The Indie Game Magazine September 2015 | Issue 53 | Page 16

COVER STORY

er
Phenomenal Cosmic Pow

by Vinny Parisi

port. There’s all this talk
game dollars of their sup
ere
wh
age
an
in
live
e
e gaming demographic
Unity about how the cor
d
an
4
l
rea
Un
like
es
gin
en
g, super virile men
de- – you know, those youn
for
r
sie
ea
it
g
kin
ma
are
5
in suits like to talk
e ex- the older business types
siv
ten
-in
ics
ph
gra
ft
cra
m... – finds
velopers to
gap about, like, curiously often. Hm
rce
ou
res
the
as
n
eve
g or difficult
periences. Yet
ers still playing as women off-puttin
op
vel
de
ny
ma
r,
alle
idea that I
grows sm
ences to relate to. But I’ve got an
eri
exp
ate
cre
to
fer
pre
to the
the haven’t heard anyone else submit
that harken back to
– and
all
at
e
tru
: If that’s
pixel art days of the late conversation yet
ngs
thi
ep
ke
use to
80s and early 90s. This it’s really just an exc
le
op
pe
ps
n perha
isn’t necessarily a bad the way they are – the
as
g
yin
a of pla
thing – nostalgia is a are disinterested in the ide
per-realism of
hy
de
the
d
of
an
r
se
a woman becau
powerful motivato
ve the today ’s graphics. Maybe it’s because of
sign constraints offer pa
eresting the jiggle physics and all the effort spent
way for creative and int
n dedicated AI so
servation
in giving long hair its ow
solutions – just an ob
rpu
the
ring animation.
r
it responds realistically du
that many have made. Fo
nkthi
me
t
e demographic
go
poses of this feature, it
My point is, would the cor
ls
ua
vis
of
men protagonists
ing about the importance
be so adamant against wo
ve.
ecti
using sprites that
from a storytelling persp
in a 16-bit pixel art game
hasize gender?
rn market, it’s lack the ability to over-emp
You see, in today’s mode
‘no.’ (If it’s
pitch a game I’m pretty sure the answer is
still nearly impossible to
chance
ist and have ‘yes,’ there’s a really, really good
with a female protagon
end
a few million you’re sexist. Or still bitter about the
publishers throw down

W

16

The Indie Game Magazine