark!]