End-of-March Events and Discounts
Hey everyone! GDC (Game Developer Conference) is over and Sagan is back from San Francisco. I was on a panel called Ripple Effect: How Women-in-Games Initiatives Make a Difference which went really well; shout-outs to Dames Making Games and lots of supportive folks in the audience! While I was gone, our fearless Game Curious coordinator, technical director and Torontron officer extraordinaire Ken Cho did a game-making workshop at Fairview Library (and they loved him so much they asked for another!) and Hand Eye Society curated a bunch ‘o local games for the final Toronto Long Winter of the season. I’ll try and get pics so we can spotlight the creators more closely, but the titles showcased were Za Vas by Brittney Oberfeld, Lee Tran, Kimberly Koronya; Grumz by Picnic Game Labs; Art for 3 by Droqen; and XOB by Jord Farrell, Mark Sparling.
Our regular April newsletter will be coming up soon, but there’s so much going on here at the end of the month that I thought I’d send a quick newsletter out about some events/deals that were only announced recently. The quickest ways to find out about events as they come up are probably our Facebook group and Twitter, but I definitely recommend signing up for the e-mail newsletter and Google calendar as well if you haven’t already.
Onwards to the events!
Game Dialogues #2: Microtalks – Tues March 29
It’s our second monthly meetup for Hand Eye Society members and anyone else who might be interested in collectively learning about game design. Folks new to the community are definitely welcome to come! Mainly we’ll just be hanging out and watching video series like the Game Maker’s Toolkit or Extra Credits, but occasionally there will be a guest presentation or group activity. We just started doing this so plenty of room for suggestions!
LabTO Co-Working
231 Wallace Ave, 2nd floor
Tues March 29
7:30 PM
Tomorrow evening, Derek Quenneville (aka Techknight) will be giving a short presentation called A LINK TO THE PAST: Advocating for accessible game design history. It will be a brief exploration of how and why we should make past discoveries in specific genres and gameplay mechanics accessible to new creators. Derek is a 3D printing expert and digital fabrication artist in Toronto, Canada. He works at Objex Unlimited, and occasionally teaches at Toronto Public Library. He is currently working on narrative game Real Army Simulator with game artist Yifat Shaik, about her experiences with mandatory service in the Israeli army.
Gaming at Make Friends Monthly – Thurs March 31
Make Friends Monthly by Little Dada (the amazing Lindy Wilkins and Hillary Predko) aims to bring communities together in a fun, informal environment to see what we can all learn from each other! This month, Make Friends is inviting HES members as well as the game curious public to come out and explore the creative intersections of technology, art, and gaming by meeting people from those disciplines and seeing what inspiring conversations might be had. We are excited to do more things together in the future, so hopefully this get-together is only the beginning. Also, look for the One-Button Torontron arcade cabinet currently being hosted at the venue!
Join us this month at Electric Perfume on March 31st! Electric Perfume is a fun & learning oriented studio-gallery-lounge space for the development and exhibition of live gaming environments and immersive experiences. Learn more, get involved, and create or interact with cool stuff. Lets’ work together with like-minded people to create beautiful and amazing things!
Don’t forget critical thinking and snacks from 7-9pm. Everyone is welcome!
Make Friends Monthly is a meet-up of Toronto based Makers, creators and educators to discuss the future and current state of the Maker movement in Toronto. If you are interested in Maker education, exploration, community development or diversity, we’d love to see you there!
When:
Thursday, March 31, 2016 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Where:
805 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4J1L2
The event is free, but please RSVP to the event. Donations are welcome, and go to providing snacks. Also, check the event out on Facebook and share widely!
Game Curious #4: Identity – Saturday April 2
The fourth session in our informal yet educational “book club with buttons” is coming up Saturday April 2 with the heady theme of Identity! This past Saturday, we celebrated the Easter weekend with Trumpagotchi, Twine games, other interactive explorations of Life and Death, and chocolate eggs. Always lots of new and familiar faces alike, and some really great discussions with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. For more information, see our Game Curious page or check out previous sessions on the Game Curious Facebook group. You can also e-mail the coordinators Al Donato <al@handeyesociety.com> and Ken Cho <ken@handeyesociety.com> for the low-down, or even just to suggest some games you think would fit the theme.
RYERSON LAUNCH ZONE
341 YONGE STREET, 3RD FLOOR OF THE STUDENT LEARNING CENTRE
1-3 PM
New Member Discounts for Lab T.O. and Digifest
The whole membership spiel can be found on our Join the Society page and will provide you with all the information you need about becoming a member, so I’ll spare you the details here. Suffice it to say that it’s your support, whether through paid membership or volunteer time, that help make these events possible. You also get a ton of cool perks like discounts to the Beguiling, Real Escape Game Toronto, and now these awesome deals!
50% off the first three consecutive months of a membership at Lab T.O. co-working
20% off Digifest tickets
Digifest 2016, presented by George Brown College, is Canada’s premiere digital culture festival, focused on the future of digital innovation. It will be taking place from April 28-30 at Corus Quay on Toronto’s waterfront. This year, Digifest is focused on Design, Technology and Entrepreneurship. Technological innovators from Canada and worldwide will be presenting talks, keynotes, workshops and installations that will capitalize on new technologies. Additionally, there will be master class workshops, with sessions about subjects like 360-degree filmmaking, Adobe DPS and Hi-Tech Couture (registration required).
This year’s Interactive Zone will include 13 interactive installations taking advantage of technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, wearable tech, and gesture tracking. Also featuring will be the Piazza McLuhan, an immersive and interactive bar and café environment that highlights the works by Canadian philosopher of media theory, Marshall McLuhan.
As a thank-you for continued support, Digifest is offering a 20% discount for all Eye Hand Society members! The promo code will be mailed out separately to everyone currently on the membership roll, so if you don’t get it within a few days and you are a member, please contact info@handeyesociety.com). Tickets can be purchased online at http://torontodigifest.ca/
