By Aisha Sane
The discussion about diversity in games has been hot for a number of years. It’s no longer just about the characters in the games. The question of who develops the games and storylines is also becoming increasingly important.
Accordingly, in the FM4 game chamber we are dedicating this week to games by black developers. More specifically, we’re looking at the black-owned and fairly small award-winning development studio Weathered Sweater an.
So far, Weathered Sweater has released smaller games like “Skator Gator” or “Super Sky Mech”. Here, players either fend off an alien invasion or play the role of an alligator defending their swamp – in the midst of an oil spill – against attackers. The latest project, however, is the interactive visual novel Dot’s Home.
In “Dot’s Home” the young black protagonist Dot travels back in time from her grandmother’s house in Detroit. Not randomly, but at key moments in their family history. In the visual novel, doors don’t work as usual, it quickly becomes apparent.
Weathered Sweater
From the first few minutes of the game, Dot, like Dottie, is surprised when entering her grandmother’s house: “I could have sworn the door wasn’t locked.” This is where a meaningful collection of keys comes into play for the first time. Dottie gains access to her grandmother’s home with a classic front door key. But it will be a glittering golden one that allows her to leap into the past from her own room.
The flashbacks to bygone moments allow Dottie to confront intergenerational issues plaguing her family. The effects of structural poverty, racial discrimination and gentrification shape the story told here.
Weathered Sweater
Not all games by the “Weathered Sweater” studio address racism and blackness with such clarity. However, games do not have to explicitly address such content in order to be able to tell Black stories. This is what founder Ryan Huggins thinks: “One widely known issue among Black game developers is how financers, funders, and publishers are often incapable of understanding why they should fund a ‘Black story’ unless they are being beaten over the head with the Blackness. It’s all very performative and so we focus on telling any story we want. By virtue of Black leadership and involvement the story becomes a Black story.”
According to Ryan, it’s not enough just to have more black developers pitching projects. Ultimately, it is up to industry decision-makers whether the stories of marginalized developers can be told authentically.
“It really doesn’t matter how many People of Colour there are on your team if the people in charge are white guys forcing you to make whatever they want. There is a form of resistance against this top-down whiteness that’s possible when you have enough People of Colour at varying levels within an organization.”
Weathered Sweater
Games by black developers in the FM4 game chamber show
Tonight (02/23/2022) everything revolves around games by black developers in the FM4 Spielekammerl. Gersin Paya and Aischa Sane welcome the Viennese games influencer Playr One and also watch one or the other game by Weathered Sweater.