About Heroic Interactive Inc.

Heroic Interactive is a digital media and game development company on a mission to produce high-quality, memorable interactive experiences for an audience of all ages.

Based in Toronto, Canada, Heroic is comprised of a dynamic group of gaming fanatics and traditional media creators that regard games as the platform of the future. Our goal is to revolutionize daily life by making it more fun through games of every kind.

Dedicated to keeping its inner child alive, the team’s diverse talents combine to produce visually stunning, deeply engaging games within an efficient and creative production environment.

We provide game development services for clients the world over as well as continue development of our own IP.

Who We Are

Karen Lee Hall – Founder/Producer

Genie Award winner Karen Lee Hall split her formative years between Canada and the USA, confirming 1) Canadians are different from Americans and 2) it’s hard to explain how. In the heady days of disco, Karen came to Toronto to complete her BFA(Hons) in Film at York University before launching into her vocation as a worker in media arts.

For over 10 years Karen worked non-stop as a freelance assistant director where she honed the skills she now uses as a producer. Her producer credits span film, television and interactive content and include serving as: producer on indie features House and Ginger Snaps (one of Canada’s top grossing films of 2000) and exec producer on Who Loves the Sun; producer and exec producer on Heroic’s TV series’ Our Hero, Captain Flamingo, Connor Undercover and How to be Indie; and supervising producer on www.cbc.ca/ourhero and www.ourhero.tv.

As founder and chief bottle washer at Heroic Interactive, Karen produced How To Be Indie: Day In The Life for YTV; Spy Alliance: Connor Undercover for Family Channel; a series of super fun mini-games for Heroic Interactive as well as other clients, and has initiated development on How Embarrassing! a comedic multiplayer social game and The Explorers, an explorable interactive edutainment experience for kids.

Karen brings her passion, years of producing experience, and the determination to achieve excellence to her job of providing kids with the tools they need to tell the stories they have bubbling inside.

Dan Loach – Game Designer & Writer

Before turning to game design, Dan worked as a research psychologist in the field of cognitive psychology. He holds a PhD and has worked in universities in Canada, Australia and the UK. Yet he seems strangely content to work here at Heroic Interactive.

As a psychologist Dan is interested in how people interact with visual content and while he often tries to explain his psychological theories (as they pertain to game design) to his colleagues, he is more often than not ignored. Dan designed and wrote the game bible for the MMOG to compliment the Connor Undercover TV show (Family Channel) as well as four mini-games (a parkour-themed side scroller game, a top-down vehicle chase game, a Where’s Waldo-style search game, and a speed clicking game).

With his own company, Cheddar Interactive, Dan is currently working on a large-scale persistent city building game.

Cassandra Nicolaou – Social Media Manager & Content Producer

Cassandra first dabbled in the world of computers and new media as an undergrad in Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Two workterms worth of staring at code sent her running screaming to the Department of English Literature, where she completed her Honours BA with a specialization in Arts Management. Feeling that her interests were not unfocussed enough, Cassandra began working in film production, wrote and directed several award-winning short films and eventually attended the Canadian Film Centre’s Resident Program for Directors. In 2004 she completed her feature “Show Me” and has more recently ventured into the world of documentary with her new film “Girls on Top”. It’s about actresses, though not those kinds of actresses.

Cassandra splits her time between making films and creating and disseminating online content of all kinds. Recent work outside of Heroic includes video production, project management and social media for Mirvish Productions’ cloud9toronto.com, the City of Toronto’s livewithculture.ca and wonder-chef Jamie Kennedy. Cassandra finds the immediacy of online media a refreshing antidote to the slow-as-molasses labours of film development.

Chris Postill – Sound Design & Music Composition

Christopher arrived at Heroic Interactive fresh from Ryerson and has been knocking us dead ever since with his vast skills and excellent humour.

After a solid year of database programming at Heroic, Chris switched it up and started also making the music on our projects, and he never looked back. We’ll let the sounds speak for themselves.

Prior to being at Heroic, Christopher was running his own web/graphic-design company Candor Media (www.candormedia.com ) and is an award-winning new media installation artist ( www.chrispostill.com ).

Josh Yaw – Lead Flash Programmer

Josh codes Flash like he lives his life: with diligence and fortitude. The man with the digital hands hails from Burlington, Ontario, and is a graduate of the University of Toronto Computer Science Program.  Since an early age, he has always been interested in computers and video games.  Throughout his high school and university life he has helped small Internet teams, providing them with code or 3D-related work.

Recently Josh launched two original iPhone Apps – Fridger and 2 Block – both of which he did during his down time, and which flirted with success. He enjoys all aspects video game, from the story, music and art to the deeper specifications and algorithms. He currently works as a programmer creating flash based games, when he is not showcasing his innate art skill of drawing profiles of Heroic employees.

Danny Zabbal – Lead Artist

Danny Zabbal spent his entire childhood watching movies, hunched over game consoles and/or reading comic books. Naturally, his interests flourished into a passion for all things nerdy, be it science-fiction, fantasy or superheroes. After some time, Danny took his encyclopedic knowledge of geekdom to Concordia University, where he studied Film Production and earned the Michel Trudel award for Technical Achievement and Original Vision.

Since 2005, Danny has done a combination of pixel art, concept illustration and 3D design, for companies like Komani, Disney and Lucasarts. Selected games include The Winx Club, for Gameboy Advanced, Thrillville for the Nintendo DS, and most recently Connor Undercover: Spy Training Game, an multi-player online experience.