This article is part of a collaboration with the wonderful hosts over at No Small Games. We are so excited to feature these insightful thoughts from Emily, and please stay tuned for a future article from Kate. Find more information on No Small Games and Emily at the end of this article.
Growing up, a young millennial girl in the 90s and 00s, I didn’t have a lot of role models to look up to as a budding gamer. The one person who stands out in my mind is Morgan Webb, formerly the co-host of G4’s gaming review show X-Play. Her confidence, humor, and wealth of knowledge about games made me feel like there could be a place for me in gaming, too. But there was always a little bit of a strain, and I often felt like I was trespassing in a subculture clearly defined for boys and men, especially when the events of GamerGate got set off like a bomb in the dev community. These days, I am eternally grateful that little girls have an abundance of funny, smart, creative women to look up to in game development and media. This list represents just a few of the women in games who I deeply admire.
Meghna Jayanth: All Will Rise
If you’ve been a fan of indie games for any significant amount of time, there’s a good chance you’ve played a game that Meghna Jayanth has worked on, though you may not know it yet. Narrative designers play a pivotal, but often invisible, role in a game’s development. They help to weave the gameplay together with the story the game is trying to tell and take on the challenge of crafting an impactful narrative experience that hits all the right beats once all control is out of their hands and in the hands of the player. Jayanth has written and designed narratives for games like 80 Days, Boyfriend Dungeon, Thirsty Suitors, and the upcoming narrative deckbuilder All Will Rise.
I first began following Jayanth after listening to her guest appearance on Simon Parkin’s podcast My Perfect Console (one of my absolute favorite shows about the deep impact video games can have on our lives). At the time, she was promoting the imminent release of Thirsty Suitors, a game that I was impatiently awaiting. Thirsty Suitors dazzled with its cast of charming and fierce characters, unapologetically body- and sex-positive, and queer as hell. I came away from that episode featuring Jayanth, dazzled by her, as well. Her sharp wit and unabashed honesty when talking about the realities of working in the games industry felt refreshing and inspiring. Her passion for telling stories that impact individuals but also make a statement shone through clearly in her conversation with Parkin.
Now Jayanth is working on a new project that I’m, of course, anxiously awaiting, All Will Rise. This narrative courtroom deckbuilder from the new studio Speculative Agency seeks to fulfill that mission to make a statement through gaming. From my experience of the demo, it doesn’t pull any punches in its depiction of capitalism’s abuse of both climate and community. Jayanth’s work, past and present, is a beacon to the indie game community, reminding us that games can do more than reflect back the world we live in; they can help to shape it.
Rocío Tomé Wax Heads
Creating a game, especially an indie game with a very small team, requires a certain level of vulnerability and courage. Actually developing the game live for an audience, with all the messiness and bug fixing and refactoring that inherently form part of the coding process, is basically a game developer’s version of skydiving. As a developer myself, I can confirm that live coding even for one other person can imbue one with abject terror. But Spanish game dev Rocío Tomé of Patattie Games is just that much of a badass.
She currently works on a team of two, along with creative partner Murray Somerwolff, on the upcoming record store management sim Wax Heads. The game itself is wacky and irreverent and filled with a joy for music. I had a delightful time playing the demo and highly recommend that folks check it out prior to its release sometime this year. But beyond that, I admire Tomé greatly for her cool, calm, and thoughtful demeanor as she livestreams her development process on her Twitch channel. She balances the nitty-gritty work of programming with funny and insightful discussions with her chat, and I always leave her streams feeling inspired.
A.M. Darke Open Source Afro Hair Library
One of the most powerful experiences that video games deliver is the ability to see yourself as the protagonist of a meaningful journey. Thoughtful and detailed character creation allows players to bring themselves to life in the world of the game and is such a rich experience that some players find it to be the most enjoyable part of playing. But for far too long, this experience has been specifically honed for a white, European audience, leaving many players wondering when they will get the chance to see their authentic selves step into that hero role. Black hair and hairstyles, in particular, have been neglected as advancements in 3D modeling have been made with a strong focus on white hair. The result is we see the same three Black hairstyles repeated in game after game after game.
Game designer and UC Santa Cruz professor A.M. Darke is seeking to bridge this gap. She founded the Open Source Afro Hair Library as part of her research into developing more sophisticated and authentic algorithms for rendering Black hair in video games. The database features quality-tested 3D assets that game developers can use to honor and celebrate Black hair and, thereby, Black Culture, through authentic representation. In addition to her research and work curating OSAHL, Darke also develops her own games and serves as faculty in UC Santa Cruz’s Creative Technologies program. In so many ways, from so many angles, her work is serving players and game devs today, at the same time as it paves the way for the Black game devs of tomorrow to more easily and authentically tell their stories.
In short, hair is personal, hair is political, hair is pivotal to helping everyone feel seen in the games they play, and A.M. Darke’s work is incredibly powerful.
Emily Pitcher aka Sondering Emily lily’s world XD
Emily Pitcher, also known online as SonderingEmily, is the game developer behind lily’s world XD. This upcoming psychological horror game is one part Y2K nostalgia fest and one part digital investigation mystery, where you’re tasked with exploring an old laptop belonging to Lily, a teen girl in the early 2000s.
Now, I love when horror explores and shines a light on the dark sides of girlhood and womanhood. We’ve seen this recently in the horror film scene with movies like The Substance and Companion. And SonderingEmily does a great job of reminding us that horror is for the girlies too by delivering the thrilling narrative in an unabashedly bubblegum-pop retro package while revealing the insidious side of coming of age as a teen girl in the era of the internet.
Of course you should follow SonderingEmily for updates on lily’s world XD, but by doing so, you will likely also find yourself discovering a host of other amazing indie games. In addition to developing games, Pitcher also creates gaming content and uses her voice to lift up and highlight other games and devs, always with her unique voice. Every time her posts cross my feed, I feel compelled to stop and scroll through her lists with topics like “niche video game art styles I’m obsessed with” and “horror games that make you question reality.” To me, SonderingEmily embodies the idea that when indie game devs lift each other up, everybody wins.
Jade Meadows Blue Ridge Hunting
Sometimes a game comes along that promises to bring you along for an experience you’ve been secretly yearning to have but will likely never get to live out in the flesh. Those gaming experiences are always so special to me. Solo developer Jade Meadows is crafting an adventure that tickled my imagination in this precise way, with her upcoming co-op horror title Blue Ridge Hunting. As a fan of all things strange and paranormal, I find myself fascinated by the bizarre and haunting lore of the Appalachian Mountains. In Blue Ridge Hunting, you get to visit this region with your friends, venturing out into the wilderness to gather evidence of mysterious cryptids.
Appalachia is home to stunning landscapes, rich cultural traditions, and a complicated history. Meadows is endeavoring to do this region justice in her game and has documented her real-life explorations, from Kentucky to West Virginia to Maryland, and how they inspired the locations within Blue Ridge Hunting. Her personal connection to the setting shines through in this project. I look forward to having my own (virtual) adventures through this historically underserved and undervalued region, thanks to Meadows.
