Maurine Starkey is a founding member of Westwood Studios. She has worked as an art instructor, lead artist, art director, creative director, producer and game designer for over 24 years, plus continues to paint, sculpt, storyboard, and illustrate books, paper games, and comic books. (more…)
What do you get when you put together a writer, artist, designer, academic, and activist all in one? Mary Flanagan and her work at Tiltfactor, the first academic center to focus on social activist games. We had the chance to nab up an interview with Mary all about her work and role in feminist game design. Because, yes, games can be feminist!
I consider myself both an artist and a writer. Sometimes I’ll say I’m a writer first and an artist second; sometimes it’s the other way around. My career is art and my full-time hobby is writing.
In an attempt to remedy the fact that only 9% of game artists are women and they make on average over $10,000 less per year than their male counterparts (Source: Game Career Guide, 2007), Notes on Game Dev launched the Aspiring Women Game Artists Contest with a fully paid scholarship to the Sessions Online School of Game Art as the grand prize.
The depth behind the main character Kratos from the God of War series is immense. One story of many tells of how Kratos’ skin is gray because he is covered in the ashes of his family. Although this has not explicitly appeared in game content thus far, the layers of stories add to a rich background that fans gather together. And who is responsible for this level of detail? Game writer Marianne Krawczyk, who took the time to talk about her experience working on the God of War games, which are undoubtedly continuing with the currently in-development God of War 3.
So what’s it like writing for Massively Multiplayer Games? Definitely intense in research and writing. Tracy Seamster, once a quest designer for Sony Online Entertainment’s EverQuest II, has now moved on as a writer for The Agency, a merge between FPS and MMO with a modern setting. After years of medieval writing, she’s now transitioning to modern dialog and quest storylines as the game develops for PlayStation 3.
About a month ago, Notes on Game Dev started up a conversation mostly added to by members of the International Game Developers Association Women in Game Development group. The initial discussion inspired a series of interviews with women in the game industry.
First up is moboid game designer Heather Kelley for her involvement in everything from AAA next-gen console games, interactive smart toys, handheld games, to web communities for girls. Most recently, she was the Kraus Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, and Adjunct Faculty at the Entertainment Technology Center, both at Carnegie Mellon University. And by the way, on the side, she co-chairs for the IGDA Women group, whew!
9% of game artists are women and they make on average over $10,000 less per year than their male counterparts (Source: Game Career Guide, 2007). Notes on Game Dev invites all women aspiring game artists to submit an essay to the 2008 NoGD Aspiring Women Game Artists Competition for a chance at a full time scholarship to Sessions Online School of Game Art.
So, I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a conversation at a game industry event go something like this…
General introductions, followed by explaining that I’m a game writer (and yes indeed, that game writers are good for something), followed by information about their company, followed by a line like: “You should come work for us, we’re trying to get into the women market and could really use a woman on the team.”
Well, thanks.
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When I began employment at WayForward in 2001, I was the only female among the 12-20 employees (at that time). This wasn’t a role I sought, as it can be uncomfortable to be the only one. But the animation program I went through in college was about 80% male, so I was used to the ratio. There isn’t much difference between men and women in a work environment.
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