MRGS Meetup 4

Mount Royal Game Society Meetup 4
September 1st

It was with the joyful blips and blops of Scott Pilgrim’s game soundtrack that the participants of the 4th Mount Royal Game Society were greeted. As usual, the meeting attracted old and new faces, laughs, beer and inexplicable heat. A simple but interesting card was lined up for September first’s meeting. Things kicked off with MRGS’s own Stephen Ascher presenting a few tutorials to help out new comers in the world of video game creation. Ascher demonstrated a few tricks using the Klik & Play game software and moved on to show off some basic tips using Construct. These overview allowed aspiring game creators to see how easily available tools can lead them to “make their own damn game” as Ascher mentioned in his demo.

Following was the “open laptop” session where attendees show their stuff to the rest of the group. The first game to grace the screen was Francis Coulombe’s Non Human. Part of the Action 52 revival project, it was the side-scrolling shooter’s first public appearance and the reception was pretty good. Following was a neat student casual game called Flubs. Designer Nicholas Barrière-Kucharski demonstrated how their concept of mixing up Tetris and Arkanoid turned out to be quite fun and challenging. Created for Quebec City’s Bivouac Urbain game jam last august, Renaud Bédard and Aliceffekt’s Cloud is a lie was next to take the spotlight. Finally, the entire group participated in quick rounds of Dominique Ferland’s Geek Mind before wrapping up the event.

On top of new developers coming to the meeting, a few members of Ottawa’s Dirty Rectangles also dropped by to see what their french neighbours were cooking. Roughly 30 game aficionados and developers from all fields attended the meeting. This goes to show that the Montreal indie scene is quite alive and that the mouth-to-ear regarding MRGS is starting to spread around the entire local biz. So if you are in the Montreal area or nearby and interested in video games, don’t be shy to come by the next meeting. MRGS is also looking for people to give talks and showcase their work. If you think you can contribute, don’t be shy to step forward! Simply contact MRGS gurus Nick or Stephen or visit Mount Royal Game Society 's website for more information!