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Canada Media Fund Supports 25 Interactive Digital Media Projects

Canada Media Fund [1] The Canada Media Fund [1] (CMF) has announced that 25 interactive digital media projects [2] received a total of $12.6M in funding as part of the first round of production support from the Experimental Stream [3].  The Experimental Stream encourages the creation of innovative, interactive digital media content and software applications. Consumers will be able to enjoy a variety of interactive digital media content including 16 games, 4 interactive projects, 2 social media platforms, 2 software applications, and 1 ebook.

Including this round of funding, the CMF has already provided more than $91M in production funding to 161 projects since the Experimental Stream was created in 2010. Production support provides funding for the creation of a final, market-ready version of an eligible project and preliminary marketing and commercialization activities.

Funded Projects:

Title Applicant Commitment
Afterland Imaginary Games Inc. $399,432
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : British Columbia
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Application
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Afterland is a gothic daydream about a travelling carnival of magical misfits crossing the space between life and death. Drawn in by its surreal, macabre and expressionistic themes, social subcultures will connect with the original narrative that explores social rejection and acceptance. By empathizing and competing with Afterland’s flawed characters, players collectively challenge the racial and gender stereotypes commonly found in the card-battle genre. Featuring unique hand-painted collectible cards, the social mobile game for iOS, Android and Amazon encourages collecting, sharing, communicating and understanding.

Ambitious Dirt PlayHybrid Divertissement Inc. $1,000,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Ambitious Dirt is a puzzle-based adventure game whose characters live in the secret world just below our feet. Available from the App Store, Ambitious Dirt whisks players away to the nooks and crannies of homes, gardens and communities alongside our humble heroes, who are specks of household dirt and debris. Their personalities are, unsurprisingly, somewhat whimsical. They are scattered around places that are much bigger than they are. The characters must use their distinctive colouring and diminutive size to avoid detection and danger. Their ultimate—and very ambitious—goal is to gather every last particle together and escape to a sanctuary of filth where they can live out their lives in dirt-ridden comfort and safety.

Code Bleu Studios Illogika Inc. $366,750
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Code Blue is a procedural death labyrinth (PDL) game for PCs, with a strong focus on interactive storytelling. It features a unique gaming experience that is both innovative and immersive. Players can assume different characters living in the futuristic city of Liwjatan. In this dystopian universe torn apart by social inequality and excessive consumerism, they can explore how each of these characters interact and intertwine. And their critical thinking skills will be put to the test as they attempt to capture enemies in semi-procedurally generated underwater labyrinths.

Conflicks : Revolutionary Space Battles Artifice Studio inc. $440,540
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Conflicks: Revolutionary Space Battles revolutionizes space-themed videogames by merging the deep gameplay of StarCraft-like real-time strategy (RTS) with the intuitive accessibility of physics-based games. The universe is a futuristic transposition of the French Revolution, combining elements from the Renaissance and the Enlightenment periods with science fiction in a dark yet humorous way. The game can be played in a single-player campaign, where missions are linked together by a story, as well as in multiplayer skirmishes, where players are grouped together according to skill level for almost unlimited gameplay possibilities.

Creativas Design Studio Playsmart Labs Inc. $373,244
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Ontario
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Rich interactive media
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Creativas Design Studio is a revolutionary fashion design narrative story/game for tablets, mobile devices and HTML5-compatible web browsers. It leverages patent-pending technology to provide a unique inter-platform play experience that combines paper-based arts and crafts activities with digital play. It seamlessly blends real-life play with digital storytelling, bringing the power of traditional toy play patterns to life through the use of innovative and proprietary technology.

Crowdlinker Push CrowdLinker Inc. $650,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Ontario
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Social media
Delivery Method : Website
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

CrowdLinker Push is an innovative social platform that online publishers can white label and plug in to their websites or mobile apps. It provides content recommendations personalized for each audience member and makes it easy for them to share content with the right people. Each user receives a personal feed on the publisher’s site with articles and videos recommended for them based on topics and/or authors they subscribe to, items they upvote and recommendations from friends. End-users benefit from better content. Publishers benefit from more sharing, viral growth, audience engagement and better analytics. CrowdLinker Push will be embedded on news/video sites, blogs, second-screen apps and other mobile apps.

E-180 – Application mobile E-180 inc. $434,016
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Social media
Delivery Method : Application
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

With its mobile application, E-180 aims to leverage its expertise to combine the power of proximity afforded by mobile technologies with the intimacy of in-person peer learning to transform cultural spaces into hubs for people with similar interests and thus promote spontaneous peer-learning opportunities. E-180 will revolutionize the experience of visiting a museum, library or other major cultural institution.

Epic Little Dude Exit Earth Entertainment Inc. $595,854
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : British Columbia
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Join Little Dude in his fight to free the universe from the unspeakable terrors of the Waarg King. Through a combination of reflex and problem-solving adventures, Epic Little Dude aims to propel players into the far reaches of space and their imaginations. In this downloadable game, run, jump, punch and slice your way to victory through a barrage of alien forces stationed throughout a diverse exotic world.

Fields of Asteria Stitch Media Ontario Inc. $150,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : English
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Ontario
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Application
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

The Fields of Asteria is a mobile multiplayer game that features a persistent game world, a parallel world of wizardry and spell-casting in which changing world conditions affect the gameplay from day to day. The game drops you, as a wizard, into a mystical dimension of our world known only to wizards that is called The Fields of Asteria. The core of the game is a turn-based one-on-one battle system in which players compete by casting spells. The core battle gameplay is designed to scale throughout a player’s career, so that it is straight-forward and accessible at early stages, but strategically rich at later stages.

Floop 8329931 Canada Inc. $684,084
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : English
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Social media
Delivery Method : Application Software
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Floop is a Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) compliant platform that helps game developers acquire users, promote their apps and generate revenue. The simple-to-implement platform has an API that enables developers of children’s apps to communicate directly with parents, building a community around their own brands. Developers can implement our advertising system to connect family brands with parents and share in the resulting revenue. As well, it enables parents see what their children are creating on mobile apps and control what can be shared to social networks. It is built to benefit developers and advertisers, but mostly Canadian families.

Gallery (The): Six Elements Cloudhead Games Ltd. $365,410
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : English
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : British Columbia
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

The Gallery: Six Elements is a game that uses cutting-edge developing technology to create a transcendental gaming adventure. It has been conceived, designed and developed from the ground up for the Oculus VR, a soon-to-be-launched gaming system anticipated to come to market in early 2015. The Gallery: Six Elements will also be on the Morpheus virtual reality gaming system, currently planned within a year of the Oculus VR launch.

GameWave Victory Square Games Inc. $450,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : British Columbia
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Rich interactive media
Delivery Method : Application
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

GameWave application uses the patent-pending gesture recognition technology ORCA to gamify waterparks. Users control and interact with real-world waterpark mechanisms like water cannons, sprinklers, splashpad devices and projected images with the motion of their body and limbs, as a form of interactive gameplay. The real-world activities are recorded and integrated into a video reel starring the user, which they can download and share with their friends on social media. The video is real world footage of their experiences over-laid with augmented reality.

Glimpse 7168799 Canada Inc. $1,000,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Glimpse is a first-person, rogue-Like urban survival video game set in a dystopian 1960s alternate history where everyone is oblivious to their collective and impending doom, except you. In a dark, twisted and humorous tale, you must learn to survive in a hostile world filled with absurd rules and paranoid citizens. It is a ruthless world that requires you to learn from your mistakes in order to make progress. But it is also a unique and infinitely re-playable experience because the city, its layout, encounters and stories are different every single time you play. By exploring your surroundings, you accumulate the resources and items essential for survival, and discover a story that is strategically distributed within the environment. This creates an immersive journey within our procedurally generated 3D cityscape that is never the same twice.

i saw her standing there krangGAMES Inc. $60,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : English
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : British Columbia
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

The game I Saw Her Standing There is a small adventure game continuing the light-hearted story of a young man who falls in love with a zombie. The series has received critical acclaim and millions of gameplays, and was a finalist in the 2013 Canadian Videogame Awards in the “Social/Casual Games” category. Initially developed as an online Flash game, this version of I Saw Her Standing There will be a higher-quality downloadable title built in Unity that will initially be made available exclusively to Sony PlayStation consoles and will eventually be downloadable on most major consoles and PC/Mac computers.

Jötunn: Days After Ragnarök Frima Studio Inc. $918,792
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Set in the mythical age of the Vikings, Jötunn: Days After Ragnarök tells a tale of courage and sacrifice in which an everyday father and husband must do the impossible to protect his family from the destruction of their world at the hands of the giants of old. Jötunn: Days After Ragnarok is first-person action-adventure virtual reality game for PlayStation that combines a rich story filled with emotion, intense action scenes and innovative gameplay mechanics all leading to a heartbreaking finale.

King’s Ears (The) Rascal Media Inc. $110,372
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : English
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : British Columbia
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : eBook
Delivery Method : Application
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

The King’s Ears is a story app for iPad based on an award-winning picture book and narrated by Monty Python’s Terry Jones. This app may be the first designed with a deep understanding of how children read digital multimodal texts and the experience of publishing books that children love.

Leap of Fate Clever-Plays Studio Inc. $347,379
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Leap of Fate is a game for iOS and Android that brings hardcore gaming to mobile. The game takes place in a dystopic version of modern-day New York City, and tells the story of a mage who must undergo a deadly rite of passage. His personal journey leads him to face his own demons and discover his fate. Leap of Fate uses random generation of levels, a huge tree of magical abilities to upgrade, and multiple alternate endings to pave the way for a whole new level of gaming on mobile.

Massively House of Cool Inc. $170,880
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : English
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Ontario
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Application
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Massively is an innovative storytelling mobile application that allows players to interact with their favourite characters through realistic text messages. Users have complete control over their responses, and the user’s responses affect the outcome of the story. This choose-your-own-adventure style game also works in conjunction with a web-based publishing platform and authoring tool. The tool is completely free and open to anyone, so everyone has the ability to create entirely customizable stories.

Mon ami Bulle Télé-Québec $733,941
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : French
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Rich interactive media
Delivery Method : Website
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Bulle is much more than a game—it is a friend who is always there for its young companions, via computer or tablet. Josh will soon be starting kindergarten. Luke is still finding it hard to get dressed on his own. Sophie is scared of sleeping in her bed. Thanks to his parents, six-year-old Bulle knows a lot of things. In fact, this parental guidance is the key to helping him build a meaningful, one-on-one relationship with the child. With every visit, Bulle creates a unique program for him or her by evaluating and prioritizing the urgency or importance of the information provided, based on parents’ previous input, using a complex decision-making tree. The ultimate goal is to support parents’ teaching efforts and the individual development of three- to five-year-olds using a highly personalized interactive experience.

Person Zero Massive Damage Inc. $364,500
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : English
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Ontario
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Person Zero is a groundbreaking downloadable virtual social reality game in which players live out alternate lives in an immersive, real-time simulation of a person’s digital social life. Virtual social experiences and simulated social networks drive the dynamic evolving real-time narrative while challenging the player to use their daily smartphone habits as an element of the gameplay itself.

RushCut Desired Destination Media Inc. $450,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : English
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : British Columbia
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : None
Delivery Method : Application
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

The easy-to-use application RushCut will allow for internal media review and approval of your dailies, milestone cuts, trailers, documentation and production still photography, along with a project health-monitoring system, all from your web browser or mobile device, via a banking-level secure connection whenever and wherever you want. RushCut will support clients through all phases of production, including financing/packaging, pre-production, production, post-production, delivery and sales. It utilizes a modern and intuitive interface with phase specific tools to make the process more efficient and reliable for content creators worldwide.

Undisclosed Title
Conatus Creative Inc. $287,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Ontario
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

‘undisclosed title’ is a downloadable game that propels players into the Eisner-winning comic universe of ‘the main character’. Players must take fate into their own hands, collaborating with friends and using Toronto’s landscape to their advantage. They will experience the true power of relationships, as no play through the comic’s rich storyline and interesting actors can achieve all possible outcomes or result in universal love for our hero. Infusing the comic’s retro video game roots with relationship-focused collaboration results in a unique and entertaining game that is meant to be played with friends, on the couch and across the world.

Stories Spearhead Games $1,000,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision
Stories is a procedurally generated action role-playing game for Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and personal computers. With its innovative approach to narrative storytelling, intuitive controls and a unique combat system that engages multiple enemies at once, it provides an unprecedented level of immersion and connection between the player and their character. Each player can experience hours of playtime, immense depth and a unique engaging story every time they play and replay the game as well as share their unique story with their friends.
Stylekick: fashion inspiration, style and personal outfit shopping Stylekick Inc. $626,853
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Ontario
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Rich interactive media
Delivery Method : Application
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Stylekick is a mobile application in which shoppers can browse and share user-sourced outfits from around the world. The full project entails further development of the Stylekick iOS application, integration with the Stylekick platform and the development of an Android application. Stylekick’s mobile application takes a constrained media approach (e.g. 140 characters for Twitter, 6-second clips for Vine) to the display of outfits, allowing users to view only one high-resolution image at a time. Shoppers can double-tap on individual parts of an outfit to indicate that they like a particular blouse, pair of jeans, shoes and so on. Stylekick uses image-recognition and machine-learning technology (via observation of clusters of likes) to identify and analyze individual user preferences for particular brands, styles and items. In this way, Stylekick is able to whittle down a broad array of outfits to show only relevant content that matches the tastes of the shopper.

Time Machine: evolution of the dev-application of the Marianna Trench Minority Media Inc. $775,000
Fiscal year : 2014-2015
Program : Experimental
Language : Bilingual
Activity : Production
Genre : N/A
Envelope : N/A
Region : Quebec
Platform : Digital Media
Content type : Game
Delivery Method : Downloadable
Selection Round : 1
Status : Decision

Time Machine is the first virtual time travel experience (VTTE) designed specifically for the new wave of disruptive virtual reality devices. The downloadable game, set in 2070, stars you as a research assistant of the Monda Muzeo (world museum), a depository of the world’s history located some 250 miles above Earth. Your first mission is to go back to prehistory and capture fearsome prehistoric creatures on a 3D holographic camera. Accompanied by an eclectic group of scientists, reporters, and a highly advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) companion, you will travel back in time to observe these creatures in their natural habitat while doing your best not to distort the fabric of time.

In June, the CMF announced that for projects receiving production support, the innovation and production team criteria were assessed by the following jury [4] of Canadian and international industry specialists:

In the next few weeks, the CMF will announce projects receiving funds for development support and marketing support from the Experimental Stream.

3 Comments (Open | Close)

3 Comments To "Canada Media Fund Supports 25 Interactive Digital Media Projects"

#1 Comment By Tami Quiring (@VillageGamer) On Monday July 14, 2014 @ 4:15 am

.@CMF_FMC Supports 25 Interactive Digital Media Projects #eyeoncanada #wecreatebc [9]

#2 Comment By Christophe (@ChrstphTT) On Monday July 14, 2014 @ 4:18 am

Canada Media Fund Supports 25 Interactive Digital Media Projects …: CrowdLinker Push is an innov… [10] #innovation

#3 Comment By MOR (@MORdirections) On Monday July 14, 2014 @ 7:05 am

RT @VillageGamer: .@CMF_FMC Supports 25 Interactive Digital Media Projects #eyeoncanada #wecreatebc [9]