Dream Arcade wins Best Visual Design award at GlitchCon!

Huge news! This weekend we were honored to take home the award for Best Visual Design for Dream Arcade from MinneCade, a showcase of locally-made videogames at GlichCon! A massive congratulations to all the artists involved, and everyone who helped make Dream Arcade a reality! This is everyone's award, you all earned it!

The awards were voted on by the public at GlitchCon. We had a hugely positive response to both Dream Arcade and Great Personality during the event, we were ecstatic that were were able to share and connect with so many people at the event. MinneCade was packed with incredibly talented creators, friendly faces, and beautiful, outstanding videogames (seriously, go check them out!), the thought of winning anything never crossed our minds!

It's not lost on us that a project with dozens of collaborators won an award voted on by an audience of hundreds of videogame fans and creators. Community is what Light Grey Art Lab is all about, and we couldn't be more humbled to win this award, and we want to thank everyone involved! Shout it from the rooftops!

Make sure to check out everyone involved on here!

Congratulations!

GlitchCon 2015 Recap

This past weekend was GlitchCon, a two day festival that explores video games as a culture, career, and creative practice. It's a super fun event, with hundreds of gamers and game makers in attendance learning, talking, and playing together. Light Grey Art Lab was an official partner, and we hosted several events throughout the weekend!



We started Saturday morning off with a pixel art workshop, based on the principals we learned while making Dream Arcade. Participants learned some of the basics of pixel art, and had hands-on time to brainstorm and make some assets and simple animations. It was a ton of fun, with a lot of really cool ideas thrown around.



After that, we participated in the retro videogame trivia challenge. Team Light Grey Art Lab came in a respectable third, although we wanted first so bad it hurt. Thankfully, we remedied that pain with a first place victory during Sunday's trivia challenge!

Saturday night we hosted a special BOSS RUSH! reception. Visitors reminisced over their favorite boss battles surrounded by tons of art, classic videogame music, and game-themed refreshments. We also broke out some boardgames and played until the convention center staff kicked us out!



Sunday was spent exhibiting Dream Arcade and Great Personality in MinneCade, a showcase of locally-made videogames. The reception was overwhelming, with a ton of interested people stopping by the play, say hi, and find out more about the projects.



MinneCade was an amazing experience, with a lot of talent and amazing games packed in one room. We did our best to play all the games on display, and tried to meet all the creators (while still tending to our own booth!). It was a wonderful experience, with a lot of amazing games, and outstanding people. Seriously, check out these games!



We ended the day with a heartfelt closing ceremony (there was more than one tear shed), which was perfect, but to our AMAZEMENT, Dream Arcade was awarded Best Visual Design by the GlitcCon attendees! A huuuuuuge congratulations to all the artists!



All in all, what impressed us most about GlitchCon was the community. Everyone was happy, friendly, and amiable it was like spending the weekend hanging out and playing games with a few hundreds of your closest and oldest friends.

To all our new friends, hope to see you soon!

Join us for GlitchCon 2015!

Join us this weekend, March 28th + 29th, for GlitchCon 2015!

We are thrilled to participate in this year's festivities and events! GlitchCon includes two days of guest panels, lectures, gaming tournaments, workshops, social hours and more! Some of the special guests and attendees include video game writers, producers, art directors, publishers, and board designers among others.

Our team at Light Grey Art Lab is teaching a workshop Sprite, Asset, and Effect Design for 2D Platformers on Saturday, where we will share some of the behind the scenes process and work for Dream Arcade and Great Personality! Saturday night, we are hosting an exhibition and reception for BOSS RUSH! We are showcasing the top ten pieces nominated by our guest jurors, as well as a projection of all 100+ pieces!


Dream Arcade Level by Joey McCormick

We have also been selected to participate in Minnecade! Come stop by our booth Sunday morning, as we table alongside tons of other game makers, developers, and artists! You will get the first look at these unique indie games and local creations!

If you are interested in video games, board games, concept art, and want to meet other gamers in the community, we invite you to join the events! There are still a limited number of tickets available on the GlitchCon website here!

Glitchon 2015!

This past week, we announced the 115+ artists that will be joining us for a large-scale print exhibition, BOSS RUSH, featuring some of the most epic battles, bosses, and bad guys! Each artist is taking on their favorite boss and depicting them for the exhibition, online shop, and traveling show that will be displayed at this year's Minneapolis Glitchcon!

Glitchcon is March 28th +29th, and is a weekend-long event full of workshops, lectures, panels, hands-on demonstrations, and fun events celebrating gamers, game culture, and the makers behind some of our favorite projects! Special guests include directors of Rainmaker Games, Galaxy Studios, Game Informer, Gearbox, Intropy Games and many more.



During the convention, Light Grey Art Lab will be hosting one of the hands-on workshops, sharing some of the behind-the-scenes assets and programming for projects such as Dream Arcade and Great Personality, and teaching attendees how to create their own platformer games using sprite animations and artwork assets.

Saturday, the the 28th, we will also be presenting the works from BOSS RUSH for a special reception and award ceremony! If you are interested in joining us for a weekend full of gaming, check out the Glitch. Tickets are currently available directly through the webpage here.

We hope to see you there!

Podcast: Talking With Microsoft's David Washington

Download the MP3, stream directly on Stitcher, or subscribe via iTunes!

Talking with Microsoft's David Washington
Length: 00:47:06
Synopsis: This week kicks off a new series of podcasts about videogames, collaboration and community, and making things in the interactive realm. First up, we're talking to Microsoft's David Washington, who has he enviable (and slightly difficult to explain) position of Technical Evangelism Manager. David and his team work with artists, programers, entrepreneurs, and anyone else with a spark of an idea to help execute their project to it's fullest potential. You also might remember David's name as the programmer of Dream Arcade!

Show Notes:
David on Twitter - @dwcares
If you haven't yet, play Dream Arcade!

Artist Interview: Philippe Poirier

Meet Philippe Poirier. Philippe is an animator and artist, living and working in Montreal, Quebec. He has a background in traditional and 3D animation, and currently works in the gaming industry at Hibernum Créations. Philippe has worked on projects such as Pearl's Peril in partnership with Wooga, and is currently the lead artist for an upcoming (soon to be announced!) X-Box One game. Philippe has also participated in past Light Grey Art Lab exhibitions, including Animystics and the recent Dream Arcade Exhibition and video game.

It is an honor to work with Philippe on these projects, and we are thrilled to present his work and process! Below, you can read all about his art practice, upcoming projects, and reflections on his personal and professional work! You see all of Philippe's work on his website and play his level for the Dream Arcade Game here!



Could you describe your studio practice? (Where you work, your studio, materials, favorite tools)

I work full-time as a 2D-3D artist at Hibernum Créations. When I am making personal projects, I have a desk at home with a bookcase next to me. I work mostly with Photoshop and a Cintiq, and I usually carry a sketchbook at all times. Cat owners will understand the struggle of having your pet hanging out right in front of the computer!

What are some of the things you surround yourself by for inspiration? -or- What are some of your biggest sources of inspiration?

I get the chance to work with incredibly talented people, and it’s always inspiring to see how active everyone is outside of work. Tumblr, Pinterest and Behance are amazing platforms that I often use to discover new artists, I am astounded by how much talent and passion there is out there. I’ve always been drawn to backgrounds, but I’m trying to do more characters: I really like Sargent, Ingres and Leyendecker’s work, to name a few. As for the contemporary artists, Jeremy Vickery was a big influence when I started to work more extensively on backgrounds and lighting. James Gurney’s blog is always really amazing- he posts every day on a variety of subjects. Also, I love Hchom’s art, with all her tidy lists and great illustrations!

Screen shot of Philippe's level for the Dream Arcade Exhibition

You were one of the participating artists in the Dream Arcade Exhibition. Could you describe the world that you were building? Character and space inspiration?

I went for a detective mystery/noire inspired level- I love how atmospheric these movies were! I looked up a lot of images of Los Angeles and movie stills for set design inspiration. I usually collect images and put them in a folder whenever I start a new piece, and I frequently go back and see them again to get motivation and specific details as I progress. For the final work, I incorporated haunted aspects and mystical fantasy to open up possibilities for enemies and different experiences.

Background by Philippe Poirier

What are some of your favorite parts of world building/ character building?

I am a big fan of layout design! The design was a part of my work when I studied in traditional animation. My layout teacher was one of my most important influences from school, and I still apply his teachings to my work today. I just love how a background can express the characters’ personality and set the mood through small narrative details. It can let you tell the story in a single image, what kind of characters evolve in there. "Setting the Scene: The Art & Evolution of Animation Layout" by Fraser MacLean is a great book on the subject.

Do you often work in a collaborative manner or with a team of animators? Could you describe that process?

Making a video game is an intensely collaborative endeavour indeed! I was lucky to be able to work as a lead artist on a video game project, where I had to supervise and assist the work of the art team and communicate with the other teams. It was really great to see everyone’s specialty up close- it provided a lot of insight into everyone’s particular field.

Usually, artists will work closely with game designers, who work on establishing the gameplay mechanics and the general flow of the game. The art team itself, will generally include concept artists, modelers, texture artists, animators, UI and FX artists. The programmers are building the game from scratch, making sure it all works nicely and they also integrate the art assets. We all work closely together as figuring out how to achieve what we want, which usually involves some back and forth. QA will then make sure the game is bug-free. And finally, the producer and art director oversee and manage the project as a whole. Everyone’s role is essential in the making of a video game! It all comes together through intensive collaboration and collective brainstorming when faced with difficulties.

Background by Philippe Poirier

What are some of your favorite projects to date? What made these project important to your practice?

Working on my 3D short as a student was a superb experience. The art direction was left to the student’s care and I really enjoyed the exploration process, sketching and illustrating in 2D so that my 3D work was already informed visually. I was really lucky to work for a 3D studio at the same time, and be able to apply this new knowledge to my school work.

Pearl’s Peril got me started at Hibernum Créations after graduating. It was a fantastic project, and I had the opportunity to work on some really atmospheric backgrounds. I’ve also had the chance to work with very experienced artists, and learning a lot quickly by seeing how they work. Animystics was my first gallery show, and I loved the experience and to actually hang the piece on the wall made me want to make more physical art.

Illustration from Petite Douceur

What are some of your favorite things to do outside of art making?

I’m kind of a reference material hoarder- one never has enough books, right? Whether it’s trips to the library or just hanging out with a coffee, I love looking at books, magazines, sifting through images. I’ve also had a superb trip in Paris this fall and I’d really love to get out and travel more in the future! Playing video games is a big hobby of mine as well!

Detail of Philippe's work for the Animystics Exhibition

Do you have any upcoming projects you can share?

I am starting on a new mobile game project at work which is pretty exciting and as for personal projects. I want to make postcards for the holidays, and I’d also love to print a small illustration book in the coming year. I’m always keeping my eyes peeled for new calls for art too.

Thanks, Philippe!

You can find more of Philippe Poirier's work on his portfolio site, behance, instagram, and follow his tumblr here! You can also play Philippe's Noir level for the Dream Arcade Exhibition and Game on the Light Grey Website here!

Artist Interview: Joey McCormick

Today is the last day to see the Dream Arcade Exhibition at Light Grey Art Lab! This collaboration, show, and creative endeavor has been an incredible adventure in both art-making and game playing. Throughout the week, we will be celebrating some of the artists that contributed to exhibition, getting to know their work, and sharing their process through artist interviews!

Dream Arcade prints will be available on the online shop through October 10th. All of the work is also permanently archived on the Dream Arcade Gallery, on the Windows App Store, and available for playing on the Light Grey website!



Meet Joey McCormick. Joey is a graduate from the Savannah College of Art and Design, specializing in Animation. He has worked in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York City as a graphic designer, freelancer, and animator. Over the past several years, Joey has been working with talented animators and art directors on projects such as 'Oreo' with Hornet Inc. and 'Chobani, Fruits and their Mating Games' by Borja Pena at Psyop. This is the first time Joey has exhibited here at Light Grey Art Lab, and we could not be more excited about his contributions and process!



Hi Joey. Could you describe your studio practice? (Where you make, studio habits, materials)

My studio space is a small desk in my living room. It's pretty uninteresting. I do most of my work on a surface pro 2 and computer paper. I like computer paper since I can toss it if it doesn't work. The surface pro 2 is excellent, I also use a Cintiq, but I like being able to move around freely because I’m sort of flinchy!

Usually I freelance with studios in-house, and when I work from home I try to stay on that same schedule. I head out early in the morning for a bike ride. It burns up extra energy so I can focus. Then I get back and put on head phones. Even if I'm not listening to anything, it's like having blinders on.



Could you describe your creative community? Do you often work in a collaborative environment?

The creative community I work with is fairly small. Mostly people I've worked with already and a few people from school. But the community is extremely talented and ambitious. We all work with each other supporting and pushing to produce higher quality work. We also share contacts as much as we can. I've begun reaching out on social networks like tumblr and instagram. Making friends with other artists and inspiring each other. It's really a great way to grow!

I usually work in a collaborative environment. Even when I'm the only designer on a project. I'll work with directors or producers. When doing personal work I get feedback from people I trust. I'm working on a short now with a small team. That way we can all bring a lot of our own choices to the project.



Could you share your process and inspiration for the animations and characters you made for Dream Arcade?

I love space and scifi! I also enjoy using graphic shapes in my work, especially triangles. So that was the jumping off point for the Dream Arcade. That interest translated really well to pixel art animations. All my effects were simple geometric shapes enlarging or flashing. For the character, I was originally planning to make a space knight with a sword, but I wanted the character to look cleaner than that. Eventually, I went with the energy claw type weapon that just appears during the attack. For the character animation, I roughed it all out in Flash, then exported it as a .png sequence and brought those into Photoshop. Each frame was a layer. Next, I cleaned it up in the pixel art style. My 'effects animations' were all created in photoshop. I made loops of squares and triangles flashing or exploding then repeated them in most of the effects. I was really happy with how they turned out!

What were the initial concepts and considerations for your world?

Originally, I wanted the world to be a mix of scifi space and medieval fantasy, but I wanted the world to feel cohesive- combining the textures. After doing some sketches, I decided to create a meteor world that is still in development. It includes big, chunky designs that are still futuristic, and the texture of the ground would read clearly against the metal assets.



What are some of your favorite subjects and imagery to include in your work?

Triangles. That's not really a subject or imagery, but I really like to include that shape. And I always love to use with a fantasy or scifi imagery. Drawing a guy drinking coffee is fun, but drawing a robot powered by arcane magic and drinking coffee is more fun!

What projects are you currently working on?

Outside of professional work, I'm working on two short films. One is called “Onions Stay in the City”. It's just me working on this one, and it's going very slowly! I'm on the background stage now, hopefully I’ll move on to animation soon. The other is “Sugar Rush” by Alex Horan. He's directing and animating it and I'm doing the backgrounds. It's really fun, and is going to be a little inappropriate for younger audiences. It involves a lot of ice cream cone strippers!



What are some of your biggest inspirations to your work? (artists, mediums, books, etc. )

I'm constantly inspired by other artists. Kevin Dart has been one of the biggest inspirations of mine. I love his use of lighting and color. Another big influence of mine would be McBess. His use of typography and character feels very modern, but throws back to classic cartoons. More recently, I've been into Fabien Mense, and a lot of French illustrators. And I don't think I can talk about scifi without bringing up Creature Box! They're an amazing pair of artists that do some of the best robot, monster, alien or anything weird like that designs. Really dynamic and always have incredible color. And Erik D. Martin and Ryan Lang taught me so much about digital painting and how light works. And if you follow my tumblr you can clearly see that whatever video game I'm currently playing is inspiring my work!

Thanks, Joey!

You can find more of Joey's work on his website here, and follow his current projects on tumblr. You can also see Joey's work for the current Dream Arcade Exhibition on the Light Grey Shop and play the game on the website here.

Dream Arcade Staff Pick!

Dream Arcade has been out for a few weeks now and it's gotten a great reception! In fact, right now it's a featured Staff Pick on the Windows Store and we couldn't be happier!

It's also on sale right now for $0.99, so it's the perfect time to grab it if you haven't already! Just follow the link below!

Dream Arcade on the Windows Store

Dream Arcade is Here!!!

Download on the Windows Store! ---OR--- Play Dream Arcade online right now!

It's been a long time coming, but Dream Arcade is finally here! Dream Arcade has been an ongoing project since January, and we've been crunching hard for the last month or two to have it ready for last Friday's opening reception, and we're happy to announce it's finally out and available for EVERYONE to play! RIGHT NOW!

Dream Arcade is a videogame exhibition inspired by the colorful artwork, characters, and epic adventures of retro arcade games. Dream Arcade features new concepts, stories, and art-filled landscapes with assets created by thirty contemporary artists and designers from around the world. Each of the contributing artists have worked alongside the Light Grey team to transform their pixel characters, props, and backgrounds into interactive playable worlds!

Dream Arcade takes viewers on a journey through time; hunting for clues, traversing foreign landscapes, and discovering new worlds. The varied levels range from lost islands in the sky, ghost-filled campsites, buzzing futuristic cityscapes, and many more. Fight off enemies, find secret pathways, and collect plenty of treasure - all while exploring an artist’s vision and original artwork.

You can download it on the Windows Store right now, at an introductory sale price of $0.99! There's also a free trial if you want to give it a try first!

You can also play the entire game online right here!

You can find links to all the participating artists as well as more information on our site.

Dream Arcade Opening Reception Recap

Dream Arcade is out, and the opening reception was a huge success! Massive thanks to everyone who made it out to the gallery to play the game! It was a loud and boisterous event (just like any good arcade always is) filled with games, food, chiptunes, laughs and more games.

A small crowd had gathered at the door before the event, and as we opened the door, they flooded in and instantly took to the 27 Windows Surface Pro 2 tablets mounted around the walls of the gallery, each running one of the unique Dream Arcade levels. In addition, we had Dream Arcade projected on the back wall, playable with a full-size arcade stick for those brave enough to show off their platform skills to the crowd!



Despite the Light Grey team having been up for the previous 40 hours putting the final touches on Dream Arcade, the event was a lively blast of retro love and we were invigorated by the passion everyone brought to the opening!

You can view more photos from the opening reception on our Dream Arcade Flickr set. You can download the game from the Window Store right now, or play it online here!

Once again, thanks again to all of the artists, collaborators, and supporters!

Podcast: The Run-Up

Download the MP3, stream directly on Stitcher, or subscribe via iTunes!

The Run-Up
Length: 01:17:24
Synopsis: Dream Arcade is FINALLY HERE! On this week's podcast, Chris, Lindsay, Jenny, and Francesca are once again joined by Dream Arcade super-friend Ian Gorton. The morning after Dream Arcade's opening reception, we reflect on the final hours leading up the big reveal (spoiler alert: we didn't sleep and it was very tense). We share our pulse-pounding thoughts, our flirtations with disaster, and our eventual success! It was a whirlwind adventure and there's plenty to talk about, and we end the show with a few thoughts about what comes next - from taking a moment for a little R&R, to new projects, to possible next-steps after Dream Arcade!

Show Notes:
Play Dream Arcade!

Dream Arcade Opening Next Friday!

We are just one week away from the opening reception of Dream Arcade! Come hang out next Friday, September 12th from 7-10pm, for the very first look at this incredible project and fully interactive exhibition! Grab your friends, bring your a-game, and get ready to play!

Preview Artwork by Joey McCormick

In this epic pixel art exhibition, 30 artists from around the world were tasked with creating the concept and artwork for their dream videogame vision. All of these imagined levels are being turned into a fully playable platformer game, brought to life by the Light Grey Art Lab team.

Preview Artwork by Ashley Mackenzie

The Dream Arcade games take viewers on a journey through time- hunting for clues, traversing through landscapes, and discovering new places and environments. The levels include lost islands of the sky, underground tunnels, abandoned houses, ghost-filled campsites and more! Players will have a chance to fight off enemies, complete jumping puzzles, find secret pathways, and collect treasures, all while immersed in the artist’s vision and original artwork.

Preview Artwork by Richie Pope

You can find more information about the opening reception on the facebook event page here. For those of you who cannot play in person, Dream Arcade will be available for download soon! Keep an eye out for links to the game, original artwork, and documentation of the process!

Podcast: In Progess - Dream Arcade

Download the MP3, stream directly on Stitcher, or subscribe via iTunes!

In Progress - Dream Arcade
Length: 01:05:37
Synopsis: It's mid-august and we currently have our heads down working as fast as possible on Dream Arcade, our colorful pixel art videogame extravaganza, which launches on Friday, September 12. Videogames are a pretty new medium to us, so on this week's podcast Jenny, Chris, Francesca and Lindsay talk about the current state of Dream Arcade and what we've learned so far. We discuss the origins of the project, painful stumbles, and exciting breakthroughs over the past several months, as well as some of the practical details when planing a complex exhibition like Dream Arcade.

Dream Arcade- Opening September 12th

Prewiew by Bianca Bautista

We are proud to present our newest project, collaborative endeavor, and exhibition, Dream Arcade, coming September 12, 2014!

Dream Arcade is a pixelart, platformer exhibition inspired by the colorful artwork, characters, and epic adventures of vintage arcade games. Dream Arcade includes new concepts, stories, and art-filled landscapes, made by thirty contemporary artists and designers from around the world.

Each of the contributing artists have worked alongside the Light Grey team to transform their pixel characters, assets, and backgrounds into movable, interactive and playable worlds. Each artist’s work will be showcased in its own themed arcade level, celebrating the unique concepts, handmade details, and secret pathways that bring the stories and artwork to life!

Preview by Adam Hoppus

We invite you to attend the opening reception and party for Dream Arcade on September 12th! Throughout the exhibition, Light Grey Art Lab will be transformed into mini arcade, with all of the playable games, artist assets, additional artwork, and fun extras! Come play through all of the great levels, travel through space and time, discover the ancient relics of forgotten lands, and compete against your friends for the high score!

You can find more information about the opening reception and project on the Dream Arcade facebook event page here, you can also check out the website and find links to play the preview games on the Windows App store!

Preview by Leanna Crossan

Thanks for your support and participation!

Dream Arcade Promo Games!

The opening reception for Dream Arcade exhibition might not be for months, but we've just launched three Dream Arcade mini-games on the Windows Store! What!? Yes! So you can download and play yourself RIGHT NOW! For free!

We wanted to put these previews out early to give you all a sneak-peek of the adventure to come! Now's your chance to check out the awesome and imaginative worlds that participating Dream Arcade artists Bianca Bautista, Sara Talmadge, and Richie Pope have come up with!


The first up is Bianca Bautista's The Lost Lands of The Sky! Explore an ancient and forgotten world full of mystical treasures, fearsome enemies, and beautiful vistas! Download it here!


Play as a victorian-era noble in a race to escape your crumbling empire during a bloody uprising in Sara Talmadge's Fear Of The Drum! Download it here!


And finally, head into a dystopian urban future to save your sister in Richie Pope'sThe Forgotten Sector! Download it here!

So if you have Windows 8 and want an early look at the Dream Arcade project, head over to the Window's Store and download them for free today! And tell your friends, too!

If you don't have Windows 8, no worries! At the end of the month we'll be putting the playable promo mini-games online for everyone to play and share!

And get ready for the full Dream Arcade show coming September 12, 2014! The promo games are made with early assets, and for the final release of Dream Arcade they'll have more artwork, a new story, and amazing cover-art illustrations by the the artists! Plus they're be the other 27 artists' contributions! It's going to be DREAMY!

We can't wait! And hope you can't either! Party on, dude!

Dream Arcade Artists Announced!

We are happy to announce the final artist list for this September's Dream Arcade Exhibition!

Dream Arcade
Opens September 12, 2014
Opening Reception 7 - 10pm
Featuring an arcade filled with artist created platformers.
at Light Grey Art Lab
118 E. 26th Street #101
Minneapolis MN, 55404
612.239.2047

For more information, feel free to email us: hello@lightgreyartlab.com

Dream Arcade features a winding, twisting series of artist-illustrated platformer games tied together by an epic adventure story, and a quest to save the galaxy.
Light Grey Art Lab will be transforming into an arcade -- the walls will be lined with stations where you can step up and play the games, and get face-deep in the adventure.

More information about the opening reception & details about the release of the games online and in the Microsoft App store will be available on the Light Grey Art Lab website.


Without further ado!

Contributing artists:
Abby Boeh
Adam Hoppus
Alyssa Winans
Ansel Lies
Ashley Mackenzie
Bianca Bautista
Chris Beukes
Chris Schons
Ciaran Gaffney
Cole Ott
Colin Brown
Diana Castillo
Emory Allen
Frank Macchia
Glen Brogan
Jessica Cheng
Jorge De La Paz
Joyce Lee
Kevin Jay Stanton
Leanna Crossan
Lisa Manuzak
Matt Doering
Nic Skrade
Nicole Hamilton
Philippe Poirier
Richie Pope
Sara Talmadge
Shannon May
Tommy Sunders
Joey McCormick

Dream Arcade Development Team:
David Washington (programming)
Chris Hajny (game design & layout)
Lindsay Nohl (graphic design, additional assets, story)
Jenny Bookler (project management, editor)


Thanks again to everyone that submitted their names for the Dream Arcade show!
Can't wait for the exhibition! This show will be legendary!

CALL FOR ART : DREAM ARCADE

EDIT: 4.23.14 Thanks to everyone that applied! We'll be posting the list of participating artists shortly!

We have been keeping quiet about this one for the last six months as we've gotten face deep in all of planning and prototyping! We can finally announce the newest call for art :
DREAM ARCADE
A Platformer's Paradise
Opening September 12, 2014 at Light Grey Art Lab!

Hyper-shifting has never been a problem for you. In fact, because of your ability to flex between the spacetime fabric, you've been singled out to covertly infiltrate a list of alternate realms to seek out a handful of top secret energy sources that have been scattered throughout time and across dimensions. You will have to shift between worlds, take on new forms, fight deadly enemies and navigate dangerous environments -- all to collect these essential celestial artifacts. If you're unable to find them all, the universe as we know it will cease to exist.

If you've ever wanted to design the characters and world for a platformer game, here's your chance! We have been researching ways for interested artists to design the environments, the enemies, and the heroes in a new exhibition that will explode everyone's faces with awesomeness! During the month of September we'll transform the gallery into an actual arcade, and the walls will be lined with YOUR GAMES. All of which will be tied together by a dimension-hopping storyline!

You could make an all-slime universe, a kitten-filled candy paradise, a hamburger land with mustard waterfalls, or a barbarian's loin-cloth dream! If you've ever said "I'd love to see a game where..." now's your chance!

The end result will be a playable game, and an epic journey that pays homage to the classic games of the 8 and 16 bit generations!


CLICK HERE TO PLAY A MINI SAMPLE GAME SO YOU CAN SEE WHAT WE MEAN!

See all of those little assets? The objects, danger zones, characters, background? Each artist will create a set of graphics used to populate their unique world! Then we'll take that art and turn it into the playable game!

We'll design a big, winding level -- filled with items, barriers, puzzles, and story! Each artist also get a chance to make a piece of lush artwork (think - crazy splash page!) inspired by your game that will be available to purchase. This piece will be the "cover art" for your game as well as being the piece hung next to the games in the gallery. Your artwork will be archived permanently on our online gallery as well as displayed for the month of September in our brick-and-mortar gallery in Minneapolis!

*********

Example of raw game assets!

In order to make something crazy-huge like this happen, Light Grey Art Lab is working with David Washington from Microsoft, a great friend and awesome guy, to help release each of your mini games for free on the Microsoft App Store, so you can share them with friends, family and everyone else :). David is helping us code each game individually, and helping us create ONE BIG STORY-FILLED platformer that spans all mini-games -- where you'll see the story unfold with tons of extra secrets! We're excited to create this huge universe of games, and even more excited for you to see your characters come to life.

The Development Team:
The coding will be done by David Washington and the level design and art layout by Chris Hajny. Graphic design, story and extra in-game assets will be handled by Lindsay Nohl and editing and project management by Jenny Bookler and Francesca Buchko.

How is it possible that we can do things like this?
All of our Light Grey Art Lab projects are built with the blood, sweat and tears from volunteer hours from the four of us at Light Grey Art Lab in coordination with art makers and art lovers like you! As always, we're all in it for the love of the game! :) We spend our nights and weekends developing programming like our diverse calls for art, the LGAL podcast, the free events, and our meet & greets! If you like seeing projects and calls for art like this, or games like Great Personality, our series of dating sims, PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING A COUPLE BUCKS to support Light Grey, and ALL of the creative folks involved! The best way to help is to head over to our shop and consider purchasing a piece of art! Everyone wins! You get something awesome, the artists who make the work earn some money, and we get to keep making crazy things for you guys!

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The Exhibition!

During the exhibition, we'll have 30 game stations to line the walls with your games! Of course, we'll also be releasing the games online so you can have access to all of these awesome worlds from the comfort of your own computer!

So put on your bounty-hunting, treasure-hungry, adventurer hats and join us for one of our craziest exhibitions yet!

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TO BE INVOLVED
Put your name, email and links in the comments below by APRIL 23 to be considered! Your comment should looks something like this:

Lindsay Nohl
hello@lightgreyartlab.com
lindsaynohl.com

Space is limited and we have two deadlines! We'll be looking for a couple super ambitious people that want to be part of the promotional games / press kits to be able to turn in art by May 15th, and everyone else's artwork will be due by mid-late June(exact date TBD!) so we can program everything before the exhibition! -- so if you think you're up for it, let us know!

And that's it!
Again, due to VERY limited space in this show, please check the dates and specifics above and ask any questions to make sure you can make the deadlines & dates! THIS IS A SHOW THAT NEEDS 100% FOLLOW-THROUGH BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF THE PROJECT, so please do not apply unless you are able to meet one of the two possible deadlines, and parameters above! Let us know if you need any more details and thanks for helping us spread the word!!!

We'll be jurying the show after APRIL 23!

Questions? Send us a note! hello@lightgreyartlab.com