Around fifty people sat themselves down at the Ossington Theatre on Saturday to attend the first ever Gamercamp. Filled with independent game developers and folks aspiring to get into the game development scene, we sat down and were treated to some demonstrations as well as some enlightening talks.
A few independent developers have been making quite a splash on the scene with releases like Braid, Torchlight, Trine, and Aztaka, so it was no surprise that the turnout was larger than expected. Amoung the demonstrations were Guerilla Gardening, a botanical espionage action offering from the two-man team at Spooky Squid, About a Blob, a cute and partially physics-drive platformer from Drinkbox Studios, and an impromptu display for a game called Colour Coded, which invokes comparisons to the Lemmings franchise. The last demonstration of the day was artistic as SuperBrothers (seizure alert – click at your own risk!) showed off a couple of pixelated music videos.
What really made the day enjoyable for me, though, were the talks. Metanet Software Inc. (N, N+) were on hand to give the audience advice on how to start a game company with a rock band metaphor. This metaphor actually extends surprisingly far and Raigan and Mare gave the audience more than a few laughs. Next, Michael Todd from spyeart.com filled us in on his game-a-week experiment, which is netting him a deal through an online distribution publisher based on Broken Brothers, an RTS he made in a week. It is incredibly surprising – and delightful – that a man can make a game in a week and then be approached to make a full version (which took 74 days). In the days of high, multimillion-dollar production costs, it’s incredible that the little guy can still get somewhere. Some of the advice Mr. Todd gave was great and was certain to be helpful to some aspiring developers. Then Nathan Vella, co-founder of Capybara Games (Critter Crunch), went through the stages of getting good art on the cheap. He reveals how all thirteen artists were hired at his company and even what tools they use in order to get their work done faster. It was interesting to learn how Capybara starts and ends with the visuals and everything drives towards a target drawing.
After free drinks and wonderful catering that included cupcakes with little Pac-man and Super Mario Bros. mushrooms on them, attendees were also treated to some classic, retro gaming from the Replay Arcade Museum. This part wasn’t as exciting for me as I thought it would be, but there was still lots of fun and mingling to be had. Oh, and Spy Hunter is ridiculously hard. Thank you to the two people trying to help me save face as I crashed every five seconds.
The inaugural Gamercamp was a small success and I look forward to it next year. If you have any interest in game development, even in an armchair way like myself, then you owe it to yourself to attend next year. It’s a great way to meet contacts and learn more about the field you may be entering.
Don Tam is a game enthusiast who currently resides in Toronto. He currently owns a two-year old PC, a Xbox 360 Pro and a DS Lite (black). His favourite games include Gears of War, Rock Band, Civilization IV, and pretty much anything Blizzard caresses with their gentle, godly hands. 