Last month Latinx Gaming hosted a Game Jam to coincide with Hispanic Heritage month to give people an opportunity a chance to create a game that celebrates Hispanic and Latin culture.
I was asked by a colleague at work to be a judge specifically for my audio and teaching background and I’m always stoked to get an opportunity to share any knowledge that might be useful to others.
That said, I have zero Hispanic heritage and highlighted this to the organizers. They said that was fine, it’s not a requirement and I was the only white judge on the panel. I suggested some other audio folks I know who are from Latin and South American countries, but schedules just didn’t align with short notice, so I stayed on as a judge.
I’ve already lined up some other options for other judges next year, but I wanted to bring this up regardless. Because it’s tough, this is obviously just a small casual game jam and they’re stoked to get judges who work in the industry. I don’t know how to handle every situation like this, but if the Black Lives Matter movement has taught me anything this past year, it’s that sometimes I need to fight to ensure other BIPOC folks are represented even in casual situations like this. With junior game devs from places outside of North America, I think it’s important that they see people with their own background, heritage, ethnicity, and color in these leadership roles and being better represented.
But I don’t know if that’s the right answer, I don’t know if anyone will care about such things, and it’s really difficult to ask for help with something like this.
So I just kind of wanted to document this process so others can see that it’s kind of messy, and that trying to fight for equal representation in game development and game audio isn’t just standing up against big obvious injustice. It’s also fighting to improve representation even in these fun and casual settings.
All that said, I played 41 games over on itch that were submitted. And honestly, there’s some really amazing games there. Game Jam Entries
I strongly encourage anyone to check out some of the submissions and if you happen to read this in time, tune in to the Twitch stream tomorrow where the winners will be announced. Latinx Twitch Stream
Thanks so much to Latinx Gaming, Unidos, and the other judges for sharing their experience and insights with me.