Reporting on the games made in Canada and the creators behind them
Figured this would be a good evening to talk about some competition winners. EGLX (which happened this weekend, and was great) had a pitch competition where they gave away a combined $95000 to independent studios/creators in the area.
MightyYell Studios, Oddbird Studios, Falling Squirrel, and Steph were the winners, and we'll have more on their work in the coming months right here on TorontoGameDevs.
Congrats to all #EGLX2018 Pitch Competition winners!
— EGLX (@EGLXofficial) March 11, 2018
The Big Con by @MightyYell Studios: $50,000
Super Random Heroes by @OddBirdStudio: $30,000
The Vale by @FallingSquirrel Inc.: $10,000@stephh3_3's Games Marketing Agency: $5000
Can't wait to see your projects come to life! pic.twitter.com/lEau28LWgD
Continuing our Road to EGLX, we're looking at Arrow Heads from Oddbird Studios - a game we've actually talked about for a while now. It launched back in September, after winning Level Up, and now will be at EGLX for all to play.
If you'd rather play before hand to get some skills and dominate one of its Game Designers Brendan (it won't be hard), you can pick the game up on Steam. Check out the trailer below.
Make sure to pick up some tickets to the show!
Now available for purchase on Steam! http://store.steampowered.com/app/580890/Arrow_Heads/ Grab your friends, neighbors, extended family and that handsome cashier from the grocery store and get ready for some sweet, award-winning, couch and online multiplayer. With your trusty bow, shoot, dodge and deflect arrows in this zany isometric archery game.
Our good friends at Oddbird Studios have released their first title, Arrow Heads on Steam. Arrow Heads is a multiplayer arrow shooting game, where you can play locally or online - and right now it's enjoying a 20% launch discount. So check it out on Steam.
Now available for purchase on Steam! http://store.steampowered.com/app/580890/Arrow_Heads/ Grab your friends, neighbors, extended family and that handsome cashier from the grocery store and get ready for some sweet, award-winning, couch and online multiplayer. With your trusty bow, shoot, dodge and deflect arrows in this zany isometric archery game.
Solo indie dev expert and longtime friend-of-the-site Devon Wiersma joins us to talk their latest release Centauri Dark, working across AAA, mid-sized and solo indie dev and how to fix this goshdarn industry.
David B joins us from the west coast best coast to talk about the upcoming Quiver Games Incubator!
Bizdev extraordinaire Eric Beer joins us to give his Hades II impressions and chat v-bucks subsidized game preservation.
We break down Baldur Gate 3's unprecedented success & the knock-on effects it'll have on the industry and how we make games moving forward. We also speak to Ontario-based indie game devs Twinolli about their upcoming action-puzzler Highlighters which just got a (Dad Deck-verified) Steam demo!
We speak to Québécois game dev Dragon Slumber, creator of Tech Support, Aethernaut and many more!
We reveal the winners of our ‘23 Community Awards poll and discuss Drinkbox’s latest teaser for their next project- and more!
This week thousands more game developers join Stephan in the "terminated by evil, stupid people" camp as layoffs hit tons of studios all over Canada and the world. We discuss Sonic as well. Sonic supports Unionizing your Workplace!
Stephan got terminated but that’s okay he just has more time to cover Canadian games now.
Arrow Heads by OddBird Studio will be released on Steam on September 21. Arrow Heads is a local and online multiplayer archery game that includes a single and co-op mode. OddBird showed this game at LevelUp! 2016, winning Best Overall Game and Best Artistic Achievement, as well as winning at the ESAC Student Game Competition.
Coming to Steam September 21st! Get ready to join in on the zany battle royale archery game known as Arrow Heads! For more information visit our steam page below. We will be releasing to Xbox and Playstation later on as well! Stay tuned on our social media for updates of when the game will be available.
ARROW HEADS IS COMING STEAM SEPTEMBER 21ST!
— OddBird (@OddBirdStudio) August 8, 2017
Announcement Trailer: https://t.co/SVUUXDBklh
Steam Page: https://t.co/xwRf8YeS11#indiedev pic.twitter.com/TVfJwiKQOz
Interested in playing some Arrow Heads ahead of its release? You're in luck! Oddbird Studios is looking for Beta testers, which you can sign up for here.
Itching to play Arrow Heads? Sign up for our online beta weekend here! https://t.co/3J2CYBU38R
— OddBird Studio (@OddBirdStudio) August 3, 2017
Retweet so we can jam pack the servers! pic.twitter.com/iy8lOJffHz
Vancouver-based Klei Entertainment (@klei) announced Don't Starve: Newhome which is in development by Shanghai-based Shengqu Games and will be published by Tencent.
Our friends over at Oddbird Studios tweeted recently that we'll have a Steam store announcement soon - looks like we'll be getting a release date for Arrow Heads in the coming days. We'll make sure to post when it's official.
Shameless promotional plug Friday! Keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming Steam store announcement! #indiedev #gamedev pic.twitter.com/YJaVuy4gf8
— OddBird Studio (@OddBirdStudio) July 21, 2017
Solo indie dev expert and longtime friend-of-the-site Devon Wiersma joins us to talk their latest release Centauri Dark, working across AAA, mid-sized and solo indie dev and how to fix this goshdarn industry.
David B joins us from the west coast best coast to talk about the upcoming Quiver Games Incubator!
Bizdev extraordinaire Eric Beer joins us to give his Hades II impressions and chat v-bucks subsidized game preservation.
We break down Baldur Gate 3's unprecedented success & the knock-on effects it'll have on the industry and how we make games moving forward. We also speak to Ontario-based indie game devs Twinolli about their upcoming action-puzzler Highlighters which just got a (Dad Deck-verified) Steam demo!
We speak to Québécois game dev Dragon Slumber, creator of Tech Support, Aethernaut and many more!
We reveal the winners of our ‘23 Community Awards poll and discuss Drinkbox’s latest teaser for their next project- and more!
This week thousands more game developers join Stephan in the "terminated by evil, stupid people" camp as layoffs hit tons of studios all over Canada and the world. We discuss Sonic as well. Sonic supports Unionizing your Workplace!
Stephan got terminated but that’s okay he just has more time to cover Canadian games now.
Mario Kart 8 on Switch is out! Oddbird Studios has been tweeting a lot about Arrow Heads - and ZeMind Studios have been doing some Let's Plays. Arrow Heads: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/blog/oddbird-studios-tweets-more-footage-for-arrowheads Mario Kart 8: http://mariokart8.nintendo.com/?mkwid=[uniq_id]_dc[distribution]%7cpcrid%7c[creative_id]%7cpmt%7cb%7cpkw%7c[keyword_text]&pid=SEM_[group]&gclid=COGhxL-oyNMCFSOgMgod7cMAHA&gclsrc=ds ZeMind Studios Let's Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzBT9l0y16c
Solo indie dev expert and longtime friend-of-the-site Devon Wiersma joins us to talk their latest release Centauri Dark, working across AAA, mid-sized and solo indie dev and how to fix this goshdarn industry.
David B joins us from the west coast best coast to talk about the upcoming Quiver Games Incubator!
Bizdev extraordinaire Eric Beer joins us to give his Hades II impressions and chat v-bucks subsidized game preservation.
We break down Baldur Gate 3's unprecedented success & the knock-on effects it'll have on the industry and how we make games moving forward. We also speak to Ontario-based indie game devs Twinolli about their upcoming action-puzzler Highlighters which just got a (Dad Deck-verified) Steam demo!
We speak to Québécois game dev Dragon Slumber, creator of Tech Support, Aethernaut and many more!
We reveal the winners of our ‘23 Community Awards poll and discuss Drinkbox’s latest teaser for their next project- and more!
This week thousands more game developers join Stephan in the "terminated by evil, stupid people" camp as layoffs hit tons of studios all over Canada and the world. We discuss Sonic as well. Sonic supports Unionizing your Workplace!
Stephan got terminated but that’s okay he just has more time to cover Canadian games now.
I've noticed that friend of the site Oddbird Studios have been tweeting a lot about their upcoming game Arrow Heads. Winner of Level up 2016, Arrow Heads is a multiplayer archery game that pits 2-4 players against each other in deathmatch. I've gathered some of their recent tweets below - we'll have to wait a bit longer to find out a release date for Arrow Heads - you can however download an early build of the game right here.
We added some VFX to our Summit level. Now it feels like a snow level. =) #gaming #gamedev #indiedev pic.twitter.com/tS9XCNEPKQ
— OddBird Studio (@OddBirdStudio) April 26, 2017
We can't always work on fun things. But we are pretty excited with how our settings menu came out. =) #gaming #indiedev #gamedev pic.twitter.com/5ffU3qQqmK
— OddBird Studio (@OddBirdStudio) April 25, 2017
Sneak peek at how to unlock the achievement, "What is this tennis?" Deflection battles incoming. =) #gaming #indiedev #gamedev pic.twitter.com/imunu07I5s
— OddBird Studio (@OddBirdStudio) April 12, 2017
Guess whooo is ready to fight?! The Owl is officially ready to battle. =) #gaming #indiedev #gamedev #madewithunity pic.twitter.com/2rVtj0sEX2
— OddBird Studio (@OddBirdStudio) April 10, 2017
The debut game from a new Western Canada indie dev duo was revealed during Day of the Devs 2024.
Cat couple owner slash game dev studio Max Inferno announced a 2nd DLC pack for their tidy puzzler.
Gears of War: E-Day was announced during Xbox’s Game Showcase, marking the second prequel in the Gears of War franchise.
Vancouver-based Company of Heroes 3 developer Relic Entertainment has secured funding from UK investment firm Emona Capital after laying off almost 200 staff since May 2023.
Victoria-based indie devs Hololabs have released their mobile AR game Sky Haven: AR Merge Adventure for iOS.
NetEase Games has announced the opening of a new game studio in Canada, named Bad Brain Games, to work on an "ambitious new franchise," which will be a story-driven open-world action-adventure game.
Bloom Digital Media have released a demo for their upcoming visual novel game Long Story 2, which is a sequel to the 2017 game.
Cococucumber have released the third and final game in their self-described “Cococucumber Voxel Trilogy.” Ravenlok is now available for Xbox, PC, Game Pass and the Epic Games Store,
Vancouver-based indie powerhouse Brace Yourself Games (@BYG_Vancouver) announced their upcoming rhythm game spinoff will be released on Nintendo Switch as well as Steam.
Open-world, dragon-flying game Ayre and the Crystal Comet is out now on consoles.
Arrow Heads, the multiplayer game from Oddbird Studio now has an audio guy. PJ Tremblay, a producer out of Oakville will be composing music for the game, as announced via Twitter.
We partnered with PJ from @audio4n6 to create the music for Arrow Heads! We have a short tease here! https://t.co/FPaIBH9lZo #indiedev
— OddBird Studio (@OddBirdStudio) November 5, 2016
I'm so pumped to #compose for #ArrowHeads! It's been a blast w/ #Oddbirdstudio. The #game kicks ass! Can't wait till it's out! #gameaudio https://t.co/oLyQW9UcWe
— Audio 4n6 🎮🎤🎬 (@audio4n6) November 5, 2016
They also released a teaser for the score, which you can check out on Youtube. Make sure to subscribe to their channel!
We have partnered with an amazing individual named PJ from Audio4n6 to compose the various songs for Arrow Heads. He has done an absolutely outstanding job, and we wanted to give a brief sneak peek of the upcoming music!
Sounds awesome! Make sure to follow Oddbird, and PJ Tremblay on Twitter.
Chivalry 2, the hotly anticipated sequel which is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S has gone gold ahead of its June 8th release date. The game, which will feature crossplay across the board, is also currently having an open Beta from May 27th to June 1st, the Beta is also cross-play enabled.
Triversal, the puzzle game from Toronto developer Phantom Compass has a release date, and thankfully we won’t have to wait that long. The game comes out on July 13th, and you can wishlist it on Steam here.
Toronto-based developer Snowman will be releasing their currently Apple-Arcade-only Skate City to Steam, Epic Game Store, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, and Xbox on May 6th.
Having just released Mighty Fight Federation on PlayStation/Steam late last month, Komi Games is not done and have released their 3D brawler on Switch - and have included Cross-Play with all versions. you can pick up the game on Switch right here for $39.89.
Massive Damages Star Renegades, the rogue-lite RPG that is available on Xbox, and Steam, is out now on PlayStation. Currently going for $24.74 CAD with a PlayStation Plus discount, you can pick it up here.
Sokodice is a puzzle game where you must navigate dice through mind boggling levels to match the number of the dice with the number on a designated tile.
Toronto developer MegaPhemeral announced their upcoming Japanese inspired RPG Emergent Fates will be coming to iOS on July 7th. Offered as a “free-to-start”, and then a 5.99 USD price tag to unlock the game is currently up for preorder on the App Store.
P.A.M.E.L.A the Bioshock-inspired first-person shooter from Toronto based NVYVE Studios gets a full release on PC.
Hey everyone! So as I've been tweeting, I got to go to E3, and got to play a lot of great games. Some of those great games were developed in our own back yard. Here are some general thoughts I've had on them:
Cuphead from Studio MDHR
We've discussed this a few times on the podcast, but this game is beautiful. It's fluid and smooth, and it was great to confirm this in person. Platforming sections have just been announced and I got to play the section from the video we posted earlier. The game is certainly difficult, but the controls are easy to grasp and similar to Megaman games of the past. I think once you get the level design down, and the placement of enemies you'll be flying - it will be interesting to see how long this takes. Sadly I didn't get a chance to try out a boss, but the 10 minutes I played left a great impression.
Below from Capybara Games
E3 probably isn't the best place to play test a game like Below, especially if it's the first time you've ever played it. It deserves to be played in a dark room, with nothing else to get in the way with headphones on. You start the demo on a beach with your boat and before long you're going "below" in a mountain, fighting creatures and collecting items. The atmospheric and creepy music matched my actions perfectly, and there appears to be some sort of crafting system, but I didn't get a chance to try it out. Battling was similar to Legend of Zelda games of old, having a sword, shield, bow and arrow at your disposal, but with other weapons to pick up like a spear. Below is planned for this summer, and I would turn off the lights when you play.
Arrowheads from OddBird Studio
You don't have to travel to Los Angles to play OddBird Studios multiplayer shooter. You can download Arrowheads from their site right here, and when you do I recommend getting some friends to play along with. Think of it as a 3D Towerfall. The gang has added some extra levels since the last time I played it, and it's just as fun as ever. The art and animations are colourful, the gameplay is solid, and the game is just straight up a lot of fun to play. If you want to hear some further discussion on it, make sure to listen to Episode 22 of our podcast, but keep this one on your radar.
Remember that this article was a Patreon early exclusive, which means they got to read it first. Become a Patreon today.
Good friends of the site, Oddbird Studio has won the annual Student Video Game Competition from The Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC), which means they'll be at E3 next week. You can check out the quote from Cody below:
"We are beyond excited to have the opportunity to showcase our game Arrow Heads at E3 this year” said Cody Romphf. “Everyone on our team has their own expertise, whether that’s gameplay programming, stylizing characters, animation, or level design. We can’t wait to show the talent and skills that come from Canada”, he added."
To celebrate, Oddbird Studio also released a teaser trailer for their multiplayer game, which we throughly enjoyed when we talked about it on the podcast a few weeks back.
Arrows Heads is a zany battle royale archery game being developed by a group of students from Sheridan's Bachelor of Game Design program! Arrow Heads was the winner of Best Overall Game and Artistic Achievement from the Toronto Level Up Student Showcase in 2016.
Bonfire Games, the winner of the 2015 Level Up competition, have released their co-op platformer Pitfall Planet. You play as two recently stranded astrobots who must traverse an unknown planet to get back to their ship.
Emma reached out to me on email and let me know a little bit about the history of Pitfall Planet:
It began as a collaboration between a small group of students from the University of Toronto and OCADU. After our success at Level Up Student Showcase we decided to turn it into a complete game and went on to receive an IGF nomination for Best Student Game.
Inspired by games like Toad Treasure Tracker, Little Big Planet, and Portal 2, Pitfall Planet combines co-operative puzzle solving with action and mischief. Two little astronauts set out on an adventure that brings them deep into the caverns of the planet, solving puzzles and collecting ore using their trusty grappling hooks.
The announcement trailer for Pitfall Planet. Visit http://www.pitfallplanet.com for more information! Follow us on... Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/PitfallPlanet Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pitfall-Planet/1073290146030768
Congrats to the team at Pitfall Planet on the release, and make sure to follow the gang over on Twitter, and pick up the game on Steam. If you're keeping up with past Level Up winners, reminder that OddBird Studios won this years.
This is a solid reminder that the winner for Artistic Achievement, and Best Overall Game at Level Up this month can be played right now by anyone. Arrows Heads can be downloaded for free on the teams official page (it's near the bottom), and all the team asks for is your feedback:
Remember to also tweet and follow the gang on Twitter, and FaceBook. We got to play an earlier version of the game a few weeks back and discussed it on our podcast, we were huge fans! Congrats to Odd Bird Studios, and keep on crushing it!
Last night there was the 6th annual Level Up here in Toronto, which is a showcase event for local students to show off their games. Pitfall Planet won last years, and this year had quite a few winners, including friend of the site Oddbird Studio. This all came from Level Up's Facebook page.
Artistic Achievement - Sheridan College - Oddbird Studios - Arrow Heads
People's Choice Award - OCAD and University of Toronto - Plunder
Best Overall Game - Sheridan College - Oddbird Studios - Arrow Heads
Technical Innovation Award - UOIT - Ominous Games
Congrats to all the winners! Here are some tweets from the event.
Things are heating up at Level Up! #Toronto #gamedev pic.twitter.com/RFbWSCA0pi
— LevelUpTO (@LevelUpTO) April 6, 2016
If you're a #gamedev in Toronto, #LevelUp2016 at the Design Exchange is where you want to … https://t.co/U7IXyTQFer pic.twitter.com/bbJ1YZEFSN
— Big Viking Games (@BigVikingGames) April 6, 2016
Just got to @LevelUpTO and the place is stacked with great games projects! #Toronto #gaming pic.twitter.com/yWcSWXPx6l
— Lightning Rod Games (@LRGthunder) April 6, 2016
The debut game from a new Western Canada indie dev duo was revealed during Day of the Devs 2024.
Cat couple owner slash game dev studio Max Inferno announced a 2nd DLC pack for their tidy puzzler.
Gears of War: E-Day was announced during Xbox’s Game Showcase, marking the second prequel in the Gears of War franchise.
Vancouver-based Company of Heroes 3 developer Relic Entertainment has secured funding from UK investment firm Emona Capital after laying off almost 200 staff since May 2023.
Victoria-based indie devs Hololabs have released their mobile AR game Sky Haven: AR Merge Adventure for iOS.
NetEase Games has announced the opening of a new game studio in Canada, named Bad Brain Games, to work on an "ambitious new franchise," which will be a story-driven open-world action-adventure game.
Bloom Digital Media have released a demo for their upcoming visual novel game Long Story 2, which is a sequel to the 2017 game.
Cococucumber have released the third and final game in their self-described “Cococucumber Voxel Trilogy.” Ravenlok is now available for Xbox, PC, Game Pass and the Epic Games Store,
Vancouver-based indie powerhouse Brace Yourself Games (@BYG_Vancouver) announced their upcoming rhythm game spinoff will be released on Nintendo Switch as well as Steam.
Open-world, dragon-flying game Ayre and the Crystal Comet is out now on consoles.
