Support Black Game Developers
Why should we give extra love & support to Black game developers? The Game Developers of Color (GDoC) Expo put it best: “The gaming population mirrors the world population, but the game development industry does not. “ A 2016 report by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) found that only 3% of people working in games in the U.S. are Black, compared with 13% of the nation's population as a whole. Black developers are a minority, but the community is growing, and a lot of avenues for support are popping up thanks to folx in the industry who use their platform to support others. An additional increase in accessibility for digital art, programming, and design learning is helping more people find their own way to game development. Today we aim to celebrate this growing community of Black game developers and showcase just a piece of this collective body of work. We’ll also provide many, many links so you can do some exploring on your own!
Games to Buy and Play
Financial support is the most powerful method of supporting marginalized creators, so it’s important that you buy games, become a patron, recommend Black developers when you hear of open positions at game studios, and hire the immensely qualified Black developers who are applying at your studios. If you don’t have the financial power to support right now, please follow these games & their teams on twitter and share their work with your friends and followers!
*this list is not all-encompassing! We encourage you to keep searching if games by Black developers are not readily available to you. You can also reply in the comments with the games and studios that you think deserve to be lifted up. Please refrain from linking the personal accounts of developers you know without their expressed permission.
Super Space Club
“In Super Space Club, journey alongside a group of anthropomorphic heroes as they set out to be the top-ranked defenders of the galaxy. You'll take on various missions, partake in several space dogfights, and jam out to lo-fi beats in this chill, arcade-style shooter.”
Hair Nah
Hair Nah was made because Momo Pixel got tired of women trying to touch their hair when they were travelling. Make a customized character and protect your hair by slapping away the reaching hands.
Never Yield
“Aerial_Knight's Never Yield is a 3D side-scroller that plays much like a classic endless runner, with an interesting story and a conclusion. The player is always in motion. Run, Jump, Slide or if you choose to speed run the game, Dash for acrobatic variants to avoid the challenges that await. Players take the role of Wallace. A mysterious African American kid out to recover some of his past and expose the truth. Hopefully he's fast enough to out run his fate long enough to change things.”
Show your support:
Follow Aerial Knight on Twitter
Hire Aerial Knight at your studio
Patiently await the release of Never Yield, this dev is making this in their free time!
Art Club Challenge
“Solve challenges by making abstract art while unleashing your creativity. Playing as an art student striving to prove yourself, progress through the game’s narrative as you complete challenges. Push the boundaries of your artistic abilities, while tasked with creating familiar objects utilizing only a small color palate and limited shapes. Share your masterpieces with your friends through the online gallery and explore how others completed the same challenges while creating their own unique and personalized works of art.”
Breeze in the Clouds
“Breeze in the Clouds is a 2D single-player action/adventure game for featuring a corgi named Breeze who gets swept away from his home and into the weather world of Tropolis! Explore different areas, combat baddies, problem solve, gain weather powers, and become friends with weather phenomena along the way.”
Show your support:
*pre-alpha development builds are available to Patreon supporters
Tiny Bird Garden Deluxe
“Welcome to Tiny Bird Garden Deluxe—a game about meeting and befriending a cast of strange, silly, magical little birds. Set up and customize your garden space; the Tiny Birds will come and go as they please, as long as you’ve left out toys and seed for them to enjoy—even when you aren’t there.”
Skate and Date
“Skate & Date is a roller derby rhythm ga(y)me where you play as Maggie, the lead jammer of the Rockin Rollergirls! She has a bit of a crush on Patricia – one of the opponents on the rival team. Your objective: to impress her with your sick roller derby skills!”
Show your support:
SweetXheart
“Can you get through a week in the life of a modern black woman? SweetXheart (pronounced “sweetheart”) is a slice-of-life visual novel about microagressions, race, and gender. The game shares creative technologist Catt Small's perspective on being a Black woman seeking success in life, school, and her career. Players act as Kara, a 19-year-old girl from the Bronx who attends an art college and interns at a tech company.
Over five fictional days, players experience the highs and lows of life, including small interactions such as swiping a phone in the morning to wake up, getting dressed in the morning, and commuting to work. Minute choices such as the chosen type of outfit affect Kara’s life. Her stress level changes based on interactions with other characters.”
She Dreams Elsewhere
“SHE DREAMS ELSEWHERE is a surreal adventure RPG about dreams and the extent to which they mirror reality. You are Thalia Sullivan, a high strung, anxiety-ridden, comatose woman on a journey to defeat the nightmares preventing her awakening all while finding out how exactly this mess happened in the first place. Unfortunately, some nightmares are harder to confront than others…”
Game Studios to Celebrate
Brass Lion Entertainment - New York
“Brass Lion Entertainment is an entertainment studio focused on creating original fictional universes that center on Black, Brown, and other traditionally marginalized characters, cultures, and stories. Brass Lion is a diverse and inclusive environment where creatives of all backgrounds can thrive and bring unique and compelling stories to market – changing the landscape in interactive spaces and beyond.”
Their current title in development is Corner Wolves, “a fictional universe set in Harlem during the mid-90s, where Jacinte, a young Afro-Latina, embarks on a mission to find her father's killer. Corner Wolves tells the stories of young people growing up in the hood, and how their lives are shaped and defined by the war on drugs, as they are caught between dope dealers, hustlers, and overzealous police.”
Ubisoft - Toronto
Ubisoft Toronto, the studio that brought us titles like Watchdogs: Legion, Far Cry 5, For Honor, and more just hosted a Black Game Pros Mixer (#UbiBGP) last week that we think deserves a standing ovation. The event included a panel where Black industry professionals were able to candidly discuss things like the processes behind choosing to enter this industry and their personal stances on diversity & inclusion efforts and hiring in game studios. The fact that a well-known AAA studio recognizes disparities enough to host an event where underrepresented professionals in their circle can gather and discuss topics like this and get to know each other is largely unprecedented. We hope more AAA studios can keep the ball rolling and host thoughtful conversations like this year-round.
Organizations & Events
We’re tying up this post with some organizations who are doing the good work of boosting support and representation for Black game developers of the world. If you’re a game dev of color, seek these organizations out & build up your support system! If you’re a white person / game developer, we ask that you be respectful of these spaces and the work they do - please refrain from centering yourself in the narratives of these organizations. Thank you!
GameHeads (Oakland)
“Based out of Oakland, CA, Gameheads uses video game design, development and DevOps to engage, prepare and train low-income youth and youth of color ages 15 to 24 in the Bay Area for careers in the tech and video game industries. Through a powerful medium that youth are familiar with and passionate about, our students learn how to code, design, manage projects, work in teams, lead, and create interactive projects that tell stories to enrich us all. In the process, they are also graduating from high school, getting into college to pursue STEAM-related degrees and preparing themselves to enter the tech and video game industries.”
Gameheads envisions “a world where low income youth and youth of color are equipped to thrive and succeed in any field they choose, including the tech and video game industries.”
POC In Play (London)
“POC in Play is an independent organisation creating a range of initiatives and programme of events designed to increase the visibility and representation of People of Colour in the video games industry. We aim to work with industry, educators and other diversity organisations to create more opportunities for all. The POC in Play team comprises of games industry professionals from a range of backgrounds and experiences, but who all share a passion to drive impactful change and open the door for more People of Colour.”
Ubongo Game Lab (Zambia)
“At Ubongo Game Lab, we’re actively interested in facilitating the growth of game development within Zambia and Sub-Saharan Africa through workshops, training and providing resources to game developers within the region. We see it as an opportunity to create meaningful interactive content, transform education and preserve local art and culture on our continent. Since 2015 we’ve had our interests set on increasing African women’s participation in game development with our annual Games Plus Girls workshop and some upcoming projects for 2019 and beyond.”
I Need Diverse Games (Illinois)
“I Need Diverse Games, via all associated platforms and members; including but not limited to: twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other mediums seeks to bring projects, works and research by marginalized folks to light. We also seek to discuss, analyze and critique identity and culture in video games through a multi-faceted lens rooted in intersectionality.”
Press: https://queerspacemagazine.com/beyond-scruffy-mcscruffy-why-we-need-diverse-games/
Black Girls Code (Regional locations in USA & South Africa)
The vision of Black Girls Code is “to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology. To provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040.”
Black Girl Gamers (Online)
“Black Girl Gamers is a online platform based community that aims to positively promote diversity and affect change within the gaming industry. Initially created as a safe space in 2015, void of the sexism and racism (misogynoir) widely experienced in gaming, the platform has grown from its original purpose to become the hub for all things gaming from the black woman perspective. With a membership of 2400 multifaceted gamers, streamers and game developers that continues to grow, the BGG community has become a visible and impactful movement being featured in the press and on panels to provide insight into how Black Women experience gaming and how to progress forward.”
Game Devs of Color Expo (NYC)
This is a games conference that puts game creators of color at the forefront, and provides space to “talk about anything but our own marginalization.”
Thank you devs, thank you readers, extra special thank you SUPPORTERS.
Send us proof that you supported one of these organizations or developers and we’ll put you in a drawing for a limited edition dip-dye Rad Magpie t-shirt in your size! Names will be drawn at the end of March, 2020. Again, this list of games and studios is not all-encompassing. We encourage you to reply in the comments with more Black-centric games and studios that you think deserve to be lifted up. Please refrain from linking the personal accounts of developers you know without their expressed permission.