TOPlay

05/27/2021

In March, our team had a wonderful opportunity to visit a grade 9 geography class at Port Credit Secondary. We talked to some amazing students about our impact game, and discussed topics such as urban water issues, Indigenous land values, and game design.

This visit was so important to us because TO Play at its core, is a game centred around real issues that affect real people. We want to create a game that is grounded in reality while incorporating strong gameplay and visual design to create a unique, immersive experience for our players.

To do this, we have been rigorously following the design thinking methodology and thinking of the player’s experience at every step of our process. This is why we have incorporated a unique iterative game development process, conducted user research surveys and will be implementing user testing to improve and enhance our game.

We cannot wait to show you what we have in store. Until then, we will keep working hard to bring you the best experience possible. If you haven’t already, please make sure to share and complete our survey. Your input goes a long way!
https://bit.ly/3tWkoom

05/18/2021

Last year, the TO Play team participated in a Lost Rivers Walk hosted by Lost Rivers Toronto hoping to understand our history and urban water issues first hand.

The Lost River Walks aims to create an appreciation of the city’s intimate connection to its water systems by tracing the courses of forgotten streams and our city's natural and built heritage.

We really believe that in order to acknowledge the land and water that sustains us and become a part of its balanced and present being, we must get to know it in an intimate way. We must be able to make connections from our own backyards to the lake in a very direct way. This is how we can change people's hearts and minds. We must learn to honour and cherish it in our efforts to protect it.

Click here to watch the full documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX4yUPvfUEY

Last year, the TO Play team participated in a Lost Rivers Walk hosted by Lost Rivers Toronto hoping to understand our history and urban water issues first ha...

05/18/2021

At this year’s Legacy Conference, our team gave a workshop along with our amazing mentor Carolina Rossi called “Perfecting Your Pitch”.

Here are a few of the tips we gave at the conference:

Tip #1 - Embrace the pitch

Becoming an effective communicator is the key to success- you can’t run from it!. You’re constantly going to be pitching your ideas and yourself. We weren’t naturally good at public speaking at first but truly embracing the pitch process has helped us gain funding, partnerships, and support.

Tip #2 - Pitch like your audience knows absolutely nothing

It’s easy to get lost in the specifics and jargon of your industry. Break down your idea and walk the audience through it to hold their attention at every word.

Tip #3 - Save it for the Q&A

A pitch should be thorough but not overloaded with too much information. Prepare and save strong soundbites and information for the Q&A to surely impress your audience.

Tip #4 - Stay true to your roots

Pitch in your unique voice and play to your strengths. Even though it might be nerve-wracking, remember to allow your passion for your project shine through in your pitch!

Pitching allowed us to hone in on our game’s message and spread the word about what we are trying to achieve. Most importantly, pitching helped us develop the storytelling skills needed for our game.

05/13/2021

We have been working with Ryerson’s Transmedia Zone as part of their recovery cohort these past few months and it has been an extremely rewarding experience!

The Transmedia Zone is an incubator and accelerator program for startups, creators, artists and innovators focused on rebuilding the creative industries post-Covid, and imagining the creative landscape of the future.

We’ve been working with the members of the cohort and our advisor Dan Speerin to enhance and develop our ideas and impact strategy. Having an interdisciplinary collaborative space has helped our team obtain rich feedback and iterate with the design thinking processes. We have seen immense growth both creatively and in our ability to be innovators in the field of impact gaming.

We’re extremely thankful for their support and are excited to continue as full time members of the Transmedia Zone this summer!

05/10/2021

More than 100 years ago, a stream that ran through Tower Grove Park was buried for sanitation reasons. Soon, this stream will be uncovered and restored that will help stormwater mitigation, draw more wildlife and serve as a gathering spot for visitors.

We love daylighting projects!

The stream will incorporate plantings and landscaping that acknowledge the Osage tribe, which inhabited the land long before it became a Victorian walking park.

05/10/2021

We are honoured to receive a TARA award from the RTA School of Media for the Best Project Pitch last week!

Congratulations to all of the wonderful nominees. Thank you to our entire team that continues to support the development of the project. Special thanks to Kristopher Alexander for always believing in us and turning our FLAME into a fire.

The journey for TO Play has just begun, we’re excited to continue to develop the game outside the bounds of a thesis project. We’re ready to make waves!

04/28/2021

Hello friends!! Please fill out this survey to help us make our game better! You will also have the chance to win a $25 gift card from Peace Collective! It will take about 5 minutes to fill out, thanks in advance :)

TO Play is an art/adventure social impact game about Toronto on the brink of a water crisis. The game uses interactive storytelling as a platform for advocacy and to restore your relationship with water. We believe that in order to heal our relationship with water, we must dig deep to acknowledge the historical consequences of our actions and harness our internal willpower to create change.

Visit https://toplay.ca to learn more about the project.

Click here for the survey: https://bit.ly/3tWkoom

04/27/2021

When our team pitched at the Red Bull Basement competition, we heard a mantra repeated over and over again…

“Innovation with Impact”. But what does that mean?

It can be easy to be overwhelmed when looking at today’s complex web of social and environmental issues. Today, we see these issues exasperated by COVID and the current political climate. Radical problem solving and innovation is needed more than ever. But this will require new forms of thinking. We need a new paradigm shift where people believe in grand ideas that are granular and look at their role as being stewards of a larger community.

The TO Play team is working hard to be a part of this change. We are harnessing the power of games and interactive media, to investigate actionable solutions and join the community of creators who are merging storytelling and social innovation.

Thank you Red Bull for this amazing opportunity and the learning insights. Click the link below to watch our final pitch!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kDCMuINgXQ