GamerCamp 2013 was a unique indie game festival that took over the entire boutique Hotel Ocho in downtown Toronto for a weekend of games, creativity, and community. Instead of a traditional conference venue, the whole hotel became one giant playable playground spread across multiple floors.

The event featured over 30 arcade cabinets, 25 board games, hands-on indie game demos, developer talks, and parties. It celebrated Toronto's growing indie game scene with a fun, intimate, and whimsical vibe - think playing games in hotel rooms, hallways, and common spaces while mingling with developers and fellow gamers.

As a Digital Futures student at OCADU, attending GamerCamp was an exciting way to connect with the local game development community and see cutting-edge indie work in a super memorable setting.

Tom Barker

Tom Barker was the chair of OCADU's Digital Futures program and co-led the Accio class. A true visionary with 20+ years blending art, design, and cutting-edge tech, he's worked on iconic projects like the London Eye, the Millennium Dome (O2 Arena), and a Turner Prize-shortlisted 3D installation. Before joining OCADU, he taught at the Royal College of Art and the Architectural Association in London. He brought massive big-idea energy, innovation, and sustainability focus to the program.

The Accio class culminated in a special end-of-year showcase as part of the Da Vinci themed exhibition at Gallery 51. This show celebrated inventive thinking, imagination, and futuristic design in the true spirit of Leonardo da Vinci - inventor, artist, and visionary.

Student projects from OCADU's Digital Futures program were featured alongside other inventive works exploring sustainability, technology, and bold ideas. My self-sustainable floating city concept was selected for display in the exhibit.

It was a perfect match: da Vinci's legendary drawings of flying machines, ideal cities, and revolutionary inventions aligned perfectly with the Accio challenge to "imagine the impossible."

Accio, named after the Harry Potter summoning spell, was the class where we were encouraged to imagine the impossible.

You will find this interesting: Accio syllabus.

The class culminated in the end of year cityscape project featured in the DaVinci exhibit at Gallery 51.

Accio Project - Imagine the Impossible

This early Digital Futures course project encouraged students to design speculative future concepts, blending technology, sustainability, and bold imagination. My contribution was a self-sustainable floating city.

Syllabus:

- Project Theme: "Accio" (I summon / I call forth) - students created visionary "what if" scenarios.

- Core Objectives: Develop big ideas without technical limits, combine artistic and technical thinking.

- Deliverables: Research, sketches, written proposals, visual presentations, and models.

- Focus: Originality, depth of concept, and strong communication of futuristic ideas.

Quotes:

"Imagine the impossible."

The syllabus emphasized summoning bold, forward-thinking concepts that challenge current limitations.

Adam Tindale (Dr. Adam Tindale)

Dr. Adam Tindale was the other Accio instructor and a powerhouse in OCADU's Digital Futures program. Recruited from Alberta College of Art + Design, he's a programming and machine learning wizard with an interdisciplinary PhD in Music, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering. A performing musician who strengthened the program's audio and HCI side, his research even helped pave the way for tech like music identification systems (early Shazam vibes). Cool, eclectic, and seriously hands-on with code and sound.

One concept that really stood out to me during the class presentations was SmartGum - a speculative idea for a cognitive-enhancing chewing gum.

The poster illustrates a student taking an exam, calmly chewing glowing SmartGum. A dentist-style X-ray close-up shows the gum between her teeth releasing smart particles, while a glowing thought cloud filled with equations and answers appears in her brain. She holds the pack of SmartGum in one hand as she writes with the other.

This fun "imagine the impossible" idea explored how an everyday item could be transformed into a tool for instant focus and intelligence during high-pressure situations like tests.