Happy Wednesday, gaming lovelies! Next week starts both GDC and SXSW so I expect the feeds to be full of bleeding edge coolness soon. Until then, check out some of my pet peeves and happy dance moments about games this week.
5 Weeks in a Balloon: Where are the People of Color?
Last I checked it’s 2016. When your mobile game is about exploring “Africa in a hot air balloon” and your promo game image is three white men, I’m going to call you out. Looking at the game play, it certainly isn’t about the difficulties of character rendering since players are mainly navigating a balloon. This appears to be mainly used as a static image and really, how hard is it to include a little diversity there? Pollop Studio, I’m calling you out on this one. Hopefully, you’re not going to rebut with “but it’s inspired by a Jules Verne novel” because again we’re in 2016 and “inspired by” doesn’t mean you can forget about people of color and women.
Alekhine’s Gun: Who dreams of being a covert assassin?
This week, Alekhine’s Gun heads toward release. The Cold War era game where you play a highly trained Russian assassin looks stunning and includes complex stealth mechanics. Make no bones about it, the main character is a skilled assassin. It’s not just sniper rifles and pistol shooting, there’s a myriad of ways to take out your targets, some of whom are “innocents”. As I rewatched the trailers, I was struck by the thought of is this a just-because-we-can-should-we type of game. Although I’m intrigued by the game, I wonder what playing this type of game says about me. I don’t think playing it automatically flips a switch making me into an aggressor, but how it might affect me is something I’m not sure I want to find out.
BoardGameGeekCon sells out in 2 hours
With all the hullabaloo about digital games, it’s easy to forget that tabletop gamers are out there. Hosted by the folks over at BoardGameGeek, the annual convention is a fabulous for players. For this year’s registration rush, they were half sold only 15 minutes in. If you missed out, an official Waiting List available.
BGG.CON 2016 is sold out in 2 hours… Thank you everyone!
— BoardGameGeek (@BoardGameGeek) March 3, 2016
Women in Games Spotlight: Girls Make Games
I’ve been following the work of Girls Make Games for a while now as it intersects my love of getting more girls into gaming and learning how to code. By gleeful happenstance, this past weekend, I was able to pop into a sold-out workshops. When I arrived, 25 girls were listening to instructions on how to code their games. Volunteers, most of them women, were at the ready to help with any problems. Looking at the Girls Make Games website, it’s a little odd to see Manchester, NH listed among the big cities where workshops generally take place.
And here’s where the importance of allies comes in.
One of the girls in the class had previously attended a Girls Make Games camp in Boston. Her father, Kevin Raymond, thought it would be great to have an event north of Boston so he worked with founder Laila Shabir of Girls Make Games and local NH game developer Patrick Ryan. Dyn, where the event was held, is a huge proponent of the local tech community. Dyn employees, Melissa Brun, Kayla Feudner, Bethany Ross, Pat Decker and Matt Krohn, volunteered their time for the 2-day workshop. The event was so successful, that there are talks among the organizers of trying to host a full 3-week this summer. So remember, although it sounds cheesy, one person can make a difference.
That’s all for this week. Until next week, happy gaming!
