At this year's Global Game Jam, I created a small Real-Time-Strategy game called "Neon." It's the simplest possible RTS, with really only one "building" type and one "unit" type. It features three levels of increasing difficulty, some slick visual effects, computer opponents, and a fantastic soundtrack courtesy of The Silk Demise (http://TheSilkDemise.com).
Check out the gameplay video:
The webpage Lost Girl Series.com, a webpage that I helped develop in 2010 and 2011 for the Lost Girl television program's season one, was nominated for a Gemini Award in the category "Best Cross-Platform Project - Fiction." We created a compelling webpage using Drupal, PHP and Flash.
The coolest feature of the site, the Interactive Motion Comics, was a cross-media comic book that the user could interact with. Based on the user's actions, different sections of the video would play. We had a lot of fun with this project, and the artwork was especially nice. Tigh and Jessie really pulled out all the stops getting through piles of content. I also had my hands full with both the webpage and the Flash content for all six of the interactive motion comics.
Check out the gameplay video here:
Our latest game, Nom Nom Nom Nom, was awarded the Silver People's Choice Award at the TOJam Arcade this weekend.
Nom Nom Nom Nom is a fast-paced, frantic game about cats eating food. Up to four players make their cats fatter by eating as much kibble as possible. Your score is measured by how fat your cat gets. The game features a swinging soundtrack, courtesy of the awesome and energetic Squirrel Nut Zippers.
Nom Nom Nom Nom is coming soon to iPhone, iPad and Android phones.
So TOJam 2010 went off really well. We had a great time there, with the largest turnout ever!
Our game this year is Nom Nom Nom Nom, a game about cats eating. It's fast-paced and frantic, with colourful fun art.
We're demoing this game at the The Toronto Comic Arts Festival this weekend. Specifically, our time slot is Saturday, 1pm - 5pm, on the second floor.
Details about the The Toronto Comic Arts Festival:
Saturday May 8th, 9am-5pm
Sunday May 9th, 11am-5pm
@ Toronto Reference Library
You can now register for the most fun event of the spring: TOJam 2010! This is an indie event held in Toronto, Canada, in which participants create games from scratch in only three days. This is the fifth annual event, and incidentally, I've attended all thus far.
Registration forms are now up. There are 160 slots available, which will fill up fast. The event is April 23-25, 2010.
Sign up at: http://tojam.ca
Even if you don't attend, check out TOJam to see the games from the past five years, and watch for the new ones created this year.
Awesome!
If you didn't like your presents this year, you do have an option to return them, besides fighting the service lines at the local mall. Instead, return them directly to Santa himself, in this silly, small game called Santa In... Reindeer Poop.
On a suggestion from a friend, I happened to throw this together in a couple of hours. It's silly, it's fun, there's about 30 seconds of gameplay, but it's kind of cathartic to send presents back.
Happy holidays!
The Vortex Competition has updated their deadline. You can apply for either making a game concept or prototype pitch or attend the Boot Camp, or both.
@see http://vortexcompetition.com/
Vortex Boot Camp – Competition Registration deadline EXTENDED to midnight October 27th.
Pitch your game idea to Yannis Mallet (Ubisoft CEO Montreal and Toronto) and Kevin O’Leary (Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank, Genstar Capital, and O’Leary Equity Funds)) and other major industry players.
Hey guys,
The next IGDA Toronto meeting is set for October 8th. We have an awesome panel of experts discussing how to set up a new gaming company in Ontario.
There are so many indie development shops in various state of growth that this topic should be of much interest to lots of folks in and around Toronto.
Next Meeting: Thursday, October 8th 2009
Format: moderated discussion
Topic: Running an Ontario game studio: From start-up to stability.
The Toronto Chapter of the International Game Developer's Association is looking for guest speakers for its October 1 event.
The topic: Running an independent game studio in Ontario: Business & Legal considerations.
To discuss:
- Raising startup capital, maintaining cashflow
- Tax credits, grants, government support programs
- Legal considerations
- Long term planning
- Recruitment strategies
- Marketing strategies
For TOJam 3 in May 2008, I went again with the solo programming + awesome sound and art assistance route and created a 2D physics-based game called Titanic Pinball.
Here's the pitch for the game: you're saving the victims of the Titanic from drowning by knocking them away from the water as the ship is sinking. You play pinball by rotating the paddleboats at the bottom of the screen, just like in a regular pinball game, except that you're knocking around ragdoll characters instead of balls.
