Black Game Studies

Black Game Studies introduces the work of game makers from the African diaspora through academic scholarship, personal narratives and an catalog of works. It aims to provide a foundation from which researchers, designers, developers, game historians and others can draw an understanding of patterns, present practice, and a potential afro-future. Its works to make more visible, through aggregation and showcase, the creative contributions of Black game makers. It is an effort to meet the need to diversify the game-making community by not only highlighting the work of Black people, but in creating an enduring archive of such work. This collection serves as a one stop introduction to the contributions to analog and digital game making provided by members of the Black community. With contributions from game academics, professional game designers, hobbyists, and others the book exposes the wide array of work produced by makers of African descent. It is organized in three primary sections. The first helps define the space, the characteristics of Blacks games and the motivations engendered in their design. The second reports on the personal experience of Black game makers through their own stories and essays. The last section contains a catalog of images and content from 40 Black game makers and their teams.