Gamercamp Lv3 is our biggest yet, with over 40 hours of content including:
Talks, panels, presentations, gameplay sessions, demos, films, game jamming, cereal breakfasts, flash mobs, arcades, and performances!
Here’s a sample of what you’ll find at Lv3. For full details, head over to our schedule page!
Where: Bathurst Street Theatre & Toronto Underground Cinema
When: Friday and Saturday mornings
In video games, we can be anything we want: marines entrenched in war, rock stars playing before adoring fans, superheroes stopping crafty supervillains. But, what if we could be superheroes in the real-world?
Join our first announced keynote Seth Cooper, lead designer behind FoldIt, a protein-folding game that recently made worldwide news when players helped scientists uncover a key mechanism associated with HIV. Seth will share an inspiring talk on how games solve difficult real-world problems. Games don’t have to change the world, but if they could, why not?
More keynotes will be announced soon. Previous keynote presenters have worked on games such as N+, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, and Scott Pilgrim. Each gave us a glimpse into their worlds and shared new ideas, insights, and inspirations that wowed audiences.
Where: Toronto Underground Cinema, 186 Spadina Avenue
When: Saturday morning
What if you could control a video game not with your fingers nor your body… but with your eyes? Eye Pilot, described as possibly the world’s first optically-controlled video game, is a collaboration between presented Damian Sommer and past keynote Craig Adams that attempts just this. Not only is this an interesting idea on its own, it opens up exactly who can play video games, such as people with motor skills disabilities.
You’ll get a peek at this and other jaw-dropping ideas for games in our Theatre Demos, happening Gamercamp Saturday in the Toronto Underground Cinema.
Last year saw the mesmerizing award-winning 3D puzzle game Depths To Which I Sink shown on the big screen, in addition to the location-based game CityState that turned Toronto into a giant playground of intrigue and stealth.
Wait until you see what shows at Gamercamp Lv3.
Where: George Brown College, 230 Richmond Street East
When: Sunday 10:30 am
An attendee favourite—the 8-Bit Cereal Breakfast is back!
Remember those amazing weekend mornings when you’d roll outta bed in your pjs only to plop in front of the tv to watch cartoons and play games until your eyes glazed over? Gamercamp invites you to relive those days with a retro cereal breakfast on day three.
Last year, we brought in over 20 kilos of cereal and 100 litres of milk for a giant breakfast—so of course this year we gotta top that, right? We’ll bring back fan-favourite Pinky & The Brain (projected on a big screen!) but we may sneak in some Gargoyles and other classics as well!
Oh, and don’t forget your pajamas—and don’t be embarrassed, you know you won’t be the only ones.
Where: CSI Annex
When: Friday 1:00 pm
Friday at Gamercamp Lv3 is about encouraging the creation of games, and MakerU is an exciting new addition to the Gamercamp Festival that puts you in the middle of a game development studio.
Give a go at making physical games with Kate Raynes-Goldie and David Fono, co-creators of the award-winning Gentrification and Recess.TO playdates. Get a head start for February’s Board Game Jam by joining Jam co-founder Adam Clare in creating some new board games. Then, head over for a brief tutorial on making video games with Game Prototype Challenge’s Jason P. Kaplan.
At the same time, MakerU Iron Chef will be happening where you’ll see video game programmers attempt to make a game around a “secret ingredient” in three hours… right before your eyes. Interested in entering the stadium? Read more details here!
Even if it’s your first time, by the end of MakerU, you’ll find the game designer inside.
Location: Bathurst Street Theatre>
When: Saturday 11:45 am
Toronto’s great calibre of incisive and innovative game studios has made it a central hub for independent game development. Come check out the next generation of game creators, poised to make their mark on the industry, as they share their ideas. Not only will you witness fresh art and innovation, you’ll see it before anyone else!
Where: George Brown College Parking Lot, 230 Richmond Street East
When: 8:00 pm
Saturday from 8:00 to 10:00 pm. Sign up for a night of adventure with our Urban Road Trip—like a live-action Mario Party across the city, but better!— as we challenge teams to race to complete games-related challenges in an epic battle to be on top!
Not participating in the Urban Road Trip? Join us at Betty’s (240 King Street West) down the street from George Brown College as we cheer on teams, provide live updates, and have our trophy ceremony at 10:30 pm!
Where: George Brown College
When: Sunday 2:30 pm
Recess.TO is a meetup started this year that presents an updated, adult take on the kind of games played in schoolyards. Come check out some new experimental games conducted in experimental spaces.
Where: Toronto Underground Cinema (Saturday); George Brown College (Sunday)
When: Check daily schedule/span>
Think you’re good, like champion good? Put your might to the test with head-to-head action against top-notch players of games like Mortal Kombat and Smash Brothers. It’ll be like back in the day at the arcades where one person just dominated a machine… think you can knock off the champion?
