I’m feeling pretty felt optimistic about May. Maybe it’s thanks to Miitomo, a nifty app for introverts that lets you evade face-to-face interaction with actual people. Or because I’ve just found out the BELIEVE guy has his own Yelp page. It could be something in the air. I wouldn’t be surprised, given how you could throw a rock in any direction and hit a dispensary. At any rate, better things are on the horizon and everyone seems to be singing Toronto’s graces. (Thanks Views!) Keep those good vibes rolling and stroll by these local indie game events and socials. And if you wanna keep yourself in our infinite loop, order something with your favourite TTC bus driver Google Calendar. Sure he’ll stop the bus halfway on his route and grab some Timmies for 20 minutes, but he’s got a knack for updating things as they are announced.

WHERE TO JAUNT – TORONTO GAME EVENTS

Tuesday, May 3

Do you ever just wanna sit down with some strangers and chat about one specific game that’s been on your mind? Thanks to 2-Bit Game Club and Electric Perfume, you can do just that. This month, the discussion group series will be talking about ActRaiser, an SNES game about fighting Satan and city-building. It’s like if the Sims was made by devout nerdy Christian architects. Pay what you can, RSVP available on Facebook.

Friday, May 6 to Sunday, May 8

For three days, droves of game makers will be living rent-free at George Brown College for the 11th annual TOJam: Don’t Stop BELEVEN. This long-running game jam is bigger than ever, with 473 developers, artists, musicians, and floaters all doing their part to finish a game before the deadline. This year’s theme is this, so I hope someone references that.

Also, cool easter egg. TOJam’s website is already a game!

Saturdays, May 7, 14, 21, and 28

Game Curious MAKE, our free game-making workshop series, will continue running throughout May and June. Participants of our first MAKE session in late April can expect to hear if they’ve been selected in just a few days! We can’t wait to see what projects folks will be working on.

Sunday, May 8

There’s something incredibly cool about creating your own game controller. Pardon my Drake, but “Do things when you want me too like controlla,” you know? That is to say, moulding your own physical conduits of influence and power within your games is awesome. Local cyborg Lindy Wilkins will be running “Handcrafted Video Game Controllers,” a workshop where they will show participants how to use Makey Makeys and traditional crafting methods to make controllers. You can register for the event with Interaccess and RSVP on Facebook.

Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15

One of our favourite events to run, Comics Vs Games, is back at TCAF! This weekend celebration of all things comicky at the Toronto Reference Library will once again feature a showcase of videogames and speakers that focus on creatively intersecting with the sequential art medium. Free to attend and play. Mega-announcement about the games and speakers lineup will follow in a day or two after this post!

Friday, May 20

Want to learn how to make games in Unity, with no previous coding experience required?

Thursday, May 26

You know how our Game Curious program is like a book club with buttons for those new to games? Introducing Game Furious — our fight club with buttons! And by fight, we mean radically dismantle anti-oppressive frameworks with indie games.

Game Furious is our first pop-up arcade and workshop at D-Beatstro, and will be devoted to games and game-makers from the margins. We’ll be showcasing games featuring representation of trans, queer, people of colour, disabled, mad, and low-income experiences.  The arcade will be followed by a brief game-making tools 101 workshop, using free programs anyone can use to make. No coding experience required. The arcade will be free to the public, followed by a PWYC workshop.

RSVP available on Facebook. Should you require any accommodations to ensure your attendance, contact al@handeyesociety.com

WHERE TO HAUNT – TORONTO GAME SOCIALS

Tuesday, May 3

TorontoVR will be holding their monthly social, along with a talk from Blair Renaud from Iris VR. Renaud will talk about his indie cyberpunk game Technolust, which dazzled players back in 2014. The talk will be followed with the usual socializing and demos, so bring your games if you’ve got ‘em. Starts at 7 p.m., at Globacore Headquarters.

Wednesday, May 11

Dames Making Games is launching VR Dames, a new Virtual Reality (VR) meetup social in Toronto. In the first of what will hopefully be many events, attendees can showcase their VR projects and try out the HTC Vive. Speakers will be announced soon. Starts at 6:30 p.m., at Bento Miso.

Wednesday, May 25

My kingdom for a tall can! Or maybe just a couple toonies. Come on down to Torontaru’s monthly social for anyone involved and interested in local indie game culture. Starts at 8 p.m., at the Get Well.

Probably Tuesday again, May ???

The Hand Eye Society’s monthly game design meetup will, as always, be announced a week or two before it happens! The last three have been a lot of fun, featuring- in order- TOJam and Hand Eye Society co-founder Jim McGinley’s preview talk on design lessons from the TRS-80 (the final, polished prez is now on the GDC Vault); Derek Quenneville presenting on the importance and impact of videogame preservation on today’s aspiring game-makers; and the Axon Interactive team’s amazingly informative behind-the-scenes look at their upcoming narrative puzzle game, Quench (see the Coming and Going Attractions section for more info on the game and Kickstarter)! Usually starts around 7:30 at LabT.O. (231 Wallace Ave), although there is sometimes a volunteer meetup at 6 beforehand.

Want to know when the next one will be? Check out our Facebook group and Twitter for quick updates, or subscribe to our mailing list for major happenings. Also, please contact our volunteer coordinator kai@handeyesociety.com if you’re interested in coming out to the volunteer meeting!

#ICYMI

#ITS(green)LIT: Toronto games I’m Fine by Rokashi and Shoot Shoot Mega Pack by Actual Humans got greenlit! Expect these games on Steam soon.

#LoversPlaytest: Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime needs playtesters! Everyone’s favourite bunny astronauts are looking for folks to join their beta program. Doing so would help this two-player piloting adventure through the stars become a four-player experience. Double the rabbits = double the fun!

#YouChirpingWotAtMeM8: The good news: Arrow Heads won best overall game at Level Up Showcase. The better news: it’s available for free, and you can download it from Odd Bird Studios, who hope you’ll send them feedback. Heed the call, assemble your flock, and try this feathery multiplayer for the low cost of Your Opinions.

#BeyondTwine: Last month, the Hand Eye Society’s exploration of digital interactivity and yarn (you heard me) Videogames Unraveled drew lots of attention; probably because there’s a severe lack of gaming events that include a knitting circle, a mini-arcade featuring games with a yarn aesthetic or textiles focus, and a presentation about all three times Nintendo thought it would be cool to combine their gaming system with a sewing machine. Hopefully they don’t give up! Thanks to Brenna MacDonald from Yarns Untangled, LabT.O., Tom Hobson and the HES volunteer team for their help in making this a success; and especially to everyone who came out and learned how to knit, play a game, or both! Video documentation coming soon to YYZ Gameshow, a ‘lil series about Toronto indie/art games culture we occasionally make with BellFibe. If you missed this and want us to run it again, or have any cool ideas for future creative crossover events, get in touch at info@handeyesociety.com

PAPER TRAILS – GAMING IN THE MEDIA

Drinkbox Studios’ slasher touch game Severed is finally out and saving us, as well as the PSVita. CBC and NOW featured the game, with NOW’s piece sharing insight on the local musical talents in Severed: Yamataka//Sonic Titan and Pantayo.

Brawling aliens with the power of Canadian indie musicians? Cool idea, says pretty much everybody. Rhythm game LOUD on Planet X got some noise from NOW, CBC, Vice, the Financial Post, and Pitchfork.

Full marks for student developers; Toronto Star put the spotlight on a few games from the Level Up Showcase in April.

Last month’s gaming con EGLX got a write-up from Metro, which includes 13AM Games’ Dave Proctor and Hand Eye co-founder Jim Munroe chatting about the importance of indie programming. During the actual convention, HES Executive Director Sagan Yee also weighed in on a panel about diversity in gaming, along with other awesome Canadian devs like Taylor Bai-Woo (The Gloam Collective), Jord Farrel (indie), Unai Cabezón (3am Games) and Lucas J.W. Johnson (Silverstring Media).

IGN leaped ahead with an exclusive trailer for Valley by Blue Isle Studios.

Toronto Game Devs did a Q&A with 13AM Games on Runbow’s new DLC, which will be updating the colourful multiplayer with some neat mechanics that were included. They also chatted about features that were axed, which is a crying shame, if you axe us.  

Podcast-wise, we got some new episodes from Play Dead, Gabby DaRienzo’s audio adventures into how death is represented in games. Episode 5 is all about music. It features interviews with Fez’s composer Rich Vreeland, Fate Tectonics’ composer Robby Duguay, and Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery’s composer Jim Guthrie. Episode 6 gets gothic, in a chat with Failbetter Games founder Alexis Kennedy, whose studio was behind Sunless Sea.

COMING AND GOING ATTRACTIONS

Sago Sago’s Mini Robot Party came out and it is exactly what it sounds like. Get your kids used to the upcoming robot uprising with this cute game for toddlers, available on iOS.

Teamwork makes the dream work in Pitfall Planet, a game that just launched itself on Steam and players into space. This puzzle co-op takes players into a mysterious planet’s underground caverns, where you’ll need to work together to mine out of the subterranean traps and obstacles.  

(NOTE: this kickstarter has since been cancelled)  Little Robot Friends are super neat toys that anyone into robotics would have loved growing up. Imagine if Tamagotchi were tiny circuit boards who taught you how to code. After a successful line of Robot Friends were crowdfunded in 2013, the folks behind them are back with improved robots ready to play, talk, tickle, and sing in Beepboopnese to you. No really, they sing. Aesthetec Studios is holding a KickStarter for the new Little Robot Friends, which you can help out in getting these robot comrades out into the world.

A few games have gotten the Kickstarter treatment too. OSnap! Games is doing a Kickstarter for QUASAR, their 3D multiplayer shoot-em-up in space. Axon Interactive is running a Kickstarter for their puzzle game Quench, a puzzle game about compassion where you use the weather to guide animals to safety.

MVP

This month’s MVP is Hand Eye member Douglas Gregory, a game designer at Ubisoft Toronto and long-time fixture to the indie game scene. If you’ve played Splinter Cell Blacklist, Glimpse, Nuit Blanche’s Pixelate, you can thank Douglas for those design experiences. 

Chances are, if you’re fond of chilling at local game events or dabbling in jams, you’ve probably come across Douglas once.When asked about what he thought of Toronto’s indie game scene, Douglas said he looked forward to an almost weekly selection of inspirations and challenges.

“I feel incredibly lucky to live and work in a city with such a vibrant game-playing, -developing, and -critiquing community!” he wrote. “Bento Miso, Dames Making Games, Hand Eye Society, TOJam, Globacore’s VR & Uken’s Unity meetups, on and on, and all the people who make them great – I love you all!”

We <3 you too! And if you <3 Unity, Douglas will be facilitating our Unity workshop on Friday, May 20.

  You can follow Douglas on Twitter at @D_M_Gregory. 

A BREADWINNER IS YOU – JOBS, GIGS, AND OPPORTUNITIES

Our friends at the co-working space LabTO are holding a Kickstarter to raise funds for a Toronto VR co-op. The proposed shared space would help developers book shared technology and headsets, as well as provide them with collaboration and learning opportunities. Considering VR’s growing popularity, this project could help emerging creators work with equipment they would otherwise be unable to acquire. Help out if you can!

Want to be a part of the team behind Severed and Guacamelee? Drinkbox Studios is hiring a senior programmer and a lead designer.

Ubisoft’s got a ton of openings, in quite a few different fields.

Start-up eSports company Imaginix Games is looking for a “Game Mechanic.”

A grant deadline approaches! The $10 million OMDC Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Fund is aimed at strengthening and stimulating economic growth in the interactive digital media sector. The fund provides IDM content creators with funding for high quality, original interactive digital media content projects that make a positive contribution to the Ontario economy. There are two deadlines for Production and Concept Definition programs in 2016: May 9 and October 11 by 5:00 pm. So if you miss this month, be sure to catch it in October! See the OMDC website for more details.

Want to get involved with the Hand Eye Society? Contact volunteer@handeyesociety.com for more details, or support us with a paid membership. Whether you choose to give your time, money, and/or just like to show up at our events, your support is always incredibly appreciated! 😀