How are we playing with our food in this workshop? We will be playing a variation of one of Jenn Sandercock’s games in her Edible Games Cookbook called “Roll for Flavour”. In her version of this game, players compete with one another by rolling dice to obtain their favourite cupcake ingredients and toppings to create a yummy–or questionable–flavour combination!

Roll For Flavour on ‘The Games‘ tab of Edible Games.

Instead of baking cupcakes, we have modified Roll For Flavour into 3 rounds, or 3 courses if you will, of competing for ingredients that will go towards a non-alcoholic mixed drink, an appetizer bowl, and a dessert tray. Roll for ingredients to assemble the most delicious meal you can dream of! Sabotage other players by stealing or swapping the ingredients they want for themselves! Or try new food & drink combinations you would have never thought of before! This activity will require assembling your meals. No cooking or food prep will be happening on your end. NOTE: we suggest that you grab an actual meal before or after this event as the foods prepped during this activity are not meant to be a full meal replacement.

Food options provided are based off of what’s available during the fall season and has been planned for what works best with the format of this game. Because the Fido Kitchen is a communal activity space, we unfortunately cannot guarantee that the space is free of ingredients that may cause severe allergic reactions (e.g. nut-free, gluten-free).

Play with your Food may use a wide range of ingredients during gameplay, including nuts, soy, dairy and gluten products. If you are signing up as a participant please contact us with your dietary preferences before the event. Please email us at info@handeyesociety.com and we will accommodate as best we can.

This event is FREE to attend. To ensure your spot, we would like to ask you to pay a refundable deposit of $10 + tax and fees prior to this event. Your deposit will be returned at the start of the workshop. If you do not attend the workshop, your deposit becomes a donation to the Hand Eye Society.

The Evergreen Brick Works Shuttle Bus hours will be extended for the following times: 7.30pm, 8.00pm, 8.30pm, 9.00pm, 9.30pm, 10.00pm

Do I need to bring anything? OPTIONAL: a kitchen apron.

Is the venue accessible? Yes! Please let us know your accessibility needs upon registering to ensure your needs are accommodated.

When: Oct 9 and Oct 23, 7-9pm

Who: Ages 16+

Where: Evergreen Brick Works (FIDO Kitchen)

Up to 20 people, register on Eventbrite

Secure your spot with a refundable Deposit of $10 per person

If you are interested about the Edible Games Cookbook, please follow Jenn Sandercock on Twitter or sign up on her newsletter (on her website) to learn more.

Illustration by Saffron Aurora

[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” background_color=”#def6fc” css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1418172113953{background-color: #098b54 !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1418171169619{background-color: #098b54 !important;}”][action full_width=”yes” content_in_grid=”no” type=”normal” text_font_weight=”” show_button=”yes” background_color=”#098b54″ button_text=”Tickets!” button_link=”https://handeyesociety.com/event/hes-ball-early-bird-tickets-sale-now-prices-increase-next-month/” button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_hover_text_color=”#ffffff” button_hover_background_color=”#000000″ button_border_color=”#ffffff” button_hover_border_color=”#ffffff”]

Celebrate our 10th Anniversary on Sept 21 at the Hand Eye Society Ball!

[/action]

We’re less than a month away from the fifth Hand Eye Society Ball at 888 Yonge, Sept 21! Before we show you the first glimpse of this year’s fantastic games lineup, we’d just like to remind you that ticket prices will increase from $50 to $60 starting September 1! That means you have just 3 days to take advantage of this month’s pricing! All proceeds will go directly towards Hand Eye Society’s operations for 2020 and beyond. We’ve made it to the ten year mark and don’t intend to stop any time soon, but we need your help to continue maintaining our existing programming, develop new initiatives such as residencies and travelling exhibits, pay artists and staff fairly, buy new equipment, and tons of other exciting and important things. One VIP ticket goes a long way, and every little bit counts!

☞◉❖   [button size=’large’ style=” text=’Buy Tickets!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://www.universe.com/events/hand-eye-society-ball-10th-year-anniversary-tickets-toronto-NK58SG’ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=” margin=”]   ☞◉❖

Already got your tickets? Please RSVP on the Facebook event and spread the word on social media with #HESBall19! And remember: All HES membership tiers get a 15% discount on all ticket tiers, new Annual memberships get a 20% discount, and VIP ticket holders get access to an exclusive pre-party reception featuring a custom game by Droqen.

!!! GAMES GAMES GAMES GAMES !!!

Now without further ado, here’s a look at the first half of the games waiting for you at this year’s Ball. Hailing from around the world, many of them won’t be available to play on just any old night; from toilet plunger-operated minigames to LED alternative controllers, these games were meant to be played IRL. And where better to experience them than at Toronto’s fanciest videogame party? Check out the list and stay tuned for more soon!

Wobble Garden
Robin Baumgarten / London, UK

Wobble Garden is an experimental hardware controller and interactive art platform with sensing springs and mesmerizing LED rings. The bright and colourful lights reflect of the springs and create a unique audio-visual and tactile experience. Plus: Meet the artist in person!

Manifold Garden
William Chyr Studio / Chicago, USA

Manifold Garden is a game that reimagines the laws of physics. Rediscover gravity and explore an Escher-esque world of impossible architecture. Not yet released!

GEMETON
Hangedman / Ottawa, ON

A digital divination engine, an occult fortune-teller in which the player participates in a nostalgic ritual to tell their own story of digital daemons.

Skeeper
Gregory Kogos / Germany

A colour-matching rhythm game played with 2 buttons on a long LED contraption. Give yourself over to soothing lo-fi beeps and bloops while the hypnotic gameplay puts you into the flow state.

Schwister
Electric Perfume (Daniele Hopkins & Kyle Duffield) / Toronto, ON

A team-based multiplayer competitive light-up tabletop arcade game that combines the spirit of Twister with the frenzy of Whack-A-Mole! Tiles randomly shuffle with each play, and two teams, red and blue, compete to turn off all their tiles before the other team.

Axe in the Dark
Team Axe in the Dark / Greater Toronto Area

A thrilling competitive fighting game. Hide among the shadows and hunt your opponents down in a fresh new hide-and-seek experience!

!!! VOLUNTEER VOLUNTEER VOLUNTEER !!!

Did you know you can get a FREE TICKET to the Ball? All for the low, low cost of helping us put on a great show for a couple hours, leaving you to enjoy the rest of the party! We’re looking for Safe Spaces Officers, game attendants, set-up and tear-down crew, and even Drama Kids with some acting/storytelling chops. Simply fill out the form below or e-mail amanda@handeyesociety.com with direct inquiries or questions about specific roles.

[button size=” style=” text=’Become a #HESBall19 Volunteer!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://forms.gle/sZ5sD4m6kPFE1jpu8′ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=” margin=”]

!!! OUR SPONSORS !!!

Huge thanks to Ubisoft Toronto, Aird & Berlis LLC, CWA Canada, Game Workers Unite, Slanted Door, MKM Group, EGLX, Highness Global and ID@Xbox for their support!

Got questions for the team? E-mail us at ball@handeyesociety.com

Want to fight fascism and make games? Then this is the jam for you!

The Hand Eye Society and Game Workers Unite Toronto are co-hosting an Antifascist Game Jam in Toronto alongside our friends at Curieux de Jeux / Game Curious Montréal and various locations around the world. If you aren’t exactly sure what anti-fascism is or not sure if you can make a game, check out the Antifa Game Jam itch.io page for a comprehensive overview about anti-fascism, simple game-making tools and tutorials, and other frequently asked questions available in French, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish.

Have a game idea but not sure how to put it together? Bring it! Want to work together with other people to fight fascism by making games? Come on by! Rather jam on some ideas than jam on a game? You’re more than welcome to come!

[button size=large” style=” text=’Register for the Toronto site here!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaaj3lVImV_4o-TX2_XjCkV-7GGMIQQmJyNKRj9AGxsGDHFw/viewform’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=” margin=”]

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/354304015191018/

Accessibility details: We will provide free snacks including vegan and gluten-free options. The location is wheelchair accessible and there are gender neutral bathrooms on the premises.

All participants are expected to read and abide by our Safer Space Policy. The International Anti-fascist Game Jam is co-organized by Curieux de Jeux / Game Curious Montréal, Ataque, and Montréal Antifasciste and is being held in multiple locations in Bari, Italy, Bothenburg, Sweden and participants from different Brazilian cities.

Thanks to Game Curious Montréal for putting together all this information 

*Takes in a breath of fresh air* Is spring really here??…The mud’s replacing the ice, it’s raining a lot, like A LOT, and the garbage is unearthing itself from the various snow banks. This wonderfully confusing time of year is just in time for our Spring Jam as part of the Game Curious at Evergreen Brick Works programming. We are super excited to announce our line up of game jam participants who will spend 3 days to create a game inspired by the various systems living at the Evergreen Brick Works.

Interested to see what they end up making? Us too! You can come and play test their games on Sunday, April 7 from 1-3pm in the Young Welcome Centre at Evergreen Brick Works. In part 2 of the Spring Jam program, 6 local illustrators will be paired up with each of the game jam participants and create a ‘zine booklet that we will be distributing on Sunday, June 16 also at the Evergreen Brick Works (stay tuned for more details!).

Say hello to our Spring Jam participants below!

Jord Farrell
Twitter

In the past 5 years, Jord Farrell has made hundreds of games.

Ananda Gabo
Twitter / Instagram

Ananda is a designer/ veg cook/ microbe collaborator/ maker. They are accumulating a lot of weird skill sets in anticipation of running a weird farm.

Ben Moull
Twitter

Ben Moull is a sometimes writer, wanderer, economist, and hobbyist game designer. They live, work and play in Toronto.

Jacob Niedzwiecki
Twitter / Instagram

Jacob Niedzwiecki is a software developer, filmmaker, and choreographer whose work fuses code, media, and movement into inventive new forms. His immersive app-based performance Jacqueries won the Vanguard Prize for Risk and Innovation at the 2014 SummerWorks festival, and toured internationally. He has created app-based experiences in collaboration with TIFF, bluemouth inc, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, It’s Not a Box Theatre, and others.

Sebastian Pines
Twitter

Sebastian Pines is an artist, academic, and neutral good gnome druid with a keen interest in roleplaying games and queerness. The themes of their body of work revolve around queer identity and queer modes of play. They also have a penchant for the macabre and love all manner of spooky media.

Phoenix Simms
Twitter / Medium

Phoenix is the former managing editor of Third Person, Toronto’s premier site for diverse and story-driven games coverage. She’s also a biracial game writer and illustrator who’s fascinated by the intersection of art and science, urban and green spaces, as well as exterior versus interior realities. She migrated from a visual arts diploma to a masters in English literature, with a self-directed focus on game studies.

In Partnership with

The Hand Eye Society has been invited to the Bentway Block Party, and so are you! The Bentway is turning 60 years old and they will be throwing a series of FREE events open to the public for all ages at Strachan Gate. We have been asked to animate the space with physical games brought to you by local indie devs. There will also be live performances and art installations as well as dance workshops and streetdance competitions. See evening performances by The Darcys, Brave Shores, Myles Castello, and MONOWHALES. For more information about the entire event and the Bentway, click here!

Where: 250 Fort York Boulevard, Toronto, ON
When: Saturday, August 25, 2018 from 12pm to 10pm
UPDATE: We will be on-site from 12pm to 6pm

You can RSVP here on Facebook! If you’d like to be a volunteer for this event, email us at volunteer@handeyesociety.com.

Here are the games that we will be playing at the Bentway:

Games For Giants by Yifat Shaik

Games for Giants is a series of simple childhood games/toys blown up to giant proportions and converted to team sports.

Yifat is a game designer and artist working on creating autobiographical games and subversive art. A Master of Design graduate of OCAD University, she is currently a professor of game design and 3D modeling at York University. Yifat organized of Different Games in Toronto, is co-director of Dame Making Games and is currently working on The Mattress of St. Dundas and The Medium is the Message.

The Lobster is In! by Allison Kyran Cole and Audie Maginley

You’ve dreamt of being a great artist ever since you were nothing more than a tiny lobster egg stuck to your mother’s tail. There’s just one problem — you’ve never quite mastered the dexterity to hold a paintbrush with those clumsy claws of yours.

Never fear, The Lobster Is In! is a collaborative, creatively crustacean, recreational activity designed to help make art accessible to you. Claw your way to the canvas using clamp friendly utensils designed for critters like you.

Audie Maginley (she/her) is a conceptual artist, photographer, and game designer from NYC daylighting as a Canadian who isn’t ashamed about how much they like Drake.

Allison Kyran Cole (she/her) is a game designer and artist known for her strong belief that any problem can be solved with a positive attitude, a trip to the dollar store, and a glue gun.

See you there!

Tighten up your aprons and replace those singed oven mitts, as we are cooking up some brand new programming heading into 2019! We are always super hungry to present videogames in multidisciplinary ways and we are taste-testing the idea of creating a menu of videogame and food events. We have a few ideas in mind but would like to reach out to the greater community to see the kind of work that’s already being done and gauge the interest in this mélange.

If you have a friend that’s making a more accurate (or more difficult) Cooking Mama in VR, let us know! If you’re writing a Twine about the kind of food you had during your childhood, please tell us more about it! Want to create a game jam about donuts? There’s already been a game jam about watermelons, let’s up the ante and do a VEGAN DONUT GAME JAM!

“How can I get involved?” says the hungry Snorlax in you. We have a very lovely Google Form set-up where you can submit your ideas, including games, events, or any kind of playful media related with food and eating culture. We are open to anything including and not limited to: food, cooking, eating/tasting/drinking, ways of eating, food security, hunger, culinary-eating institutions, diets, gardens/farms, consumption of animal-plant products, fishing/hunting, global/cultural cuisine, social/economic-related topics, and any topic you can think of that is remotely related to food. This is a sort of prelude to an open call.

We will also be holding a General Info Meeting on August 20 at Trinity Square Video from 6pm-7:30pm. We will talk about some ideas we have floating around and gauge interest and we most definitely will talk about food at some point. If you’ve submitted something in our form, come out and let’s talk details.

RSVP at the Info Session Facebook Event

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at info@handeyesociety.com.

As summer seemingly approaches, Camp Make-a-Game comes near! There are still spots available for the Hand Eye Society’s week-long, full-day summercamp for kids ages 8-12 with Ryerson University.

This ain’t your typical summer camp! Kids will have digital screen instruction in the mornings, where they will learn point-and-click game creation tools. A majority of instruction will focus on design principles like game mechanics and game feel. After lunch, we will bring kids outdoors (that’s right, zero screen time) discussing and playing physical games like tag and hide-and-seek — then we will have them re-design the rules to make and play their own modified versions of the games, while getting some exercise. Kids will have both a digital and physical game by the end of camp.

The following are available dates that you can sign up for:

Week #1 (8 & 9 years) – Tuesday, July 3 – Friday, July 6, 2018

Week #2 (8 & 9 years) – Monday, July 9 – Friday, July 13, 2018 ** Full!

Week #3 (10 – 12 years) – Monday, July 16 – Friday, July 20, 2018 ** Less than 10 spots left

Week #4 (10 – 12 years) – Monday, July 23 – Friday, July 27, 2018 ** Less than 15 spots left

Fees: $465 (5-day weeks) / $410 (4-day week)

Have any lingering questions for us? Get in touch by emailing us at info@handeyesociety.com.

REGISTER FOR JULY HERE!

Wanna learn more about Camp Make-A-Game? Click the video below to see what we were up to last year!

Camp Make-a-Game 2018 Sponsors! <3

We want to give a huge shout out and thank you to our Camp Make-a-Game sponsors who will be bringing an additional week of camp to the Maria A. Shchuka Library neighbourhood. We are able to make these camps FREE for participants thanks to their incredible support. Here are our amazing sponsors:

Asteroid Base, Capybara Games, Longbow Games, David Burke, Globacore Inc, Get Set Games, Rocket 5 Studios, Drinkbox Studios, Uken Games, Little Guy Games, Reptoid Games, Phantom Compass, VRGEN

Want to join the esteemed ranks of these fantastic studios? For only $200/year, you can help us bring the videogame arts to neighbourhoods all over Toronto and the GTA. Just select the Studio option when signing up via Paypal and we’ll be in touch to confirm your registration.

[button size=”medium” icon=”” target=”_self” hover_type=”default” align=”center” text=”Sign up for Studio Membership Here” link=”=http://handeyesociety.com/join-the-society”]

Interested in partnering or sponsorship opportunities, or know a community that might want a Camp brought to them? Get in touch at info@handeyesociety.com.

Our Partners

Thanks to Ryerson University and the Toronto Public Library for their continued support and interest in Camp Make-a-Game!

The amazing visual identity of Camp Make-a-Game was created by Matt Hammill of Asteroid Base.

Mechanics of emergence are game rules that can trigger and influence each other in combinations and cascades, making a dynamic whole that’s much greater than the sum of its parts. In this workshop, we’ll experiment with creating, customizing, and combining simple modular Unity scripts and prefabs to build complex Rube Goldberg machines with an emphasis on physics and decoupled interactions.

Rich gameplay interactions don’t always need huge complex systems and one-off scripts to drive them. Sometimes all you need is a few simple rules that can stack & combine relentlessly.

When we focus on simple modular interactions, we build up a toy box that level designers can combine in myriad ways to create new challenges and experiences, and that players can remix and improvise upon emergently.

Moreover, this focus on independent interactions can help us avoid the rigidity & brittleness that can come with large, coupled codebases, making it easier for many creators to collaborate on a project and try new ideas without breaking everything.

To explore this idea, we’ll start from a simple toy box of interactions and use them to build zero-player autonomous games – contraptions that run or fall apart on their own – experimenting with how one event can trigger the next and the next in cascades, and how we can invent new toys to inject into the mix, multiplying the possibilities at our fingertips.

[button size=’medium’ style=” text=’Get Tickets Here!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://www.universe.com/events/game-design-workshop-emergent-contraptions-tickets-toronto-Q7RLZG/’ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=’center’ margin=”]

Event Details

Sunday, May 19
1-4pm
Electric Perfume, 805 Danforth Ave. (near Pape Station)
Facebook Event Page

Requirements

• This workshop is aimed at participants with beginner to intermediate skills in the Unity game engine.
• Participants should be comfortable arranging & configuring objects in the scene, and making simple customizations to provided scripts.
• Advanced programming skills are not required – come if you’re looking for some simple tricks to make more bits work together without over-complexifying your codebase.
• Please bring a computer with the current release version of Unity installed (2017.4.1)

Pricing

• $25+HST for HES members (Monthly, Annual, Student, Studio, Volunteer)
• $40+HST for non-members (Not a member? Sign up here!)

Workshop size is 12 participants maximum. If you are in financial need or have accessibility requirements, please contact info@handeyesociety.com and we will try our best to make alternate arrangements.

About the Instructor

Douglas Gregory / @D_M_Gregory
Douglas Gregory has worked in the game industry for 11 years, starting in indie games and currently working on Starlink: Battle for Atlas at Ubisoft Toronto. Douglas also teaches game mechanics design and economies at Sheridan College, game jams avidly, and serves as a community moderator on GameDev.StackExchange.

Inspiration from the instructor on this workshop:

“This workshop was inspired by Rube Goldberg machines generally, and specifically the Great Ball Contraption: a collaborative machine-building project at LEGO conventions (see it in action!). Each GBC participant brings a module meeting simple specifications, and on-site they’re assembled into a giant machine that works seamlessly together, even though no one planned out the whole contraption in advance. 

More Experimental Game Design Workshops!

The Hand Eye Society is proud to present a series of workshops that encourages participants to create games in a new light. Coordinated by game-makers known for their thoughtful and innovative approaches to playful media, these workshops attempt to educate from more experimental, alternative perspectives. Participants will be able to take home useful technical skills, while being encouraged to explore unique game mechanics and meaningful themes in their own practice. This program is made possible by the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council.

[button size=’medium’ style=” text=’Click here for more info on Current and Upcoming Workshops’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’http://handeyesociety.com/workshops/experimental2018/’ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=’center’ margin=”]

This workshop was made possible by the Ontario Arts Council.

Over the past few weeks we’ve presented a bunch of thought-provoking, alternative game design workshops for the adventurous beginner to the comfortable intermediate game designer in you. Below is a comprehensive list of our forthcoming workshops over the next two months. Hopefully you can find the one just for you to expand your game design knowledge. Click on the title of each workshop to learn more details as to what you can expect to learn, as well as basic skill/experience requirements and thoughts from the workshop coordinator on the inspiration behind each workshop!

For more information on pricing and other details like upcoming workshops, keep an eye out on our Experimental Game Workshops page.

Establishing Scene: Crafting the Beginning of a Game​

This workshop will show participants how to define the expectations of a player in the very first parts of a game. Not just for establishing setting or mood, but for purposefully crafting the mind of the player around what your game might be. A carefully crafted image for conducting powerful experiences.

Coordinator: Taylor Bai-Woo / @fromsmiling
Taylor Bai-Woo is a game maker (artist, programmer, designer) from Toronto, Canada that co-owns a studio called Gloam Collective (working on a game called Bravery Network)! Outside of her studio (sometimes inside) she tends to make weird explorative games, usually ones that set an expectation and then break it in the best ways possible. She cares a lot about characters, atmosphere, and building a world that doesn’t necessarily make sense, but gives a feeling.

[button size=’medium’ style=” text=’Get Your Ticket Here!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://www.universe.com/events/game-design-workshop-establishing-scene-and-crafting-beginnings-tickets-toronto-ZNSDTM’ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=’center’ margin=”]

When: Sunday, April 21th, 1-4pm
Where: Electric Perfume (805 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4J 1L2, between Pape and Donlands stations)
Facebook Event Page

Forget Virtual Reality, Try Actual Reality

Video game designers tend to fixate largely on creating experiences to be shown on a digital display. This workshop is aimed to get designers also thinking about the social and physical aspects of the games they create. There’ll be discussion about real life rules fuzziness and playing to the strengths of your chosen medium. Then participants will be encouraged to test their physical game rapid prototyping skills.

Coordinator: Damian Sommer /@damiansommer
1/4 of the Gloam Collective, currently working on Bravery Network. In a previous life he made the IGF-nominated storytelling game The Yawhg, as well as the randomly generated Chess-like, Chesh.

[button size=’medium’ style=” text=’Get Your Ticket Here!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://www.universe.com/events/game-design-workshop-forget-virtual-reality-try-actual-reality-tickets-toronto-ZBR18V’ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=’center’ margin=”]

When: Sunday, April 29th, 1-4pm
Where: Electric Perfume (805 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4J 1L2, between Pape and Donlands stations)
Facebook Event Page

Gardening for the 4th Dimension

In the 4th dimension, anything can happen. What kind of plants would you grow? Luscious roses or vicious venus flytraps? In this workshop we will learn how to animate short loops and place them in Unity3D! The instructor will provide a project for Unity3D pre-loaded with a few scripts and example scenes. Participants will make their own assets, and we will work through the process of composing a landscape together. Create the garden of your dreams/nightmares!

Coordinator: Paloma Dawkins / @Palomadawkins
Paloma Dawkins is a cartoonist turned virtual reality and video game artist based in Montréal. An alumni of the HES Artsy Games Incubator: Animation Edition (2014), Paloma has been creating wild and loopy art games ever since! Her work includes Gardenarium (GDC Mild Rumpus), Alea (Comics x Games), and Palmystery (A MAZE Johannesburg), all of which can be played here.

[button size=’medium’ style=” text=’Get Tickets Here!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://www.universe.com/events/game-design-workshop-gardening-for-the-4th-dimension-tickets-toronto-KSRX9Z/’ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=’center’ margin=”]

When: Tuesday, May 15, 6:30-9:30pm
Where: Toronto Animated Image Society, 1411 Dufferin Street, Unit B (North of Dufferin Station)
Facebook Event Page

Phaser.JS ProcGen Party

A workshop in how to write procedural games in javascript using the Phaser.js game engine, and how to work in a narrative more meaningful than the usual “grab item and go.” We’ll provide a working, current boilerplate to get Phaser packed with Webpack and transpiling using Babel. We’ll go through how to maintain a game state using Redux, developed to maintain Facebook’s game state. On the creative side, we’ll be learning how to think through making a game a little stranger by starting with something familiar and changing it to something more personal.

Coordinator: Alex Leitch / @aeleitch
Alex Leitch is an award-winning kinetic sculptor and digital artist who lives and works in Toronto, Canada. Their most recent work includes the Nebula Space Derby, a game about racing whales with your brain developed for a LARP bar night in Toronto, and Hothouse, a Toronto Arts Council-sponsored installation of large-scale robot flowers for Come Up To My Room 2017 at the Gladstone Hotel. Alex teaches Game Design 1 at OCADu. They love video games that make life’s little indignities into unsettling interactions.

[button size=’medium’ style=” text=’Get Tickets Here!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://www.universe.com/events/game-design-workshop-phaser-js-procgen-party-tickets-toronto-KXCJDP/’ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=’center’ margin=”]

When: Saturday, May 20th, 1-4pm (Edit: Rescheduled from May 5th due to conflict with TOJam)
Where: Electric Perfume (805 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4J 1L2, between Pape and Donlands stations)
Facebook Event Page

This program is made possible by the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council. Got any questions or comments? Send them to info@handeyesociety.com.

A workshop in how to write procedural games in javascript using the Phaser.js game engine, and how to work in a narrative more meaningful than the usual “grab item and go.” 

Phaser.js is a free and well-tested platform for making 2D games using javascript. Thanks to recent advances in the Javascript tooling environment, these games can now be exported relatively easily to the app store or to a desktop environment for play. This workshop is appropriate for current Javascript developers who would prefer to work with a familiar environment to get started.

In this workshop, we’ll provide a working, current boilerplate to get Phaser packed with Webpack and transpiling using Babel. We’ll go through how to maintain a game state using Redux, developed to maintain Facebook’s game state. On the creative side, we’ll be learning how to think through making a game a little stranger by starting with something familiar and changing it to something more personal.

[button size=’medium’ style=” text=’Get Tickets Here!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://www.universe.com/events/game-design-workshop-phaser-js-procgen-party-tickets-toronto-KXCJDP/’ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=’center’ margin=”]

Event Details

Saturday, May 20 (Edit: Rescheduled from May 5th due to conflict with TOJam)
1-4pm
Electric Perfume, 805 Danforth Ave. (near Pape Station)
Facebook Event Page

Requirements

• This workshops is aimed at people in their second or third year of experience with Javascript
• Participants are required to bring their own laptops with Node 8+ and Git installed
• Participants should be familiar with Javascript and either familiar with or interested in learning more about ES6 JS and contemporary build techniques
• Previous experience with Cordova, Electron, ES6, or Redux/React

Pricing

• $25+HST for HES members (Monthly, Annual, Student, Studio, Volunteer)
• $40+HST for non-members (Not a member? Sign up here!)

Workshop size is 12 participants maximum. If you are in financial need or have accessibility requirements, please contact info@handeyesociety.com and we will try our best to make alternate arrangements.

About the Instructor

Alex Leitch / @aeleitch
Alex Leitch is an award-winning kinetic sculptor and digital artist who lives and works in Toronto, Canada. Their most recent work includes the Nebula Space Derby, a game about racing whales with your brain developed for a LARP bar night in Toronto, and Hothouse, a Toronto Arts Council-sponsored installation of large-scale robot flowers for Come Up To My Room 2017 at the Gladstone Hotel. Alex teaches Game Design 1 at OCADu. They love video games that make life’s little indignities into unsettling interactions.

Inspiration from the instructor on this workshop:

“Games are such a fun pain in the ass to make. Wouldn’t they be more fun if we could cooperate with advanced software to take the pain out and put more interest in? This workshop was inspired by the procedural, repetitive nature of work such as Sophie Calle’s “Take Care Of Yourself” and David Levine’s “Bystanders” – works where the hand of the artist is present in coordinating the efforts of many others to express the core dream of the work.

I want to bring the cleverness of Reigns’ barometers and Tinder’s swiping into broader play, while also making games more accessible to programmers already familiar with tooling and components for more conventional applications. Come learn some JS! I want to take an afternoon consider truly esoteric nonsense with you! And talk about what contemporary art even means!”

More Experimental Game Design Workshops!

The Hand Eye Society is proud to present a series of workshops that encourages participants to create games in a new light. Coordinated by game-makers known for their thoughtful and innovative approaches to playful media, these workshops attempt to educate from more experimental, alternative perspectives. Participants will be able to take home useful technical skills, while being encouraged to explore unique game mechanics and meaningful themes in their own practice. This program is made possible by the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council.

[button size=’medium’ style=” text=’Click here for more info on Current and Upcoming Workshops’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’http://handeyesociety.com/workshops/experimental2018/’ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=’center’ margin=”]

This workshop was made possible by the Ontario Arts Council.