DETAILS

Electric Perfume
805 Danforth Ave (short walk from Pape Station)
Saturday March 3
1 – 2:30 PUBLIC
2:30 – 4 MEMBERS ONLY

*** RSVP FORM ***

We have a limited number of seats, so please RSVP using the above form to let us know you’re coming. As always, while the first half is open to the public and a great way to find out more about what we do and how to get involved, the second half of the event is only open to official members. You can become a member and receive voting rights and more for $5-7/month by registering here. You may also qualify for membership if you have done 10 or more hours of volunteer time with any videogame arts and culture-related event in the city in 2017 — not just for HES! If you qualify, e-mail volunteer@handeyesociety.com with details on your volunteer activities. For both current and new members, when you arrive, please check in to receive your shiny new 2018 membership card.

WHAT’S ON THE AGENDA?

• Introduction of staff and the Board
• Overview of past, present and future activities, dreams and schemes
• Proposals and ideas for upcoming workshops, events, community-building strategies, etc.
• Presentation of financial activities and voting-in of new policies (voting HES members only)
• Agenda will be sent out 1 week before the AGM proper.

There were a lot of changes in 2017, some big, some small, some behind the scenes. We’ll be officially voting on the revised Conflict of Interest Policy we presented recently, which will be sent out to members along with the agenda. There’s been some great strides towards capacity-building and sustainability, with the generous support of our members, partners, and the overall community, as well as new challenges and problems to solve. We look forward to sharing our plans with you all, as well as hearing your ideas!

For questions and concerns, please contact us at info@handeyesociety.com

ABOUT THE VENUE

Electric Perfume is a Toronto production studio and exhibition space for live gaming environments and immersive atmospheres. We aim to provide the community with access to a roster of fun and unique spatial and sensory experiences in the realms of gaming, art, entertainment, and learning. In addition, we work with creators and affiliated organizations to explore technology, innovation, and connect local networks through events, product demos, educational workshops, and talks by forward-thinking people.

[button size=’large’ style=” text=’Click here for the 2018 Exhibitor Application Form’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’https://goo.gl/forms/rkaJfHnw1hZuVYq92′ target=’_self’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=’center’ margin=”]

Submissions end January 31 2018 at midnight EST. 

Exhibitors must be able to attend TCAF in Toronto, Canada both days to set up and staff their table. Send any questions to the Comics X Games Team at cxg@handeyesociety.com (Sagan Yee, Ken Cho, Amanda Wong).

New Table Fees In Effect: Please Read!

Taken by our Director of Technology Ken Cho while prepping for WordPlay

For the first time in 7 years, we are requesting a small fee of $30 per table and $10 for each piece of rented equipment (computers and monitors) for a maximum of $50. This money will go directly towards replacing and maintaining our tech, which takes a lot of wear-and-tear during events like this. Capital costs such as computers, monitors and speakers are often disqualified from funding sources such as government grants, and we’re always on the lookout for ways to replenish our weary machines. Additionally, financial support for Comics x Games often varies widely from year to year, so this will help ensure that we can continue to run this program sustainably.

You always have the option to waive the fee if you feel it would be a barrier to applying; simply check the appropriate box when applying through the exhibitor form.

Compared to other trade show table fees and considering games don’t make a ton of money off merch, we feel this is a fair price. However, you won’t be penalized for waiving the fee – we want to keep things accessible and inclusive! Consider it a suggested donation for those who are able to afford it, and know that we will forever appreciate your contributions to making our programming free and open to the public. This is a new thing we’re trying out, so we look forward to hearing your feedback.

For Toronto/GTA and sometimes international artists, we have several non-vendor exhibition opportunities where we pay out artist fees (such as Waterfront Arcade, Curious Cabinets, WordPlay and the Oakwood Village Residency in 2017), so please keep an eye out for ongoing activities throughout the year!

Application FAQ

When and where is TCAF?  The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2018 will take place Saturday, May 12th, 9am-5pm, and Sunday May 13th, 10am-5pm, at Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street. The Comics x Games exhibit usually takes place on the second floor.

How does Comics X Games fit into this? TCAF is its own event/organization, but the Comics x Games programming is coordinated by the Hand Eye Society and promoted as a cross-disciplinary part of the main festival. It’s a partnership that started in 2012 between TCAF and HES c0-founder, Miguel Sternberg, with support from TIFF.nexus. We are extremely grateful to TCAF for being a great host all these years!

Do I need to live in Toronto to take part? Nope. International guests are welcome as long as you’re able to travel to Toronto for TCAF and staff your table over the two days. TCAF’s FAQ has some good travel information for out of town visitors.

Is there a table fee for confirmed applicants? Yes, but we are very flexible. For the first time in 7 years, we are charging a small fee of $30 per table and $10 for each piece of loaned equipment (computer and/or monitor) so the maximum ask won’t be higher than $50 CAD. This money will go towards the wear-and-tear on our equipment, which is expensive to replace and difficult to fund through normal channels. However, you won’t be penalized for waiving the fee – we want to keep things as accessible and inclusive as possible!

Can I sell merchandise for my game? Yes; in fact we encourage it! Banners, postcards, download codes, plushies, etc. are all fine. However first and foremost this is a games showcase so you need to have your game set up for people to play, and to please respect your neighbour’s table space.

My game has nothing to do with comics, so can I still apply? Yes! While we are always excited to see game submissions with some connection to the world of comics, such as visual novels or interactive experiments that play with the concept of sequential art (or comic artists who are also making indie games), all are welcome to apply! Click here to see a list of previous exhibitors.

I don’t have a game, but my comic is super relevant to games, can I exhibit at Comics x Games? Unless it’s some form of interactive comic (like Meanwhile or Framed), probably not. Send us an email if you want to be put on a list and we’ll let you know if extra space becomes available. Alternatively, you can let us know you are interested in being a speaker or a panellist, as we’ve had many guests such as Jason Shiga talk about their comics in an interdisciplinary context.

How do you decide which games get selected for the arcade? We get more and more submissions every year and only have enough table space to select about 30 games, so there are many factors that go into making the final selection. Once submissions close, the HES team sits down and plays through all of the games that were submitted. There is no main criteria that governs our choices, but we like to see a wide variety of types of games (multiplayer, story-driven, puzzle, experimental, even tabletop), as well as prioritizing games that demonstrate the independent creative spirit of TCAF. Some of the other things we look for are: Is the artist/studio from Toronto or the GTA? Are they a student or emerging artist who could use the exhibition experience? Are they from a marginalized or traditionally underrepresented background? Above all, balance is key!

Do I need to provide my own computer equipment? Yes, you should bring everything you need to showcase your game. However, you can rent a computer and/or monitor if you’d like (see the form). A small number of loaner set-ups will be available, although they are fairly underpowered and we will have to test your game on them to make sure they run properly. Priority will be given to guests coming from outside of Toronto/the GTA.

Will there be internet on site? Not particularly. While the library technically has free Wi-Fi, it’s spotty at the best of times and borderline useless during TCAF. We strongly recommend having a build that is is playable offline.

I only want to showcase for one of the days, can I do that? Probably not. Priority will be given to exhibitors showing both days but you can send us an email with your preferred day if you want to be put on a list.

I exhibited in previous years and the space was kind of difficult to navigate. Will there be any changes this year? Unfortunately there is unlikely to be any changes to the physical area as long as TCAF remains in the Toronto Reference Library. The second floor space is what we’ve been given to work with, and the tables are bolted to the floor, which makes changing the layout basically impossible. We’ve flagged the risers as an accessibility issue, but until a solution is found, we will continue to do our best to make sure everyone’s needs are met!

Question not on the list? Email cxg@handeyesociety.com

For more information about TCAF:

Website: www.torontocomics.com
Twitter: @Torontocomics
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TorontoComics
Tumblr: torontocomics.tumblr.com

Here at the Hand Eye Society, we’re madly working away to come up with exciting plans for WordPlay 2017, our annual festival celebrating interactive fiction and writing in contemporary games. Last year, WordPlay was hosted in London, England at the British Library. This year, WordPlay has triumphantly returned to Toronto with a new festival Director: Chris Tihor!

Chris Tihor is a writer and game designer with a keen interest in narrative in games. He’s the writer behind the award-winning cyberpunk mystery game Mandatory Upgrade: X Marks the Spot and has contributed words to many indie game projects including the upcoming sci-fi action game Primer and the tongue-in-cheek iOS art game Crab Attack 4. Chris has an extensive background running video game events, particularly in his previous role as organizer for the Victoria BC Chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). There he helped put on annual events such as OrcaJam & Global Game Jam Victoria as well as numerous monthly and one-off meet-ups for both the game dev community and the public.

We’d also like to introduce our showcase coordinator: Jo Summers!

Jo Summers is based in Brighton, UK and has been involved with Wordplay for the last couple of years. Last year she directed and produced Wordplay London at the British Library and she is back this year as the Showcase Coordinator. She brings over 10 years of experience curating and producing community technology events, including Hackathons, Barcamps, Maker Faires and videogame parties.  She is a passionate advocate for showcasing weird and wonderful games to the general public, as well as supporting and promoting diversity within the creation of games.

Currently we’re looking for people to give talks or participate in panels around the subject of interactive fiction and writing in contemporary games. We want to hear about new and innovative ways to combine storytelling, digital media, interactivity, and the craft of writing into potent new forms of creative expression. What experiments are being conducted to change the face of interactive fiction? In what ways are the boundaries being pushed? We want to know!

Submit a Showcase Game!

Would you like to submit or suggest a showcase game? What we’re looking for are games with exceptional writing or one that uses writing in an integral way. Please do so via the form below before midnight on September 30th. You can submit your own game, or a game you feel strongly about. No submission fee, Toronto and international games welcome. We will be selecting between 20-25 games from everything entered through the Game Submission Form. Game creators with games accepted into the showcase will receive an artist fee of $80 CAD.

Submit a Talk or Workshop!

Want to participate as a speaker? Take a look at our WordPlay page at to see what presentations we’ve put on for past WordPlay festivals. Then check out our Speaker Proposal Form and submit your idea! Don’t delay, the form is only active until August 25th, 2017.

Stay tuned for more announcements coming soon about the showcase jury, workshops and special guests!

About WordPlay

WordPlay is our free one-day festival celebrating the most interesting uses of writing and words in contemporary games. Now in our fifth year, we will once again host a curated game showcase, talks by creators about their craft, and ways for the public to try their hand at making games.

Sat. Nov. 18th, 2017, 12-5pm
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge St. (Bloor-Yonge subway)
Free

The Hand Eye Society is holding an open call for videogames to showcase on-site at the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (May 13th and 14th) as part of this year’s Comics x Games 6! Comics x Games (formerly known as Comics vs Games) fosters collaboration between the independent game and comic communities through a variety of projects, partnerships and events. Every year with our partners during the TCAF, we present unique, game-focused content — from arcades and gallery shows, to panels and talks. It’s a great opportunity to expose your game to TCAF’s diverse audience of over 20,000 visitors. Table space is limited, so apply now!

*** click here for the Exhibitor Application Form ***

Applications end March 21 2017 at Midnight EST. Exhibitors must be able to attend TCAF (in Toronto, Canada) both days to set up and staff their table. Send any questions to cxg@handeyesociety.com

Application FAQ

When and where is TCAF?  The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2017 will take place Saturday, May 13th, 9am-5pm, and Sunday May 14th, 10am-5pm, at Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street. The Comics x Games exhibit usually takes place on the second floor.

Why did you change the name? Until 2017, this program was previously known as Comics vs Games. We changed it to better reflect the program’s collaborative spirit!

Do I need to live in Toronto take part? Nope. International guests are welcome as long as you’re able to travel to Toronto for TCAF and staff your table over the two days. TCAF’s FAQ has some good travel information for out of town visitors.

Is there a table fee for confirmed applicants? Not currently! We have considered it for future exhibits and it may happen someday, but so far it has always been free.

Can I sell merchandise for my game? Yes; in fact we encourage it! Banners, postcards, download codes, plushies, etc. are all fine. However first and foremost this is a games showcase so you need to have your game set up for people to play, and to please respect your neighbour’s table space.

My game has nothing to do with comics, so can I still apply? Yes! While we are always excited to see game submissions with some connection to the world of comics, such as visual novels or interactive experiments that play with the concept of sequential art, all games are welcome to apply! Click here to see a list of previous exhibitors.

Do I need to provide my own computer? Yes, you should bring everything you need to showcase your game. However, you can request a table with a monitor if you’d like (see the form). A small number of loaner set-ups will also be available. Priority will be given to guests coming from outside of Toronto/the GTA.

Will there be internet on site? Not particularly. While the library technically has free Wi-Fi, it’s spotty at the best of times and borderline useless during TCAF. We strongly recommend having a build that is is playable offline.

I don’t have a game, but my comic is super relevant to games, can I exhibit at Comics x Games? Unless it’s some form of interactive comic (like Meanwhile or Framed), probably not. Send us an email if you want to be put on a list and we’ll let you know if extra space becomes available. Alternatively, you can let us know you are interested in being a speaker or a panellist, as we’ve had many guests such as Jason Shiga talk about their comics in an interdisciplinary context.

I only want to showcase for one of the days, can I do that? Probably not. Priority will be given to exhibitors showing both days but you can send us an email with your preferred day if you want to be put on a list. Question not on the list? Email cxg@handeyesociety.com

For more information about TCAF:

Website: www.torontocomics.com
Twitter: @Torontocomics
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TorontoComics
Tumblr: torontocomics.tumblr.com

DETAILS

Electric Perfume
805 Danforth Ave (short walk from Pape Station)
Saturday March 11
1 – 2:30 PUBLIC
2:30 – 4 MEMBERS ONLY

*** RSVP FORM ***

We have a limited number of seats, so please RSVP using the above form to let us know you’re coming. As always, while the first half is open to the public and a great way to find out more about what we do and how to get involved, the second half of the event is only open to official members. You can become a member and receive voting rights and more for $7/month by registering here. You may also qualify for membership if you have done 10 or more hours of volunteer time with any videogame arts and culture-related event in the city in 2016 — not just for HES! If you qualify, e-mail our volunteer coordinator Kai Winter at volunteer@handeyesociety.com with details. For both current and new members, when you arrive, please check in to receive your shiny new 2017 membership card.

WHAT’S ON THE AGENDA?

• Introduction of coordinators, staff, the venue
• Overview of past, present and future activities, including perennial favourites and new kids on the block
• Proposals and ideas for upcoming workshops, events, community-building strategies, etc.
• Voting-in policies and board member nominees (HES members only)
• Agenda will be sent out 2 weeks before the AGM proper.

We did a lot in 2016 and have continued to expand while constantly thinking of the best ways to serve the gaming arts community here in Toronto. Our members have done so much to support our efforts, and now is a great chance to contribute to the direction and vision of the organization. We look forward to hearing you questions, suggestions and concerns!

ABOUT THE VENUE

Electric Perfume is a Toronto production studio and exhibition space for live gaming environments and immersive atmospheres. We aim to provide the community with access to a roster of fun and unique spatial and sensory experiences in the realms of gaming, art, entertainment, and learning. In addition, we work with creators and affiliated organizations to explore technology, innovation, and connect local networks through events, product demos, educational workshops, and talks by forward-thinking people.

For questions and concerns, please contact us at info@handeyesociety.com

Keep an eye out for that wayward Club Penguin survivor Google Calendar. This user somehow survived the great Iceberg Purge of 2017, and now listlessly waddles from streetcar to streetcar. Should you meet, you’ll find they’re fond of squeaking events as they are announced.

WHERE TO JAUNT – TORONTO GAME EVENTS

Wednesday, February 1

Long Night with Vish Khanna, a monthly talk show with titular host Vish Khanna, will be doing a succession of free tapings in the city. One such episode is “Why have indie-rock and indie gaming fallen in love?” and stars N++’s Mare Sheppard, Raigan Burns, and Shaun Hatton from Laser Destroyer Team and Megashaun. All are old hands at Hand Eye, so show some love to this FibeTV/Long Winter collab presentation.

Sunday, February 5

Your favourite eclectic emporium Electric Perfume is running a screening of Raktor: Broadcast One, and since this is an Electric Perfume event here’s the mind-blowing part: the movie will be shown in a live/VR theater, happening in Toronto and San Francisco at the same time! Heads-up: audience participation is a must, since this will also be broadcast on Facebook Live, and wear no green!

Monday, February 6

DMG continues the second C# session of their Game Dev Book Club. If you’re learning the language, they hold bi-weekly meetings for programmers of all skill levels.

Thursday, February 9

For aspiring game writers, DMG’s running an Interactive Fiction and Narrative Games Writing workshop. Mentors Kait Tremblay and Natalie Zed (who you might remember was last month’s MVP) will chat about their craft, and help participants get acclimated to interactive fiction tools. As of writing, there’s one spot left. Missed out? Don’t worry, there’s still time to sign up for the second iteration of the workshop, running on Friday, March 17.

Sunday, February 12

It’s time for the second annual FebMoVid, a tribute night to the FMV genre! After how much side-splitting fun the first FebMoVid was,we teamed up with our partner-in-cinematic-crime the Laser Blast Film Society again to hold a special screening of point-and-click terror Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle Of Flesh. Notoriously banned or censored worldwide, A Puzzle of Flesh features gore and sexual freakiness galore, as withdrawn hero Curtis Craig unravels repressed memories, investigates his shady employer, and gets surprisingly fair bisexual representation. Stick around for the show, as well as an exclusive demo of a brand new FMV game made last year for  FANTASTIC FEST’s 2016 in Austin, Texas.

Friday, February 17 to Sunday, February 19

Peterborough is holding its second annual game jam, which will take place at Fleming College’s Kawartha Trades and Technology Centre. Impressive fact: the City of Peterborough declared the weekend an official Thing. Even more impressive fact: last year, an impressive 78 pizza slices were chomped.  

Saturday, February 18 to Sunday, February 19

Wear your gumshoes and chug some hard-boiled flavoured soylent for DMG’s fifth annual FEB FATALE, a noir-themed weekend game jam for Dames. This year’s theme is TRANSGRESSION. You’ll have 48 hours, access to VR headsets, and snacks available to pump out pulpy games, lest you transgress against the jam’s spirit. (On that note, spirit jam sounds ectoplasmically delicious!)

Saturday, February 18 to Sunday, April 23

TIFF’s sixth DigiplaySpace exhibit premieres on Family Day and runs on for two months, which is plenty of time to explore its playful digital creations, including multiplayer game HOKY by Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, and Eirik Suhrke, and Toronto’s very own Douglas Gregory with Last One Standing!

Monday, February 20

The third C# session of DMG’s Game Dev Book Club. Tag along with the group lesson, or work on your own personal project.

WHERE TO HAUNT – TORONTO GAME SOCIALS

Tuesdays: 7, 14, 21, 28

Sundays: February 5, 12, 19, 26

This isn’t strictly for game developers, but Meetup group Coffee and Code is a productive hangout every Sunday and Tuesday that encourages casual drop-in coding. The group encourages folks to work on their games, projects, or self-directed coding resources. All skill levels and questions welcome. Tuesdays start at 4:30 p.m. and Sundays start at 12:30 p.m., at  Tango Palace Coffee Company.

Tuesday, February 7

Tying in with Final Fantasy’s 30th anniversary, you can get phoenix down at the 2-Bit Gaming Club’s Final Fantasy discussion group. This meeting of metaminds welcomes all, whether you’re an OG fan, have never played it, or just wanna chat about JRPGs and weird hairdos with other human beings. At Electric Perfume, starts at 6 p.m.

Toronto VR Meetup is holding a speaker social with Keith Maske of Red Meat Games. Maske will be chatting about their superhero-themed First Impact: Rise Of A Hero. At Globacore Headquarters, starts at 7 p.m.

Saturday, February 11

Viva the dance dance revolution, the dames are footloosing to Just Dance all night at DMG’s February social. At Gamma Space, starts at 6:30 p.m.  

Afterwards, find your player 2 (or 3, 4, or level 9 CPU, whatevs) at Power Up Bar’s Plug In + Power Up mixer. The bar promises an extensive party game collection, jams by Ben Chin, and special appearances from cosplayers. If you wear traffic apparel (green for single, red for taken, yellow for ???), you get a 50 per cent cover discount. At Power Up Bar, starts at 10 p.m.

Monday, February 13

Kick Monday blues to the curb with monthly public gaming social Play Games With Friends. At Gamma Space, starts at 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, February 14

Brave the cold for a special Valentine’s edition of Bonus Stage, Toronto’s open mic night for the indie game community. Five speakers get five minutes each to rant about whatever. At Page One, starts at 8 p.m.

Thursday, February 16

Toronto Game Development Meetup Group will be kicking off this season’s talks with a look at Microsoft’s Hololens, an upcoming AR/holographic device. The talk promises to explain how to develop for the Hololens, even without owning one yet. You’ll need to join the group for the meetup’s location, starts at 7 p.m.

#ICYMI

#GOTYs: One More Story Games swept up Toronto Game Devs’ annual Game Of The Year top 10 list, with Hard Vacuum Lullaby in second place and Mandatory Upgrade X Marks the Spot claiming first. Other list-makers include Severed, Kapsul Infinite, and Maize.

#UbisoftIndieWin: Jurassic-sized congrats go to Reptoid Games, the $50,000 winner of Ubisoft’s first Indie Series competition! Big hand to worthy finalists Little Guy Games, Rocket5 Studios, Lightning Rod Games, Tendril, and Caged Element.

#GracefulSwitch: Very cool news, Vertex Pop’s Graceful Explosion Machine will be debuting on the *clack sound* Nintendo Switch! This locally brewed arcade shooter will be launching on other consoles after its Switch premiere this spring.

#AloneWithYou: If you need that perfect Valentine’s gift for the special astronaut in your life, Benjamin Rivers’ Alone With You will be out on Steam by Thursday, February 9.

#CampMakeAGame: We announced that we’ll be running a game creation summer camp called Camp Make-A-Game! If you know an aspiring young game dev who might like to be a Hand Eye scout, keep an eye on us for updates.

COMING AND GOING ATTRACTIONS

Several game creators are donating their work’s proceeds to worthwhile charities including Fez. The perspective-flipping game costs either one obsolete penny or a PWYC donation to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Tiny Titan was the little studio that could after all! Their game Tiny Rails was successfully greenlit on Steam.

There’s a Canada-themed game jam for our nation’s 150th! It is planned to be informally held from February 1 – July 1, 2017. The only rule is that projects must feature Canada, through either setting, story, art, music or gameplay. There is no prize or award, only the spirit of cultural pride to make a project freely available to celebrate Canada’s special year.

PAPER TRAILS – GAMING IN THE MEDIA

Homegrown devs Arielle Grimes and Sophia Park made Forgotten, a gorgeously corrupted twine game. Without spoiling too much of the game’s thoughtful explorations of trauma and physical encoding: you turn your computer on and ruin everything. Killscreen and Wired raved about it, with Wired calling it “the first must-play game of the year.”   

Mobile Syrup asked indie developers to weigh in on the Nintendo Switch, including 13AM Games’ Alex Rushdy, Snowman’s Ryan Cash, Capybara Games’ Nathan Vella, and Drinkbox Studios’ Graham Smith.

IT RISES. Season two of Play Dead, Dork Shelf’s podcast about death in videogames, returns! Host/virtual vampire Gabby DaRienzo, The Score editor and walking anime trope Daniel Rosen, and Counterstrike player (also, Canada’s Smartest Person?!) Stephanie Harvey opine on death’s role in e-sports.

Toronto Game Devs are always bustling, but January was particularly #hustlegoals. They released several videos on their Youtube channel, including playthroughs of Guacamelee, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, and N++. Their podcast had TGD chatting with One More Story Games, musing on the Switch; Patreon saw a few updates, including a free copy of Monumental Failure for supporters.  Lastly, they did a round-up of (mostly) Toronto-based games with mental health themes, curated via Twitter DMs from Your Humble Digest Narrator.

MVP

This month’s MVP is Jean Leggett, CEO of Barrie-based One More Story Games (OMSG), occasional stand-up comedian and a finalist in Communitech’s Fierce Founders bootcamp. OMSG’s developed Story Stylus, a interactive storytelling platform, and at the moment, they’re working on a game adaption of Charlaine Harris’s novel Shakespeare’s Landlord. Harris’ other works inspired HBO’s True Blood.  

We caught up with the wordsmith hammering away in her forge behind Medieval Times.

“I love that any story can be told, that we’re seeing more biographical stories coming to life in indie games, stories that AAA studios wouldn’t necessarily be interested in telling because of the market size. The success of That Dragon, Cancer is a prime example of how life and art intertwine and how games can tell stories that make us weep,” she said, while OMSG co-founder Blair Leggett wiped her brow of wordcount sweat and writers’ tears.

“I also love that the indie game scene is inclusive – one of the games I have on the backburner is a biographical game about growing up hard of hearing in a deaf household and feeling torn between the hearing and deaf world,” she said. We think after that she bellowed something about finally crafting an anti-arugula flail fit for Sir Freelancealot.

Best of luck Jean!

A BREADWINNER IS YOU – JOBS, GIGS, AND OPPORTUNITIES

Remember that gay monster dating sim we highlighted last month? The student developers behind Monster Girls Gaynerations: Ghoulfriends For Life were accepted into QGCon, the queerness and games conference, and are fundraising to bring themselves to L.A. in April.

Reptoid Games‘ making a promising move post-Ubisoft win, by hiring a junior programmer.

Strike Lightning Rod Games with your resume; they’re looking for a concept artist/2D specialist. If your attention span’s better than mine, this position calls for someone reliable and able to work from home consistently.

Gallop by Montreal-based Double Stallion Studios, as they’re hiring a freelance 2D VFX animator, as well as a gameplay and systems programmer.

Hand Eye member Arianne Young posted on our Facebook page looking for PHP backend devs. If you’re interested, get in touch.

MY BAD – A New Section For Corrections That You Will Hopefully Never See Again

Correction: Last month we said the students behind Monster Girl Gaynerations were from York University. Complete lie! Fabrication! These brill pupils were from Sheridan College.

!!Hand Eye Announcement!!

Our annual general meeting will be on Saturday, March 11 at Tract 9! Keyword’s annual: this is the one time a year all Hand Eye members can exercise their Voting Rights, look back on what we did in 2016, weigh in on what the organization does in 2017, hang out, nibble on light refreshments, and scheme on your next e-bank heist. Save the date and RSVP!