ED-Making Meaningful Games: A Training for Women in Digital Entertainment

GO2024ITP264B127 01/09/2024 - 31/08/2027 This ITP focuses on African women in games industry, with two primary aims: 1) To close the digital gap between Africa and Europe/North America, and 2) To narrow the gender gap that prominently remains within the global games industry. Two editions of the training 'Making Meaningful Games: A Training for Women in Digital Entertainment' will be organized for at least 16 female game developers from South Africa, Uganda, and Kenya at Howest University of Applied Sciences within the study programme of Digital Arts & Entertainment (DAE), ranked in the top 10 of best Game Design and Development study programmes in the world. At the end of the two-week programme, each female game developer will have acquired technical and soft skills, built an international network within the digital entertainment industry, and will have created a fully functional game in which they integrated a 'meaningful' story, reflecting upon identity and demonstrating the ability of video games -- through first-person interaction and agency -- to tell stories in a uniquely powerful way. This proposal aims to bring these diverse stories to light, while giving female developers the tools they need to turn their stories into a viable digital game. The training will take part during two weeks; the first week will offer inspirational workshops and masterclasses from industry-renowned professionals, while, during the second week, scholars will form an international team (together with other ITP participants) and will partake in a game sprint. Within 3 days, together with guidance from our expert coaches, each team will produce a playtest ready, prototype digital game. This training will leverage and strengthen global partnerships, involving change-makers in the industry (both across Europe and Africa) with a shared commitment to empowering female game developers (change agents) and encouraging an industry-wide responsibility toward supporting diverse stories, and the diverse teams behind them.