Howdy, gaming lovelies! I hope your week is going swimmingly. There’s so much going on in the gaming world right now, let’s dive right in.
Weekly Women in Games Spotlight
It always warms the cockles of my heart when the week is overflowing with news on women working in the games industry. This week there’s a wrap up from the Game Changers: Women Making Games event in Philly featuring Alison Carrier, Kat Webster, Amanda Renfroe, and Nicole Kline. Venture Beat covered Renee Gittins, founder of the indie game company Stumbling Cat currently working on the game Potions: A Curious Tale. And lastly a new post from the folks over at She Builds Games interviews Heather Decker, Lead Technical Artist at Zynga Chicago and Chair of the Chicago chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).
While I was moderating a panel last week on Great Comics, Contentious Creators at Boskone 53, I realized that games suffer from the same issue we have with the comics: unless you live and breathe the medium, it’s really hard to know about the people working on it. We all get up in arms about wanting more women, people of color and LQBTQ folks creating and working on our games, but it can be challenging to find that information and then support those games.
For example, a lot of folks would recognize the game franchise Assassin’s Creed, but fewer would know a specific title, say Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Now some of those folks might know it’s published by Ubisoft, but how many people really know, off the top of their head that it was developed by Ubisoft Quebec?
So, I’ll continue on with my weekly crusade to spotlight the fabulous folks working in any aspect of the game industry, AAA or indie, tabletop or digital. If you are working in the industry and want to be featured, drop me a line. Know of a cool person we should spotlight, tweet to me.
New to Pathfinder or tabletop RPG? Check out the current Humble Bundle
When you think of Humble Bundle, tabletop RPGs aren’t necessarily at the top of the list. Why? Humble Bundle is mainly a digital platform so the goods come as downloadable PDFs or digital games. As a tabletop gamer, downloadable PDFs as great and all, but I crave having a polished physical item I can touch. The Pathfinder Humble Bundle accommodates both! For $25 or more (plus shipping), you can get a physical copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box. This is a great deal for folks looking to try out Pathfinder. The game’s publisher, Paizo, has also created a series of Youtube videos to help you learn how to play.
Leveling the playing field in the game industry
This week there’s a new tool to help folks in the game industry anonymously compare salary and benefits. Similar to Glassdoor, the new site, Games Industry Salary Survey, allows folks working in the game industry to confidentially share information on their job title, salary and benefits. The site also offers a job board for job seekers. Since its launch last week, over 500 salaries have already been added.
Being knowledgeable and prepared to talk about salary and benefits as a job seeker, male or female, can help balance the wage gap. An article from Fast Company in 2015 showed that only 30% of women negotiate salary while 46% of men do, which could be one factor in why men make more money than women.
Trailer for Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter released
I’m not quite sure which rock I have being living under, but somehow these Sherlock Holmes games developed by Frogwares Games have slipped off my radar. The studio has been making them since 2002 and I’m curious of the affect the Sherlock television show has had on game sales. No matter, even if you haven’t been playing the detective crime games, the latest installment looks intriguingly dark with looming occult themes. If you’re looking for something a bit more chipper, check out the previous game, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, released in 2014. Devil’s Daughter releases on May 26th and is currently available for pre-order.
Phew! That’s it for this week, gaming lovelies. Have a great week and happy gaming!
