The entry point for many hearing about women who work in the games industry is more often about harassment of women in games and not more often about the work that women in games create. After being frustrated with the lack of representation in tech, women developers are then often asked to speak or write about diversity and harassment just to get a small mention of their creations, instead of being recognized for their work as developers, knowing that that work can stand on its own. While these are important conversations to have, this means even companies that are hiring women as part of their teams to create great games and women with new ventures often go unrecognized for their efforts. Their games are left in the dust even, and the work they create is erased from games history. This is not okay.
So — instead of asking a bunch of game developers to speak about women in games issues, we’re going to tell you about 10 great games you should know because the games are amazing, but also because they happen to have women working on the team or have women who haven’t often gotten the spotlight for their creative masterpieces.
Note: In the games industry “Game Designer” and “Design” usually refers to a functional role which focuses on gameplay mechanics and user experience, not art. Those listed here who have roles in art are listed as artists or art directors. Those with roles in functional and mechanics design are listed as “Game Designer” or just “Design.”
Created at Schell Games
Available on the App Store or on Google Play.
Water Bears is a mobile 3D puzzle game for everyone where players manipulate pipes to save sad and dehydrated ADORABLE water bears. With 50 levels, this game challenges a player’s spatial reasoning, while asking them to make the most of their limited resources. This game has been named an Editor’s Choice by the Children’s Technology Review and a 2015 International Serious Play Gold Medal winner, where it also won Best in Show.
Who’s it for? The game is Rated 4+, but it’s great for everyone and intuitive. It does not feel like a children’s game, but you may enjoy playing it with your kids to teach them spatial reasoning.
Special Note: If you’re an educator, Water Bears is also available on the GlassLab platform where educators can use analytics and classroom management tools along with lesson plans to help teach Systems Thinking.
Women on the team:
Harley Baldwin, VP of Design | Reagan Heller, VP of Art | Danielle Belko, Advanced Producer | Brooke Morrill, Educational Researcher | Bonnie Bogovich, Audio Lead | Brittany Cloud, Game Artist | Rebecca Cordingley, Advanced Artist | Andrea Hall, Schell Games, Web Developer | Rachel Dorrett, Advanced QA Specialist | Kim Kiser, Game Artist | Lilian Qian, Intern
Created at Disparity Games
Available on Steam
Ninja Pizza Girl is a serious game about bullying, emotional resilience — and pizza delivering ninjas! It’s a fast, flow-based game about Gemma, a sixteen-year-old girl trying to keep her dreams alive in face of the most merciless enemies known to any teenage girl — other teenagers.
Who’s it for? Has an ESRB rating of 10+ for Mild Cartoon Violence and Mild Language. It’s fun regardless of age.
Women on the team: Nicole Stark, Disparity Games, Designer, Producer and Art Director | Raven Stark, Artist | Alia Stark, Design, Narrative
Created at Masshive Media
Available on the App Store & Google Play
Vimala is a skirmish tower defense game featuring turn-based RPG combat and beautiful art. Players collect resources to build their kingdoms and armies.
Who’s it for? Rated 9+ for Mild Cartoon & Fantasy Violence. Great for gamers that love fantasy games.
Women on the team: Anggia Lestari, CEO & Art Director
Created by Unruly Designs
Available soon as a digital PDF for purchase and physical book. Bookmark their kickstarter and the Unruly Designs website for more information.
War Birds is a live action roleplaying game (larp) about the contribution and experience of women during World War II, all of which were designed by an international team of female game designers. All the games in the anthology are made to be played between 2 & 5 hours, with 4–6 players and to tell a complete, compelling and immersive story in one go — rather like living through a movie. The games do not need any unusual materials to play and all the text has been edited to be intentionally accessible to players who have never played a game like this before.
Who’s it for? Games in the War Birds anthology are intended to be played by a group of adults inspired to tell the untold stories of women in WWII, but especially people who enjoy theatrical games or improv. This gives you a framework to tell their stories — consider inviting an audience at home or showcasing it at an event.
Special Note: War Birds initially began as a successfully funded Kickstarterand has been taken to and played at festivals since then.
Women on the team: Moyra Turkington | Ann Eriksen | Kira Magrann | Shoshana Kessock | Wendy Gorman — All Game Designers. Moyra Turkington is an award-winning, Canadian live action roleplaying designer who has two games in the anthology, which is set to be available for purchase as an online PDF in six weeks and a physical book in 3 months.
Created at Freehold Games, LLC
Available on the App Store, Google Play, Steam, and Amazon
Sproggiwood is a story-driven, turn-based roguelike set in a humorous world inspired by Finnish mythology. Plunder procedural dungeons with six unique classes — and outsmart monsters who work together in unexpected ways.
Who’s it for? Rated 12+ on the App Store; however, this game, like many mobile games, is great for adults as well.
Women on the team: Jaana Heiska, Artist
Created at Brooklyn Gamery
Available on the App Store, Google Play, Itch.io, and the Amazon App Store
Prism Shell is a high intensity sci-fi action game with intuitive touch controls. Hold your finger on the screen to fire at the alien hordes, and tap glowing points to glide across the battlefield in your high-powered hover tank. Dodge alien attacks, shift into better firing positions, and collect currency for upgrades. You are Earth’s last chance for survival. Can you and Major Beretta pilot the Prism Shell to victory?
Who’s it for? Rated 9+ on the App Store so not recommended for young children, but great for game fans over age 9.
Created at Brooklyn Gamery
Available on the App Store, Google Play, Itch.io, and the Amazon App Store
Prism Shell is a high intensity sci-fi action game with intuitive touch controls. Hold your finger on the screen to fire at the alien hordes, and tap glowing points to glide across the battlefield in your high-powered hover tank. Dodge alien attacks, shift into better firing positions, and collect currency for upgrades. You are Earth’s last chance for survival. Can you and Major Beretta pilot the Prism Shell to victory?
Who’s it for? Rated 9+ on the App Store so not recommended for young children, but great for game fans over age 9.
Women on the team: Catt Small, Game Art, UX Design, & Game Design
Special Note: You should also check out Catt’s amazing TEDxFoggyBottom talk about “Changing the Face of Game Development” and her work with Code Liberation, which “offers free development workshops in order to facilitate the creation of video game titles by women.”
Created at Schell Games
Available on Steam
Fusing the nostalgia of Oregon Trail with Star Trek parody and an awesome sound track, Orion Trail lets you captain the Indestructible II across any number of danger-filled star maps. Fend off the fashion-obsessed race, the Fabulons; deal with Warp Weasel infestations; and try not to die of space dysentery in a hilarious pun-filled journey where any combination of your decisions and random factors can mean the difference between a successful voyage and killing every Red Shirt on the ship.
Who’s it for? Lovers of science fiction humor. No listed ESRB rating.
Women on the team: Heidi McDonald, Game Designer (Heidi is now Creative Director at iThrive Initiative) | Harley Baldwin, VP of Design | Reagan Heller, VP of Art | Rachel Dorrett and Andrea Hall and Ana Balliache
Created at LKMAD
Available on the App Store, Google Play, Amazon, itch.io, and the Mac App Store
Inspired by the island of Cyprus, Panmorphia is a point-and-click puzzle adventure game where the player (a sentinel) is bound to the land of Panmorphia and the four Aristotelian elements that govern it. The sentinels have the ability to wield each element, morph into the animal that best represents it, and change the perspective of the land!
Who’s it for? Hidden object, “escape the room,” and puzzle game fans. Reminiscent of the Myst series or Nancy Drew games. It’s a little tough, but satisfying upon completion.
Women on the team: Lydia Kovalenki, Designer, Artist, & Programmer
Created at Stumbling Cat
Coming Soon to Steam
Potions: A Curious Tale is an adventure-crafting game where combat is not always the answer. Play as a young witch, Luna, who overcomes obstacles with the potions she brews. As powerful as Luna’s potions are, they are also her greatest weakness. Faced against the overwhelming forces from the enchanted lands that surround her, using Luna’s potions recklessly may leave her with an empty flask belt and no way to protect herself. Only quick thinking and resourcefulness will allow her to escape the monsters that merely desire a taste of her flesh to fight the ones which hold the precious ingredients she needs to craft potions for battle once again.
Who’s it for? Fans of role-play games with magical elements. No rating at this time.
Women on the team: Renee Gittins, Creative Director & CEO (Renee also has a background in engineering and is a Jill of all trades)
Created at Untame
Available on Steam
Destroy it and it will grow.
Mold an amorphous organism into any shape by pruning its cells. New cells will immediately grow, allowing you to traverse a mysterious world across brain-twisting obstacles, overcome swarms of bizarre mutated creatures, and understand the true nature of the devastation from which you emerged.
Who’s it for? Rated E (10+) by the ESRB for fantasy violence and mild blood. Amazing game — for adults and kids over age 10.
Women on the team: Julia Keren-Detar, Game Designer & UI/UX Designer |Kara Kono, Producer
Molly produces quality single and multiplayer experiences from start to finish. Her games are collaborative efforts where she leads a team of talent to get the job done by first establishing estimates, requirements, and a go-to-market strategy for each product. She has worked as a game producer and designer on mobile, web, and Facebook projects, focusing on the casual and social games space. She has also worked on advert games with large brands who want to extend their reach into the social and mobile games industry. Currently, Molly is the CEO of Ker-Chunk Games, where she is leading a team of developers to create cross-platform, social and casual intellectual properties. You can follow her on Twitter @bitterwinsome
Printer-friendly version