{"id":152578,"date":"2019-07-29T23:02:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T15:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/featured\/-1797853\/"},"modified":"2019-07-29T23:02:36","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T15:02:36","slug":"good-vibes-weird-hardware-at-the-game-devs-of-color-expo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/2019\/07\/29\/good-vibes-weird-hardware-at-the-game-devs-of-color-expo\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Vibes, Weird Hardware at the Game Devs of Color Expo"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.geek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/sashimi-slammers-650x366.png?resize=640%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>In the few short years it has been around, the Game Devs of Color Expo has already cemented itself as one of my favorite video game events to go to. And not just because it\u2019s conveniently located in Harlem. GDoC gathers game developers who, shocker, aren\u2019t white and has them show off their work to an appreciating public. Along with game demos there\u2019s a whole day\u2019s worth of panels full of smart speakers discussing what it\u2019s like to be a person of color in this industry. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/games\/we-played-games-and-shared-wisdom-at-the-game-devs-of-color-expo-2018-1746174\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">Rewatch the panel I hosted last year<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>To me this year\u2019s GDoC, the biggest one yet, was more like an old friend than a radical new experience, but that\u2019s just because I\u2019ve gone so many times now. A rhythm game by Geneva Heyward about dating roller derby girls called <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/1033380\/Skate__Date\/\"  rel=\"noopener\"><em>Skate &amp; Date<\/em><\/a>? Sure! How about <a href=\"https:\/\/cattsmall.itch.io\/sweetxheart\"  rel=\"noopener\"><em>SweetXheart<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Catt Small, a day in the life of an anxious Black woman? Sign me up! This show even saw Humble (owned by Geek.com parents Ziff Davis) offering a publishing grant to developer Ethan Redd for his upcoming sci-fi game <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blazinglegiongame.com\/\"  rel=\"noopener\"><em>Blazing Legion<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gHA2TxdHzSs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>What did stick out to me this year though was the cool amount of weird hardware on display. One of the best things about a video game expo is seeing demos and prototypes of bizarre devices that aren\u2019t at all concerned about mass production and distribution. You get some of this with homebrew tabletop games, but with video games people can tinker on a really strange machine if they only need to make one of them. And knowing that you can only play them at shows like this adds to their alluring, bespoke, mysterious, live concert quality.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CLTXTO8c1cc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/zmackerel.itch.io\/sashimi-slammers\"  rel=\"noopener\"><em>Sashimi Slammers<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Furious Fish Friends is a fighting game where two players control flopping fish trying to push the other into boiling oil. Like <em>Divekick<\/em>, there are only two buttons. One button moves you forward while another button attacks. But attacking also pushes you back toward your own oil, which is where all the risky positioning strategy comes from. And on top of all this, the buttons are embedded in a floppy physical fish toy you furiously slap the whole time.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/syMUNKiDQ70?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shakethatbutton.com\/robot-slow-dance\/\"  rel=\"noopener\"><em>Robot Slow Dance<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Dietrich Squinkifer is an \u201canimatronic diorama game\u201d where two players control two Rock \u2018Em Sock \u2018Em style robots with a joystick. Instead of fighting though, players try to sync up their movements to the music, emulating an awkward couples slow dance. The robot dialogue even changes based on your performance in this exploration of queer relationships.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uad_WQ-UQDk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hyperdotgame.com\/\"  rel=\"noopener\"><em>HyperDot<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Tribe Game is more of a traditional video game. Players control dots trying to dodge waves of debris in short frantic multiplayer rounds that feel like contained shoot \u2018em ups without the shooting. But the plethora of control options from normal controllers to eye tracking to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/games\/an-interview-with-ablegamers-steven-spohn-about-the-xbox-adaptive-controller-1741757\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">Xbox Adaptive Controller<\/a>\u00a0proves that you don\u2019t need rigid requirements for a fun challenge.<\/p>\n<p>And even some of the bigger names at the show continued this weird hardware trend. Nintendo showed up, presumably in honor of famous Black former president <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/games\/reggie-fils-aime-famous-black-nintendo-of-america-president-retires-this-april-1775597\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">Reggie Fils-Aime<\/a>, to demonstrate the creative fun and game dev potential of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/games\/hands-on-nintendo-labo-vr-kit-is-totally-good-enough-1779375\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">Nintendo Labo<\/a>\u00a0to the kids.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, I got to go hands-on with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/games\/playdate-is-a-new-video-game-handheld-with-a-crank-finally-1788454\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">Playdate<\/a>, the indie handheld with a physical crank along with buttons and a d-pad. I couldn\u2019t quite wrap my mind around it well enough to get to my robot date, but spinning the crank to move freely through time in <em>Crankin\u2019s Time Travel Adventure<\/em> is the sort of bonkers gimmicky fun games don\u2019t do enough of these days.<\/p>\n<p>So as always, the Game Devs of Color Expo proves that when you celebrate cool and different kinds of people you get cool and different kinds of video games. Who would\u2019ve guessed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/sashimi-slammers-650x366.png\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\"><\/figure>\n<p>In the few short years it has been around, the Game Devs of Color Expo has already cemented itself as one of my favorite video game events to go to. And not just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/games\/good-vibes-weird-hardware-at-the-game-devs-of-color-expo-1797853\/\">Good Vibes, Weird Hardware at the Game Devs of Color Expo<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/\">Geek.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/2019\/07\/29\/good-vibes-weird-hardware-at-the-game-devs-of-color-expo\/\">\u95b1\u8b80\u5168\u6587 <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"slim_seo":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2573,6397,2054,6398,2,2047,3990,5264,16,7],"tags":[398,402,397,414,413,410,409,407,478,481,482,480,479,408,406,399,400,394,10,401,396,403,412,411,395,405,404,477],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7prtj-DGW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}