Alientrap Wins Ubisoft's Inside Series
/Just like Reptoid Games winning last year, Ubisoft Toronto and United Bank had the second Indie Series which provides $50,000, mentorship from Ubisoft Toronto, and a few other things.
Alientrap, who are working on Wytchwood, Gunhead, and are looking for some Unity help, took home the main prize. Falling Squirrel took home second place, and $25,000.
Today eight Ontario indie game development studios pitched a panel of Ubisoft and National Bank experts, and after rigorous competition, Alientrap Games were announced as the winners of the second edition of Ubisoft Indie Series presented by National Bank. This year’s grand prize consists of $50,000 (CAD), mentorship from Ubisoft experts to help with development, personalized financial diagnosis and council by National Bank experts, distribution on the Uplay PC store, marketing support for their game and entrepreneurial training experience by National Bank.
Falling Squirrel took home the National Bank Special Prize for their entry, The Vale, which includes $25,000 (CAD), mentorship by Ubisoft experts to help with development, and personalized financial diagnosis and counsel provided by National Bank experts.
About the Ubisoft Indie Series
Back for a second edition, the Ubisoft Indie Series presented by National Bank is an annual competition for independent game development studios, offering cash prizes, mentorship, and creative, marketing and financial tools to help local studios and their games reach new heights.
Ubisoft is a supporter of the video game ecosystem
Ubisoft opened its first Canadian studio in 1997 and its first studio in Ontario in 2010: Ubisoft Toronto. Since then, the company has played an active role in developing a passionate and creative ecosystem where studios, small and large, have collaborated to make the videogame industry shine on an international level. Making games is difficult and presents many challenges: financially, creatively, and more. This is precisely why we want to connect with our colleagues, share knowledge and expertise, and together, ensure Canada continues to grow as a game development leader worldwide.
Gunhead Announced - FPS Sequel To Cryptark
/Talk about unexpected, despite announcing a game just a few weeks ago Alientrap is at it again, this time announcing Gunhead, a direct sequel to its rogue-like shooter Cryptark. However Gunhead is a first-person shooter, where you'll still enter procedurally generated ships to neutralize them with the story taking place right after Cryptark.
Gunhead will be out on Steam next year, so make sure to add the game to your Steam page. Cryptark also came out on PlayStation 4, so hopefully we'll see its sequel make the console jump as well. In the meantime, make sure to check out the developers on Twitter.
Jobs!
Wytchwood Announced From 'Cryptark' Developer Alientrap
/Happy Halloween (yesterday)! In celebration Alientrap, the developer behind Cryptark, and Apotheon, have announced Wytchwood - a crafting adventure game set in the land of fables and fairytales.
"As the mysterious old witch of the woods, you will explore a strange countryside, collect magical ingredients, brew sorcerous enchantments, and pass your twisted judgement upon a capricious cast of characters and creatures."
Right now, you can check out the Steam page where it says the game will out in 2018. Until then make sure to check out the little teaser, and screenshots below.
Featured
Cryptark Out Now On PlayStation 4
/Released last week on Steam, the sci-fi twin stick shooter was delayed for a week on PS4 and was released today. You can pick it up on the PlayStation store right now.
Let's Play Games
CRYPTARK Available on Steam - Delayed A Week On PS4
/“Cryptark is a 2D sci-fi roguelike shooter where you take on the role of a heavily armed privateer seeking to earn government contracts by boarding deadly alien space-hulks. It’s up to you to strategize a plan of attack, pick an equipment loadout, and destroy the central core to be victorious.”
Crpytark was also scedhuled for release on PlayStation 4, but was delayed until the 27th.
Featured
Cryptark Coming To PlayStation 4 June 20th
/It was released on Steam almost two years ago, and then announced for PlayStation 4 a few days later, but now Alientrap's 2D Sci-fi Roguelike shooter Cryptark is coming to PlayStation 4 later this month on June 20th. Creative Director at Alientrap Jesse McGibney took to the PlayStation Blog to talk a little bit about the game:
In Cryptark, making money by scrapping spacecraft is the name of the game! You and your motley crew of mercenary privateers will have to blast into heavily defended alien derelicts, survive waves of cyber-skeleton attack drones, and surgically pick apart security systems with strategy and absurdly weaponized mech-suits (all while staying within budget, of course)!
Featured
Toronto Developed Severed and Modbox Win At The Canadian Video Game Awards
/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.
Toronto Developers Highlight the 7th Annual Canadian Video Game Award Nominations
/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
Original Video - Ontario Game Developers Working On VR
/Another video! With VR gaining momentum these days, I decided to do a quick video on local developers working on VR.
VR In the news
Modbox Out April 5th On Steam Early Access
/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 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.
More From Alientrap
Alientrap Announces Maximum Override - Out Right Now
/Despite working on Cryptark port to PS4, working on Modbox, Alientrap went ahead and announced and released Maximum Override on Steam. The game is on Early Access right now, but does have a 15% discount:
Maximum Override is a chaotic city destruction game where the machines come alive. Wreak havoc in a fully destructible randomly generated city with anything you can find. Check out the system requirements before purchasing! We are still optimizing the destruction physics
- Take over police cars, taxis, helicopters, wrecking balls, bridges, rocket cars, giant mechs, UFOs, monster trucks, big rigs, giant globe statues, fire hydrants, vending machines, tanks...
- 2 procedurally generated fully destructible cities
- Full Controller support
- Game modes: Gman Elimination, Arcade score mode, and a sandbox Zen mode
Alientrap Announces Modbox for HTC Vive
/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.
Free Multiplayer Update to Apotheon
/Apotheon, the 2D side scroller from Toronto developer Alientrap, now has a free multiplayer update. The game, which was nominated 8 times at the Canadian Video Game Awards, sets players in a battle against the Greek Mythological Gods now lets players battle each other in a free update.
Apotheon Arena is the free online-multiplayer complement to the mythic Greek action RPG, Apotheon. Pit your skills with spear and shield against other players in brutal bronze-age combat. Battle across the statuesque arenas of Olympus, depicted with beautiful black-figure pottery artwork.
- Totally free! No microtransactions or ads! If you already own Apotheon no need to download, you can play online with the regular Apotheon game also
- Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Team Elimination game modes.
- Ten arenas to fight across; battle from the Grove of Artemis, to the Palace of Zeus
- Dozens of melee and ranged weaponry. Slay with spear, sword, arrow and axe.
s mentioned above, the update is free for anyone who owns Apotheon on Steam, so head over to their Steam page to download the game, which is actually currently on sale.