Good Causes

By: Derek Yu

On: February 10th, 2010

A couple of really cool organizations could use some help:

1. Gamma IV – The fourth iteration of the popular experimental game showcase/dance party, is headed to GDC this year (with over 150 submitted games!). Kokoromi, the show’s organizers, have started a Kickstarter project to help pay for the new venue and hardware for the event. All proceeds will go toward the event and backers can receive a number of sweet goodies donated by other indies (games, GDC passes, soundtracks, comics, etc.).

2. Giant Robot – This might seem slightly out of place, as Giant Robot is an indie Asian pop culture magazine and not an indie game magazine, but GR has hosted a number of fantastic game galleries, and is helping realize LA Game Space, a non-profit “game lab” that seeks to involve children in Los Angeles with game-making and game-makers. The magazine’s creators, Eric and Martin, are asking for donations to help offset the rising cost of print. Again, there is the possibility of getting some great donation gifts if you help out.

Even if you’re not interested in donating, you should check out what these guys are up to and see if it interests you!

Gamma 4

By: Derek Yu

On: December 2nd, 2009

Kokoromi Collective has announced that Gamma 4 will be a part of next year’s GDC in March. The theme is “one-button games” and entries must only use a single button on the Xbox 360 controller. Windows and Mac OSX games are both accepted. The submission deadline is January 31st.

Also, it’s not related to Kokoromi or Gamma, but OneSwitch.org is a website dedicated to single-button games and interfaces designed for the physically-handicapped.

Gamma Comes to GDC

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: September 14th, 2009

You may have already heard this news, but I think it’s prudent to post it again: The fourth iteration of the previously Montreal-based indie game exposition / dance party, Gamma, will now be held at this year’s GDC in San Francisco. While I’m sad to not have an excuse to take the train up to Montreal this year, I’m thrilled to see Gamma return bigger than ever.

Read Simon’s announcement post for all the details. (Or if this is the first time you’ve heard of Gamma!)


Kokoromi will reveal this year’s theme and open submissions in November, so stay tuned!

Stimergy

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: August 17th, 2009

I should have seen this on either Heather or Renaud‘s blog, but of course I saw it on ’ll never get away with this, Offworld!">Offworld.

Stimergy is a game by Kokoromi‘s Heather Kelley and ’s Site">Polytron’s Renaud Bédard (Team EMERGENCY HAMMER), created in under 36 hours for the Bivouac Urbain game jam in Quebec. In the game you must guide ants toward a picnic blanket using attractive and repulsive pheromones. According to Renaud:

"The game was made from scratch in C# 3.0 using the Truevision3D engine with no prior design, graphics or sound work. All the graphics in the game are procedural, and the gameplay itself is based on AI rules, basically a cellular automaton plus the notion of “stigmergy” from the insect world."

You can find Stimergy here, along with a postmortem and time-lapse video of the creation of the game. And on the forums Renaud was kind enough to post a link to the rest of the Bivouac Urbain games, which includes entries by Anna and Messhof, among others. Pictures of the event can be found here.

GAMMA 3D IS GOOOOOOOOO

By: Derek Yu

On: August 16th, 2008

Alright! Gamma 3d, the highly-anticipated sequel to Gamma 256, has been announced! Gamma 256 was an extremely successful indie game party hosted by Phil Fish and Kokoromi. Users were asked to submit low resolution games, and some awesome stuff came out of it, as well as one of our most beloved memes (hint: “pidgeon-hunter-killer”). You can see photos of the event here, courtesy of Mr. Ivan “toastie” Safrin.

The call this time is going out for games that use stereoscopy. In other words, games you need red-and-blue 3d peepers for. Submissions are due by October 15th, and the actual event is taking place on November 19th, in beautiful Montreal. As usual, TIGSource is proudly hosting the official Gamma thread, for all your Gamma discussion.

See you there!

Kokoromi 2.0

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: July 30th, 2007

On the topic of Phil Fish, Montreal-based experimental indie game development collective Kokoromi (profiled here in This Magazine) just launched their new site. It’s nice — you should check it out!

As for Fez, Phil linked me to a corrected version of the infamous “somethig” screenshot. (Which, I agree, deserves to be a meme.) Fix your lookin’ balls on it here.

…I liked the old one better.