PAX West Con Diary: Game Recommendations from Another Weird Year

PAX West Con Diary: Game Recommendations from Another Weird Year

PAX is a lot. It’s always been a lot. It’s always going to be a lot. It’s four days of walking through a dark convention center while neon lights illuminate computer cases. There’s inexplicably a carnival-themed booth that takes literal minutes to cross in the center of the con floor. Everything wants your attention, and it screams for that attention. (more…)

Digital Spaces for Digital Games: How BostonFIG Fest Virtual 2020 Brought a Show Online

Digital Spaces for Digital Games: How BostonFIG Fest Virtual 2020 Brought a Show Online

Like the Game Devs of Color Expo, the BostonFIG Fest was one of many events that had to adapt and change their show in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In typical circumstances, the annual games event is hosted around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, as noted in my recap of a previous year’s Fest. But because a pandemic simply does not magically disappear into the transition of a new year, the BostonFIG Fest went virtual in 2021, hosting its festivities on Gather. (more…)

An Inclusive Future: A Recap of Game Devs of Color Expo 2020

An Inclusive Future: A Recap of Game Devs of Color Expo 2020

Like many shows this past year, the Game Devs of Color Expo took things entirely online.

GDoCExpo was originally founded to create a much more inclusive space for marginalized creators in the games industry. GDoCExpo’s fifth year was hosted on Swapcard, a platform used to host online conferences and meetups. The convention had the format of a typical convention guidebook with information tabs on the guests, games, and their developers. (more…)

PAX West 2019: Personal Accounts of eXistentialism

PAX West 2019: Personal Accounts of eXistentialism

What is PAX?

I’m not asking that in like…a high school report sense, but an existential one. Am I PAX? Are we all PAX? I don’t know. Did you know that at PAX you could play a demo of Solasta: Crown of the Magister? I do, because I got many emails about it. A fun fact about me is the more aggressive a PR person is, the more likely I am to not engage. I am petty and filled with spite. (more…)

Creating a New Normal: A Recap of the Game Devs of Color Expo 2019

Creating a New Normal: A Recap of the Game Devs of Color Expo 2019

Returning to the historic Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York, the Game Devs of Color Expo celebrated its fourth year on June 27, 2019.

Originally launched in 2016, the show started as a way to address the racial disparities in the games industry. The Game Devs of Color Expo’s curation centers on work by creators of color and those of marginalized backgrounds⁠—more often than not, identities that are less likely to have the outreach to show at mainstream game events like PAX or GDC. (more…)