Video games by queer creators highlighted at VSW 

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Visual Studies Workshop is holding an event on Thursday to showcase video games made by queer creators that will be released in June for Pride month.

The Queer Games Bundle event is scheduled for Thursday, April 13, at 6 p.m., and it will give visitors the chance to play some of the games released in last year’s bundle and learn how to support this summer’s package. The interactive arcade event will also include a film screening and art display.

VSW assistant curator and preservation specialist Nilson Carroll co-founded the Queer Games Bundle as a mutual fund for international queer artists. The bundle is available for $60 and includes hundreds of games, which range widely in theme.

"A queer game is a game made by a queer artist,” Carroll said. “Some games are about queer issues or relationships, or sex. There's a lot of dating games in there. But a queer game can be anything."

For example, Carroll said a game called “Mangle Paw” by creator duo resnijars is open-ended, like “Myst.” In the game, the player wanders around exploring different environments at a train station and encounters various animal characters who may help them figure things out.

Carroll says that queer games tend to have different objectives and user experiences than many mainstream video games.

“There often isn't like a win or lose state of these games,” he said. “And that really speaks to sort of getting away from binaries, and sort of getting away from, you know, assumptions and restrictions and being more open to different kinds of experiences.”

People can support the artists by purchasing the bundle online at itch.io, the platform that hosts the games for purchase and play. Admission to the Visual Studies Workshop Queer Games Bundle event is a suggested donation of $10.

Now in its third year, the the project  has raised more than 360,000 dollars for participating artists. There’s still time for game developers to have their work added to the bundle. More information is available at itch.io.

Rebecca Rafferty is CITY's life editor. She can be reached at [email protected].