BOYS AND GIRLS in October
October 1st, 2010
Now that games are officially art, we can think of games as windows into our culture, just like film and music are windows into our culture. An anthropologist thousands of years from now can go to the floating public library in the sky and load up “video games from 2010″ on the microfiche and learn all about our culture way back in 2010. And they would learn that thousands of years ago, there used to be TWO genders, BOYS and GIRLS, instead of the green glowing orb of energy that everyone is now, and that according to “game designers” back then, boys and girls both had a lot in common! They both had arms and legs and inability to communicate with the other, but they were also really different! Games made for boys indicated that boys liked stealing cars and murdering and being lonely, and girls liked being pretty, and making themselves sad because they will never be a princess.
With that in mind, your challenge this month is different depending who you are:
- Boys: Make a game for girls.
- Girls: Make a game for boys.
- Other/Green glowing orb: Surprise everyone!
If you need inspiration, read about how Pac-Man was created over on Eurogamer. And consider this our official request to inspire more folks other than boys to make games, in a classic friendly battle of boys vs. girls vs. other. Good luck!
We're a group of indie game developers, running a friendly competition every month. The rules: Make a game based on the month's theme, and don't spend more than 7 days. New games posted at the end of every month.
45 Comments, Comment or Ping
Is hentai considered?
October 1st, 2010
this one will be interesting ….
( probably lots of people will get offended )
October 1st, 2010
To put it simple, a 360 mag I brought yesterday (and a few online sources) said something about girls liking social, music and puzzle games (not to say there are not some who like shooting). I know that my sister for instance, enjoys god games and cares about whether the ingame characters like it or not (even if the characters are programmed to like everything, a la sims customisation).
October 1st, 2010
If I actually consider myself to be Other/Glowing green orb, is it really okay for me to come up with something crazy and surprise everyone? Assuming this comment doesn’t function as a warning?
October 1st, 2010
I hope I know what I’m gonna make for this one :\
October 1st, 2010
What about a “Boys vs Girls” thing? Or is that considerd rather green glowing orbish? :D
October 2nd, 2010
when I’ve told my girl friends about this, one response I got was: “rainbows! stars! kittens!” and the other was “extreme shopping! you have to fight a bunch of people to get clothes and shoes! credit card blade!”
the latter suggestion was made mockingly; the former was made in complete, and very excited, seriousness.
if the game I make ends up seeming sexist, I want it to be known that it’s totally not my fault :P
October 2nd, 2010
I think this will be a good one!
October 3rd, 2010
my game will have many oily muscular men such as myself
October 3rd, 2010
Is it convenient to code when you’re oily?
October 4th, 2010
Ladies seem to like constructive gameplay. At least that is what I thought, when I read about a girl always losing in Starcraft, because she always concentrated on the base building only and neglected the attack/defense part.
October 4th, 2010
I think we could take out the “other” that kind of nullifiest the idea of boy for girl and girl for boy idea.
October 5th, 2010
This will be difficult. The first thing that came to my mind was “bejeweled!!!” but I’m not even sure this applies as a girls game.
The replies by David Smith and Hardnheavy are interesting by the way.
October 6th, 2010
Ben:
It’s possible to make a really fun game with rainbows and stars and kittens.
It’s also possible to make a seething mass of unplayable crap. (Try to avoid that.)
It’s not sexist to make something cute – you’d only start getting that way if you decided to make a ‘cute’ game that consisted of nothing but walking over to a kitten and immediately getting a “YAY YOU WIN!” under some bizarre idea that female players only want games easy enough to play in their sleep. With their toes.
If you want to go the cute route, first make a fun game, then make it *adorable*.
SirEggplant: But then our genderqueer friends will feel unloved!
October 7th, 2010
Well, I’ve taken a girl-friendly game (Dance Dance Revolution) and converted it into a boy-oriented zombie shooter. Dance with one hand, which spawns zombies that you have to kill with your other hand.
Does that count? I’m enjoying making it anyway. :)
October 7th, 2010
My girlfriend suggested an arnold simulator for the “boy” game. Where you have to live out arnolds entire life, not just the shooting parts. I suggested that you could make the shooting parts extremely difficult because a director keeps yelling cut and telling you that you messed up.
October 7th, 2010
Cool looks like i was the first to finish this time
Introducing: The Life and Times of Mister Sneaky
http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/other/the-life-and-times-of-mister-sneaky/3687/
have fun babes ;P
October 10th, 2010
Damnit!! I wanted to be first!! Oh well.
here’s mine http://alllen.tumblr.com/post/1288990227/agoodwife
it’s a little rough around the edges, but I was running out of time and patience.
October 10th, 2010
Here is our entry for this month contest: Ovum.
The main objective of this game is quite simple: don’t become pregnant! Use nano-technology to keep spermatozoa away for the ovum. Every time you win a level you earn cash which can be used to purchase more nano-machines.
Controls:
Use your mouse to aim the nano-turrets and click to shoot.
URL:
http://www.gametronstudios.com/newsite/?p=205
October 11th, 2010
.. see, from the description, a wife game sounds like a classic example of REALLY DAMNED CREEPY ideas some people have about games for girls. :) certainly not something I want to play…
It’s possible there’s some kind of really fun parody going on there, but right now, I’m Scared!
October 12th, 2010
if it makes you feel any better, I asked a female friend what kind of game she would be interested in playing and she suggested an a-typical housewife simulator. she was the one who also gave me the ideas for two of the endings.
October 12th, 2010
hey guys can i have sum cool ideas which u wud like in your game
October 12th, 2010
This new game is called Girls Tower Defense. Just what happens when a girl actually steps up to take down the bad things instead of cowering in the corner during a scary movie. :P Press F1 for info.
Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?no37siup9s36tuu
October 13th, 2010
@Mya
The thing I would like the most is to have the feeling that it´s done by a girl, that it´s feminine but not for girls. Don´t do the kind of games guys make for guys because it seems that we like that. We like that mostly because there´s no other choice!
October 14th, 2010
Hey Friends ,
Finally i had some time to finish my project , 6 days !
http://www.pedroleonardo.com/thekisser
Cheers
October 20th, 2010
Very nice game Pedro, I had a lot of fun playing it. Loved the graphics, music and overall presentation.
October 20th, 2010
My submission for this month ;
http://gamejolt.com/online/games/shooter/zombies-vs-pony/3757/
I was planning to do something serious about the women’s conditions but I hadn’t a lot of time, so I made this little game in 3 days. A lot of girls in my entourage play same games than me, so the (little) message is “Stop the stereotyped game for girl”.
PS: Yes this game is deliberately ridiculous!
October 20th, 2010
Thanks Allen !
Great than you enjoyed !
Cheers
October 21st, 2010
Here is my entry for this month:
Both a GIRL and a GUY game.
Name: Hell Cave
Link: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/arcade/hell-cave/3741/
Website: http://www.lovepeacestudios.blogspot.com
Please comment!
October 22nd, 2010
Here is my entry:
Title: U So Fine!
Link: http://www.sleepy-genius.com/2010/10/24/baby-u-so-fine/
Controls: Press the down key to fight your libido. One button only!
Description: You take on the role of a young woman who goes out on dates. During the course of the date, your suitors bombard you with lines and compliments in an attempt to increase your libido. You as the girl have to fight back your libido.
Took about 8 days to really finish, but I really only spent about 6-7 days of actual development.
October 24th, 2010
I actually built this in October in five days, but didn’t stumble on this month’s theme until today. What a stroke of luck!
Title: Feed Mr. Peterson
Link: http://shengames.com/flash/feedmrpeterson/
Controls: It’s Collapse + Resource Management + a Cat.
October 25th, 2010
Please gentlemen, I implore you- stop making games that are sexual in nature for women. You are further advancing the stereotype that the male developer majority is a group of chauvinistic pigs. I understand that we are branding these games based on sex, but keep and mind that women are not just objects of sexual nature. If you made a game of this nature, but meant it as a joke, please let it be known. I would hate to think that we are our stereotype.
Also, I will be posting my game in the next few days…
October 25th, 2010
Well here goes this months entry.
Title: Just push the button (ok , i’m not exactly the best name-giver in the world)
Link: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/arcade/just-push-the-button/3790/
Controls: on the menus arrow keys + enter or mouse + left click
as for the game pretty much almost you entire keyboard (a-z , 1-9)
well not much else to say, other than “hard” is suppose to be hard or maybe i’m just that bad.
October 27th, 2010
My entry: Small World – http://www.telkoth.net/download/smallworld.zip
In it you play as a cat named Zach, and that’s all I can tell you, because the game focuses on exploration!
What’s the story? How do you win? These are things you will learn by exploring the game’s (small) world.
Small World was created using RPG Maker 2003.
October 28th, 2010
My entry is also an assignment in my GBA programming class, made over the course of 5-6 days. So, it’s Game Boy Advance ROM to be played through an emulator (or on a real GBA if you prefer!). I’ve included VisualBoyAdvance (free GBA emulator) in the .zip file (vba.ngemu.com/). Designed by a boy, for girls. Enjoy! (:
Title: Pixel Pals, Love & Heartbreak
Download Link: http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~ayip3/PixelPals_AaronYip.zip
Description: PixelPals is a narration and exploration of love and relationships through puzzles, using simplicity and the puzzling frustration of the unfamiliar to express my ideas about love — designed and developed as I both fell into and out of love during its creation…
October 28th, 2010
Hi all
My entry for this month is a dress up game aimed at women. The object of the game is to dress your model in an outfit that fits a randomly generated theme. The outfit is then scored out of 100.
The game was created over 2 days and features many different outfit combinations.
http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/other/fashion-parade/3794/
October 29th, 2010
“A game for two” a cooperative/competitive game for girls and boys. It´s a classic love story told through gameplay. The game can be as easy or as difficult as the players want it to be, it´s up to them to find the right balance. Ended up spending a little bit more than a week to finish it.
I think this was the best theme so far, really hard, specially because I have the impression that nobody really knows what a game for girls is. Plus, thinking if your mother, your sister or your girl friends may like it or not can be a good filter to know if you are doing a piece of crap! :)
Enjoy!
http://pluralgames.blogspot.com/2010/10/game-for-two.html
October 29th, 2010
Well mine is a platform halloween game for girls and boys, hand drawn and put together in about 3 days using my own custom Lingo platform game engine. Collect pumpkins and cupcakes to reveal the keys that open the castle doors.
http://bit.ly/paraspudhalloween
October 30th, 2010
OK, my entry is called “Down, Left, Right of the Livind Dead”. It’s a Dance Dance Revolution clone that spawns zombies as you dance to the music!
Blog post with screenshots and more details:
http://blog.danhett.com/2010/10/down-left-right-of-living-dead.html
Or play the game immediately by clicking here:
http://danhett.com/livingdead/LivingDead.html
Thanks!
October 31st, 2010
Here’s my game, it’s a word game/puzzle with a bit of a story! A bit rough around the edges still, but not bad for 3 days of work :) ENJOY!!!! Looking forward to more of these!
http://www.thecritterverse.com/secret/supersecret/Word%20Detective%201.html
October 31st, 2010
Here is my entry:
http://meistercreations.com/www/Experiments/BuildOnWordOctober2010.aspx
I built a multiplayer word game, basically a variation on Scrabble. This was a really interesting theme for the month. It started lots of discussion among my friends about gender game design stereotypes.
Look forward to any comments.
October 31st, 2010
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