The day is finally here! Today as part of the annual InPlay conference in Toronto, Canada, we’re launching the public beta of The Watchers, the privacy literacy game made with a group of Canadian children aged 8-10. The game is the end result of Gaming Privacy, a joint project between Atmosphere Industries and Ryerson University’s EDGE Lab, with funding from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

The Watchers takes place in an inter-dimensional town called Union City. Tasked with protecting the city is a secret arms-length government agency, made up of the top agents from each dimension. The team must investigate a number of mysterious events surrounding the town’s hat-based augmented reality network, known as Hatnet. Through these team-based adventures, players learn a number of real-world privacy concepts as well as developing their critical thinking and risk assessment skills.

The game will be available in two versions: a freely downloadable DIY kit, or a fully assembled version, which will be sold at cost through the game’s website. In addition, the app component will be available both as an iPad app, and a web app for use on PCs and laptops. The web app version will be available for play today, with the iPad version to follow shortly after.

We wish to thank our amazing young co-design team: Chris, Jordan, Kiri, Mary, Mitchell, Peter, and Tinson; our facilitators and curriculum consultants Noah Kenneally and Jaime Woo; Dara Gold who worked with the kids to create a beautiful game world and amazing characters; Rhett Fester and Matty Phillips for the music, Sagan Yee for the trailer and Alex Raynes-Goldie for the game documentation layout. And of course a big thanks to everyone who advised, supported our otherwise cheered us on throughout the process: Nick Pagee, Sara Grimes, Adrian Hon, Melanie McBride, Jason Nolan, Colin McKay, Daphne Guerrero and Sasha Boersma!

PS — We’re  launching in beta in order to continuing iterating on the software component of the game based on feedback from players. So, if you’ve played and have feedback on how it went, we would love to hear from you. We’re also hoping to run a long term school-based pilot to further test and iterate on the existing game.

Order or download (free) The Watchers

Read more about the process on the Gaming Privacy Project blog

The Australian debut of Mont Trottoir as part of Media140′s Digital Futures went smashingly! It was like the Northbridge Piazza was made for the game, with players jumping from glowy orb chairs to stay safe or holding on to tree trunks to avoid going back to homebase. Bystanders were roped into the action, trees were climbed and much fun and laugher was had. Check out the photographic evidence!

See you next year:)

Big Thanks

Media140 and the Northbridge Piazza folks for hosting us

Kulcha for providing fabulous prizes for all the players

Allan McSevich for taking beautiful photos of the action

We also welcome a new collaborator - Simone van Hattem – who will be joining us as a community advisor. Simone is the founder of EnjoyPerth an advocate for sustainability and Indigenous/Aboriginal issues. The focus of our work in Fremantle will be on games and experiences which support sustainability, the celebration of public space and education.

For the first time in Australia, we’re presenting our very own David Fono’s Mont Trottoir as part of Media140′s Digital Futures! It’s a fast-paced street game where teams of intrepid climbers compete to scale the tallest mountain around, which happens to resemble a sidewalk. Fun for kids and adults of all ages! Also, there will be free pizza, on the piazza. What could be better?

• Where Northbridge Piazza (look for the people with the “GAMES?!” signs)
• When Friday April 27 & Saturday April 28, 2012 | 12:15pm until 2:30pm (we’ll run a few games so feel free to drop by!)
• Who You, me, everyone! Come to play, or to cheer on your friends!

(Special thanks to Simone van Hattem and Alex Raynes-Goldie, our fabulous volunteers!)

We’re thrilled to be the gaming partner of Media140: Digital Futures conference in Perth, Australia! I’ll be doing a sneak peak of The Watchers, a privacy game co-created with a group of Canadian children aged 8-10 as part of the recently completed Gaming Privacy project, done in partnership with Ryerson University’s EDGE Lab and funded by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

On the 27th and 28th at 12:15pm (see the schedule for details), we’ll also be hosting a free few games of Mont Trottoir, a fun and unusual street game where the sidewalk becomes a mountain, created by our very own David Fono! It will be great fun for kids and adults of all ages, plus did we mention there will be prizes?

We’re recruiting 8 children aged 8-10, living within the Greater Toronto Area, to help make this game. Starting in October, they’ll participate in 9 sessions lasting 4 hours each, on weekend afternoons over the course of 4 months. These sessions will be classroom-style interactive workshops, where the children will:

• Learn about how to make games from professional game designers, through game-based lessons and exercises.
• Work together to help make a game, by contributing ideas and creative material (writing, drawing, etc.)
• Discuss their feelings and opinions regarding online privacy.

Participating children will have the unique opportunity to learn about game development, and to contribute to a professionally produced game. The material created by children during these sessions will be used to create a game that will be distributed online, for free.

We are also recruiting children aged 6-7, who will participate in a single 4-hour group discussion, where they will talk about their feelings and opinions regarding online privacy.

Sessions will take place at Ryerson University and/or the Bell Lightbox. Children will be supervised by experienced project staff.

This is a research project being conducted by Ryerson University’s EDGE Lab and Atmosphere Industries Community Games, with financial support from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Ryerson Digital Media Zone.

For more information, or to inquire about participation in the project, email hello@gamingprivacy.org.

The project also contains a significant research component which examines conceptions of privacy among young children, which is why we’ve partnered with Ryerson’s EDGE Lab (where Atmosphere Industries Co-Founder David Fono and I are both Research Associates) and will be drawing on the lab’s collective expertise in early childhood education, privacy, autonomy and research-based activism. We also have the generous support of the Ryerson DMZ, who are providing a hub for the game development process.

We’ll be working with the support and guidance of EDGE Lab founders Jason Nolan (who is co-principal investigator with me) and Alexandra Bal and the research support of Noah Kenneally and Claire Buré who both have strong backgrounds in technology and engaging diverse communities, especially children and youth.

We also have an amazing advisory team comprised of some the top minds in Toronto (and beyond)’s indie game making and research communities:

Sara Grimes, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto; gender, gaming and education researcher
Adrian Hon, Founder, Six to Start (creators of Smokescreen)
Melanie McBride, Research Associate, EDGE Lab; educator and gaming researcher
Nick Pagee, Consultant on Gaming and New Media, TIFF Bell Lightbox; Programmer, Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children
Jaime Woo, Co-Founder, Gamercamp and Gamercamp Jr.

Our first step is creating a game design curriculum with the help of our advisory board, a process being lead by Noah. Like the entire project, our lesson materials and outcomes will be publicly available and shared on our (soon to launch) blog under Creative Commons licensing. Until then, you can follow the project on Twitter: @gamingprivacy

Links
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s Official Press Release
Full List of Funded Contribution Projects
Follow us on Twitter

We’re honoured that Gentrification: The Game! was selected to be part of this inaugural Future Games program, which aims to showcase a selection of the ‘most challenging and innovative’ games created by Canadian postsecondary students. Kate Raynes-Goldie, co-creator of Gentrification, who is also a visiting PhD student at Ryerson University’s Experiential Design and Gaming Environments (EDGE) Lab (who was the technology sponsor for Gentrification) will be talking to high school students about the development of the game as well as her work at the EDGE Lab. She’ll be joined by game co-designer David Fono, who is also a Research Associate at the EDGE Lab.

Atmosphere Industries is thrilled to have this opportunity to talk to the next generation of pervasive game designers. One of our overall goals is to encourage a thriving pervasive and urban gaming community in Toronto, and we believe this starts with students. To this end, we’d also like to announce the official launch of our monthly sandbox event – recess.to – which is open to anyone to come and run a game test, get feedback, or just along to play some fun innovative games. Whether you’re a pro, a hobbyest, a student or have never made a game before, we want you! Our first sandbox is March 26, 2011. See you there!

Moreso than last year, I definitely got a feeling of attendance from local residents who were just looking for something interesting to do. It’s worth noting that last year the festival was largely based in Times Square, because being in Brooklyn this time presented a real contrast. As a local I spoke to noted, no one actually ever goes to midtown Manhattan; there’s too many people there. The location last year was electrifying, and I was initially disappointed by the movie this year. On the surface, running or playing a street game in Times Square seems grandiose and thrilling. Yet Brooklyn seemed to have a more receptive atmosphere.

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After a busy summer season, Atmosphere Industries is back! This time, we’re pulling out one of our classics from Come Out and Play 2009, Paparazzi, and playing it in the most fitting city possible–LA–on Saturday, October 9!

The game was invited to be a part of the 2010 IndieCade Festival, a massive weekend-long event featuring independent games of all genres, on all platforms, including a great set of Big Games–games played outside in real time and real space. We’re absolutely tickled to have the chance to take part!

So what is Paparazzi?

In Paparazzi, players (in teams of 3-4) act out the age old battle between the camera-wielding paparazzi and the celebrities they stalk. As celebrities, players must be quick and clever in order to steer clear of shutterbugs. As paparazzi, they must be sneaky and organized. Will there be scandals? You bet. Will there be awkward photos of stunned-looking people, faces contorted, arms flailing wildly? Most certainly!

Visit EventBrite for more information or to register.