For the shameful headstanding scene in my machinima piece Yoga Deathmatch I used something called Gary’s Mod. It allows you to spawn and arrange Half-Life 2 objects really easily, a surreal 3D sketchpad. Immediately it started me thinking how neat it would be to introduce more visually creative people to it, and thanks to Digifest I was able to arrange a “jam session” with a half dozen artists.

We took clips of the jam in progress and it’s going to be screened this Saturday, as part of dorkArmy’s monthly event at the Gladstone Hotel (Sept. 9, 8pm, $5). They’re bringing their Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero gear (out of the basements and into the bars!) and I always enjoy myself. If you’re not in Toronto, however, you can check out one clip from each of the artists by clicking through.

 
 Gary's Mod Jam Session Fruits [2:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As it appeared in the Digifest program:

The Havok physics engine is legendary in videogame circles, and Valve Software’s Half-Life 2 nuanced and detailed implementation of it is unparallelled. Gary’s Mod allows users intuitive and direct access to the objects and forces within the game.

Jim Munroe invited graphic novelist Rose Bianchini, artist Sandy Plotnikoff, designer Patricio Davila, musician Laura Barrett, small object maker Amy Lam, and filmmaker Benny Zenga to a four-hour jam session with the mod. Working separately and together, they brought their creative talents to bear on the spatial-cultural dynamics of the gameworld. These are some of the clips from the session.

Thanks to Paola Poletto, Mark Jones and Steven Lin for making it happen!