TORONTO — Six projects by indigenous designers to be played live on the big screen, all to take place on Friday, October 25 in the TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 3 for the Night of the Indigenous Devs.
But what is a ‘dev?’
Dev is the abbreviated term for video game developer. A dev is a software developer that specializes in video game development – with of course, is the process and related disciplines of creating video games. Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie devs and usually make indie games.
Thus, the unique theatrical experience will allow visitors to hear first-hand from Indigenous game designers and artists and the opportunity to listen to a handful of iNDigital Space creators talk while their game is played live.
“Think the iNDigital space looks really cool? Not sure what you think of Indigenous video games? Come and experience a taste of the iNDigital Space at Night of the Indigenous Devs listen to the creators talk while you watch their game played live all in the comfort of a TIFF Theatre,” wrote the ImagineNATIVE website.
On the play light for the evening include:
When Rivers Were Trails, which allows players to make the journey west while helping resistances and facing Indian Agents as an Anishinaabe who has been displaced from their territory in 1890.
Don’t Wake the Night, by Brujería @ Werk, brings players to a world and a story about community and accountability. Mystery unfolds, as you, the ghost a community of witches has summoned, must act as their impartial judge. But for what purpose?
Terra Nove, which allows players to experience first contact in the future! Play as both Terra, an Elder landkeeper, and Nova, a youthful inventor, as they are guided through events that will inevitably change their worlds forever by Slip Cycle.
Hold My Hand, which is a cooperative puzzle game about two people holding hands and overcoming obstacles together. Embark on a journey of companionship, attachment, and letting go by Nathan Powless-Lynes.
Wao Kanaka, which is a Hawaiian-language, first-person, exploration and puzzle game featuring Kānaka Maoli (Hawaiian) characters and traditions. The player explores different Hawaiian ecosystems to understand and uphold the concept of aloha ‘aina (“love of the land”) by the Ka Lei Milika‘a Collective.
Full of Birds, which is an interactive Indigenous art gallery that seeks to complicate the traditional understandings of a gallery, as well as provoke thoughtful engagement about the spaces from which Indigenous art stems and the spaces in which it is displayed by Ashlee Bird and Sarah Biscarra Dilley.
You can get your tickets at imaginenative.org/box-office.
