Chris de Castro — whom has no relation to any Cuban dictator — recently decided that he would build a game based around his experience living in Toronto Canada, specifically centered around a park named Trinity Bellwoods. Rather than attempting to condense Chris de Castro’s personal words on the matter, I think it would instead be best to allow the man’s personal account to shine through entirely unaltered:
“I started hanging out in Trinity Bellwoods Park back in 2003, where I spent lazy afternoons, long nights, and met vibrant creative people in the city. The park was our cultural center and our social hangout. After some time, we noticed older Asian immigrants began coming around and collecting cans to recycling rewards. Armed with their large magical bags and wand-like walking stick, they made our empty cans disappear. We lovingly called them the Wizards; the park heroes, as it were.
Over the years the park got busier as more people moved in, and the Wizards got more organized -– becoming a bit of a legend in their own right. As my friends started talking to the Wizards, we discovered what an important role this can collecting plays in the economics of their family. One wizard put his daughter through school with the money he made.”
In Chris’s upcoming game — appropriate titled: The Wizards of Trinity Bellwoods — players will take control of the park’s Wizards, the people tirelessly dedicated to keeping the park clean from the carelessness of the many can-chugging Hipsters hanging about. Rather than being a game in the traditional sense, players — as they collect up all of the cans, while avoiding accidental collisions with the Hipsters — will be able explore the lives of the various people frequenting the park (both Hipster and Wizard alike). As the player earns money selling off the empty cans to recycling, time in the park will progress — with even more people showing up — showcasing the on going gentrification since 2003.
Much the same as with many other recent independent game developers, Chris de Castro recently approached Kickstarter with a request for $15,000 (CAD) in necessary production funds. Currently more than half of this has been secured, but — with less than a week still remaining — much work will have to be done if Trinity Bellwoods’ many can collecting Wizards are going to be forever immortalized. Thankfully there’s a currently free demo build — available on the developer’s website — for anyone whose curiosity has been somewhat piqued, yet still isn’t sure if they’d like to help out with Chris’s dreams.
Interestingly, rather than any tier including the game itself — or even physical rewards of any kind — all donation tiers for The Wizards of Trinity Bellwoods are for either you, your pets, or your friends appearing as in-game people. You can currently have your own face appear in game as a park-goer for as little as $25 (which probably has to be one of the cheapest appear in-game tiers ever in the entirety of Kickstarter history). Those interested should be sure to chip in their funds before August 27th rolls around, or else Trinity Bellwoods just might be plagued to die beneath an endless aluminum filled scourge.