A rose, logo for Choice of Romance (my favorite!)
A first of hopefully many to come, this is TBH Podcast’s answer to the community’s request for experts in the industry to speak on diversity issues. I had an awesome time talking with Heather Albano, designer at Choice of Games. Many (I want to say all!) deal with gender and sexuality issues in both minor ways and as focal points, and everyone should give them a try! The main games we talk about in this interview are Choice of Broadsides and Choice of Romance, and I strongly encourage you all to play them before listening, though anyone can enjoy this conversation. Also be sure to check out Heather’s website and check out her other writing I’m sure many of you will enjoy: www.heatheralbano.com.
Anyone who is involved with game development, journalism, criticism, or activism and would like to chat with me about how diversity issues relates them, leave a comment here or find me on Twitter to get interviewed!
Opening & Closing Credits - Was that away message for me? by 8bit Betty
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wonderful interview! i’ve been a fan of choice of games ever since i stumbled upon broadsides, so this was just great to hear.
no news on getting this podcast up on itunes yet?
Haven’t listened yet, but I’m excited to. I love hearing the opinions of gaming and gaming culture from a diverse voice.
And if you can’t get this up on iTunes (which I don’t use, but can work around), can you at least offer a general RSS feed? Please?
Another great podcast. Heather’s insights were helpful to hear. I love hearing developers speak about the concerns they have when creating games. I found the challenges she encountered when writing the gendered versions of the Broadside game particularly interesting as well as the criticism that the game offered only a masculine gender to play as either male or female. It was a little surprising to hear Heather make the same, “We don’t have the resources” argument when challenged about aspects of their games that some players found alienating.
All in all a great interview. Keep’em coming!