Patreon Podcasts - Canuck Play Interview and Podcast Episode 104

In case you don’t know, Patreon’s at the $4.00+ level get early access to the podcast, and any audio interviews we do. Tonight we did two shows.

First up was an interview with David Winter, the CEO and President of Canuck Play, who have been working on Doug Flutie’s Maximum Football 2019. We discuss his history as a game developer, and the history and future of Maximum Football. Check it out on Patreon here.

The second show we did tonight was a normal podcast episode with Bret - we talk about Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and the franchise in general, Omensight, Twitch streaming, recent Switch ports, and more. Check it out here.

Every TorontoGameDevs Interview So Far

We've done nine interviews so far, concluding with our most recent one with the guys behind A Fold Apart. As sort of a summary concluding what I'm just randomly calling "Season 1" of interviews - here are all the ones I've done.

As a reminder, Patrons at the $4.00+ level get access to the podcast several days in advance, along with the occasional free codes. Remember to also subscribe on iTunes and Google Play!

1) Jason Canam - Developer behind Way of the Passive Fist (which just got updated)

2) SteelRain27 - Twitch Streamer located here in Toronto

3) Dan Stopnicki - Developer behind Skies of Fury DX on Switch

4) One More Story Games - Blair and Jean Leggett up in Barrie discuss their story-driven game engine.

5) Felicia Valenti - Local singer, and game voice actress.

6) Benjamin Rivers - Rivers is a local developer who has released Home, and Alone With You.

7) Alex Bethke - Local developer who has worked on over 100 games, and has been involved with Toronto Game Jam for several years.

8) Galal Hassan - Another local developer working on an AR mobile escape room game. Galal went to E3 and gives his take on being an indie dev at the biggest convention for games.

9) Lightning Rod Games - Mark Laframboise and Steven Smith who are working on A Fold Apart

TorontoGameDevs Now On Reddit - /r/torontogamedevs

We're on Reddit! For a while I've always wanted to have some sort of community for people to post there own stuff. Reddit always made sense, and I've gone ahead and made a subreddit, so check it out and subscribe!  

I'm also thinking on something special for Patreons on there.

See you online!

Little Red Lie Out Next Month

It's been a while since we've heard from Will O'Neill, who last released Actual Sunlight on Vita
 (long live Vita). His next game, Little Red Lie was announced almost two years ago, and now we'll get a chance to play the story driven game next month on July 7th.  The game is described as being "about debt, family, and the truth about honesty."

You'll play as Sarah Stone, a middle-age office administrator, and Arthur Fox, a wealthy motivational speaker. The two characters will never meet but are still deeply connected. Check out the trailer below, and full details on the website here.

Learn more at http://www.littleredlie.com

My next game, Little Red Lie, will release July 7th. Info: https://t.co/g1TxwaMMWU Please enjoy and RT this trailer! https://t.co/y8pHt1xRM3

— Will O'Neill (@willoneill) June 16, 2017

Original Video: Guacamelee And Disapointing Things About Switch

Another video! Remember that starting next week they'll be a day early for Patreons!

Probably our last video on Guacamelee, but we wanted to talk more about the Nintendo Switch - which was officially revealed with launch details last week. In this video, we talked about the things we didn't really like about the Switch. Remember to subscribe and leave a comment!

What Did Patreons Get In February?

A little late on this one, but I wanted to include what Patreon's of TorontoGameDevs.com got in February. Remember that you can become a Patreon easily, and every bit helps.

As always, for as low as 3 dollars a month, Patreons will get early access to every exclusive, interview, reviews, and podcast.  This month we also interviewed Joe Woynillowicz about his upcoming game Darktide.

At 8 dollars a month, Patreons will get first access to any codes I get, and are guaranteed at least one game from a GTA developer. This month was a goody with Fortified from Claptfoot Games.

Remember to check out our Patreon to help out!

What Did Patreons Get In January?

Okay, so I missed this in December (Patreons did get rewards, I just didn't write the post), so we're back with a recap for what they got in January.  Remember, you can become a Patreon by going here. Anything you can help with is much appreciated.  

There actually wasn't any interview in January, but we got one lined up for February already.  The podcast is recorded on either Saturday, or Sunday by Dan, Bret and myself and Patreons always get that early on the weekend, while I post it for the general public on Monday.

On the game front, there were two games.  Cally's Cave's 3 released on Steam in January, and Patreon's were given a copy of the game.  Matt Kap also donated some codes for Castle In The Darkness for Patreons on Steam.  

Thanks again to everyone who help grow TorontoGameDevs.com everyday.  If you can spare a few dollars a month, Patreon money goes a long way (all money goes to the site, it's not a revenue generator for me).  So check out the page if you can.  If you can't, that's 100% fine, I understand! But Tweeting/FaceBooking/Reddit'ing about the site goes a long way too :)

- Steve

Fortified Out Now On Xbox One and Steam

Clapfoot Games has released Fortified to the masses on Xbox One and Steam.  You can download the game on Steam here (currently 20% discount), and Xbox One here.

Watch the official launch trailer for Fortified, available worldwide on Wednesday, February 3rd 2016 for Xbox One and Steam. Invasion is imminent! Steam http://store.steampowered.com/app/334210 Twitter http://www.twitter.com/clapfoot Facebook https://facebook.com/clapfoot

Make sure to let the developer know what you think on Steam, or on Twitter.  Patreon's, keep an eye out on your email as well.

Let's Talk Patreon - The Toronto Game Database And More

Hey everyone! Once a month, I do a post about what Patreon's got the previous month. If I can toot my own horn, the rewards are pretty sweet. For instance in November, Patreon's who gave $5 dollars a month got three games. I like to joke on the podcast I'm the PlayStation Plus of Toronto games.

Are you a Patreon? If not, how come?

— Toronto Game Devs (@TorontoGameDevs) December 10, 2015

What is Patreon? It's a service, similar to Kickstarter, that let's people get funded by their fans to create the projects they love. Unlike Kickstarter it's a monthly subscription, so you pay for the content in a month, and stop when you've had your fill. Payments are taken at the start of the month.

On the weekend, I spent a decent amount of money to TorontoGameDevs.com. This was (mostly) funded by Patreon's.  And while I wanted to keep the big news a secret for an official launch (which there will be) - I wanted to share with you what this money has gone towards. I bought:

• Business cards - it's become perfectly clear I need cards when I network. I met Victor Lucas at the Canadian Video Game Awards, and had nothing to give him. I used moo.com and currently waiting for them. The process was pretty easy though, and that previous link is for 10% off.
• I upgraded the SquareSpace package. I went from the $8 dollar a month personal plan, to the $18 dollar a month business plan. That's $18 dollars USD.

Thanks Trudeau....

My Patreon's feel the pain as well, since it is also USD, but why did I upgrade? The biggest selling feature of the Business plan is having unlimited pages (only 20 with the Personal plan). The reason I want unlimited pages is the Toronto Game Database (that would be the announcement, woot!).

The idea is simple, a database of all the games ever created in Toronto (and surrounding areas). Why? Well there are a couple of reasons:

• For starters, when I write about games in articles, I can say "13AM Games, the makers of Runbow, have ...." and link to Runbow in the game database. This sort of stuff helps with SEO, and keeping people on the site longer, google ads, all that good stuff.
• It gives resources to people who want to find all the studios, and their games, in one nice place. I add links to their Steam/iOS/Android/PSN/etc pages so you can buy them as well.
• Eventually the page will link to past stories I've written about them. You see, what happens is I'll write about a game, and then with the speed of the internet it disappears from most people's feed.  Any way I can link past stories to readers, the more eyes games like Planet of the Eyes has on it (see what I did there?).

The project is still early, it's going to take a while, and expect a full launch in the new year. But it's going to slowly grow over time, and if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I also want to give a shout out to the customer support at SquareSpace, who have been awesome. So make sure to keep an eye on the Toronto Game Database.

So, this is where Patreon money is going, or rather, where it has gone to. Working on TorontoGameDevs.com is a dream come true for me, and it has grown beyond what I even imagined when I discussed the idea on the subway with my friend Chris. Fun Fact: The first tweet was just over a year ago.

I can't thank my Patreon's enough. And I ask of any of you, that if you think you can contribute to the growth of the site, it is much appreciated. You can do so at this link, and like I mentioned, the rewards are pretty sweet, and they'll keep coming. If you can't, I ask that you share it with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc. It means the world to me.

Take care,

Steve Crane

TorontoGameDevs.com

What Did TorontoGameDevs.com Patreon's Get In November?

As I've been doing the last few months, I'm going to do a personal plug here. You can check out the posts for September, and October as well.

For 3 dollars you can access to articles at least 24 hours earlier. For starters, I did a preview for Fortified from Clapfoot Games. I really enjoyed it, and you can check out the preview here.  I was also fortunate enough to interview Alex at PixelNAUTS, which you can read here.  There were also a couple of podcast episodes this month that Patreons got early.

On the games front, Patreon's were also well treated.  First up Phantom PI from Rocket 5 Studios was given to all Patreon's. You can buy the game on iOS here.  There was also Super Indie Karts from One Legged Seagull.  Finally, to round off the month, Button Mash Games provided our Patreons with iOS codes for Forbidden Island, which you can also pick up here.

Thanks to all the developers who provided codes, as well as to all of our Patreons! You can get early access, and free games by signing up here.