GameMaker Pride Week: Are Indie Games Inclusive Enough?

The LGBT+ community has struggled for accurate representation - and even simple recognition - in mainstream media for years. But there are signs of a turning tide.

Within the games industry, more and more LGBT+ characters and stories are being written: Ellie from The Last Of Us, Parvati in The Outer Worlds, and Undyne in Undertale to name just a few. 

According to a 2020 games industry census compiled by Ukie, 21% of those working in the UK games industry identified as LGBT+. Xbox recently announced a partnership with GLAAD to increase LGBT+ representation in their future games. Itch.io now releases a yearly Queer Games Bundle during Pride Month.

Everywhere you look, progress is being made - but is it being made quickly enough? Can more be done to encourage the LGBT+ community to join the industry and share their stories through their games?

This week is GameMaker Pride Week (#GameMakerPride), where we’ll be highlighting the incredible work of not only LGBT+ game developers, but the games that star or tell the stories of LGBT+ characters.

Across the week, we’ll be exploring representation in indie gaming with a series of interviews:

• A few words of advice on how to include LGBT+ themes and characters with the creators of Blood Nova, Aviv Salinas and Ross Gardner.

• Talk on the inclusivity of the indie game development scene with Tobey from Samobee Games, the studio behind Princess Farmer.

• Discussion about potential backlash LGBT+ games can face, with the Deconstructeam trio, Jordi de Paco, Marina González, and Paula Ruiz, developers of The Red Strings Club.

• A delightful conversation with surprise guests!

LGBT+ developers and Games in the GameMaker community

• Allison James, developer of Ne Touchez Pas 5 and Sympathy for the level

• Line, sound designer

• Gagonfe, developer of Archaeogem

• Nana, developer of Virgo Versus The Zodiac

• Shaun Spalding, youtuber and game developer

• SamobeeGames, developer of Princess Farmer

• Cosmic Void, developers of Blood Nova

• Logan, developer of Seals of Bygone

• Lena Raine, Composer & Game developer

• Greg Lobanov, developer of Chicory

• Rata, pixel artist and game developer

• ThalesNobre, concept artist

• Nael, pixel artist and game developer

• Bea Henrique, game developer

• Richard, artist and developer of Fliese

• Saria lemes, sound designer in Super Chicken Jumper

• Dani Serranú, sound designer in Moonleap

• Hatim b, developer of https://hatimb00.itch.io/talking-to-my-dad

• Fiore, developer of Neo-Gensokyo Zero

• Spider Lily Studios, developer of Retrace

• Baku, developer of  Satan Loves Cake

• Griffin Cyan, developer of Omurice Next Time

• Hazel HASNOGAME, developer of HEXXXED
  

• Riuku, developer of Eti Tyty 2

• Owl New Worlds, developer of Love You Up
  

• Paige Marincak, developer of Gataela
  

• Fiskyfisko, developer of  Sang: The Desert Blade
  

• Benjamin Kiefer, developer of Revita
  

• Studio_DigitalC, developer of Chained
  

• Vertebrae Entertainment, developers of Antidote
  

• Nick Vinkel, developer of Super Squares Island

• Tydecon Games, developer of Cookies & Cataracts and Disc Recovery

• The Fox Knocks, developer of Nomad Survival

Should your game be on this list? Send us a message on Twitter!