DMG is a not-for-profit videogame arts organization that creates space for marginalized creators to make, play and critique videogames within a cultural context.
We teach computing skills for artistic expression, offer production and exhibition facilities, and provide community support for the creation of new artworks.
Basic Rules Sources Step-By-Step Characters. Much of what your character does in the game depends on his or her six abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.Each ability has a score, which is a number you record on your character sheet. Apex Legends is the latest battle royale game to hit consoles, and it’s giving Fortnite: Battle Royale a real run for its money. If you’re diving into the new free-to-play game, you’re probably wondering which characters are best and which to avoid. Here’s an early Apex Legends tier list to help you choose.
Our space and community is a platform and playground for artists working in games, engaging the public with the expressive potential of this medium.
What We Believe
- We believe game-making can be an act of resistance, giving creators ultimate agency in the expression of their identities, politics, selves, genders and sexualities. Our work has the power to transform our communities, and positively impact policies and practice.
- We believe that creating space and time to make and talk about games in an explicitly feminist context elevates the craft, amplifies alternative and diverse narratives, and supports the socio-cultural changes that are necessary to make game design accessible to all.
- We are interested in creating alternative forms of economic power grounded in solidarity, openness and collective values.
Community Commitments
- We are committed to the ongoing work of anti-oppression, anti-racism and decolonization.
- We are committed to developing, contributing to, experimenting with, promoting and sharing knowledge about free and open source tools and platforms.
- We care for and respect this organization, its mandate, its facility, its partners and its membership.
- We are committed to fostering an open and inclusive community space to make, play and talk about games not only as a refuge from and reaction to the harmful aspects of mainstream game culture, but also simply because games and the dames who make them are important to us.
Board of Directors
Izzie Colpitts-Campbell
Programming director
since 2014
Izzie is a software and electronic artist. She’s been exhibiting her work since 2008, including as part of a Making Patterns at Eyebeam in New York. Izzie currently works as programmer and creative technologist, specializing in experimental wearables, product design and responsible tech communities. Izzie represents DMG on the Toronto Media Arts Centre board of directors.
Soha is a writer and experimental game designer, currently working on diversity and inclusion programs at Riot Games in LA.
Santo is an artist, speaker, and game designer. They are currently working on their spooky, witchy game, Don't Wake the Night, while also creating art based around expressions of latinx identity and ancestral traditions. They tweet over at @babbygoth.
Meagan is a Métis (Swampy Cree/Newfoundlander) game designer. She is a member of Indigenous Routes, a nonprofit providing new media training for Indigenous youth, a founder of Achimostawinan Games, and Digital + Interactive Coordinator at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.
Yifat is an acclaimed game designer and artist working on creating autobiographical games and subversive art. A Master of Design graduate of OCAD University, she is currently a professor of game design and 3D modeling at York University. Yifat organized of Different Games in Toronto, and is currently working on Real Army Simulator.
Jayd Matyas
Resource Development Director
since 2018
Jayd is a multidisciplinary game designer and storyteller with a background in industrial design and wearable tech. She is currently working on designing games for AI research at DeepMind in London, England.
Rose is an artist, storyteller, and game designer from Alberta. Her personal work focuses on identities, gender, connection, fantasy, and nostalgia. She currently works with Planned Parenthood Toronto opening up conversations around masculine identities with the Youth Masculinity Peer Project. This works focuses on helping foster discussion of how rigid gender identities can intersect with mental, sexual, and physical health.
Kaitlin is a writer and a narrative designer at Ubisoft Toronto. Her independent game work has focused on creating space for positive and productive conversations around mental health, difficult emotions, and healing in video games. She was the lead writer on the death positive video game A Mortician’s Tale (Laundry Bear Games 2017).
Natalie cultivates fandoms, builds new communities, develops character voices, leads interactive fiction workshops, designs alternate reality games, constructs branching narratives, and most mornings open Tumblr before she opens her eyes. Her digital strategies have twice won Canadian Screen Awards for sci-fi television show Wynonna Earp, and she's currently the community manager at Stitch Media, where she also gets to do everything from narrative design to ordering four-foot cloroplast cut-outs of angry cacti. She is currently finishing up Hench, a novel dedicated to the plight of the downtrodden and often expendable employees of supervillains. She also writes terrible little text-based video games about dismemberment, LARPS about trauma and recovery, and a lot of horror micro-fiction.
Staff
Jennie is a developer and advocate for equity in interactive and media arts. She manages DMG’s day-to-day operations, long-term planning and program execution. Jennie also co-founded Gamma Space and is on the advisory board of the Toronto Media Arts Centre, the MOCA programming advisory committee, the Ontario Creates IDM Industry Advisory Committee, and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television rules and regulations committee.
Jennie offers weekly office hours for members.
Founding Directors
Cecily Carver • Alex Leitch • Jennie Robinson Faber
Injustice 2 has been out for nearly two weeks now, and the game’s competitive community seems to have come to a loose consensus about which characters are true gods, and which need to be sent back to the funny pages. Of course, you’re welcome to your own opinions, arguing about who belongs in what tier is a time-honored tradition amongst fighting game devotees, but the fan-voted tier list on Event Hubs seems solid at this point. Some minor character shuffling is still happening, but no big shakeups.
Generally speaking, it seems like characters with a lot of ranged attacks, like Deadshot, Darkseid, and Doctor Fate, and those that can deal out quick combos, like Batman and Robin, are at the top of the rankings. Meanwhile, big, powerful characters like Bane, Atrocitus, and Gorilla Grodd populate the lower tiers. Also, unfortunately, aside from Supergirl, the game’s female characters don’t fare too well.
Scroll on down for a tier breakdown of the full 29-character Injustice 2 roster. Obviously, these rankings will continue to change as players find new strategies and NetherRealm adjusts the game’s balance, but this is where we stand as of the end of the May, 2017…
S-Tier
Deadshot, Supergirl, Darkseid, Black Adam, Robin, Doctor Fate
And here we have the elite class. The best of the best! Heck, some may argue Deadshot is a little too good. One thing most of these S-Tier characters have in common, is the ability to deal out devastating ranged attacks. Injustice 2 is definitely a game that rewards moving quick, playing defensively, and keeping your adversary at a distance with projectiles. Deadshot, Darkseid, and Doctor Fate can all zone the hell out of their opponents. Meanwhile, Supergirl and Robin can stick and move, dealing out damage then quickly getting back out of range.
A-Tier
Batman, Superman, Poison Ivy, Brainiac, Captain Cold, Firestorm
The very good, but not quite godlike, class. Most of the characters at this level are well-balanced, with a few good ranged attacks to keep opponents at bay. Batman can unleash some impressive combos and take out opponents with gadgets, while Superman brings power and the handy ability to fly to the table. Meanwhile, Brainiac can smack you down with his tentacles, and Captain Cold and Firestorm can keep you hopping with their projectiles.
B-Tier
Aquaman, Green Lantern, Joker, Harley Quinn, Swamp Thing, Cyborg
You can make characters at this level work for you with a bit of effort, but they’re not the most accessible and have some significant weaknesses. Aquaman is a good defensive character, but you need to have patience to use him. Green Lantern has some nice combos that can be chained together, but if those chains are broken, he’s left very vulnerable. Harley Quinn has decent ranged attacks, but she’s simply nowhere near as powerful as super snipers like Deadshot and Doctor Fate.
C-Tier
Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle, Scarecrow, Green Arrow, Gorilla Grodd
Okay, here’s where things start to get tough. If you want a personal challenge, you can try to get competitive with these characters, but it may not be easy. There isn’t necessarily much tying these characters together – they all have their own issues. Wonder Woman is a bit slow, and has a somewhat lacking collection of moves, Catwoman has some combos, but is ultimately underpowered, and Gorilla Grodd is surprisingly vulnerable giving how large and intimidating-looking he is.
D and F-Tier
Flash, Black Canary, Atrocitus, Bane, Cheetah
And here we are in the basement. These are the characters you should probably avoid, or maybe encourage your inexperienced friends to try out if you’re a jerk. There are basically two types of bottom-tier characters – big guys like Bane and Atrocitus, whose power doesn’t make up for their lack of speed, and, on the other end of the spectrum, speedy characters like Flash and Cheetah, who are just too fragile to be competitive.
All Injustice 2 characters have four base stats – Strength, Ability, Defense, and Health. Depending on how you want to play, you may want to choose a character that has a high specific stat. Combine it with the tier rankings above, to find your character. So, let’s say you want to play defensively – your best bet would be Black Adam, who has high defense, and is an S-Tier character. Want to clubber opponents with strong basic attacks? Pick the high-strength S-Tier Darkseid. You get the point.
Highest Strength Characters
Atrocitus, Bane, Darkseid, Gorilla Grodd, Scarecrow
Strength determines how much damage a character does with normal attacks.
Highest Ability Characters
Aquaman, Atrocitus, Bane, Batman, Black Adam, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Brainiac, Captain Cold, Catwoman, Cheetah
Strength determines how much damage a character does with special attacks and Super Moves.
Highest Defense Characters
Aquaman, Black Adam, Brainiac, Cyborg, Firestorm, Green Lantern, Supergirl, Superman, Swamp Thing, Wonder Woman
Defense determines how much damage a character absorbs while blocking.
Highest Health Characters
Darkseid (highest of all in a category by himself), Atrocitus, Bane, Batman, Captain Cold, Catwoman, Deadshot, Doctor Fate, Gorilla Grodd, Green Arrow, Harley Quinn, Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow.
Health determines how many hit points a character has.
And there you are! You should now have a pretty good idea which characters you ought to focus on mastering. Of course, you can also ignore all this and just pick characters you think look cool, but you may end up getting your butt kicked.
Injustice 2 is available now on Xbox One and PS4. You can check WWG’s latest coverage of Injustice 2 here, and our extensive back catalog of stories, right here.