Toronto Thumbs

Robot Rock!
Betcha Can’t Have Just One Chiptune

Fancy attending an Electro party? The Electric Workers are arranging a #03-down at the Hard Luck Bar (in the Bunker downstairs) on August 20. The night promises to be awesome, featuring chiptunes artists such as Natty, J. Arthur Keenes Band, Starpilot, and Touchboy.

We at Thumbs love us some chiptunes (DJ Finish Him and Oxvylu are our friends!), so why not go out and show some love?

Tickets are $5 before 10 PM or in advance (by e-mailing here) and $10 after 10PM.

Click here for the event page on Facebook! »

Posted in Art, Awesome, Events | 1 Comment »

Tribes of Mexica:
Makeover for a Cipactli

Toronto developers Incubator Games is giving its upcoming game, Tribes of Mexica, a makeover. Over at their official site, interested parties (that’s you!) can vote on a new look for the Cipactli character (that’s the green guy up top). Cipactli currently looks pretty cool, admittedly. But the poll includes some very awesome and quite different renderings from various artists – all of which are even better than the current version.

I won’t post those here, as I don’t want to unintentionally influence your vote, but I do urge you to head on over to vote. It’s not every day that a games developer asks the community for such direct feedback. How cool would it be if the design you chose made it into the game? Think of the indie cred you’ll gain!

Speaking of cred, Incubator Games is a small team comprised of former project leads from Capybara Games. They’ve worked on some titles you probably love, including Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes and the original Critter Crunch.

Posted in Art, Canada, Indie, TORONTO | 2 Comments »

NES Zelda Cartridge
Converted to a Hard Drive Enclosure

Some months ago, a friend of mine grabbed a bunch of NES cartridges from a thrift store with the intention of converting them into hard drive enclosures. If there’s one thing geeks love, it’s re-purposing old stuff into new stuff. I’m not sure if he got around to making the enclosures, but today I found this really awesomely done enclosure made from The Legend of Zelda for the NES.

This cartridge has sold out since I spotted it, but the seller does have several other cartridge-turned-enclosures. Sadly none look as great as this one, even though a great game was compromised to make it. Would you buy a hard drive enclosed in an old NES game, or do you think it’s sacrilege?

Posted in Art, Awesome, Nintendo | 3 Comments »

First Trailer For
Guerrilla Gardening: Seeds of Revolution

Today Spooky Squid Games released a teaser trailer for Guerrilla Gardening: Seeds of Revolution, a game I’ve been following the development of somewhat closely. Even though the trailer contains footage from an early build of the game, it still looks like a lot of fun to play.

In it, Molly Greenthumb is a revolutionary who tries to cheer up oppressed and depressed citizens by planting beautiful trees, flowers, and the like. The isometric game has a heavy puzzle element to it, where certain plants need to be placed in specific locations to provoke a desired result. For instance, and the video shows this, you can use a screaming flower to draw the attention of patrolling officers in order to make a run for another section of the map. Other flowers emit bursts of pollen, attracting citizens to the area. It’s a good way to gather up protestors in key locations.

Check out the trailer »

Posted in Art, Awesome, Indie, TORONTO, Videos | 3 Comments »

ART
General Bauhaus

Meet General Bauhaus. Kick-ass name, isn’t it? As expected, he’s quite the baddie in Guerrilla Gardening, the upcoming PC strategy game being developed by Toronto’s own Spooky Squid.

The colouring is by Miguel Sternberg of Spooky Squid, and the character design is by comic book illustrator and homegrown hero Eric Kim. Great to see this game’s progressing nicely, because I’m looking forward to playing it.

Check out the full-size artwork over at the Guerrilla Gardening dev blog.

Posted in Art, Awesome, Comics, Indie, TORONTO | No Comments »

There’s Love in the Air
But I’m on the Ground

Metanet’s amazing Valentine card (source).

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, meaning thousands of fighting couples around the world may be putting aside their petty arguments and trying to get along. The greeting card industry has deemed it so, and so it shall be. Shouldn’t we be more open with our feelings for our loved ones year-’round?

But there are perks to the non-holiday. For instance, the day after, you can buy a lot of chocolate and cinnamon hearts on the cheap! I’m down with that. Secondly, there’s that time-honoured tradition of sending Valentines to everyone in your life. From an early age we distribute awful pun-ridden cards to everyone in our classrooms, desperately wanting one back even from the people who steal our lunch money daily.

Still to this day, it puts a smile on my face to receive them, especially from those who take the time to hand make them. That said, I also enjoy the saccharine puns found in gaming-related Valentines created by the community. For instance, Capcom’s Super Street Fighter IV and Mega Man 10 Valentines are sappy enough to evoke smiles despite the groans.

Toronto’s Metanet Software, on the other hand, went the more subtle and way less cheesy route with their pixel art Valentine (shown above), making it my favourite V-Day card design of the year.

Posted in Art, Blah Blah Blog | 2 Comments »

Awesome Art
Inspired by Masters Of The Universe

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was one of my favourite shows growing up despite its unapologetic overuse of stock animation. Yes, I noticed this even at the age of seven. Anyhow, this collection of art from the Masters of the Universe Tribute Show at Gallery 1988 is nothing short of astounding. Those who like collecting art can either purchase select prints or even original pieces. Incredible stuff.

Via @plentyspace

Posted in Art, Awesome, Cartoons | 1 Comment »

INDIE:
Frozen Synapse by Mode 7 Games

Mode 7 Games, a UK indie developer, is in the midst of developing a rather stylized tactical game called Frozen Synapse. The title has an interesting play mechanic: moves are selected and paths are plotted beforehand, and once the “execute” button is pressed, the scenario plays out. Players have to anticipate enemy moves, in other words.

An official teaser trailer released for Frozen Synapse shows it in motion, and even though it depicts an early build, things are looking sharp. The combination of the art style and music chosen reminds me of the magnificent Defcon.

Posted in Art, Indie | 2 Comments »

Halo Legends
Clip from “The Babysitter”

Warner Home Video is kicking up the promotion of Halo Legends, the upcoming seven-story animated anthology that explores the origin historical events of the Halo universe. Today Warner released the opening clip from the episode titled “The Babysitter,” which was animated by Studio 4oC, directed by Toshiyuki Kanno, and produced by Eiko Tanaka.

Halo Legends was produced by Microsoft Game Studios’ 343 Industries subdivision. It will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray February 16, 2010. In other Halo Legends news, Warner is running a fancy sweepstakes where fans can enter to win a trip to 343 Industries, among many other cool prizes.

Watch the clip »

Posted in Art, Awesome, Cartoons, Microsoft | No Comments »

ART
Mega Man-Inspired Street Fighter 4 Sprites

Every now and then my good Street Fighter-loving friend Peter will send along a few cool pieces of art he’s found on his Internet travels. Early today he sent along these Mega Man-inspired Street Fighter IV sprites. Aren’t they the cutest? Turns out they were done by Capcom Unity forum member SpeedBrkr.

While his post showcasing this artwork was made back in September, I hadn’t seen this and it was therefore new to me. I’m still amazed at how well each of the characters were captured with such a small area to work with.

Posted in Art, Awesome | No Comments »