No Media Kings Updates

Roofed, a Preemptive Spin-off Game

2010-02-02T15:06:33Z

I made a text adventure videogame for the jayisgames interactive fiction competition that you can play now. Because they're on my mind -- Tate's making steady progress on the rough edit for our new lo-fi sci-fi feature -- it features two characters from the upcoming Ghosts With Shit Jobs movie, the Karrento Brothers.

So if you're up for a bit of transmedia fun, you can play the game before the movie's released.

You and your brother's job -- scouring the city's highest spots for a rare building material in the year 2040 -- is already hard enough. Now Anton's gone and gotten you trapped on a rooftop. Your acrobat bloodline will help you with the deadly heights, and your brain will figure out the genmodded plants -- but will you be able to cope with having the most annoying big brother alive?

Play it now.

The jayisgames Casual Game Design Competition #7 gave people two months to make a text game with an "escape-the-room" theme. It's got a cash prize of $1000, pretty high for a IF comp, and an engaged audience of game players. I'm looking forward to checking out the other 30 or so entries!

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Wrapped!

2009-12-13T18:52:34Z

We finished shooting Ghosts With Shit Jobs, the new lo-fi sci-fi feature I wrote, just before Halloween. We're currently looking for volunteers to help with post-production duties such as:

soundtrack composition

special effects and titling

colour correction

audio post and ADR

If you or someone you know are into finding out more, drop us a line! We unfortunately can't pay up front, but click through to see if you're excited enough by what we've shot so far to help us out anyway.

In 2040, a generation of Torontonians have grown up after the economic collapse of the west. The movie consists of episodes of a documentary series popular in mainland China about the bad jobs some white people have � the plucky and resilient souls unlucky enough to be born into the slums of North America are both amusing and moving to the Chinese audience.

Oscar is a digital janitor, and has to manually cover up logos for copyright reasons in the future's answer to Google StreetView maps.

He doesn't really know why he's on a show about bad jobs, because he thinks his job is pretty great � he gets to see history come alive in front of his eyes, like the garbagemen who fancy themselves like archaeologists.

But the long hours and loneliness are getting to him, especially since the death of his mother.

Gary and Karen are babymakers. They assemble robot baby dolls for the children of the wealthy in Asia.

They're so indistinguishable from real babies that the crying, diapers and feeding of a half-dozen units at once is driving the couple a little crazy and straining their relationship. Both of them are hugely overqualified for the job, but while Gary has a reasonable ten-year plan, the more ambitious Karen would do anything to be making battlebots now.

Anton and Toph are silk collectors. Twenty years ago a herd of gigantic spiders ran amok over the eastern seaboard after a genelab outbreak, leaving behind buildings swathed in spider web silk.

Although highly toxic and difficult to collect, people like Anton and Toph risk their lives to get it � it's worth its weight in gold as an ultrastrong building material.

Anton, the enthusiastic and delusional older brother, loves the idea of becoming famous for collecting the Tower silk. Toph, the more intelligent younger brother who actually does the collecting, knows it's a deathtrap.

Serina is human spam. She makes a living by mentioning brands and products in casual conversation, and is credited based on their status and wealth.

Because of the life she's chosen, she's disconnected from friends and family but protected by a lipstick-sized tazer and her �people� in the Nigerian cartel.

A chameleon and professionally skilled at reinvention, her good humour and friendliness is only skin deep � beneath it is a cold and ruthless survivor.

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Wrapped!

2009-12-13T18:44:40Z

We finished shooting Ghosts With Shit Jobs, the new lo-fi sci-fi feature I wrote, just before Halloween. We're currently looking for volunteers to help with post-production duties such as:

soundtrack composition

special effects and titling

colour correction

audio post and ADR

In 2040, a generation of Toron tonians have grown up after the economic collapse of the west. The movie consists of episodes of a documentary series popular in mainland China about the bad jobs some white people have � the plucky and resilient souls unlucky enough to be born into the slums of North America are both amusing and moving to the Chinese audience.

Oscar is a digital janitor, and has to manually cover up logos for copyright reasons in the future�s answer to Google StreetView maps.

He doesn�t really know why he�s on a show about bad jobs, because he thinks his job is pretty great � he gets to see history come alive in front of his eyes, like the garbagemen who fancy themselves like archaeologists.

But the long hours and loneliness are getting to him, especially since the death of his mother.

Gary and Karen are babymakers. They assemble robot baby dolls for the children of the wealthy in Asia.

They�re so indistinguishable from real babies that the crying, diapers and feeding of a half-dozen units at once is driving the couple a little crazy and straining their relationship. Both of them are hugely overqualified for the job, but while Gary has a reasonable ten-year plan, the more ambitious Karen would do anything to be making battlebots now.

Anton and Toph are silk collectors. Twenty years ago a herd of gigantic spiders ran amok over the eastern seaboard after a genelab outbreak, leaving behind buildings swathed in spider web silk.

Although highly toxic and difficult to collect, people like Anton and Toph risk their lives to get it � it�s worth its weight in gold as an ultrastrong building material.

Serina is human spam. She makes a living by mentioning brands and products in casual conversation, and is credited based on their status and wealth.

Because of the life she�s chosen, she�s disconnected from friends and family but protected by a lipstick-sized tazer and her �people� in the Nigerian cartel.

A chameleon and professionally skilled at reinvention, her good humour and friendliness is only skin deep � beneath it is a cold and ruthless survivor.

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Everybody Dies an Indiecade Finalist

2009-09-30T13:48:59Z

The most excellent festival Indiecade has nominated my illustrated text game Everybody Dies as a finalist in their annual competition. Even better, they're flying me out to Los Angeles to take part in the whole conference, which includes hanging out with the other awesome finalists and talks by the designer of Katamari Damacy (Keita Takahashi) and the Sims (Will Wright).

It's been tremendously encouraging to see the response to Everybody Dies, so much so that I've started planning a new adventure game with crazy-talented artist Ben Shannon.

Click through for more!

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Help Us Destroy Toronto

2009-08-10T16:08:37Z

We're a few weeks away from diving into shooting Ghosts With Shit Jobs, our no-budget faux-doc about Toronto having descended into third world status, and we have a few more holes to fill. Even if you're not a fit for any of these acting roles, crew, locations, any leads appreciated! And yeah, being a no-budget movie means that no one's getting paid up front and it's non-union. Experience appreciated, but often not necessary. Sanford Kong's awesome concept art below should get you in the mood. Get in touch at casting@lofiscifi.com with any questions/ideas, feel free to forward this email or the following link:

http://nomediakings.org/vidz/help_us_destroy_toronto.html

...to any interested parties.

Actors

The Documentarian: An older Asian man, 40+.
The restaurant owner: A 30+ Asian man or woman.
The down-on-her-luck lady: A 40+ Caucasian woman.
The high-flying businesswoman: A 30+ Asian woman.
A well-off older gent: A 50+ man.
Extras/Backgrounders: If you don't fit any of these, we'd love to have you as one of the crowd of doodlefaces.

Art Dept./Crew

Sound: if you're available and reliable, we can train you.
Lighting: If you like to sculpt with shadows, let us know.
Wardrobe: Can you imagine what folks will be wearing in 2040? Know how to customize Value Village finds?
Set dec: We have to dress up locations so they look different. Hopefully you have better ideas than "a lot of tin foil".
P.A.s: If you're willing to be an extra pair of hands for the experience.

Locations We have insurance.

a luxury car/limo
a bar
a doctor's office
a doctor's waiting room
a convenience store
a toy store

Get in touch at casting@lofiscifi.com.

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How to Enjoy Research

2009-07-15T16:09:08Z

We've just launched the mini-site for Sword of My Mouth, making the first two issues (and commentary from me and Shannon) available for subscribers and people who've pre-ordered the graphic novel. It's the first third (48 pages) of the book so far, and we'll be adding a chapter every other month until we launch the complete graphic novel edition at next year's Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

One of the things we did differently with this book was research, and so I'll take this opportunity to write a bit about that.

Keep reading...

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Ghosts With Shit Jobs: Casting Call

2009-05-20T09:11:54Z

We're in pre-production for a new lo-fi sci-fi movie called Ghosts With Shit Jobs. Involving many of the same people as our last one, Infest Wisely (imdb / official site), it's also a no-budget, multi-director project written by me -- but with approximately a million times more planning. We're going to be starting shooting this summer.

In 2040, a generation of Torontonians have grown up after the economic collapse of the west. The movie consists of episodes of a documentary series popular in mainland China about the bad jobs some white people have -- the plucky and resilient souls unlucky enough to be born into the slums of North America are both amusing and moving to the Chinese audience.

We're doing auditions on Saturday, June 6, 12-4. If you're in Toronto, please check out the roles we're trying to fill -- there's a variety of ethnicities and ages.

Visit http://nomediakings.org/vidz/ghosts_with_shit_jobs_casting_call.html or keep reading...

We are looking for non-union actors for the following roles. If you have any questions or are interested in trying out email your details to casting@lofiscifi.com and we'll give you the details for the auditions on Saturday, June 6, 12-4pm in Parkdale, Toronto.

Oscar is a digital janitor in his 20s/30s, and has to manually cover up logos for copyright reasons in the future's answer to Google StreetView maps. He's doesn't really know why he's on a show about bad jobs, because he thinks his job is pretty great -- he gets to see history come alive in front of his eyes, like the garbagemen who fancy themselves like archaeologists. But the long hours and loneliness are getting to him, especial ly since the death of his mother.

Gary and Karen are baby-makers in their 20s/30s. They assemble robot baby dolls for the children of the wealthy in Asia. They're so indistinguishable from real babies that the crying, diapers and feeding of a half-dozen units at once is driving the couple a little crazy and straining their relationship. Both of them are hugely overqualified for the job, but while Gary has a reasonable ten-year plan, the more ambitious Karen would do anything to be making battlebots now.

Anton and Toph are silk collectors in their 20s. Twenty years ago a herd of gigantic spiders ran amok over the eastern seaboard after a genelab outbreak, leaving behind buildings swathed in spider web silk. Although highly toxic and difficult to collect, people like Anton and Toph risk their lives to get it -- it's worth its weight in gold as an ultrastrong building material. Anton, the enthusiastic and delusional older brother, loves the idea of becoming famous for collecting the Tower silk. Toph, the more intelligent younger brother who actually does the collecting, knows it's a deathtrap.

Serina is human spam in her 20s/30s. She makes a living by mentioning brands and products in casual conversation, and is credited based on their status and wealth. Because of the life she's chosen, she's disconnected from friends and family but protected by a lipstick-sized tazer and her "people" in the Nigerian cartel. A chameleon and professionally skilled at reinvention, her good humour and friendliness is only skin deep -- beneath it is a cold and ruthless survivor.

Other parts

the Documentarian, an Asian man (Mandarin speaking a plus)

the show host, an Asian woman (Mandarin speaking a plus)

Harry, a heavyset Caucasian in 40s/50s/60s

Tom, an alpha male office worker in his 20s/30s

Leo, a beta male office worker in his 20s/30s

Avinash, an east Indian male in his 30s/40s

Nat, a Caucasian male in his 20s/30s

Mr. Wilson, a Caucasian male in his 40s/50s

two eight year old boys

two Asian men, 30s-40s

a man in his 60s-70s

This is such an ambitious project that if you're interested, I'm pretty sure we'll find a part for you to play -- it might be as a background extra or it might be as a Director of Photography, but you won't know if you don't get in touch!

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A Self-Publishing Comics Primer

2009-03-11T22:27:11Z

One of the coolest thing about the comics world is that it doesn't dismiss self-publishers the way the lit world does. Maybe because it's a less pretentious field, or a newer one, or that drawing talent is more quickly discerned at a glance. Certainly it helps that one of the more prominent awards and grants, the Xeric, is open only to self-publishers.

Comic artist and former No Media Kings intern stef lenk received a Xeric grant for her illustrated booklets TeaTime 1 and 2. Whether you've got a project that you're submitting to the next Xeric deadline at the end of this month, or if you're just interested in hearing about the nuts and bolts of comics publishing from printing to promotion, you'll find stef's opinions and experiences in the article below food for thought.

Read the article...

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Gaming Critics Lose Their Minds

2009-01-07T14:44:49Z

Our illustrated text adventure game, Everybody Dies, has chalked up over 7000 plays to date, in no small part due to the great press it's been getting. It was declared one of the Top 5 Indie Games in 2008 by the great game industry site Gamasutra, it was listed as one of the Top 10 videogames of 2008 (alongside, y'know, Grand Theft Auto IV) by entertainment mag Variety. And you know the Onion's AV Club? Gave it an "A". All for a dinky little text game. Just crazy!

If you haven't yet, you can play it here. I've added Invisiclue style hints.

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The New Post-Rapture Graphic Novel

2008-11-25T16:45:08Z

I'm 2/3rds (AKA 66.6%) of the way through writing the graphic novel follow-up to Therefore Repent!, so I thought I'd post some of the amazing sample pages by the new artist, Shannon Gerard.

I don't want to give away too many details, but it's set in Detroit, involves one of the Four Horsemen, and the first 22 pages should be debuting at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in May 2009.

Read on to see the pages...

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Everybody Dies Takes Bronze at IFComp

2008-11-16T22:29:24Z

My new text adventure videogame, Everybody Dies, was just voted third out of 35 entries at the annual Interactive Fiction Competition!

It starts with a metalhead, Graham, realizing that throwing that shopping cart over the bridge was not the great idea he thought it was. Even if it did get him out of washroom duty at Cost Cutters.

Play it online or read on for the wicked cover art, my thank-you speech, and more download options.

READ ON...

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