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.

Happy Canada Day! Toronto Games Released This Year

I figured I would take this Canada Day (and half-way point of the year) to celebrate the Toronto developed games that have been released so far. They are in no particular order and I've tried to link to a page to buy them. If I'm missing one, make sure to let me know on Twitter.

Runbow: Satura's Space Adventure! from 13AM Games

Cally’s Caves 3 from VDOGames

Kapsul Infinite from Luke O'Connor

Hard Vacuum Lullaby from One More Story Games

Robo’s World: The Zarnok Fortress from Bluish-Green Productions and Throw Away Games

Robo's World: The Darnok Fortress came out on steam earlier this year and was available to patreon's

Severed from DrinkBox Studios

Far Cry Primal from Ubisoft

Fortified from Clapfoot Games

Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander from Massive Damage Inc

Real Army Simulator from The Really Serious Game Company

Dashy Square from Kastriot Sulejmani

Forbidden Dessert from Button Mash Games

Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime from Asteroid Base

Maximum Override from AlienTrap

Cryptark from Alientrap

We Are Doomed (Vita) from Vertex Pop

We Are Doomed was a perfect fit on PlayStation Vita

Ace Academy: Black Flight from Illumination Games

Alto’s Adventure (Android) from Snowman

Cel Damage HD (Xbox) from Finish Line Games

Planktos from Blot Interactive

Sago Mini Trucks and Diggers from Sago Mini

Grumz from Picnic Game Labs

Block Swop from Wooly Walrus Games

Quick Drop from Wooly Walrus Games

Loud on Planet X from Pop Sandbox

Pitfall Planet from Bonfire Games

pitfall planet won level up in 2015

Fantasy Tales Online from Cold Tea Studio

Shadow Heroes: Vengeance In Flames from Allied Games

AlphaPit from Shane McCafferty

Frank The Spider from Yahman Games

Congrats to all the developers on releasing their games, here's to a great back half of 2016. Happy Canada Day!

Loud On Planet X Launching On This Month On PS4, Steam, iOS And Android

Last we heard of Loud on Planet X, they had just completed a successful Kickstarter, having raised over $50,000 dollars towards making their game.  And now, the game will be out in a couple of weeks!

Loud on Planet X will launch on PlayStation 4 and Steam on April 19th, and on iOS and Android April 21st. You can check out the trailer and some screenshots below:

LOUD on Planet X is releasing April 19 on console (PS4™/Steam) and April 21 on mobile (iOS/Android)! - Defend your stage with music! LOUD on Planet X is an arcade-style indie music game featuring Tegan and Sara, Purity Ring, METZ, Metric, Lights, July Talk, F*cked Up, Cadence Weapon, Austra and more.

Choose from a cross-section of top current indie music artists, then defend your stage from hordes of quirky aliens by tapping to the music and using a fun assortment of makeshift weapons like speakers, strobe lights, fog machines, amplifiers, bouncers and custom special attacks! LOUD on Planet X is an exciting new indie alternative to Rock Band or Guitar Hero with a splash of Plants vs Zombies – a new hybrid of rhythm game and classic shooter with tower defence elements.

Before the games launch, you can follow them on Twitter. They've also promised to announce "3 top international artists" the week of the games launch.

Loud On Planet X Developers Looking For Playtesters

The indie music game Loud on Planet X was successful in getting funded on Kickstarter and is now asking for help for playtesting.  Those in the Toronto area that are interested in playtesting should email Tanya@popsandbox.com to see if there are any times available.

We are conducting Play Tests for @LOUDonPlanetX throughout October. If u live in Toronto and want to get involved email Tanya@popsandbox.com

— LOUDonPlanetX (@LOUDonPlanetX) October 9, 2015

Loud on Planet X is said to be a mix of Plants Vs Zombies, and Rock Band.  Make sure to follow the developers on Twitter to stay up to date on the game.

PSA: Final Stretch For Loud On Planet X On Kickstarter (Updated)

At the time of this writing, Loud on Planet X has hit $44,260 of it's $50,000 goal of funding, with 58 hours to go.  If you haven't yet, make sure to back this game, which is a mix of Planets Vs Zombies, and Rockband. Check out the Kickstarter here. Best of luck to everyone involved!

Update (June 4th: 6:50pm): 

Congratulations to Loud on Planet X for getting successfully funded! They've hit their goal of $50,000, and have a few stretch goals for Wii U and Xbox One. Make sure to check out the Kickstarter.

Blog Post: Swag At Bit Bazaar 5

Bit Bazaar 5 is over. Personally I had a great time, and it was great to meet all the developers I've been talking to over Twitter the last few months, and play all the games I've written about.

I thought I would make a post just showing all the cool swag I got at the show.

Pins! These pins are from (top to bottom): Planet Of The Eyes, WE ARE DOOMED, GastroBots, Dames Making Games.

Cards from Planet Of The Eyes, GastroBots, and Arielle Grimes

T-shirts from: DrinkBox Studios (I was fanboying the whole time I was playing Severed), and Dames Making Games.

Posters from: Loud On PlanetX, DrinkBox Studios, and Bit The Game.

I just want to thank everyone involved with putting Bit Bazaar on, it was a really fun event and I can't wait to attend Bit Bazaar 6.

Kickstarter: Loud On Planet X

The guys over at Pop Sandbox have announced their Kickstarter for Loud On Planet X, the indie music rhyme game. It's one I've been checking out the last little while, and I'm glad the team has decided to go full force with funding.

LOUD on Planet X is an arcade-style indie music game featuring Tegan and Sara, METZ, Metric, Lights, July Talk, F*cked Up, Cadence Weapon, Austra and more.

Choose from a cross-section of top current indie music artists, then defend your stage from hordes of quirky aliens by tapping to the music and using a fun assortment of makeshift weapons like speakers, strobe lights, fog machines, amplifiers, bouncers and custom special attacks!

LOUD on Planet X is an exciting new indie alternative to Rock Band or Guitar Hero with a splash of Plants vs Zombies – a new hybrid of rhythm game and classic shooter with tower defence elements

The game looks straight up awesome. Make sure to check out the Kickstarter campaign.