Why I Want to Make Games For Girls: A Rantifesto Part 3

Disclaimerz: The rant here is based on personal experience with gamers and non gamers. Also, I'm very obviously not a writer; I prefer using an informal, colloquial voice in my work. If you disagree with anything said here or have a suggestion, please read this post before responding. Let's start a dialogue--I want to learn from you and hear your side! 

You can read Part 2 in all its horrifying glory here 

 

Part 3: What a Girl Wants, What a Girl Needs

In the past two parts of my rantifesto, I wrote about the reasons more girls need to be involved in games, and why popular culture is still preventing that from happening on a large scale. But this last entry is probably the one I’d rather you read, if you read any at all (especially if you’re a game developer!). I’ve thought a lot about what games for girls absolutely need the most and have rooted it down to three key attributes devs have yet to address. If this is a topic that interests you and you’re making games for girls, consider whether or not you’re hitting these marks, and if not, what the reason for that is.

Awkward - a short romantic comedy (based on a doodle I made?)

Please, come in Dr. Kens! Here, have a seat--oh, but please close the door behind you, we don't want the rest of the lab to hear this. Thank you. Right, so onto--would you like some water?--no, there's nothing wrong, no need to worry. I was just.... well, I called you into my office today to address a small personal matter. Between us.

We're good friends, you and I--I daresay, no one else has been closer to me than you. Because you are one of the brightest human minds I have ever observed in my lifetime--let me finish--as soon as I brought you to work here at Labs with me, I wanted to be sure I could collaborate alongside you as often as possible. In light of that, in light of spending so much time together, I--there's no need to look so uncomfortable, doctor! Everything is fine, I simply... err, you see...Hm.

Thank you, no...actually, I'm feeling a little uncomfortable myself...only because I'm uncertain how to approach the subject. I'm sure you can imagine how unusual that is for me--I was programmed to be a perfect communicator! Well, how about I just come right out and ask this directly?

Dr. Kens, are you in love with me?


Dr. Kens, wait! come back here. Dr Kens, really now, you know you can't break that down. You designed the damn thing--Dr. Kens....

Why I Want to Make Games for Girls: A Rantifesto P2

Disclaimerz: The rant here is based on personal experience with gamers and non gamers. Also, I'm very obviously not a writer; I prefer using an informal, colloquial voice in my work. If you disagree with anything said here or have a suggestion, please read this post before responding. Let's start a dialogue--I want to learn from you and hear your side! 


you can read Part 1 in all it's horrifying glory here.

Part 2: On The Outside

So, geek culture is prevalent nowadays (at least where I’m at). It's unusual to pass a popular clothing or accessory store (particularly those that market to girls such as Claire’s, Justice, or Charlotte Rousse) without spotting a pair of thick rimmed spectacles, Hot Topics around the world are stocked to the nines with all your favorite franchises, and the ‘8bit’ graphic tee is very hot this season. It’s natural to assume gaming would be a lot more common and widespread, but I would argue that in spite of the mobile game rise and huge advances in accessibility, without having been raised with games, girls aren’t getting a positive, permanent introduction into them.

Why I Want to Make Games for Girls: A Rantifesto P1

Disclaimerz: The rant here is based on personal experience with gamers and non gamers. Also, I'm very obviously not a writer; I prefer using an informal, colloquial voice in my work. If you disagree with anything said here or have a suggestion, please read this post before responding. Let's start a dialogue--I want to learn from you and hear your side! 

You can read Part 2 in all its horrifying glory here

Part 1: Where Do I Start?

I’ve spent many sleepless nights combating anxiety, fearing the future, and puzzling over what life means to me. Pretty sure I’m not the only one who wonders about her place in the world, but I do it like, a lot. I am obsessed with my legacy to an unhealthy degree, and so I strive to put whatever talents I was born with and personal insight I was fortunate to receive to the best possible use; Sure, given my chosen specialties I probably can’t save the world but I can make it slightly enjoyable for someone else, I think. I hope.  Anyway, I worry about what my role as a converted gamer/game designer of the female persuasion can do for humanity.

Dantelyon - and games for girls

Behold- the first batch of visual development from my upcoming project, Dantelyon.
This was my last piece of artwork before heading to Mexico, and I really hope to continue writing and developing this over the course of my Summer, in true Game Development Blog fashion!

Indie3 was a blast!

I watched the team spin their camera around for the "closing ceremony", and it astonished me that an international event that sprung up over the course of a couple weeks, showing off hundreds of new games, inspiring and connecting countless developers, and having upwards of 800 viewers for almost four days straight was actually all put together in someone's cluttered apartment; the front door was just a few feet away from the kitchen, and anyone who wasn't on the air was getting a few minutes of precious sleep on the couch not far away. When I saw what a spectacular effort was put forth by this hardy bunch of passionate people, I felt my stomach churn much in the same way it does when I smell a a nice scent from my childhood I hadn't encountered for years, or when I hear the crescendo of Janelle Monae's Archandroid Suite ii. Call it sappy, but damn, it feels good to be alive in those moments.


I hope they do this again next year.

Game Phrases: Juice

I like words and I also like games and I also also like learning. I like putting things I like together, (except for cheddar cheese and dark chocolate, which are disgusting together,) and so I put together this short entry a while ago for a small single topic blog I made.

I was first inspired by Lars Doucet's wonderful contribution of the phrase "Procedural Death Labyrinth" in 2013. It was suggested as a better-suited descriptive term than Roguelike (or even Roguelike-like) to talk about a specific type of game genre. The game design community at large looked at what he had to say, looked to each other, and collectively agreed to adopt PDL into their vocabulary.

I started to think about other words that the community might have a need for, or other useful phrases that specific developers or designers have come up with which have not circulated enough to catch on. I'm hardly what one would call an authority on the subject; at best I'd like to be a bit of a curator of the fascinating and practical sorts of sayings I occasionally stumble upon. In the unlikely even that lots of people see this tiny labor of love, maybe it can be of use to them. I would like that very much.

Juice
In 2005, four grad students by the name of Kyle Gray, Kyle Gabler, Matt Kucic, and Shalin Shodhan wrote a Gamasutra article called "How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days", exploring the unconventional and sometimes even controversial lessons the group learned as they made prototypes for the Experimental Gameplay Project. Among other topics covered in the article, one was a new term the group used to refer to a particular kind of game feel that had to do with user feedback. Juice.


What does it mean?
from page 3 of the article:

“Juice” was our wet little term for constant and bountiful user feedback. A juicy game element will bounce and wiggle and squirt and make a little noise when you touch it. A juicy game feels alive and responds to everything you do – tons of cascading action and response for minimal user input. It makes the player feel powerful and in control of the world, and it coaches them through the rules of the game by constantly letting them know on a per-interaction basis how they are doing.
Some juicy examples you may have experienced might include:

• Alien Hominid – enemies exploding and flinging blood to an almost unjustified extent
• Mario Bros. – bouncing through a room full of coins, blinging with satisfaction
• Pachinko - a never-ending gush of balls all under your control
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo – animation and sprites abound on multiple chains

See also:
"Juice" has seen a recent rise in popularity as other game developers have adopted the descriptive term and attempted to explore it in their own ways.

• Martin Jonasson & Petri Purho's  talk, "Juice it or Lose it" is a very popular video which demonstrates the benefit of Juice in a live demo. They later added in another presentation of the same talk the idea that Juice should not be a replacement for good game design, merely a compliment to same.
• I also found a very robust thesis written by a one Simeon Atanasov that studies juiciness in depth in a number of different game genres. I would highly recommend this little gem to anyone who wants to know more.