The Hand Eye Society » Social

Iteration Not Hibernation!

Jim Munroe — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:22:58 +0000

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.

Hand Eye Social: GPC’s Birthday Party

Jim Munroe — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:58:04 +0000

Mon. Dec 5th, 7pm
The Gladstone Hotel, Melody Room

Free

Join the Hand Eye Society and the Game Prototype Challenge as they come together for the December Social. Try out some of the games made for past versions of the Challenge and talk to some of the developers that have taken part, and get inspired to make your own games.

The Social is also a kick-off event for the tenth iteration of the Challenge, #GPCv10, and a birthday party for the event which is celebrating its one-year anniversary with this Challenge. Perhaps you’ll find that you too can make a game, and join the ranks of Challengers of the GPC. We hope to see you there!

Difference Engine Social Photos

Jim Munroe — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:25:52 +0000

Monday’s event featuring the games by the women of the first Difference Engine Initiative incubator went really well. People got to play from a eclectic variety of perspectives: a Victorian eloper, a white girl rapper, a Yeti, a noir girl geek, an anatomy skeleton, a salsa gardener, an Icarus with dad issues, and a unicorn pooping colour trails. But if you missed it, don’t worry: you can play the games when they’re released online October 31st, and you can check out some of the pics below.

DEI co-coordinator Mare MC'ed the evening...

...where the participants presented their games...

...and people enjoyed them.

Special guest Erin Robinson did a talk that ended with a demo of her new secrit game project...

...and bountiful applause.

Delightful Socializing ensued.

Want more? Check out Arun’s full photoset of the event!

Curious to see what what went down in the actual incubator sessions? Check out participant recaps of sessions one, two and three!

Hand Eye Social: The Difference Engine Games

Jim Munroe — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:38:37 +0000

Monday October 3rd, 7pm
Ballroom of the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street W.)
Free

The first 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 this Hand Eye Society Social for the community to play!

Most of the creators will be in attendance and Mare Sheppard, co-coordinator of the DEI, will be hosting the evening. In addition to the usual drinking and chatting, this Social also features a special guest from Chicago, Erin Robinson, who will be doing a presentation touching on her experiences as a game developer (including Puzzle Bots and the freeware Nanobots) as well as her role helping highschool girls make games.

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

Reminder: Hand Eye Social Tonight!

Jaime Woo — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 16:44:11 +0000

Hey everyone! For tonight’s Hand Eye Social at—wait for it!—the Melody Room at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St. West, Toronto, ON), we’ve got three awesome games from three awesome guys from New York, introduced by offworld.com founder & IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer aka @brandonnn.

Join us from 20:00 – 23:00.
NOTE: THIS IS NOT AT UNIT BAR (!)

More Info:

Hokra
Ramiro Corbetta, aka @RamiroCorbetta, with audio by Nathan Tompkins.
http://www.ramirocorbetta.com/hokra
Hokra is a minimalist sports game about competition and cooperation. Commissioned by the NYU Game Center for the 2011 No Quarter Exhibition.

Recurse
Matt Parker, aka @madparker
http://www.madparker.com/recurse/
Recurse is a manic game of twisting bodies, quick reactions, and iteration. Commissioned by the NYU Game Center for the 2010 No Quarter Exhibition.

Miracle Adventures in 2113
Noah Sasso, aka @getdizzzy
http://strangeflavor.net/
Miracle Adventures in 2113 is a psychedelic experimental action game with one fist in the bullet hell/shmup tradition.

Sure, it’s the 4th of July, but we promise there will be no Celine Dion singing God Bless America. We can’t promise there won’t be boys singing like cats. See you there!

Summer Social July 4th 2011 ‘Abstract Athleticism’

Craig D. Adams — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:28:45 +0000

HAND EYE SOCIETY SUMMER SOCIAL 2011: ‘Abstract Athleticism’

When?

8pm on Monday, July 4th 2011

Where?

The Melody Room at The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. West <<< NOTE: THIS IS NOT AT UNIT BAR (!)

What?

Last year’s Hand Eye Society summer social marked the riotous Canadian debut of NIDHOGG by internationally recognized videogame creator Messhof aka @messhof, a now-legendary two player arcade swordplay type thing created for NYU’s No Quarter exhibit. Last year’s social also featured a talk by offworld.com founder & IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer aka @brandonnn.

So what’s the dealio this year?

A visit from a NYC videogame creator with another riotous Canadian debut? Another visit from Mr. Chairman? Maybe even some never-before-seen sport-like creations from Toronto’s own DIY videogame community? WE SHALL SEE!

For now let’s just say the theme is ‘abstract athleticism’… you’ll be hearing more about this soon as the Canada Day + Independence Day long weekend approaches.

Note: You might also be hearing something about a MIDSUMMER ROCKSHOWCASE, happening that same weekend at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Thursday, June 30th 2011. It’s going to be a heckuva weekend folks.

Maybe we’ll see you there?

Social #11 – Feb 17th

miguel — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:30:37 +0000

At the Unit Bar, 1198 Queen St W. (map)
On February 17th, 2011, 7PM

“Pancakes vs. Prototypes”
- Jason Kaplan (Game Prototype Challenge) and Damian Sommer (Griddle Jam)
Ever make a game in a week? What about in four hours? Through two very different game jams, Jason and Damian explore the concept of rapid prototyping, the benefits and difficulties of extremely short-term deadlines, the output of their jams, and the spawning of collaboration.

“Making A One Button, Skill Based Party Game That Doesn’t Suck”
- Miguel Sternberg and Andrew Pilkiw (Spooky Squid Games)
What makes a good skill based party game? How do they differ from hardcore competitive games? Can you make one with only one button? Miguel and Andrew discuss the creative process behind The Night Balloonists, showing sketches, early versions and tests including their secret level making tool: Photoshop and a 2D wind tunnel!

Freeplay: The Night Balloonists!
After the talks play the Night Balloonists on the projector using a custom controller with four big oversized buttons built by Jonathan Seguin and Tino Kapetaneas specifically for the game!

COME OUT AND BRING FRIENDS! Like all our socials, this event is free and open to the public. Just show up!

Social #10

queasy — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:33:36 +0000

At the Unit Bar, 1198 Queen St W. (map)

On November 11, 2010, 7PM

JASON “6955” DEGROOT
Conjurer of 8-bit sounds traveling from the stages of Blip Festival all the way to Grasshopper’s No More Hero’s 2 soundtrack and creator of Points TV project for the 1UP Show, makes his triumphant return to Canada after ten years immersed in Japan’s video game culture. Like an ambassador of the video game age, he brings back tales of the very cool and very unique including video-game themed bars, a Nintendo museum, and other retro game-influenced happenings.

Be inspired by all the awesome of the East and relate it back to the awesome of the West, and see how we all ride this wonderful wavelength that is video games.

Afterward, sample some of Japan’s finest indie games as we drink, chat, and socialize the night away.

COME and BRING ALL FRIENDS!

Event Announcement: The Indie Showcase!

Alex Bethke — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:38:07 +0000

On Saturday, September 18th 2010 from 7 until 11pm, Golden Gear and Behind the Front Visual Arts Studios are hosting the INDIE SHOWCASE and invite you and your friends to join us!

The event will be taking place at Behind the Front Visual Arts Studios, located at 212a Adelaide st west Suite 301 and is free to the public. Come down to this social / arcade style event and talk with professionals, amateurs, and anyone else interested in playing games.

Event Highlights

the Indie Arcade: Multiple stations setup around the studio with games from Toronto’s developers.
Presentations from a variety of local companies including but not limited to Get Set Games and Golden Gear sharing some of their experience and approaches on the topic of Going Indie in Toronto
Event location and Art on display provided by Behind the Front Visual Arts Studios
Event music provided by CR8Apes
Weather permitting – We will be projecting multiplayer games onto a 40′ wall!

More Details to follow!

Want to get involved?

We are still looking for more people to help out with this event by providing games to display, computers to display them on and potentially one or two more speakers.

Email alex@goldengeargames.com if you’re interested.

Hand Eye Social: 9th: Iteration

raigan — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:34:13 +0000

WHAT: the latest and greatest social!

WHO: special guest of honour jph wacheski, the man/machine hybrid behind iteration games will be bringing the razzle-dazzle — and possibly a little soft-shoe too.

WHENCE: the sweltering climes of our very own Ontario.

WHOM: Metanet will be hosting — will we have anything to show?? Please attend for the exciting conclusion of this cliff-hanger!

WHY: because jph has a bajillion cool games to show off; also, both Shigeru Miyamoto and Cliff Bleszinski failed to return our emails in a timely manner.

WHEN: 7:00pm, Thursday, August 26th 2010; twas the night before Fan Expo — or, twill be at any rate.

WHERE: Unit Bar, 1198 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Earth.

WHITHER: the supreme dominance of Toronto in all things electronic and entertaining!