2019: The Year in Review
I’ve learned one thing — there’s just no non-cliched way around writing these posts. It’s easy to look back on a period of time and cherry-pick the highs and the lows. But the truth is, most of our real work is done in the periods in between, tucked away at GMG’s office in Raleigh, North Carolina, with no deadlines looming.
2019 has been a most memorable year for Girls Make Games. The program is now 5 years old, employs nearly 100 people annually — of which roughly 70% are aspiring young game devs (learn more about them here) — and has reached over 21,000 girls in 89 cities through its offerings: curriculum, workshops, summer camps and games created by GMG’s bright alumnae.
Based on critical feedback from the team, I’m keeping my list short this time around: just 3 highlights from 2019.
Our girls top the list always, they are the reason GMG exists and their passion for creative expression and love of games keeps us going. We’ve never done this before, but seeing that it’s the end of the decade I’d like to share the responses from our summer camp survey for you to get a sneak peek into the mind of a 12 year old girl game dev: GMG 2019 Camper Survey
I’m proud of how hard the GMG team has worked, pulling all stops to create something incredible.
I’m grateful to be a part of a truly special industry that supports and champions diversity and invests in the next generation.
Here’s to a healthy, happy, thriving 2020!
Happy New Year!
Laila Shabir,
Founder & CEO, Girls Make Games
1. Girls Made Games (almost) Everywhere!
From London to Guildford in the UK and Madrid, Valencia, Malaga in Spain, to Peru, Lima and even top game company offices: Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo of America, GMG brought together over 1,200 girls around the world to learn game development.
These amazing girls made games covering a range of themes: climate change, friendship, family, nutrition, ocean exploration and so much more. Check out the 2019 Summer Camp Games here.
We’re especially proud of this year’s Demo Day winners: Team Atlantis from Durham NC, who won the Grand Prize for their game “What They Don’t Sea”. Keep an eye out for their game Kickstarter launching early 2020!
This year we also reached milestone numbers in terms of financial aid: GMG doubled the number of financial aid recipients, providing 117 girls with full scholarships and 402 partial scholarships in the US as well as around the world.
The GMG scholarship fund is supported by our amazing partners: Xbox, PlayStation, Take Two, Humble Bundle, Nintendo of America, Google Play, Double Fine Studios and several others.
2. We Launched the GMG Portal
The GMG Portal is magical place where girls (or anyone!) with an internet connection can learn everything that goes into becoming a game developer. We’ve got tutorials, inspiring videos, resources for college applications, scholarships, games internships and more — all in one place.
Check out https://www.girlsmakegames.com/tutorials and learn how to make + publish your first game!
The GMG Portal was made possible through immense support from: PlayStation, Xbox and Google Play.
3. GMG published games designed by girls on PlayStation, Xbox and Google Play!
It’s been a busy year! ^ ^
GMG’s very spooky game Interfectorem launched on the PlayStation store earlier this year (just in time for Halloween!).
The game launch was celebrated by a blog post featuring an interview with Izzy Penston, the lead designer and writer on the game.
Read the full blog post here: https://blog.us.playstation.com/2019/10/08/interfectorum-the-first-published-title-from-girls-make-games-out-today/
Who remembers GMG’s most adorable game, BlubBlub: Quest of the Blob? If you haven’t played it yet, the game is out now (free) on Xbox! Also available on Steam and itch.io, so you have no reason not to rescue cuteness in 2020.
We also had our hands full this year with Google Play’s diversity initiative, Change the Game. For the last 2 years, Google Play has run a game design contest for teen girls. The top 5 contestants get an amazing prize: getting your game developed, published and featured on Google Play!
Bottom left: Brightlove, by Anna; Middle: Yume, by Neha; Bottom right: Lune, by Bridgette
The GMG team has had the privilege to work alongside the incredible 5 winners. Learn more about them and play their games here: https://play.google.com/about/changethegame/designchallenge2019/
Thank you for joining us on this journey of magical game making! We can’t wait to see what adventures the next decade will bring! ❤
Much love,
Team GMG
