What is Project Overboard? Watch the video!

TOJam veterans and newcomers alike are teaming up for (probably) the biggest game jam team ever assembled – Project Overboard!

We’re making a game in one weekend with over 30 people involved: developers, artists, musicians, engineers, marketers, producers and more. Project Overboard will become a one-weekend games studio during TOJam, which takes place May 11-13, with much of the process documented by a camera crew. Most importantly, all game sales will go to a special cause – because this is a project about giving people better opportunities, no matter what position they have in life.

Project Overboard is being led by Ryan Henson Creighton of Untold Entertainment, who co-created the award-nominated Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure with his 5-year-old daughter Cassandra at the last TOJam. What award-winning game will Ryan and his team create this year? Stay on our ship to find out!

Project Details

- Project Overboard is the largest game jam team ever assembled (if we say it enough times, it’s true!)
- The Project provides opportunities for people to practice new roles, and to participate when they otherwise wouldn’t have the chance.
- The game will be sold online, and all proceeds will help send at-risk Toronto youth to technology summer camps, where kids get to build robots and program video games. Pretty awesome.

Our cause is inspired by the efforts of Dr. Nichole Pinkard and her team in South Chicago. Dr. Pinkard recently spoke here in Toronto at the TIFF Nexus New Media Literacies conference.

So join us as we give everyone a turn: letting game fanatics create something special, allowing kids a chance to discover their passions.

Show your support!

1. Follow @overboardJam on Twitter and “Like” our Facebook page.
2. Watch and comment on our video.
3. Buy the game when it hits ProjectOverboard.com – all proceeds send kids to technology summer camps!

Come play the awesome games in the trailer at our Comics VS Games closing reception Thursday, May 3rd (7-10pm) at Magic Pony (Artists in attendance, RSVP via FACEBOOK) or check them out at TCAF on the weekend.

Matt Hawkins has written up a post about the first day of the Comics VS Games show at Magic Pony with lots of sweet pics!

The games of the DEI were showcased at the TIFF Bell Lightbox last month as a part of the Women in Film, Games and New Media Conference. If you missed it, you can watch the keynote and other videos here.

You’ll have to wait til the new year for the release roundup of the second Difference Engine Initiative incubator games, but in the meanwhile you can check out some game clips and interviews with the creators in this video.

Inspired? Check out this game jam being run by Dames Making Games:

JAMuary will aim to get first-time female game-makers to make their own first games during the month of January. We’ll be providing them with weekly group work sessions and peer mentoring at Site3, an online support and resource package, and an opportunity to present their games in public at a reception held on January 31st.

The deadline to apply is in 5 days, so check it out soon!

If making a game in a month seems impossible, check out the 29 games people made in a week for Game Prototype Challenge v10.

Wednesday November 23rd (doors at 7pm, start-time 7:30)
CSI Annex (720 Bathurst St., south of Bloor)
Free

The second round of the Difference Engine Initiative, a six week gamemaking incubator for women, is nearly over and we will be presenting the games that they made at the Centre for Social Innovation. The gamemakers will be presenting lightning talks about their games and their experiences making them. Una Lee, who co-facilitated the incubator with Sagan Yee, will be introducing them.

Check out some photos to see what the first round game presentation was like, and the first round games themselves here. It’ll be a great way to gear up for Gamercamp on the weekend!

The first and second rounds of the Difference Engine Initiative are part of the OMDC-funded TIFF Nexus.

The Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (TAAFI) is hosting an animation industry night this Thursday in support of the launch of their fest next summer. Tickets and more info available here.

Our newest indie arcade cabinet, the Torontron Twinstick, will be released at the event. Curated by Jim McGinley, this cab features dual joystick games made in our fair city: that’s twice the stick of the original Torontron, folks. Warning: early field tests at the Toronto Underground Cinema and Mississauga’s Celebration Square indicate that exposure to the Twinstick can cause intense excitement and spontaneous geekgasms. Luckily, usage will be monitored by cross-media HES member Matt Hammill.

The TAAFI folks have told us that their fest is about the animation arts, not just the linear cartoon form, and that they want to showcase videogame work as well. It’s happening June 22-23 2012 at the TIFF Bell Lighbox and they’re starting to take submissions in January. More details here.

The first DEI incubator session, held at the Metanet office.

The videogames for the first round of our Difference Engine Initiative, a six week gamemaking incubator for women, are all out! Play these free, cross-platform games in your browser right now.

By introducing new gamemakers from under-represented groups into our community, the Difference Engine Initiative aims to diversify what kind of videogames are made.

Our first focus is women, and so we have named this version of the Difference Engine after Ada Lovelace.

As part of the OMDC-supported TIFF Nexus, the Hand Eye Society will be running two gamemaking incubators for women in Toronto, one in August-September, and one in October-November.

We are accepting applications for this free program now. To be considered for the first incubator you need to apply by midnight on Sunday July 31st. UPDATE: We received 65 applications! We have chosen the participants for the first incubator, but you are still welcome to apply at the above link to be considered for a future program.

We are having an optional info session Tuesday July 26th at 7pm at the TIFF Bell Lightbox for potential participants looking to meet the coordinators or people of any gender looking to help out with the initiative. Please RSVP.

The Incubators

Each incubator has a maximum of six participants. Participants will attend a 3 hour session once a week for six weeks.

These sessions will provide participants with:

• experience with several point-and-click gamemaking tools that do not require programming;
• feedback and support on their gamemaking process from experienced gamemakers;
• a peer-mentorship atmosphere that has more in common with crafting circles or writers’ groups than a traditional classroom setting;
• snacks, drinks and good times.

Between sessions, participants will have required assignments generally needing 2 to 4 hours.

[Note: The Difference Engine is modeled after the Artsy Games Incubator, so applicants might want to check out the assignments, a session report, or take a look at the games that were produced.]

The Incubator Coordinators

Mare Sheppard is the president of Metanet Software and the co-creator of indie phenomenon N (free download for PC/Mac) and N+ (XBLA/Nintendo DS/Sony PSP). Jim Munroe makes comic books, lo-fi sci-fi movies and novels as well as games. Both are founding board members of the Hand Eye Society. For more on their perspective on game culture, you might like to listen to them being interviewed for CBC Radio’s Spark (scroll down to the “Games As Art” segment).

FAQ

Is there an age restriction?

Not specifically, but we will probably be consuming adult beverages and discussing adult themes and subjects.

Do you need a background in IT or programming skills?

No, though some computer familiarity is good. If you can use Photoshop a bit then you can learn the tools we use.

I am on Mac/Linux — is that a problem?

Nope, there are a few point-and-click gamemaking tools that are cross-platform. You will need some kind of computer access to do the assignments between sessions.

I am a dude — can I participate in the incubators?

Sorry, these two incubators are women only. But if you’re interested in helping the project in other ways you’re welcome to come out to the info session and maybe we can figure out a way for you to be involved!

More questions? Email Mare, Jim or both of us.

We’re happy to announce the Torontron High Roller! A companion cabinet to the original Torontron and what may be the first multi-game indie arcade box with a trackball! It’s making its debut at TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, May 7th-8th.

More on other great game content at TCAF after, but first the High Roller details!

Still showing some of its original roots as a Gimmie a Break pool game cabinet we've modified it with more buttons for left and right handers.

The cabinet features five local games as well as a sixth international guest slot for notable games by developers outside Toronto. The inaugural launch games are:

• Shlongg by notsoft is a really great evolution of the old Arkanoid/Breakout paddle games. Only with alien bosses, crazier power-ups and tunnel racing between levels. It’s a real joy to play with a trackball.
• Gesundheit! by Matt Hammill is a puzzle/stealth game with beautiful hand-drawn artwork, pigs, snot and an utterly charming sound track. It was a finalist in the 2008 IGF Student Showcase.
• Airshot Scott by Entelechynt is a game where you disarm bombs by juggling them with bullets. It was created at last year’s Toronto Indie Game Jam.
• Strategic Oil Reserve by iteration GAMES is a classic style arcade game that uses its old school difficulty to comment on the inevitable results of peak oil. Much in the same way its inspiration, Missile Command, reflected on nuclear war and M.A.D.
• Star Fall High Roller by Golden Gear is an insanely fast racing game where you keep a falling star aloft for as long as possible by collecting dreams. Originally designed for the Experimental Gameplay Competition’s “high velocity” theme, this is a new and improved version built just for the High Roller.

Our first International Guest Game is Calamity Annie by Auntie Pixelante (aka Anna Anthropy). It’s a wild west quick draw shooting game with a romantic subplot and great big blocky pixels. A novel addition to this version is the high score reward which lets the top player make their mark by drawing a picture in bullets.

There are also rumors of a secret seventh game, however we can neither confirm nor deny that it exists.

More Torontron cabinets are on their way as we refit the cabinets from the Nuit Blanche Arcadian Renaissance event for multiple games. Big thanks to Jph of iteration GAMES (for the skills) and Site 3 (for the tools) needed to modify the cabinet buttons and to Jph again for putting together the cabinet in the first place.

Other HES Games at TCAF

Along with the cabinets we’ll have three demo stations set up with games by Golden Gear, Big Pants and Spooky Squid including a few making their first playable appearance at the show. It’s a great chance to get a sneak peak of upcoming games by local developers, play some of their back catalog and chat with the creators. Writer of many fine words about games Mathew Kumar will also have his excellent exp. zine for sale at our table.

Less local, but sure to be of interest to many Hand Eye members the indie game culture shop Attract Mode will also be at the show!

They’ll be selling a selection of their usual assortment of game culture goodness, zines, comics, chiptune CDs, shirts and prints (or whatever subset of these they manage to get across the border). Debuting at the show are new Giant Robot prints by Farel Dalrymple, Hilary Florido and a Game Boy zine by Nick Maynard. The TCAF booklet will also feature an exclusive Attract Mode illustration by Maré Odomo, probably best known for his deeply melancholic ”Letters to an Absent Father” Pokemon comics.

They’ll also have the last few remaining issues of the current printing of Life Meter Comics which I pimped last year. They’re full of amazing fan comics by comic artists, animators and illustrators. (Full disclosure: I have a Lovecraft-meets-Jet Grind Radio piece in issue 2, however the comics really are great… and my section can be removed to increase the street value.)

The Attract Mode table is manned by Matthew Hawkins of Fort90 so look for the table listed under his name to find it. He’ll also have all four issues of his Fort90 zine for sale. Number four FORT90ZINE4ANSWER is debuting. Issue three describes his experience as a game designer at a major game company. The second and most popular is all about the game scene in NYC and the first issue is being discontinued so grab it while you can!

Other tables at TCAF likely to be of interest to HES folks:

• HES member Benjamin Rivers
• Spooky Squid collaborator and TOjammer Eric Kim
• Tasha Harris and Scott C. of Double Fine.
• Gamercamp lvl2 speaker and too many things to list Jim Zub

There are probably a ton of others, go check out TCAF’s full listing for all of them.

Toronto Comic Arts Festival

Saturday May 7th, 9am-5pm
Sunday May 8th, 11am-5pm

@ Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge St., Toronto, Canada
416-533-9168
Admission to TCAF is Free.

Hate Comics But Like Making Things?

Our friends at Site3 are involved with the Mini Maker Faire the same weekend as TCAF and Shawn McGrath will have his game Dyad playable on The Machine — a hand-built motorized arcade machine that really has to be seen to be believed.

Dyad – THE MACHINE from Shawn McGrath on Vimeo.

There’s also a chance the orginal Torontron Classic will be making an appearance at the Faire. Attend both, collect them all!

Toronto Mini Maker Faire – May 7th-8th – Evergreen Brickworks