Femtality
For our project, we put together a team of 3 female game designers to build a series of mini games living in one main "gameframe." Each of these games has a message about the difficulties of being a woman navigating the 21st century.
The first game, "Manage your Anxiety", is a split-screen game with a hand on each half of the screen. Players must carefully follow a key input pattern (left, right, up, down). If they get the pattern wrong, pieces of skin around the beautiful nails of their hand will come off, ruining the hand's pretty manicure and exposing the woman's panics to the world. This comments on how women cannot show any weakness if they want to be respected in a professional setting, and how they are expected to present a maintain an attractive physical appearance to be taken seriously.
The second game, "Take up Space", shows the 2 players navigating around a big library with 3 men represented as birds in suits hanging around. The players must speak, and as they do so, their speech bubble grows. As the speech bubble grows, the birds peck at it to try to burst it to prevent their voices being heard.
The third game, "Stay Safe out There" comments on the perils women face when wanting to enjoy something as simple as a night out. The players must angle for free drinks from fish (symbolizing the dating pool adage of there being "so many fish in the sea"), while avoiding spiked drinks that would kill them.
The fourth game, a bonus round, is a modified version of Doodle jump showing each player as a boot (a reference to Nancy Sinatra's anthem "These Boots Are Made For Walking") climbing up household items like plates, sandwiches, cooking pots and laundry piles. All of these items + the floral wallpaper reference the traditional role of women in the home. As the boots reach the top, a glass ceiling appears. If they hit it together, the glass ceiling breaks and they win the game. The team player element here is a metaphor for the idea that until everyone is free, no one is.
The style of the overall game is of surrealist collages. All assets in this game are made by us.
All sounds used can be found at the following link:
Download
Development log
- PostmortemDec 12, 2023
- Development, Playtests, RevisionsDec 12, 2023
Comments
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This game offers a compelling, new take on societal issues. It is encouraging and educational and i love that the storytelling revolves around the theme of feminist awakening. The humor is subtly incorporated into the gameplay to make the message approachable. I would only try to improve the game by providing instructions on how to play each level.
The collage style is visually striking, and the choice of music complements the theme well. I look forward to more levels and games from this thought-provoking perspective!
I really loved the concept behind this game, and I think the message is one that I at least don't often get to witness in the gaming world. I would really be curious to see more games developed from this perspective as a longer expression, as I think it would offer an inclusive environment for girls that may not otherwise be drawn to gaming and I think it would inspire more young women to become developers.
From a mechanical perspective, I know that instructions are present when you start each mini-game, but I think having access to the input instructions during gameplay would go a long way. Maybe put a little help icon that you can click on during gameply as someone else suggested? Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt like the message was delivered with a lot of humor that helped make it accessible.
Perfect game that doesn't need a review from me. I loved every part of your story (feminist awakening!) In time without you guys around to demo and explain. I was able to understand what you guys were trying to say, and that's important. If I must have some feedback, I wish you guys had more levels so I could have enjoyed it more! Hahahahhaha!
I love the overall aesthetic of this project, it's such a unique experience and the art style is really cool. Great choice of music and sound effects too throughout. Everything feels very well thought out. Some instructions could be a little clearer - maybe you could add a help button on each game incase someone forgets how to play each one? Otherwise super cool experience!!
Really interesting concept, framing the experience of being a woman as a losing game. The retro collage style is a feast for the eyes and is a conceptually cohesive decision for your topic. Very clever, funny yet thought-provoking mini-games.
I think the pacing needs another look; try to give more time in between win/loss states to allow the message to sink in. I think the difficulty level is appropriate, but some leeway for mistakes or dwindling lives could allow more room to get the hang of it and enjoy the challenge.
The collage style is very unique, and it's fun that you decide to combine a few different mini games together. Some level's instructions are not clear, eg the fishing game. It's also hard to navigate between games, I have nowhere to exit back to the menu when I'm in one of the mini game.
Thank you!! Super agree re instructions and general game navigation; hoping to add exit menu and clearer structure once this semester has wrapped :)