What Are Your Latent Desires?

There is another book inside me waiting to be written. There is an app bursting to come out. And there is a game that millions are ready to play, but yet have to be created. Those are some of my latent desires. What are your latent desires?

All five of the original volumes of Une semaine de bonté (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recently I received an invitation to attend a Dames Making Games Toronto (DMG) event where six women who were involved in an incubator project would talk about and play the game each of them created during the six weeks of the project. Since one of my latent desires is to create a game, I thought I would attend the event, and perhaps be inspired. I still do not have any idea which game I could create, but it was an excellent event.

I learned that making a great game is so much more than programming, it’s also about design and storytelling. And one of the reasons why the six women were successful in creating their games is attributed to having had mentors. Mentors can play a critical role in our successes.

Yuliya Boublikova (yuliyaboublikova.com): Yuliya is a graduate of the animation program at Sheridan College. She created Golden Fall, which is about a mischievous squirrel who steals golden apples. It’s from Greek mythology – Hercules would steal some golden apples from Hesperides. Yuliya participated in the incubator program because she wanted to use her animation skills.

Miriam Verburg (@mirverburg): Miriam has 10 years experience in the interactive industry and participated in the incubation program because she wanted to combine her planning and design background with the skills necessary to create a game. Recently, there was an article in the Atlantic about women having it all – women can have it all, but not at the same time. Her game, Having It All, is about the false dichotomy since most women seldom have it all.

Gillian Blekkenhorst (@gblekkenhorst): Gillian is an illustrator working in the advertising industry. When she entered the program, Gillian had some experience making simple HTML games and was able to program in PHP. She wanted to improve her coding skills and combine it with her illustration abilities. She created Cuddlegeddon, which is a game about relationships. The two characters in the game get to cuddle or fight.

Christine Kim (@limbtolimb): Christine is a New Media Art Historian who wanted to combine her deep theoretical knowledge about games as an art with the more practical side of game design and development. Her game, Bitmap, is a game about games.

Julia Ediger (@reynardin): Julia is an illustrator, comic artist and animator with an interest in web development and surrealist literature. Her game, Une semaine de bonté: The Game, is based on the 1934 graphic novel, Une Semaine De Bonte: A Surrealistic Novel in Collage.

Marie Flanagan (@omarieclaire): Before creating her game þink (pronounced Think), Marie had never played or created any games. She is interested in how non-linear narratives can be used in games as communications tools.

Who are the people who are doing what you secretly would like to do? Why not hang out with them to be inspired? What are your latent desires? Go do something about!

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