3 Video Games By Black Developers You Can Support
If you’re interested in supporting Black voices in the gaming industry, look no further than these three titles that are either out now or currently in development.
Here POCIT has made a list of three Black developers who’ve created their own video games.
Shawn Alexander
Shawn is the game designer, animator, visual artist, writer, and founder of Nuchallenger, an independent games and culture studio.
Before creating his game – Treachery in Beatdown City – Shawn worked for almost five years at Rockstar games, where he worked on GTA IV Complete, Red Dead Redemption, and GTA V.
Treachery in Beatdown City is a retro-styled video game and is available on Nintendo Switch and PCs.
It was described by the LA Times as “one of the most relevant, of-the-moment video games of 2020,” portraying a city on edge and on the verge of coming to blows.
The game takes place in the year 20XX when US President Barak Orama is kidnapped by the Ninja Dragon Terrorist group while attending a United Nations summit in the city of East Fulton.
The terrorist organization demands a $1 trillion ransom, and it’s up to you to investigate as three playable characters that you can switch between at any time.
Pretty unique right?
Dani Lalonders
ValiDate is a visual novel in which you maneuver yourself through the twisting paths of young adulthood. Set in the Jercy City area, there is a focus on 12 struggling singles.
Set in the Jercy City area, the singles, who are all in their twenties, navigate through the trying ordeals of capitalism to find meaning in their lives. It includes a hint of love, cosplay, and even mediocre mixtapes in the mix.
With 12 playable characters and over 60 routes to choose from, there will be about 70-90 hours of content, according to its founder, depending on how you play it. Dani Lalonders, who is also the founder of the indie game studio, founded Validate back in 2019.
Speaking to Blerdyotome, she said: We created a cast of characters that were like me: a young LGBT adult of color attempting to get through the hardships of life while trying to pursue love. When I created ValiDate, I wanted it to stand out from other dating sims.
“My team and I wanted to flip the script and make a game that shows characters of color as the main characters, not just side characters or caricatures. We want players of color to see that they can star in games if the people behind those games care.”
Swimsanity
Swimsanity is a multiplayer underwater shooter with action-packed Co-Op and Versus game modes, all supported by online and local play. Gamers play as hero Mooba, who uses a variety of unique power-ups and weapons to survive in this aquatic world.
Each mode supports four players, but bots can be enabled to fill out missing slots. Swimsanity also offers over 150 challenges for players to complete across the various game modes.
The game was reportedly started in 2008 as a midterm assignment by Decoy Games co-founder Khalil Abdullah.
As part of his Flash development class, he created “Swimsanity: The Adventures of Mooba Jiver the Scooba Diver,” an underwater game where the player had to collect as much treasure as possible while avoiding sea creatures.
The game was inspired by Game & Watch Gallery’s Octopus game and proved popular with Khalil’s classmates. He expanded the game into “Swimsanity 2: Deep Sea Jivers” by adding a multiplayer component as well as weapons and power-ups, according to Swimsanity fandom.
