Howdy Gamedevs!
Another amazing month for gamedev in Sask! So many things to celebrate, we’ve got launches, we’ve got awards, we’ve got media hits, as well as playtesting and a workshop series. Let’s get in to it:
1. AWARD NOMINATION
Radio General is a finalist in this year’s Games for Change awards in the Best Learning Game category! Games for Change is an international festival and award show focussed on highlighting video games that promote or create a social good. As a nominee, Radio General is also up for the People’s Choice Award, so your vote counts! You can vote to support Radio General here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SKZQRHT
Voting ends on July 2nd, so get your vote in now!
Want to find out who the winners are? Tune in to the G4C Awards Ceremony on July 12th at the G4C Virtual Festival. Register today! https://festival.gamesforchange.org/festival/festival-awards
2. MEDIA HIT
With Radio General’s nomination came a couple of mentions in the media. Michael Long, CEO of Foolish Mortals, the developer behind Radio General, did a 10 minute interview on Gormley the talk radio show on CJME/CKOM, you can listen to it here: https://iono.fm/e/1053858. He also got featured in a Game Time segment on CTV Saskatoon: https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/gametime-saskatoon-developer-elevates-canada-s-wartime-efforts-from-footnote-in-the-pages-of-history-1.5462901
3. PLAYTESTERS WANTED
Thomas Boxall, a Sask Tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) developer is looking to playtest his Realm Walker modification for the Cogent RPG system and his The Maeln Chronicles fantasy campaign setting.
We also have another local TTRPG designer, Robert Frampton, looking to do some playtests of their own RPG system, currently called Project Compass, and is looking for playtesters as well.
With even more products in the works we’re looking to expand our tabletop role-playing game support and community. If you know people that would like to support development of TTRPGs, be sure to invite them to the community. Anyone interested can sign up for playtesting local made tabletop role-playing games here: https://forms.gle/6nA5BAKvC4VJWCKT9
4. PROMOTION
The Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid was a one-week sale on itch.io where developers donated their games for a good cause. Over 1000 items were included in the bundle for just $5 with all proceeds going to international relief efforts for Palestinians affected by violence through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Studio Nevermore’s Oh Jeez, Oh No, My Rabbits Are Gone!!! and Foolish Mortal’s MMM: Murder Most Misfortunate were part of the bundle. While the sale is over, having raise $899,808.86, you can check out the bundle here: https://itch.io/b/902/indie-bundle-for-palestinian-aid
5. PLAYTESTERS WANTED
Card Tactics, the recently released tactical card game by Gui de Souza Rocha is getting a rules expansion. While the initial release was a solo play game, he’s now working on a multiplayer Player vs Player Arena mode rules set. He’s launched a Discord (https://discord.com/invite/erw4yZdS2z) and Reddit channel (https://www.reddit.com/r/CardTactics/comments/nze5mg/card_tactics_resources/) for folks to share their feedback and ideas on the new expansion.
6. ACHIEVEMENT
Back on June 11th OneShot Golf hit 5 million putts (https://twitter.com/OneShotGolf/status/1403366455685521410?s=20)! They’ve been doing great, growing the user base and making smiles. The viral video was a real boost to growth, and while they’ve had some growing pains, they’ve been hustling hard to keep up. Great to see the success!
7. RELEASE
Lucre, a Fantasy TTRPG Counting Coinpurse mod for Tabletop Simulator was released by madmanntis. It’s an add-on for Tabletop simulator so players can track their treasures in theme for any virtual tabletop roleplaying inside Tabletop Simulator. You can check it out here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2514365745
8. ACCOLADES
Moonshell Island, the whimsical action RPG in development from Cheekynauts Entertainment, was featured in the Wholesome Direct 2021 Showcase. The virtual event was tied in with the E3 lineup this year, which has been dubbed the Indie E3 after indie games outshone the AAA competition in a lot of people’s eyes. You can watch the Wholesome Direct show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozqhc7YXd3M
9. MEDIA HIT
With Moonshell Islands feature in Wholesome Direct a few great media mentions happened – There was a feature on CTV Saskatoon’s Game Time segment: https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/gametime-sask-woman-produces-video-game-featured-on-online-showcase-1.5473436. The game is now listed on the Wholesome Direct Website, and all the other spin off listings on sites like IGN and tweets from indie dev promoters like Ryan Brown. Shortly after the Wholesome Direct event Moonshell Island passed the 9000 wishlist mark, a great sign for its future success!
10. GAME JAM
The GMTK Jam just wrapped up and GammaFoxTBG has successfully jammed out another game. Working with on Team Bottle Ghost he helped create Cable Rush – a tower defence/power management game. With 5333 entries and 143K ratings cast, it’s ranked in the top 5%! You can check out the game here: https://struuuudel.itch.io/cable-rush
11. MEDIA HIT
Degrees Magazine, the University of Regina’s alumni magazine did a feature on some CS grads that have found success thanks to the gamedev industry. The article gives shout outs to Andrew Burant, Tim Borgares, and Ryan Donohue of Studio 54e (OneShot Golf), as well as Jordan Howlett of Bunch (a gamer-focused chat app). You can check out the article here:
https://www.degreesmagazine.ca/alumni-take-their-oneshot-at-success/2021/05/27/
12. RELEASE
After long last Mighty Chameleon Brothers by Gallagher Laird and Kevin McConnell is releasing on Steam! A classic style arcade action game done with an old-school style, Mighty Chameleon Brothers may be familiar to some of you from the actual arcade cabinet Gallagher built for it that he’s taken to numerous live events. Unfortunately the game has not been finished, but they are releasing it to set it free after development stalled. While it might not be completely finished, it’s still a great play, so be sure to grab a copy and check out the great art by Gallagher, classic, yet new gameplay by Kevin, and a great retro soundtrack by Emma Kramer-Rodger. Check it out here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1664130/Mighty_Chameleon_Brothers/
13. WORKSHOP
The MacKenzie Art Gallery is holding a series of Minecraft workshops. Hot off of launching the Ender Gallery project they’re hoping to help others explore the use of Minecraft as an artistic medium. The workshops run 3x 2hour sessions with one workshop running in July, and two in August. For more information check out: https://mackenzie.art/learn/classes-workshops/
14. CROWDFUNDING
Lux Primora has announced they’ll be launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund their Golden Sun-inspired RPG development. They just released an early demo last month as a proof-of-concept and have a discord for the game teasing out elements of the setting and game you can join here: https://discord.gg/MKAxaMYtgf. For more information about the Kickstarter and sign up for notification go here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/luxprimora/lux-primora
15. PROMOTION
Emma Kramer-Rodger has released a compilation of video game tracks where she performs flute. While a talented composer in her own right, here she’s bringing to life other game composers works for other indie projects such as Airborne Kingdom that launched back in December. You can check it out here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0r1yEVBr1qqYYqzA7NWKXW?si=xGBdZWtPSOK9uxBaiXgrHw&dl_branch=1&nd=1
16. WORKSHOP
SaskGameDev is running a Nonprofit Board Governance Training Series. The five part workshop will walk participants through all the major aspects of serving on a nonprofit board in Saskatchewan including a Legal, Financial, Strategy, Employee & Actions, and Operations sessions comprising the workshop. If you’re interested in serving on the board of a nonprofit this can be a great way to learn the basics. The workshops will run once a week starting on Sunday July 11th at 2pm via Google Meet. Space is limited. You can sign up here: https://forms.gle/t8EitN2rCvaEXf3u9
17. 5 QUESTIONS
Here’s this month’s five questions. Filling these in really helps us stay aware of the thoughts, needs, and composition of our membership so we can better serve you! This month we’ve got some questions about expanding to get more playtesters involved in the community: https://forms.gle/iQTGaAFRzsU1gCts5
>How can we recruit more playtesters for SGD? (videogame, ttrpg, & boardgame)
>What is your experience with TTRPG (Tabletop Role Playing Games – like D&D)?
>What do you need more of in your life?
>If you had to give a TED talk, what would it be about?
>Gamedev is a lot easier with a team:
18. 1 THING
Here’s one thing you can do right now to help the game development industry and community in Saskatchewan: Vote for Radio General in the People’s Choice category for the Games for Change awards: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SKZQRHT Winning an international award would be a huge shot in the arm for the community and help draw attention to creatives in the province. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. Deadline is July 2nd SO VOTE TODAY!
19. MEETUP
We’ve got our next virtual meetup as always on the first Monday of the month – Monday July 5th at 7pm in the #Community_Meetings channel in the Discord. If you’re not on the discord yet you can join here: [REDACTED – Join the newsletter to get access to the SGD discord!]
So a pretty amazing start to summer! We’ve got some more big news coming down the pipeline, so stay tuned. Be sure to go vote for Michael before the deadline, and happy gamedeving!
Sincerely,
Kai Hutchence
SaskGameDev