In case you missed it, back in April we hosted our very first game jam at Evergreen Brick Works. We brought together six participants over a span of three days to brainstorm, build and submit a game project based on the interconnected networks of natural and urban systems at the space, and it was a great success! But now, there’s more!

The final game concepts have been documented and transformed into a printed and digital zine that has been designed by Chris White and illustrated by 6 local artists from Toronto!

Cost: The zine will cost $5 for the greyscale version and $20 for the full-colour version. A Pay What You Can initiative also available for the greyscale zine. All proceeds will go towards supporting the creators.

Please come celebrate, mingle and support us as we celebrate the conclusion of our first quarter of our Game Curious program at Evergreen Brick Works. Also, if you missed playing the games from the previous game jam, the participants and their creations will be back for your playing pleasure!

See you next month!

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Evergreen Brick Works, Pavilions

June 16th

11am – 3pm

*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

This program is part of Game Curious at Evergreen Brick Works, a free, public event series that uses game design and playful media as a lens to explore interconnected systems of urban sustainability, food security, arts/culture, history, and technology. Based on our popular Game Curious initiative, programming will take place on-site at Evergreen Brick Works in the Don Valley over the course of one year, activating different areas and audiences throughout the changing of the seasons.

Spring Jam 2019

Ah, spring. A time for cherry blossoms, sweater weather, and game jams!

You may ask, “But what is a game jam, anyway?” Think of it this way: Say you took an artist, someone who knew how to program, and a designer, and told them to make Super Mario in 3 days. That’s the traditional definition of a game jam as we know it.

This jam is different. We’re looking for 6 artists, thinkers, and dreamers from various disciplines, who have the ability to distill current challenges and future dreams into small, poetic game-like experiences that go beyond the digital screen. Inspired by projects like Casual Games for Protesters (Molleindustria and Harry Giles), Tiny Games (Hide&Seek), and A Small Book with Games In It (Gloam Collective), selected participants will tour Evergreen Brick Works in the Don Valley to learn about its history and various initiatives. They will then spend another 2 days in April designing playful, bite-sized interactive works based on the interconnected networks of natural and urban systems at the site. The final game concepts will be documented in the form of a digital and printed zine, designed by Chris White and illustrated by local artists.

Details

We are looking for 6 game jammers and 6 zine illustrators, no game-making experience necessary. Submissions are open until February 28. Jammers and illustrators will be confirmed early March. Selected jammers must be fully available for all three on-site days, and the zine launch.

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Jam Sessions: April 5 to 7 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Zine Launch: Sunday, June 16

Compensation will include a $500 honorarium per game jammer, plus meals and transportation. Zine illustrators will be paid $200 per image.

Partners

Game Curious at Evergreen Brick Works is a Toronto Arts Council (TAC) Animating Historic Sites program in partnership with Evergreen. TAC is the City of Toronto’s funding body for artists and arts organizations. Since 1991, Evergreen, a Canadian charity and international thought leader, has provoked bold action in transforming public landscapes into thriving community spaces with environmental, social and economic benefits.

Have you ever heard of people talking about games and wanted to know more? Already in the industry, but want to learn about different perspectives and experience games from another angle? Interested in how game design can go beyond digital screen-based work to intersect with nature, urban renewal, and food? We got you.

Game Curious at Evergreen Brick Works is a free, public event series that uses game design and playful media as a lens to explore interconnected systems of urban sustainability, food security, arts/culture, history, and technology. Based on our popular Game Curious initiative, programming will take place on-site at Evergreen Brick Works in the Don Valley over the course of one year, activating different areas and audiences throughout the changing of the seasons.

For updates and more information on the individual programs planned throughout the year, check out our Game Curious at Evergreen Brick Works page, subscribe to our newsletter, hit us up on Twitter, or contact us at info@handeyesociety.com with questions. Don’t be shy, come play for yourself!

Spring

A game jam—no, you can’t eat it, as much as some games do look delicious—typically means getting a group of people to work collectively or solo to make an interactive project within a limited period of time. But this is no ordinary game jam. Six selected participants will tour Evergreen Brick Works to learn about its history and various initiatives. They will then spend a weekend in April designing playful, bite-sized interactive works based on their observations. The final game concepts will be documented in the form of a digital and printed zine, designed by Chris White and illustrated by local artists.

Say hello to our jammers!

[button size=” style=” text=’Click here for more information, FAQ, and our jammers!’ icon=” icon_color=” link=’http://handeyesociety.com/game-curious-spring-jam/’ color=” hover_color=” border_color=” hover_border_color=” background_color=” hover_background_color=” font_style=” font_weight=” text_align=” margin=”]

Dates: April 5 to 7 (Jammers Only) / June 16 (Public Zine Launch)

Location: TBD

Audience: 6 jammers and 6 illustrators selected via submission process. The zine launch is open to the public.

Summer

An all-ages event where participants interact with technology that reacts to touch, heat, water and more! A more hands-on approach to learning how tech can be used to facilitate curiosity, exploration, and wonder. A collaboration with Little Dada.

Dates: [Update: POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER]

Location: Children’s Garden

Audience: Drop-in, children and families/all-ages.

Fall

Have you ever seen a game so delicious that you wanted to eat it? Well, now’s your chance. Inspired by projects like Jenn Sandercock’s Edible Games Cookbook, this workshop gives participants the opportunity to utilize different kinds of food and use it to create a game that you can eat.  This is a fun event where you can learn elements of game design as well think about how we interact with food beyond mere consumption. Bring an empty stomach just in case!

Dates: Oct 9 and 23, after work hours

Location: FIDO Kitchen

Audience: Pre-registration required, ages 13+.

Winter

An interactive experience created by artists Julia Gingrich, Rehka Ramachandran and Kara Stone reflecting on time and climate change. Rocks Die? investigates the Anthropocene, the material and the virtual. It consists of a quilt made of used plastic, dipped in water and then frozen, with materials such as flowers and notes written by participants in advance surrounding it. The pieces are hung, letting the ice drip off them and revealing what is inside.

Dates: Dec 28-31

Location: TBD

Audience: Drop-in, all-ages.

Partners

Through research, design and collaboration, Evergreen moves sustainable city building ideas into action. We believe that flourishing cities are created through the alchemy of placemaking—holistically improving the intersections and interdependencies between people + natural + built worlds. This is evident in our work designing school grounds; building community programs; collaborating on transportation, housing, and water issues; and imagining and developing the Evergreen Brick Works social enterprise.

Since 1991, Evergreen, a Canadian charity and international thought leader, has provoked bold action in transforming public landscapes into thriving community spaces with environmental, social and economic benefits. At the core of our work is the belief that involving people directly in the process of restoring the health of local ecologies and their communities positively affects the attitudes and behaviours that lie at the core of the sustainable city.

Toronto Arts Council (TAC) is the City of Toronto’s funding body for artists and arts organizations. Since 1974, TAC has played a major role in the city’s cultural industries by supporting a very broad range of artistic activity. From the emerging artist to the most established, from celebrated institutions to arts that challenge convention, TAC is typically the first funder to offer support. Today, TAC grants lead to exhibitions, performances, readings and workshops seen annually by over 9.5 million people. Through our ongoing funding, TAC cultivates a rich engagement between artists and audiences.  We are proud to reflect Toronto’s vibrancy through the diversity of artists, arts communities and audiences that we serve.