I was interviewed a few weeks ago by the folks at BigSushi.FM, it was during a craaaazy heatwave in Toronto and I slowly became more and more heatstroke delirious as it progressed. We discuss a whole bunch of the things I’m involved in, not just They Bleed Pixels but Comics vs Games, The Hand Eye Society and even my brief foray into the world of special effects for film (*cough* Cube2: Hypercube *cough*).
We recently had Nuit Blanche 2010 in Toronto, an all night event where the city is filled with all sorts of art, from gallery shows to huge building sized interactive installations. This year it also had an arcade thanks to The Hand Eye Society. Our game Cephalopods: Co-op Cottage Defence was one of the indie games exhibited.
There were six cabinets in all, each running an indie game made in part or in whole by people in and around Toronto. Unfortunately the Osmos cabinet, a modified original Torontron, gave up the ghost and had to be reverted to it's standard set of games.
Cephalopods: Co-op Cottage Defence got a new arcade specific build, and (finally) a proper title screen. I'm still doing some tweaks before I put the home version up on the Spooky Squid website, but the old version is still available for play.
A full shot of the cabinet complete with back lit marquee.
The arcade took place in an amazing space at the brand new TIFF Bell Lightbox Building. The Lightbox was designed for film festivals which means we also had access to a huge projector...
...which was used for rounds of Everyday Shooter, Cephalopods: Co-op Cottage Defence, and a midnight Nidhogg tournament!
The award winning Nidhogg was our international guest game for the event. You can really see the size of the screen here.
Several of the cabinets will now be loaded up with multiple games and distributed around the city. Each cabinet is set up for different control schemes. Shown here the 'one button' cabinet playing Silent Skies!
Mark Rabo from Gamercamp put together a great video of the event:
And the TIFF folks produced this one with an awesome packman soundtrack:
This was put together thanks to a huge number of volunteers and several generous sponsors. Full list of games and everyone involved is posted on the Hand Eye Society Website.
It's been awhile since the last post. Sorry about that. We've been busy getting ready for production proper and putting together a grant proposal. Night of the Cephalopods is now playable on the Torontron, an old retro videogame cabinet that was retrofitted by Jph Wacheski and some other folks in the Hand Eye Society to play a selection of Toronto indie games. It's currently looking for a semi-permanent home, till then it's making the rounds of various local indie media and game events. It already showed up at Canzine, and tomorrow (Sat Nov 20th) it will be part of the excellent looking Gamercamp event. Gamercamp is set to have lots of talks and demos about games by local independent developers, including Andrew and myself who'll be demoing some new Guerrilla Gardening stuff. The day ends with a freeplay retro arcade so the Torontron won't be lonely.
Here's a gallery of photos of the Torontron in all its retro glory:
The game with the two birds is Albacross, by friend of Spooky Squid Games Rosemary Mosco. Since she wasn't available I ended up rigging it to work on the cabinet.
If you're in Toronto, near Toronto, or filthy rich and own your own private jet, you should come down to the Unit bar (1198 Queen Street W.) this Thursday for the Hand Eye Society Social a free and public event for game makers and enthusiasts!
"Why?" you ask, "After all I'm only interested in games about militant gardening, tentacled mollusks with bilateral symmetry, or Luddite potatoes."
"Because we have a line up of games catering to your exacting taste!" I respond while quietly slipping a half brick into a sock 'just in case'. "You'll be able to play the games from this round of the Artsy Games Incubator featuring not only squids and a tuber with an anti-tech agenda but also games with raccoons, criminally awkward breakfast conversation, stylish mountain climbing, and applying for arts grants!"
"I'm sold!" you respond while backing away ever so slowly "When does it start?"
"We'll introduce the games at 7:30, so show up a little before then so you don't miss it! " I responda little too enthusiastically, "if there's extra time I'll also be giving a quick demo of Guerrilla Gardening: Seeds of Revolution".
"I'll totally be there!" you respond as you make a break for the door.
"If you can't make it the games will be available soon on the Artsy Games blog where you can play games from previous rounds right now!" I call out desperately... but it's too late... you're gone.
Carefully crafted independent games mixing old school presentation with modern design. A fine blend of super cute pixels and dark occult secrets. Creators of
Night of the Cephalopods, They Bleed Pixels and others.
SPOOKY SQUID GAMES
Carefully crafted independent games mixing old school presentation with modern design. A fine blend of super cute pixels and dark occult secrets. Creators of
Night of the Cephalopods,
They Bleed Pixels and others.
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