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Game Changers continues with opportunities for Australia s Indigenous people, a platform for Latin American games, improving DEI policies, and supporting marginalised creators
Game Changers continues with opportunities for Australia s Indigenous people, a platform for Latin American games, improving DEI policies, and supporting marginalised creators
Last year, the most embarrassing game that I played was a dating simulator on my phone called
Love Island the Romance Game, based on a sleazy British reality TV show. I enjoyed flirting with the himbos and picking out bikinis for lazy days of sunbathing. The thrills are simplistic, and the conversations are vapid. This experience might be what most players expect from dating sims, but numerous development teams have subverted expectations for the genre.
Originally released in 2011 by Japanese developer Hato Moa,
Hatoful Boyfriend is an absurdist trailblazer and avian love story in which you are the singular human student attending St. PigeoNation’s Institute, a high school for talented (and flirtatious) birds. The visual novel is surprisingly campy and saturated with wordplay. I played through this dating sim a few times to further investigate a mysterious side plot involving the menacing school doctor.
As 2020 draws to a close, many will reflect on 12 months defined by stress, upheaval, and the urgent need to confront some difficult truths about the way the games industry operates, and the myriad ways it can be a better and more inclusive place.
But just as that process of self-examination is necessary, so too is recognition for those already working to solve those problems. In this GI 100 series we will profile 100 individuals and organisations making progress in vital areas like diversity, accessibility, charity, mental health, progressive politics, lifting emerging markets, uniting communities, and more people whose stories can show us how this industry can be that better and more inclusive place.