Showcasing Video Games Made at the Library
Last fall, the Digital Innovation Hub at Toronto Reference Library was thrilled to host the 12-week Game Curious program presented with The Hand Eye Society.
During the latter half of the program, 10 participants took part in a 6-week workshop where they were mentored by industry experts on how to create video games. By the end of the workshops, a few participants even had a video game created.
In late January, a few participants returned to the Reference Library to showcase their video game creations.
Avid video game hobbyist Archie Wisco was one of the workshop participants. In his game The Floor is Lava, you have to guide the character to the room's exit by jumping over all the furniture – before the rising lava catches up to you.
"I was inspired by child-like play," says Wisco. "The public library environment led me to think in terms of family-oriented accessibility…I enjoyed the (workshop) experience immensely. I was originally on the waiting list if any chosen participants dropped out, so I highly valued the time I spent in the program."
Abhilasha Dewan and Kai Reimer-Watts partnered to create Skyshapers, a game where you played as Sky, an injured albatross on an important mission to help reduce the rising smog that is changing the climate & threatening life on Earth.
The original concept for the game was developed by Reimer-Watts last summer at Startup Weekend Waterloo, supported by Google for Entrepreneurs as part of the thesis for his Masters in Climate Change. With a background in the arts, he came up with the concept of SkyShapers as a tool for starting a conversation about climate issues amongst a broader audience.
The Game Curious program was a positive experience for the pair. "It was really great!" says Dewan. "The energy in the group was always inspiring. The workshop itself was well structured to help see the projects to completion. Big thank you to all the volunteers for consistent de-bugging help and great feedback."
The Hub hopes to offer more gaming-related programs in the near future. In the meantime, you can check out library of books on video game programming and video game design. Happy Gaming!
2 thoughts on “Showcasing Video Games Made at the Library”
That’s an awesome program! I’d love to participate in something like that one day. The graphics of the two game screen captures above are pretty awesome.
The games were indeed pretty awesome, Maria. We hope to offer similar programs in the future – and hope that you will be able to participate in those ones! 🙂