The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) is this weekend! We’ve already talked about the 30+ games being shown at the Comics vs Games Showcase all weekend, but we have something extra planned for Sunday: two hours of Comics vs Games Talks packed with comic and game making speakers!

COMICS VS GAMES TALKS – May 10th – 2pm-4pm

Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge St.) in the Learning centre (1st floor)

• 2pm – 3pm – Comics vs Games Microtalks
  David Calvo (Kwaan), Alfe Clemencio (Fading Hearts), AM Cosmos (otome.sexy), David Hellman (Second Quest, Braid), Andrew Hlynka (Drew and the Floating Labyrinth), Kim Hoang (Love Love Hill, Mouffe), Rachel Kahn (By Crom!),  Xin Ran Liu (Moon Hunters, Shattered Planet), Matthew Ritter (Nova Phase, Boon Hill),  Jason Shiga (Demon, Meanwhile), Miguel Sternberg (Comics vs Games, They Bleed Pixels)
  Eleven speakers, eleven super short microtalks relating art, storytelling and comics to the world of games. In one hour you’ll learn about: painterly pixel art, the RPG influence in comics, Japanese dating sims, tombstone storytelling, deconstructing Zelda, what it’s like working with one foot in both mediums and more!
  

• 3pm – 4pm – Introduction to Game Making For Artists
  Chris De Castro (Wizards of Trinity Bellwoods, CFC:BODY/MIND/CHANGE), Paloma Dawkins (Gardenarium, Dream Warrior), Matt Hammill (Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Gesundheit!), Kim Hoang (Love Love Hill, Mouffe), Archie Wisco (The Floor Is Lava), Sagan Yee (Pollyanna: An Animated Earthbound Tribute, Punk Prism Power)

Ever wanted to make your own game but didn’t know where to start? Intimidated by code? Meet six artists who’ve taken the plunge into game making. Learn about the software they use, their experience learning to program and how to start developing your own games using beginner friendly game making tools including Construct 2, GameMaker, Stencyl, Ren’Py and Unity.

Find more info on TCAF 2015 at torontocomics.com
Find out about past Comics vs Games events

Reminder that TCAF 2015 and all the Comics vs Games programming are completely FREE!  

With so many developers coming in from out of town this will be a great chance to meet them in person and play their games before release!

Along with all these digital games we will also have two comic related board games at the show. You can read more about Mangaka: The Fast & Furious Game of Drawing Comics and Kill Shakespeare: The Board Game in this TCAF announcement.

Stay tuned for info on our Comics vs Games Talks programming soon!

TCAF 2015 is happening May 9 (9am-5pm) & May 10 (11am-5pm) at the Toronto Reference Library 789 Yonge Street. 
More info at torontocomics.com

Find out about past Comics vs Games events

Full list of all the games!

Boon Hill (Windows, TBA)
By 14 Hours Productions
14hoursproductions.com
Boon Hill is about epitaphs. It’s a… graveyard simulator. You walk through the graveyard and look at the graves. It’s a massive graveyard of over 1,000 graves and slowly by doing this, you get a feel for the town that this graveyard is in.

Cryptark  (Windows, TBA)
By Alientrap
www.alientrap.org/cryptark
Cryptark is a 2D sci-fi shooter that challenges players with boarding and neutralizing procedurally generated alien starships to earn income for their Privateering enterprise.

Kwaan (Windows, Mac, Linux, TBA)
By Ankama Canada
www.kwaan.org
KWAAN is part RPG, part adventure game, part pixel editor. All online.
KWAAN is a land made of tiny poetic systems, all interacting with each others to create an ever evolving organism, a persistent cocoon. As keepers of all things beautiful, players have to work together toward a common goal, ultimately blurring the boundaries between the intimate and the collective.
KWAAN is a fragment of creative imagination adrift in virtuality. It is the song of every pixel, as they reach out for harmony.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Xbox One, Windows, Mac)
By Asteroid Base Inc.
www.asteroidbase.com
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a frantic 1- or 2-player couch co-op action game coming to Xbox One and Steam (PC + Mac). Explore a colourful galaxy in a massive neon battleship that you control together by manning turrets, lasers, shields and thrusters. Only through teamwork can you triumph over evil robots, rescue kidnapped space bunnies, and avoid a vacuumy demise. Deep space is a dangerous place, but you don’t have to face it alone!

SHNIPERS (Windows, Mac, TBA)
By Brenden Cameron
www.shnipers.com
SHNIPERS is a competitive arena game for 2-4 players, that might best be described as “Combat Pong”. In the game, players fire bullets that never stop bouncing, resulting in an increasingly congested level. The game can be played in a number of different modes, from a basic “Last Bot Standing”, to the more hectic “Zone Control” and “Hold the Flag”.
The game utilizes pre-rendered 3D models, which results in a very fluid, detailed, and unique appearance.

Bleed 2 (PC, Mac, Linux)
By Bootdisk Revolution
bootdiskrevolution.com
Bleed 2 is an action-platformer focused on intense boss fights, acrobatic dodging and stylish gunplay. A unique, minimal control scheme allows simultaneous 360-degree air-dashing and shooting, as well as slow-time, bullet reflection and more. You use these abilities to help a young girl named Wryn defeat the Greatest Villains of All Time and save the world!

Hustle Cat (Web: PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android)
By Date Nighto
www.hustlecatgame.com
“There’s something strange about this cat cafe…” As Avery Grey, the newest hire at A Cat’s Paw cafe, you’ll make new friends, solve a mystery, and maybe find true love along the way!

Starfighter: Eclipse (Web: PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android)
By Date Nighto
datenighto.com/game/starfighter-eclipse
Based on Hamlet Machine’s popular webcomic, Starfighter: Eclipse puts you in control of a sci-fi action adventure! Join Abel, Cain, and some sexy new faces on an all-new Starfighter story.

Severed (PlayStation Vita)
By DrinkBox Studios
severedgame.com
In Severed you take control of a one-armed heroine wielding a living sword as she knits together pieces of her story from both the past and the future.
Severed is a first-person dungeon crawler with combat resembling elements from Fruit Ninja and Punch Out. Summer 2015 launch.

Blossom Tales (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS)
By Castle Pixel
castlepixel.com/blossomtales
Drawing inspiration from the beloved top-down adventure games we grew up with, Blossom Tales is a refreshing combination of classic Action-RPG gameplay and modern design. The day has come when our heroic young warrior finally becomes one of the esteemed Knights of the Rose. However, that same day the evil wizard Crocus places the King into an everlasting sleep, forcing Lily to go on a grand adventure in search of a remedy.

The Wizards of Trinity Bellwoods (iOS, Android, web)
By Chris de Castro
www.thewizardsoftrinitybellwoods.com
Play as a can collector (aka “wizard”) in Trinity Bellwoods Park waiting for hipsters to finish their drinks, collect their cans and return them for money to improve your life. This unlocks more people in the park, following the gentrification curve of the city from 2003 till now. Explore a central urban park and all the aspects floating around that space (gentrification, immigration, emergent economies, creative class, public space,…) from a different viewpoint.

Ultimate Chicken Horse (Windows, Mac, Linux, TBA)
By Clever Endeavour Games
www.cleverendeavourgames.com
Ultimate Chicken Horse is a 2D platformer where you build the level as you play. The game switches between the strategic placement of blocks, hazards, projectile shooters, and all sorts of other platforms, and the fast paced platforming mechanics you might expect from a traditional platformer.

Adopted (Windows, Mac, TBA)
By Clockwork Demon
adoptedgame.com
Adopted is a single-player, first-person exploration game. You play as Luchador, a recently rescued Boston Terrier thrust into a world of complex human problems. You must sniff to discover clues and then bark, chew, and fetch to manipulate your humans’ choices. The game takes place on an eventful night in the lives of your three owners, where the decisions they make may change their lives forever. Your actions will have real-time consequences that affect both future gameplay and storyline.

Drew and the Floating Labyrinth (Windows, Mac, Linux)
By Dust Scratch Games
drew.fromdustscratch.com
A hand-drawn 3D third-person puzzle-platformer. Control Drew, a lost young girl trying to find her way back home, through a series of abstract levels requiring you to use clues in the environment to find invisible paths, gaining color to her black-and-white character as you progress.

In The Face (iOS, Android)
By Elsewhere Media
thebearstories.com
The Bear’s a real prick, and is hard to please. Give him stuff (in the face) and try to make him happy!

Tachyon Reef (Windows, Mac, Linux)
By Five Archers Corporation
www.tachyonreef.com
Tachyon Reef is a game of underwater exploration. Explore a stylized alien ocean in your submersible. Receive rewards for your discoveries which can be used to purchase new submersibles. Will you be able to discover a way back to Earth?

Gladiotron (Android, iOS, TBA)
By Full Circle CS Inc.
plus.google.com/u/0/118366851217776390019
Gladiotron is a dual analog 3rd person shooter with a few twists. It is a tongue in cheek homage to Smash TV from the Snes days. The game consists of blasting through overwhelming hoards of oncoming robots in an outer space gladiator style arena. The main character, Commander Bean, has several weapons, each of which affect the robots differently. You also have the ability to dash with a finger swipe on the screen and to use rocket boots to hover above the fray when things get tense.

The Great Emoticon (Windows, Mac, TBA)
By Hit That Switch
www.thegreatemoticon.com
The Great Emotion is a top down action adventure game set in a charming post-apocalyptic future.
Powered by the three prime emotional energies — glad, mad and sad — play the last Science Knight of an oddball world ruled by the nefarious & passive aggressive King of the Emoticons.
Use a battery powered sword, and switch between the 3 emotional energies, to defeat all sorts of emotionally volatile enemies including: Flutterbots, Glitchbugs, Liquid Emotion, and the Undeleted.

Sky Rogue (Windows, Mac, Linux)
By Kenny Backus
nihilocrat.itch.io/sky-rogue
A simple, accessible-yet-difficult, fwooshy, “feel good” arcade flight simulator. Blow things up over land, sea, and air, on an infinite number of procedurally-generated islands. Choose one of a diverse set of aeros and kit it out with a dizzying array of weaponry. Go toe-to-toe with enemy aces or assault giant floating aircraft carriers and battleships, but watch out for volleys of missiles; when you die, you’re dead.

Moon Hunters (Windows, Mac, TBA)
By Kitfox Games
www.moonhuntersgame.com
Moon Hunters is a 1-4 player RPG about building your hero’s mythology. Adventure through a fantastical ancient Mesopotamian world to find what’s happened to the missing moon, showing your personality and creating a reputation that becomes your legend.

Gardenarium (Windows, Mac)
By KO-OP Mode
www.ko-opmode.com/gardenarium
Paloma Dawkins has created a trippy, first-person cloud-hopping romp through psychedelic flower beds and “fractal cabbage patches,” built around a singular mission inspired by Kafka’s The Castle. The vibrant, dancing wildlife that surrounds you and the 2D characters that dot the environment look inviting, and slightly resemble Yellow Submarine’s bubbly hills. The game’s soundtrack was done by Jeunesse Cosmique member YlangYlang.

GNOG (Windows, Mac, Linux, TBA)
By KO-OP Mode
www.gnoggame.com
GNOG is a game about exploring giant monster heads, and the worlds inside of them. It’s equal parts toy, puzzle, and whimsical joy machine inspired by children’s toys like Polly Pocket, Mighty Max, and Rubik’s Cubes.

Final Cut (Windows, Mac)
By M Addaway, Lindsay Mikula, Thadchayani Kupendiran
www.finalcutgame.com
Final Cut is a pixel noir narrative game that daringly obscures the boundary between film and video games with this 16bit, 16mm take on early Hollywood hardboiled detective dramas. The game mechanic is comprised of investigative and interactive pieces, blending game play with filmic cut scenes and clues.

C-Wars (Windows, Xbox One, Android)
By Onipunks Studio Inc.
www.onipunks.com
C-Wars is Rogue-like tactic game. It’s like Mega Man Battle Network meets Knights of the round. If you enjoy roguelike such as FTL then that’s totally your game. The game will be released on Steam Early Access shortly.

Monsters At Our Door (Windows, TBA)
By Oooweeooo
www.oooweeooo.com
Monsters At Our Door is a co-operative arcade style game that alternates between day and night. During the day, players can build walls and towers with a variety of abilities and specializations. At night, monsters attack in waves attempting to break through the players’ defenses and reach the door. Towers can be controlled to focus damage on an area of the map or on a specific monster. Day and night alternate until the campaign is complete or the monsters successfully breach the player defenses.

LOUD on Planet X (iOS, Android, TBA)
By Pop Sandbox
www.LOUDonPlanetX.com
LOUD on Planet X is like a strange love child of Rock Band and Plants vs Zombies. Choose from a cross-section of top established and emerging musical acts including Austra, F*cked Up, July Talk, METZ, Tegan and Sara, and many more (more artists TBA in our April Kickstarter). Then defend your stage from hordes of quirky aliens by tapping to the music and using a fun assortment of makeshift weapons such as speakers, strobe lights, fog machines, amplifiers, bouncers and even your fans.

Kitty Disastrous (Windows, TBA)
kittydisastrous.com
By Rocket 5 Studios
Kitty Disastrous is a puzzle-platform/adventure game about a cat in a world filled with love, adventure and calamity. As a sleek back cat living life on the streets, Kitty often goes unnoticed by the humans who pass her by, blissfully unaware that their lives are intertwined with hers. Kitty’s adventure begins when she meets a ferret named Ferris whose penchant for getting into trouble reveals her dark, destructive nature as a cat who would willingly destroy the world to rescue her friend.

Fading Hearts (Windows, Mac, Linux)
By Sakura River Interactive
www.sakurariver.ca/fading-hearts
An interactive story/game where you play the role of Ryou, a seemingly normal high school student in the land of Sorayama. Solve the mysteries that surround him while maintaining his friendships and saving Claire. Remain ignorant of the secrets and live a normal life or choose to learn the truth. Be careful where you put your priorities for it may prove fatal.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (GearVR, PC, PS4 + Morpheus)
By Steel Crate Games, Inc.
www.keeptalkinggame.com
Strap on a virtual reality headset and find yourself trapped in a room with a ticking time bomb! Your friends in the real world have the manual to defuse it, but they can’t see the bomb so you’re going to have to talk it out – fast!

Subaeria (Windows)
By Studios illogika
www.subaeria.com
Subaeria is a story-driven roguelite set in an underwater dystopia. The player follows the lives of 4 characters whose destinies interweave, each of them trying to survive in a world controlled by robots. Through innovative dual analog stick controls, players can manipulate both their character and a hovering companion, their Drone, to trick and influence enemies into defeating each other. Along the way, they’ll find many skills to upgrade their Drone and give them an edge needed to survive.

Metamorphabet (Windows, Mac, iOS)
By Vectorpark
metamorphabet.com
Metamorphabet is a playful, interactive alphabet for all ages.

For the first time in over three years the Hand Eye Society is holding an open call to showcase your game on site at the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (May 9th and 10th) as part of this year’s Comics vs Games.  It’s a unique opportunity to expose your game to TCAF’s diverse audience of over 20,000 visitors.  We’re looking for all genres of games (not only ones with an explicit connection to comics) and table space is limited so apply now!

Click here for more info and to apply for a space

The Comics vs Games project fosters collaboration between the independent game and comic communities through a variety of projects, partnerships and events. Every year with our partners during the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF) we present unique, game-focused content — from original games and gallery shows, to panels and talks. You can read more about past Comic vs Games events here.

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) is a week long celebration of comics and graphic novels and their creators, which culminates in a two-day exhibition and vendor fair featuring hundreds of comics creators from around the world. You can read more about TCAF on their website: torontocomics.com.

Today (Thursday May 8th) is the Comics vs Games 3D + VRcade opening party, Saturday is the main event. SO CLOSE! Close enough that we can finally announce our surprise guest for Comics vs Games Talks.   XKCD‘s Randall Munroe! Here’s the full description:

Comics and Crowds: The Experimental, Massively Multiplayer Comics of XKCD
A Conversation With Randall Munroe

12 pm – 1pm – Saturday May 10th
Bento Miso, #300 – 862 Richmond Street West, Toronto

Randall Munroe with interviewer Miguel Sternberg
Whether it’s a single comic that tells a story over four months or one who’s contents change based on live donations to wikipedia, XKCD has a long history of experimental comics that could only work with a large, highly engaged fanbase. In this conversation with creator Randall Munroe we’ll discuss these unusual comics, their similarity to ARGs and other mass participation games, and the general role of playfulness in his work.

My interview with Randall will be kicking off the talks. Come early as seating is limited and we’re expecting a crowd!

Download the Comics vs Games Talks guide!

You can now download the full schedule of talks in our PDF  Comics vs Games Talks Programing Guide 2014 which is full of information on the entire lineup of speakers as well as their games and comics. It also includes some fetching Interstellar Selfie Station photos!

Comics vs Games Showcase Full Lineup!

Sat May, 10 9am-5pm – Sun May 11, 11am-5pm
Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St, Toronto

As we mentioned previously this year we’re bringing back a selection of favourites from the original Comics vs Games. These are the original games created by indie comic artists and game makers specifically for the TIFFnexus Comics vs Games project. Also making their Canadian debut will be several games from ARTXGAME, the Attract Mode project that originally inspired Comics vs Games. It’s a groundbreaking collaboration between Attract Mode and Giant Robot featuring games created by illustrators and game makers. http://artxgame.com/

All the games will be playable at the MeetUp, the island of space age furniture on the second floor of the reference library.

Comics vs Games
Black Church Brigandage – Miguel Sternberg & Andy Belanger
Cumulo Nimblers – John Martz & Farbs
We’re no Angels – Steve Manale & Jamie Fristrom
The Yawhg – Emily Carroll & Damian Sommer

ARTXGAME
Calvin and Hellen’s Bogus Journey – Hellen Jo X Derek Yu
Jottobots – J. Otto Seibold X Kyle Pulver
Untitled – Deth P Sun X Cactus
Untitled – Souther Salazar X Petri Purho
Return of the Quack – Matt Furie X Chevy Ray Johnston
Catburger – Beau Blyth X Jeni Yang

Special Guest (Sunday only):
Framed – with developer Joshua Boggs from Love Shack Entertainment

Be sure to check out all the Comics vs Games events happening at Bento Miso and the TCAF Library locations. Here’s a handy list of all the events compiled on the TCAF Website: http://torontocomics.com/comics-vs-games-3/

Comics vs Games 3 is a Toronto Comics Arts Festival event sponsored by Bento Miso and co-organized with The Hand Eye Society and Attract Mode.

We are looking for volunteers to attend games, transport panellists and more. Email Alex for details if you’re available on Saturday. 10 hours of volunteer time in 2014 make you eligible for Hand Eye Society membership in 2015.

Comics vs Games Talks Schedule

12pm-1pm: Surprise Guest (TBA) 
A  conversation on comics and interactivity with a surprise guest.  Sorry folks, we’re keeping this one under-wraps till next week!

1pm – 2pm: The Last of Us – Making American Dreams
Faith Erin Hicks
Ignoring the usual cookie cutter approach to licensed videogame comics the The Last of Us’s creative director Neil Druckman tapped comic creator Faith Erin Hicks to co-create their prequel comic “American Dreams”. The characters and locations from the comic have gone on to influenced both the game and its DLC “Left Behind” in ways both subtle and significant. In this talk Faith Erin Hicks discusses this unique collaboration between an AAA game studio and independent comic creator.

2pm – 3pm: Play my Life – Autobiographical Comics and Games
David S Gallant, merritt kopas, Annie Mok, Kelly Phillips with moderator Soha Kareem
While comics have a long history of autobiographical work, this is an area that game creators have only recently started to explore, creating works ranging from the intensely personal to the intentionally banal. In this panel, creators from both mediums discuss the similarities and differences in how they approach real-life personal themes and narratives in their work.

3pm – 4pm: Putting Pixels on Paper – Game Zine Revolution
Elizabeth Simins, Ashley Davis, Mathew Kumar, Matt Hawkins with moderator Adam Hines
At the same time as traditional game magazines are dying off, the last few years have seen a videogame zine renaissance. Featuring critical and personal writing on games, fan comics and illustrations and taking forms ranging from hand bound silk screen art objects to glossy full colour magazines. Our panel of experts discuss their own zine work, the movement in general and why physical zines are important in a time when publishing online has never been easier.

 4pm-  5pm: Furnishing Gone Home – Creating a House That Tells a Story
Kate Craig
Comic creator and game artist Kate Craig talks through the creation of the mansion in the award-winning story exploration game Gone Home, revealing how she helped tell the game’s central story of love and self discovery visually, through individually crafted environments and found objects.

5pm – 6pm: The Yawhg Post Mortem – Crafting A Multiplayer Choose Your Own Adventure.
Damian Sommer and Emily Carroll
Originally created as a jam game for the first year of Comics vs Games, the Yawhg went on to be developed into a full commercial release nominated for multiple Independent Games Festival awards. Game developer Damian Sommer and comic creator Emily Carroll discuss the creation of their darkly humorous multiplayer narrative game.

6pm-7pm: Out of Order – Playing with Sequential Art in Framed
Joshua Boggs
Will Eisner and Scott McCloud define comics as “Sequential Art”, but what happens when you make a game around re-arranging that sequence? Josh discusses the effects of creating a “comic-book-game” that plays with the order of events, from both a game and narrative design standpoint.

Last Year’s Comics vs Games Panel

For those who missed last year’s Comics vs Games Panel here’s the full video with panellists:
Scott Campbell (Doublefine, The Art of Brutal Legend)
Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim)
Benjamin Rivers (Snow, Home)
Jim Zub (Skullkickers, Street Fighter HD Remix)
Moderated by Miguel Sternberg (They Bleed Pixels)

Here’s the full video. If you just want to listen here’s an MP3 of the audio.

In other Comics vs Games news…

Joshua Boggs of Love Shack Entertainment will be at the Comics vs Games Showcase (located on the second floor of TCAF) on Sunday!  He’ll be showing off a new version of Framed, which you may remember as one of the interactive comic/game hybrids we featured last year.  He’s visiting all the way from Australia so this is a rare chance to preview Framed and meet one of its creators!

Also a reminder that Thursday May 8th is the Comics vs Games 3D + VRcade Opening Party at Bento Miso!  Your first chance to see the amazing 3D artwork Attract Mode have curated for this year’s gallery show. Plus games, music food and beer! Advance tickets and more info here:
https://bentomiso.com/events/comics-vs-games-3d-vrcade-party

More Comics vs Games news coming next week.  In the meantime you can get info on all the Comics vs Games events on the TCAF website.

Comics vs Games 3 is a Toronto Comics Arts Festival event sponsored by Bento Miso and co-organized with The Hand Eye Society and Attract Mode.

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is fast approaching and with it another Comics vs Games! This year’s looks to be the biggest and best celebration of the two media yet!

Bento Miso are sponsoring this year’s events again and bringing back Bit Bazaar, their videogame arts and crafts show. Attract Mode return with a new twist on the gallery show with the Comics vs Games 3D Gallery featuring fully 3D artwork and three virtual reality collaborations between comic and game makers commissioned by Bento Miso playable on Oculus Rifts.

The Hand Eye Society and TCAF will be expanding last year’s single panel to a full day of programming: Comics vs Games Talks, featuring comic and game creators discussing their work and the intersection of the two art forms. It’s a stellar, diverse line up ranging from Faith Erin Hicks talking about creating The Last of Us: American Dreams to a panel discussion on autobiographical comics and games. We’ll be posting a full schedule soon!

All of the above is happening at the Bento Miso space. But we haven’t forgotten the TCAF main location either!

TCAF and Hand Eye will be bringing videogames back to the reference library with the Comics vs Games 3 Showcase featuring highlights from our original Comics vs Games project with TIFF Nexus, which you may remember paired game makers with comic creators to craft original games. In addition we’ll also have a selection of games from ARTXGAME courtesy of Attract Mode!  The first ARTXGAME show was the inspiration for Comics vs Games, and it featured game developers and illustrators creating games together. We’re very happy to be debuting many of these games in Canada for the first time.

More info to come but you can read about the current event line up in more detail on the Comics vs Games page.

Confused about what’s happening where and when? Here’s the breakdown!

At Bento Miso 
#300 – 862 Richmond Street West
Sat, May 10th  – 11:00 am – 8:00 pm

• Bit Bazaar: Spring Fair 2014 – Presented by Bento Miso
• The Comics vs Games 3D Gallery – Presented by Attract Mode and Bento Miso
• Comics vs Games Talks – Presented by The Hand Eye Society and TCAF

At TCAF
Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street.
Sat May 10th – 9am-5pm
Sun May 11th – 11am-5pm

• The Comics vs Games 3 Showcase – Presented by The Hand Eye Society and TCAF

All these events are free to the public!

Comics vs Games 3 is a Toronto Comics Arts Festival event sponsored by Bento Miso and co-organized with The Hand Eye Society and Attract Mode.

The Comics vs. Games Showcase!

Where: TCAF – Toronto Reference Library – 789 Yonge Street
When: Sat May, 11 9am-5pm – Sun May 12, 11am-5pm
Last year the Hand Eye Society teamed up with TIFFnexus and paired indie comic and game makers to create five original games. This year we’ve curated four existing independent games from around the world that borrow structural elements from comics in their game design and presentation. Each of these games explores space, sequence and narrative in unique ways that show great things can happen when the two forms are combined!  All four Showcase games will be playable at the TCAF main location for the entire weekend.  
 

Framed by Loveshack Entertainment – Australia
Framed is a novel, dramatic, panel-shifting game experience where every panel tugs on the outcome of the story. Presented as a storyboard each panel depicts an important action/event. Players must rearrange the order of the panels to change the delivery and outcome of the narrative. With each action framed by the last, context is everything.
Coming to multiple platforms in 2013 including PC, Mac, tablets and phones.

Where is My Heart by Die Gute Fabrik – Denmark / Germany
Where is My Heart is a 2D puzzle platforming game starring three monsters, each with unique abilities. It uses the Comic Panel Effect in which the screen has been fractured into panels and re-arranged to disorient the player.  With its charming art style, odd creatures and surreal internal logic Where is My Heart is evocative of comics like Ojingogo.
While Where is my Heart has been available for PSPmini for some time, TCAF will be a rare chance play the upcoming PC version!
Available now on the PSPmini (PSP, PS3 and PS Vita) coming soon to PC and Mac.

Storyteller by Daniel Benmergui – Argentina
Storyteller is a puzzle game where you build your own visual stories. Each level has a goal like “make a murder of jealousy” or “a tragedy of love”. It’s played by placing characters and props into a strip of frames like a comic, where actors react to each other. Many classic soap opera complications like amnesia, dark secrets and returns from death are part of the toolbox.
The IGF award winning Storyteller makes its second appearance at TCAF Comics vs Games. As a game still in development players will get a chance to play the newest build and see what’s changed in a year!
Available late 2013 on PC, Mac and iOS.

Gorogoa by Jason Roberts – United States
Gorogoa is a lovingly hand-illustrated world suspended inside of a unique puzzle. To solve the puzzle, the player rearranges a few panels on a simple grid, placing them next to or on top of one another. But each panel is also a window into a different part of the game world–or perhaps into a different world–and each window plays like its own little game. Even so, the key to progressing never lies within one panel, but in the connections between panels.
Coming out late 2013/early 2014 for PC, Mac and subsequently on mobile platforms.

More info on TCAF Comics vs Games 2 programming coming soon!

Comics vs Games 2 is a Toronto Comics Arts Festival event sponsored by Bento Miso and co-organized with The Hand Eye Society and Attract Mode.

Remember the Comics vs Games project last spring where we teamed up indie comic artists and game makers to create a bunch of small games?  Well Gamasutra has written a great in-depth article on the project including interviews with the participants:

“Steve Manale admits he is not much of a “game guy.” He owns a Wii, and somewhere he might still have an old Gamecube he managed to spill paint on. He works with lines all day, but they’re filled with colors, not code.

The Toronto-based artist might still be surprised as anyone that he can now claim co-creatorship of a video game among the accomplishments of his career.” – Comics vs. Games: Thinking Outside the Panel

The folks at TIFFnexus have also posted a full video of the Comics vs Games panel at The Toronto Comics Arts Festival for those who missed it.

Dames Making Games is delighted to announce that applications are now open for Jeuxly (the name comes for the french word for “games”), a six-week game-making incubator for women inspired by last year’s Difference Engine Initiative. During July (and some of August), a small group of women will meet weekly to work through the steps of making their first games. At the end of the process, each of them will have finished a small game on their own to show off at a final reception. The incubator will run in conjunction with “The New Game Makers,” a speaker and workshop series at Bento Miso featuring female game professionals.

If you’re interested in applying, volunteering, or mentoring the participants, go here to read more details and find out how to get involved: http://www.damesmakinggames.com/?p=226

*”women” includes all those who identify as women.

Attention Hand Eye Pals,

On May 25th, from 4pm on, representatives from Valve will be in Toronto to talk about submitting, marketing & powering your games with Steam.

Join the Steam reps at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom (where our Hand Eye socials have been lately) for the session, and then let Valve buy you a couple round of beers!

Space is **very** limited so please RSVP to nathan.v@capybaragames.com with STEAM RSVP in the subject soon if you’re interested. In your RSVP please provide your name & what studio you’re from (if any). Please note that due to limited space we’re asking that you only RSVP for one person per studio. If there’s space left over (there won’t be) then we’ll open it up to more per studio.

This is a great opportunity to learn about, and interact with, one of the best distribution channels available for independent developers… so get RSVP’ing!

And of course, a huge thanks to Valve for setting this up!

Take a peak at the flyer for all the details.