November 18, 2016

Toronto Developed Severed and Modbox Win At The Canadian Video Game Awards

November 18, 2016/ Stephen Crane

The Canadian Video Game Awards have come and gone, and the winners are in! There were a few Toronto developed games that were up for nominations and I've posted the winners below:

Best Mobile/Handheld Game: Severed (Drinkbox Studios)
Best Animation: Far Cry Primal (Ubisoft Montreal - Ubisoft Toronto helped)
Best Educational Game: Modbox (Alientrap)
Best Musical Score: Take My Hand by YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN & Pantayo - Severed (Drinkbox Studios)

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided took home Game of the Year, and you check out the full list of winners right here.

October 27, 2016

Toronto Developers Highlight the 7th Annual Canadian Video Game Award Nominations

October 27, 2016/ Stephen Crane

The nominations for the 7th Annual Canadian VideoGame Awards have been announced, and there are quite a few Toronto developers being nominated for various awards. I tooked at the local games being developed, which you can check out below.

Nominations (Local Developers Only)

Game of the Year:

Severed
Far Cry Primal (Ubisoft Montreal nominated)

Best Console Game:

Far Cry Primal (Ubisoft Montreal nominated)

Best Mobile/Handheld Game:

Alone With You (Benjamin Rivers)
Severed (DrinkBox Studios)
Loud on Planet X (Pop Sandbox Inc)

Best PC Game

Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander (Massive Damage)

Best Virtual Reality Game:

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
Modbox (Alientrap)

Best Animation:

Far Cry Primal (Ubisoft Montreal nominated)

Best Art Direction:

Severed (DrinkBox Studios)

Best Audio:

Far Cry Primal (Ubisoft Montreal nominated)

Best Educational Game:

Modbox (Alientrap)

Best Game Innovation:

Modbox (Alientrap)

Best Indie Game:

Alone With You (Benjamin Rivers)
Severed (DrinkBox Studios)

Best Musical Score:

Alone With You (Benjamin Rivers)
Severed (DrinkBox Studios)

Best Narrative:

Alone With You (Benjamin Rivers)
Severed (DrinkBox Studios)

Best New Character:

Sasha - Severed (Drinkbox Studios)

Best Technology:

Modbox (Alientrap)

Fans’ Choice Award: Best Canadian-Made Game:

Alone With You (Benjamin Rivers)
Severed (DrinkBox Studios)

You can check out the full nominations at the official site.

Recent Reviews

Nov 9, 2016

Cube Samurai: RUN! - TorontoGameDevs Review

Nov 9, 2016

While it is certainly fun for a while, it suffers from the same problem other mobile games on Steam do: Cube Samurai: RUN!’s price tag of $5:49 feels a little steep for the amount of time you might ultimately get from it, so I’d recommend installing the mobile version and giving it a go on the commute to work or on the toilet and see if it’s the sort of experience you’d enjoy on the PC. This aside, it certainly does seems like it would make for an equally fun mobile experience, but it doesn’t do anything exceptionally different than what most people have seen in an infinite runner before.

Nov 9, 2016

Sep 17, 2016

Kapsul Infinite - TorontoGameDevs Review

Sep 17, 2016

Overall, Kapsul Infinite’s $4.49 price point on Steam doesn’t quite feel worth it to me. There simply isn’t enough to keep me invested in the gameplay for very long, and without any integration of achievements or leaderboards of any kind it just falls a little flat. It is, however, a game that would be perfect for a mobile device where one play session consists of a few levels on the bus or while waiting out an unpleasant family reunion on the toilet. While the PC is not the platform to play it on, I’d definitely recommend giving it a try on mobile devices.

Sep 17, 2016

Sep 10, 2016

N++ - TorontoGameDevs Review

Sep 10, 2016

We live in an age where it’s easy to get bogged down in new features, and developers often seem to push for complex mechanic after complex mechanic. N++, however, sends itself off with a warm reminder that the series has always been created around one sole value: fun.

Sep 10, 2016

Sep 3, 2016

Hegemony III: Clash of the Ancients - TorontoGameDevs Review

Sep 3, 2016

Despite flaws such as these, I honestly do myself blown away by the potential the game has down the road. It features a robust level editing tool that allows for the creation of scenarios and huge, complex maps. It has Steam Workshop support for user-generated content and (if the patch notes and Longbow Game's Facebook page are any indication) it's still being improved and updated tirelessly by the team at Longbow so many issues described here could very well be patched and improved in future updates.

Sep 3, 2016

Aug 22, 2016

Alone With You - TorontoGameDevs Review

Aug 22, 2016

Alone With You gives you an exceptional story about love, and loneliness, with gameplay that gives you a little more than your traditional visual novel.

Aug 22, 2016

Aug 7, 2016

Cally's Cave 3 - TorontoGameDevs Review

Aug 7, 2016

There was once a girl named Cally, who was an ordinary girl who lived an ordinary life. One day she found her parents kidnapped by Herbert, a mad scientist seeking revenge for a tragic past. Cally, deciding it was in her best interests to not have her parents in distress and doing what any respectable young woman would do in this situation, grabbed her semi-automatic pistol and medieval bastard sword and made chase, filling anything that got in her way full of lead before tearing it asunder.

Aug 7, 2016

Jul 30, 2016

Lost Orbit - TorontoGameDevs Review

Jul 30, 2016

Lost Orbit is a 2D top down, action-arcade game with a focus on quick reflexes and the age-old struggle to beat a stage faster than you did two minutes ago. It features a time trial mode devoted to achieving exactly that speedy time as well as a campaign mode geared towards a more laid back experience for casual players.

Jul 30, 2016

Mar 8, 2016

Far Cry Primal - TorontoGameDevs Review

Mar 8, 2016

Far Cry Primal has players controlling Takkar, a Wenja tribesman who is stranded in the fictitious world of Oros. The story comes down to pretty much "I hate that other tribe, so let's go kill them" but over the course of 20 or so hours players will hunt and control animals, craft and improve weapons, and gather your people to rebuild the Wenja tribe.

Mar 8, 2016

August 18, 2016

Original Video - Ontario Game Developers Working On VR

August 18, 2016/ Stephen Crane

Another video! With VR gaining momentum these days, I decided to do a quick video on local developers working on VR.

VR is becoming a bigger part of our industry. So I thought I would take some time to chat about the VR games coming out of Toronto, Kitchener, and London. Modbox from Alientrap: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/blog/2015/12/11/alientrap-announces-modbox-for-htc-vive Bloxiq from Red Meat Games: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/blog/red-meat-games-brining-bloxiq-to-vr Mervils from VitruviusVR: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/blog/mervils-a-vr-adventure-out-now-on-steam-early-access

VR In the news

Sep 19, 2018

Transference Out Now In Both VR And Non-VR

Sep 19, 2018

Aug 9, 2018

Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes Announces For Console - Gets Release Date

Aug 9, 2018

Mar 19, 2018

Explore Post-Apocalyptic Toronto Islands In Manimal Sanctuary - The VR Lurking Simulator

Mar 19, 2018

Feb 22, 2017

Mervils: A VR Adventure Out Now On PlayStaiton VR

Feb 22, 2017

Aug 18, 2016

Original Video - Ontario Game Developers Working On VR

Aug 18, 2016

Aug 16, 2016

Mervils: A VR Adventure Out Now On Steam Early Access - PSVR This Fall

Aug 16, 2016

I was just mentioning on this weeks podcast that VR appears to just be full steam ahead right now, with Bloxiq VR shown last week, here comes Mervils, a fantasy VR game from London developer VitruviusVR.

Aug 16, 2016

Aug 9, 2016

Red Meat Games Gives 'Bloxiq' The VR Treatment

Aug 9, 2016

Red Meat Games is bringing Bloxiq, the puzzle game from Blot Interactive, to HTC Vive and PSVR

Aug 9, 2016

Jan 16, 2016

Phantom Compass Takes Us To 2080 In 'Auto Age: StandOff'

Jan 16, 2016

March 29, 2016

Modbox Out April 5th On Steam Early Access

March 29, 2016/ Stephen Crane

Indie developer Alientrap had announced Modbox late last year, and it will now be available on Steam early access next week. The HTC Vive sandbox physics game got one last big update before release that you can check out here.

Create Rube Goldberg style large room scale creations with the Vive’s precise controllers
Share your work on Steam workshop ingame, or try out others online
Construct with primitives by just touching them together. Add in hinge joints, ropes, propellers, rockets, piston, balloons. Then control them by wiring them together with throttles and levers.
Pick up and play with toys to interact with the world - including baseball bats, basketballs, crossbows, pistols, chainsaws...

Modbox is a VR physics sandbox game for room scale VR, coming early 2016. Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Alientrap Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Alientrap Blog: http://www.alientrap.org Killscreen interview with more information: https://killscreen.com/articles/modbox-expands-the-playful-possibilities-of-toys-with-virtual-reality/

Modbox will be out April 5th, and you can check out the steam page here, but make sure to give the developer a follow on Twitter as well.

Alientrap Announces Modbox for HTC Vive

December 11, 2015/ Stephen Crane

Hot off the heels of releasing multiplayer for Apotheon, Toronto developer Alientrap has announced Modbox, a VR game described as "A physics sandbox game where you create environments to play around with, and share with others."

Modbox is a VR physics sandbox game for the HTC Vive, coming early 2016. Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Alientrap Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Alientrap Blog: http://www.alientrap.org

Alientrap did a interview with Killscreen about the game as well, which is planned for an early 2016 release. Make sure to follow the developer on Twitter as well.

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