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.

Codename: TIGRAC

The Toronto Indie Game Retrofitted Arcade Cabinet project is underway, and hopefully will have a better name before its fall launch. Jph has sourced a place in Oakville that sells cabinets for $100, so now we have to find the following hardware. Anyone want to donate or know where we can get a really cheap:

• monitor (LCD or CRT, let us know screen size and dimensions)
• PC (preferably above a P2)
• speakers
• keyboard
• powerbar

The project, if it’s not entirely clear, is to retrofit an old arcade cabinet and put modern indie games by Toronto creators on it and make it available to the public in a bar/gallery/coffee shop. As Jph said at the last Social, “you’d walk by a bunch of familiar games, and then there’d be this game you’d never seen…”

Colin has offered to look into sponsorship/venues for it, and Nadine has offered to do interface and cabinet design, so we’re on our way with this. But feel free to get in touch if you’d like to contribute in some way… maybe you have a large, arcade cabinet sized vehicle for instance?

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.

The TOJam #4 Arcade – May 22 – Public, Free!

it's perfectly readable, you just need glasses

Friday May 22nd
7:30pm – Midnight
Open to the Public
FREE!

29 games were created and they want… nay… NEED to be shown!
Not only will you be playing, you’ll be voting.
oooo… now that’s what I call interactive.

6 games will be projected at a time, changing every half hour.
Drinks are available at the bar, to help your hand eye skills.
Official Kickoff at 7:45pm. BE PROMPT!

Note
Due to size limitations we cannot hold the TOJam Arcade at the excellent Unit bar. We will be found instead at The Blue Moon Pub, located near downtown Toronto on Queen Street near Broadview. Hope to be back at cozy & sleek Unit for the next social.

Full details including map here.

TOJam Registration Open!

The amazing  Toronto Indie Game Development Jam is happening May 1st-May 3rd. This is the fourth one, and last year’s had something like a hundred and twenty people slaving to finish a game in three days.

This year, however, there’s only room for a hundred — so you’ll want to get ye to this page as there’s already 34 people signed up and the deadline is five days from now (April 27th). It’s free, it looks hella fun, and there’s options for teams, lone wolves, or floaters of various types (art, music) to pitch in for needy teams.

Simulation Combat and Synthetic Environments in Today’s Air Force Wed April 22

LCol Rick Thompson, Section Head for Air Force Synthetic Environments, Canada’s Air Force speaks about Air Force synthetic training system that combines existing defense networks, electronic learning content and delivery, and real time distributed combat simulations.

Location: at the Hamilton International Airport

Register Here

“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.

Provocative Fun Achieved at First Social

The first Social worked out swell, with a rather dense crowd of gamemakers and enthusiasts descending on Parkdale’s Unit bar.

photo: Mike Nowak

Thanks to everyone who came out, especially our presenter Paolo from Molleindustria who took us through his controversial and thought-provoking games with exclamations like, “I will destroy the credibility of your industry!” after a particularly unsavoury shot from Operation Pedopriest.

To be notified about the next Social in April ‘09, register and optionally become a member.

The First Social

The Hand Eye Society, a new coalition dedicated to meshing Toronto’s videogame communities, will be having its first Social for videogame makers and enthusiasts this Thursday, February 12, 7-10pm. It’s at the bar Unit (1198 Queen Street W.) in Parkdale and it’s free.

We’re excited that Paolo Pedercini from Molleindustria, the celebrated Italian developer of nextgen media activist videogames, will be attending. At 7:30 he will be briefly discussing his next project and taking some questions from the audience. His controversial, hilarious and politically subversive games McDonalds, Faith Fighter and Oiligarchy will be available for play through the night.

This Social is hosted by Jim Munroe. The upcoming bimonthly Socials will be hosted by different Hand Eye Society members as G.J.s, including such notables as Jim McGinley (April), Miguel Sternberg (June), Raigan Burns and Mare Sheppard (August), and Jon Mak (October). The future Socials will invite members of the community to demo their in-progress and finished games in a casual and supportive atmosphere. Register to get an email update on these and other upcoming videogame events.

While in town, Paolo Pedercini will also be doing a talk at OCAD and an art show at Digital Event 09.