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Shawn Alexander Allen
Artist. Writer. Game Designer. Activist. Critic. Speaker. Making Treachery in @Beatdown_City Made
Corporate Vandals Support #blackgamedev
Jun 14
Revolutionary But Game Devs
On June 24th, the
Game Developers of Color Expo will have its second annual event, this time at the historic
Schomburg Center in Harlem, and I couldn’t be more excited.
It was almost 4 years ago that I first gave a talk called “How Urban Black and Latino Cultures Can Be the Next Frontier for Indie Games” in which I examined the possibilities and very real reasons behind the dearth of black and Latino creators making video games, despite the large swath of creative artforms pioneered by these groups. It’s especially disappointing on the “indie” games scale, because the tools, processes, and information are more open and available to “everyone” than ever before.
The talk garnered praise, I gave it at some expos, some festivals, and even at NYU, but there was a problem that has been bothering me for years; I wanted large amounts of change now, and it still feels very slow going. The talk grew my own social capital at events and locations with their own political agendas, and led me to meeting a few new faces, but overall I think the talk missed its mark: empowering the marginalized with the means to actually become that “next frontier.”
I have spent the last few years at games events, where black and brown faces are often few and far between, looking for those people who are making games, or interested in games on a deeper level, or tired of being represented poorly, to shake hands with, and give words of encouragement to; the words I wish I had been told when starting out. Through this, I’ve come to the realization that no matter what, at the end of the day it is up to us to climb the seemingly insurmountable walls of an industry that was created without our direct involvement (on a creative side, but very much supported by our wallets), and to grow our influence in it “by any means necessary”, like the great Malcolm X said.
Much like Malcolm’s final push for Black liberation, in which he co-founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity with the goal to unify black people globally, I think those means require community building, a willingness to learn, to push boundaries, and constructively critique each other and accept that criticism to make our work better. There is a very real fact, that as marginalized creators we are, on the whole, very far behind in the art of game making — but that’s okay. We have plenty to work with, to work around and to study. There are a slew of examples of successes and failures, whether measured as purely monetary, striving to achieve a certain level of expression, creating that balanced — or highly imbalanced — system, reinventing or imagining a new form of artistic design, and everything in between.
The team organizing the Game Developers of Color Expo has a diverse set of ideas, personalities, and backgrounds. When they asked me to come on board, I enthusiastically said, “Yes!” because, even though I am working a ton on
my own game (on top of a day job, while making time for other cultural enrichment and life, in general) the idea behind the
#gdocexpo is
revolutionary; to create an event with the explicit goal of specifically lifting people of color up by presenting excellence in the space. An event that features speakers who represent our growing presence in the space while also looking toward the art, history, and culture that surrounds us to strive to be a driving force in game creation.
So let’s come together at the
Game Devs of Color Expo, share our stories, ideas, and our games. Let’s bond on commonalities, and argue creative philosophies, art styles, and rulesets, as we work to usher in a new era where we are a much greater number of the creators, and our creations leave their marks on the art of game design, and the greater world around us.
i love seeing brehs and brehettes getting a chance to shine in the gaming world. these other groups of color tho. i could care less
