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Toronto Indie Game Scene: Gamercamp 2013, Yawhg and Rollers Greenlit

The Yawhg - Village Screen

Toronto Gears Up for Gamercamp

GamerCamp Logo
The fifth installment of Gamercamp, Toronto’s annual celebration of gaming culture, is taking place at Royal Ontario Museum from November 1-3. Games like The Stanley Parable and Super Time Force will be on hand at the Arcade section, keeping a proud tradition of hosting games that may one day be considered the next quintessential indie title.

Whether you’re an enthusiast or a dev-to-be looking for inspiration on your next project, the festival has something to offer for everyone. If you feel like rubbing elbows with some the city’s best and brightest, TOJam is also hosting a free party on the opening night.

Salon Series

Looking to make game design your main paycheque? Sit in on talks with developers and industry reps who are instrumental in the world’s booming indie gaming scene. This year’s speakers are:

  • Friday: Nels Anderson (Mark of the Ninja)
  • Saturday: Jill Murray (Assassin’s Creed Liberation, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag)
  • Sunday: Alexander Bruce (AntiChamber)

Gamercamp Arcade

If you’d prefer to just dive into the games, check out this year’s Gamercamp Arcade. This year, 30 arcade cabinets and 25 board games will dominate 4 floors of Hotel Ocho. This year’s installment will also allow attendees to go hands on with the PlayStation 4, and take some of the upcoming indie titles featured on that platform for a spin.

Check out the festival’s Official Selections, and the Board Game Cafe. Games created at the recent ROM Game Jam will also be unveiled.

For more information and to purchase passes, visit the Gamercamp web page

2 Great Games from Toronto Greenlit

Thanks to the Hand Eye Society, we learned that some Toronto devs also had much to celebrate, as The Yawhg and Rollers of the Realm were both officially greenlit on Steam.

The Yawhg (link to our review) is an interactive story game that pits up to four players against a bleak certainty.

The Yawhg - Stats and Choices Screenshot

As players, you know the Yawhg is coming, and with it comes destruction and despair. But your characters – oblivious to what awaits them – have only 6 weeks to go about their lives. Work through the time in various aspects of daily toil, or engage in various forms of debauchery, and watch as the tale comes to life. All sorts of twists and turns can occur regardless of your choice of activity, but you’ll develop or diminish skills based on the events that unfold. When the Yawhg arrives, will your town survive? Will you?

Rollers of the Realm combines the complex aspects of RPGs and mixes them with pinball. It may sound like an unlikely pairing, but it works surprisingly well. Each member in your party is represented by a unique ball imbued with different abilities: Use your warrior ball to smash down barriers and flatten out foes, or switch to your healer to repair damage sustained to your flippers.

We had a chance to talk with the RotR team at this year’s IndieCade: