Social #5: The World Premiere of Something Cool

At:
the Unit Bar
1198 Queen St W.
MAP
the unlabelled bar next to the pawnshop, which is next to the Gladstone

On:
November 26th, 2009.
7PM

Let’s:
Smash talk the trash and video games what?

Seriously:
Pekko Koskinen,
from FINLAND, designer of two IGF award winning games Dragonfly Variations and Spawns of Deflebub, as well as co-creator of TOJam game Flowers of Error

and Shawn McGrath,
from EVERYWHERE, creator of Chain3 for iPhone, as well as ToJam favourites Xiq and A Game About Bouncing

Together they secretly collaborate on an unannounced project, Dyad, making this social the WORLD PREMIERE of their new game.  Watch a demonstration of the game and then a break down of design concepts showing an evolution from THIS to THIS.  Afterwards, ask Pekko how he choregraped a dance using shoot-em-up game rules, and ask Shawn about how awesome it was to have Tetsuya Mizuguchi (producer of Rez, Lumines, Space Channel 5) play his game.

As coleslaw, or corn-bread, but ultimately depending on blood sugar levels, Jon Mak (Everyday Shooter guy) may present old, abandoned prototypes of games he and Shawhan (I Am Robot and Proud guy) worked on.

COME and BRING ALL FRIENDS.

Hand Eye Society: The Quadrocial (Social #4)

THIS JUST IN: METANET SOFTWARE ORGANIZES EPIC INTRA-CONTINENTAL MISSION!

In an unprecedented reversal of conventional game-developer migration patterns, Alex Austin (Cryptic Sea‘s designer/programmer, aka “the one without tattoos and a goatee”) will be coming all the way from California (Santa Cruz) to Ontario (Toronto).

Yes, you read that right — it’s the never-fabled SW-to-NE crossing!  It’ll be just like “Gold Rush”, but with more than 4 colours, and backwards! Hopefully Alex will remember to LOOK SCHEDULE and BUY MOSQUITO NET!

We know, it’s crazy. And it’s happening August 27th 2009 at Unit Bar, 1198 Queen St W. (7-10pm)

Here’s Unit Bar on Google Maps.

And here are pics of some of the many other Alex Austins who will probably not be attending, courtesy of Google Images. Though to be fair, if any of them had been making their own games for over a decade, we would have invited them too.

(NOTE: you may have a hard time finding Unit partly because the window is full of junk, making it look like yet another semi-abandoned gallery space on West-West-West-Queen-West-West, and mostly because the only “signage” is the word Unit scrawled in chalk on a wall next to the doorway — perpendicular to the sidewalk! So, be extra vigilant when trying to locate it… it really does exist!)

Alex will be showing off (as usual), and talking about some of the exciting and wonderful stuff they’ve been cooking up down south, when they’re not too busy having rollerskating-pizza-karaoke-birthday-parties with Jon Blow. Also we (Metanet) will hopefully have something super-exciting to show. Or at least something exciting — frankly, at this point we’re just shooting for “something”!

Come one, come all.

p.s – Little Known Fact: Toru Iwatani originally came up with the idea for Gish when he observed a pizza missing a slice. Then he forgot all about it and made Pac-Man instead; it wasn’t until twenty years later that Alex and Edmund re-discovered the idea and turned it into a game!

p.p.s – If you’re wondering how the shape and/or colour of a pizza could possibly suggest Gish, it’s because you’ve never seen Japanese pizza — they put really disgusting stuff like mayo and bonito flakes on there, at the same time! A double-cheeze smothered with tar and a couple of eyeballs isn’t really much of a stretch.

The 3rd Social: “The Games of AGI Round 4″ Thursday June 25th

The Hand Eye Society is happy to announce “The Games of AGI Round 4″
(our third social), for videogame makers and enthusiasts Thursday, June
25th, 7-10pm. It’s once again at the bar Unit (1198 Queen Street W.) in
Parkdale and it’s free. Meet some great people, have a few drinks,
play some indie games, and catch what local game makers are up
to.  You don’t need to be a member, everyone is welcome!

“The Games of AGI round 4″
At 7:30 we’ll introduce the Artsy Games Incubator round 4 games* which
will then be playable for the rest of the night! Come enjoy games
featuring: squidy things, raccoons, Luddite potatoes, criminally
awkward breakfast conversation, stylish mountain climbing, and
applying for arts grants!

Started by Hand Eye Society member Jim Munroe the Artsy Games
Incubator is a multi-week workshop where artists, writers and other
creative types learn how to make their own games. You can read about
the AGI and play games from previous rounds on the AGI Blog.

*Time permitting round 4 AGI organizer Miguel Sternberg may also give
a short demonstration of his current work in progress Guerrilla
Gardening: Seeds of Revolution.

“5 in 25″ aka. The Second Social, Thursday, April 23

The Hand Eye Society is pleased to announce “5 in 25″ (our second social), for videogame makers and enthusiasts Thursday, April 23, 7 – 10pm. It’s once again at the bar Unit (1198 Queen Street W.) in Parkdale and it’s free. Meet some great people, have a few drinks, and catch what local indie game makers are up to.

“5 in 25″

At 8:00pm, there will be 5 quick presentations from 5 Toronto indie game developers. Featuring cute monsters, funky claymation, stylized mayhem, interactive fiction, and the world’s ultimate multiplayer game. The audience will be required to interact, and the only goal is excitement. Hosted by Jim McGinley, who dreams of playing Barney Fife on the big screen. At 8:30pm the shenanigans will end, and the socializing will continue.

MESSHOF at MOCCA

Hi Toronto Indie friends,

Game art super hero, Messhof, will be exhibiting some form of gamey artyness at your local MOCCA for the Images Festival.

The opening reception is April 3rd, 7-10 pm. Let’s all go an give him a huge indie man-hug.