Girls Make Games

We're on a mission to inspire the next generation of designers, creators, and engineers. First stop, summer camps and workshops!

[girlsmakegames]

Girls Make Games Brings PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and Leaders from the Gaming Industry together for the 5th Annual Demo Day

SAN JOSE, CA, July 18, 2018 - Girls Make Games (GMG), the program behind the global all-girls game dev workshops, is pleased to announce the judges for its 5th annual Demo Day. The event, which is open to the public, will take place on August 11th at PlayStation Headquarters in San Mateo, CA.

GMG’s National Demo Day is the culmination of its flagship three week long summer camps currently running in eight cities around the US. Each year, the top five finalist teams meet in the Bay Area to pitch their games and showcase prototypes they created at camp. One lucky winner receives the coveted Grand Prize: getting their game Kickstarted, professionally developed, and published by LearnDistrict Inc, GMG’s parent company. 

This year’s five finalists will pitch their games to the following esteemed panel of video games industry judges:

Shawn Layden: Chairman, Worldwide Studios, PlayStation

Phil Spencer: Executive Vice President of Gaming at Microsoft

Devon Pritchard: Executive Vice President, Business Affairs, Nintendo of America

Siobhan Reddy: Studio Director, Media Molecule

Anna Sweet: Senior Vice President, Business Development, Caffeine  

“GMG’s Demo Day is a celebration of all things games, girl power, and the future of the industry.” said Laila Shabir, Founder and CEO of Girls Make Games.  “It’s always a very special day for our girls, but this year’s event is even more so because of the incredible judges panel. It truly feels like the industry has come together to build a diverse, more inclusive future. We’re honored to be a part of this journey” 

                Finalists at the 2017 Demo Day with their judges!

Since 2014, Girls Make Games has successfully Kickstarted four Grand Prize winning games, and published three. Learn more about the games and teams behind them on GMG’s website: http://girlsmakegames.com/games.html

   Team BlubBlub from Boston, MA, winners of the 2016 Grand Prize!

Now in its fifth year, Girls Make Games has been funded in part by multiple industry partners. This year’s Demo Day event will be sponsored by PlayStation, Xbox, Google Play, and Humble Bundle.

The public is welcome to attend GMG’s Demo Day on Saturday, August 11 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at PlayStation Headquarters, San Mateo, CA. The event is free but requires RSVP due to limited seating. Tickets will go live on July 30th.

About Girls Make Games

Based out of the Bay Area in California, Girls Make Games aims to close the gender gap in games and STEM related fields through its all-girls summer camps, workshops, and game jams. To this day, Girls Make Games events have taken place in over 44 cities worldwide.  

To learn more about Girls Make Games and their game development programs, visit:

Website: www.girlsmakegames.com 

Facebook: facebook.com/GirlsMakeGames 

Twitter: @girlsmakegames​

GMG Media Kit: https://goo.gl/xQpPNo

Photos from the 2017 Demo Day: https://goo.gl/3AQhFV

[girlsmakegames]

Girls Make Games in Spain!

[Guest Post written by Eleazar]

¡Hola desde España! I’m Eleazar Herrera, journalist and sci-fi writer, and at heart, a gamer ever since I was young. Last year my friend Isabel and I wanted to get involved in teaching video game development to young girls. She told me about Girls Make Games and we dreamt about the possibility of bringing it here as part of Girls Make Games España. After lots of work and hope, we finally got the necessary workplace in Madrid and Málaga, a beautiful seaside city by the Mediterranean shore.  

(More under the cut!)

The workshop was aimed at 10-12 year old girls keen on video game development. The purpose was to create a 2D platformer level in Stencyl in three hours – enough time to satisfy their curiosity and set the building blocks for life. Spoiler: we made it! Every girl wanted to write down the name of the program in order to download it in her own home and keep practicing. Great, isn’t it? And it wasn’t just the girls who were excited; the parents were, too! Parents were happy seeing their daughters motivated about creating a video game. I was astonished seeing each girl compose a unique level, thanks to the assets provided by Girls Make Games from their website’s starter kit. Every level had its story and its logic, and the girls’ imaginations ran wild. The workshop taught me imagination is a muscle, and we must exercise it every single day. 

The experience was overwhelmingly incredible. Isabel and I are very, very happy we had the chance to teach a new generation of video game designers (although I think they taught me more stuff than I taught them)!  Thank you, girls. And I also want to express my biggest and most sincere thank you to FemDevs, a Spanish organization that promotes the participation and presence of female developers and gamers, and Demium Games, a video game studio which lent us their workplace (and their laptops). They were two of our pillars of the workshop, and we couldn’t have made this happen without them. 

I wish Girls Make Games existed when I was little. Now I hope we can continue bringing more GMG programs to other girls in any Spanish city. 

See you! 

Eleazar    

[girlsmakegames]

Girls Make Games in Lahore, Pakistan!

[This is a guest post] Hi, my name is Hira Jamshed, I'm an Art Lead at Tintash, a Lahore based game studio. This past summer I had the opportunity to fly to California all the way from Pakistan to take part in the 2017 Girls Make Games Summer Fellowship.

As part of the Fellowship, I taught at the GMG summer camp held at Sony PlayStation in San Mateo, CA. As camp counselor, I mentored 4 young girls and helped them develop a 2D Adventure game.

This experience inspired me so much that I wanted to bring the magic of game making to my city, Lahore, and with GMG’s help, I was able to do just so!

From left to right: Hira Jamshed, Maha Mehdi, Workshop attendees and Fatima Naweed

This past November, Home Economics College, Lahore, hosted Girls Make Games, Pakistan’s first ever all-girls game development workshop. The 2-Day workshop taught girls aged 16 - 24 the basics of game development (programming, design, art and playtesting) through creating a 2D platformer prototype in Stencyl.  

Workshop staff included Lahore based games industry professionals working in areas of Game Design, Art and Game Development. Industry professionals led lectures and programming walkthroughs and shared their valuable work experience with the excited students.

We planned activities to help them understand and practice the importance of game design and story building.   Each participant earned a Certificate of Completion and GMG branded swag!

From left: Maha Mehdi, Maha Kamal, Parwasha Qayyum, Nauman Minhas and Hamid Ali

Impact: As it was a fully sponsored workshop, all 14 students attended free of cost, and would not have been able to participate had there been a tuition cost associated with the event. So a huge thank you to the workshop sponsor, Humble Bundle, for making it happen! 

Some interest points to note:

98% of participants had no coding experience prior to the workshop, 

100% participants belonged to families with no technical background 

90% reported playing games on mobile devices with 30% of them playing on PC at home.

100% attendees had never attended any game oriented workshop before

The response and reactions received from the students has been overwhelming and I can personally relate. I wish Girls Make Games existed when I was growing up. 

The path to joining the games industry is not an easy one, especially for girls and women in Pakistan. My team and I are incredibly happy to have made a small difference in these girls’ lives:

I hope we can continue to bring programs like GMG to Pakistan! Workshop snippets video link here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QG7Nctbk2GRkrg6h2 

[girlsmakegames]

PayPal partners with Girls Make Games to host game development summer camp

At PayPal we have a deep sense of obligation and commitment to making a positive difference in the world. At the heart of this commitment lies our inclusive mission, through which we seek to reimagine money and democratize financial services so that people around the world can live more financially healthy and secure lives.  To achieve this mission we set out to create a culture at PayPal that is built around our four values of Collaboration, Innovation, Inclusion, and Wellness. We are building a work environment that reflects the world we live in and celebrates the incredible variety of experiences, capabilities, talents, backgrounds, and interests of our employees.

PayPal Workforce diversity data was released last year and shows strong gender balance, with 44% women and 56% men across our global workforce.  There is no disparity at PayPal in salaries between women and men.  We recognize that the current level of workforce diversity in the tech industry remains a challenge for the industry. Our initial data on inclusion and diversity at PayPal is encouraging, but we know that we and the tech industry have more work to do.

In line with its diversity values, PayPal is partnering with Girls Make Games (GMG) to host a 3-week game development summer camp for girls ages 8-15 at PayPal’s global headquarters in San Jose, CA.

“Games are a great introduction to creative expression and technical proficiency - the foundation to problem solving in this age.” notes Laila Shabir, CEO and founder of Girls Make Games. “We’re thrilled to partner with PayPal to encourage and empower more young women to learn about careers in technology and game development.”

From July 10-28, summer camp participants will learn how to design, program and publish their own video games. The campers work in teams to create fully functional games, visit local game studios, and interact with industry professionals. In addition to hosting the GMG summer camp, PayPal will provide scholarships opportunities for participants.

“PayPal is an outspoken advocate of equality and inclusion for everyone,” said Bill Scott, VP, Consumer & Venmo Engineering. “These values are at the heart of what we stand for, and we are committed to bringing them to life with employees, customers and in our communities. Helping Girls Make Games fulfill its mission aligns well with our mission and values. Indeed, no one organization can build a more inclusive community by itself. But we can contribute and we’re committed to bringing more opportunities to girls and women.”

At PayPal, we’re fortunate to have a strong sense of purpose in our work – an inclusive mission, vision and set of values that guide what we do every day.  Indeed, no one organization can build a more inclusive Silicon Valley by itself. But we can contribute and we’re committed to bringing more opportunities to girls and women.

GMG Summer Camp Details:

Dates: July 10-28, 2017 (3 weeks, M-F)

Hours: 10am-4pm (early drop off and late pick up available)

Tuition: $1,500 (Up to 100% financial aid available)

Venue: PayPal, 2211 N 1st St, San Jose, CA 95131

Registration: http://girlsmakegames.com/registration.html

About Girls Make Games Based out of the Bay Area in California, Girls Make Games aims to close the gender gap in games and STEM related fields through its all-girls summer camps, workshops, and game jams. To this day, Girls Make Games events have taken place in over 40 cities worldwide. To learn more about Girls Make Games and their game development programs, visit their website at http://girlsmakegames.com/.

[harpsona]

Like video games?

Do you want to learn basic game dev for free in an introductory workshop? Are you in the greater Seattle area? Look no further!

I’m hosting a free* @girlsmakegames workshop at the Pacific Science Center on Saturday June 17, 2017 from 3-5pm.

Interested?

Please register at http://girlsmakegames.com/registration.html

*registration is free, but non-members of the Pacific Science Center will need to pay for admission

Sharing is Caring

Please spread the word and let others know (*‘▽’) If you are interested in volunteering or becoming a camp counselor (paid) for the full 3-week summer camp, please message me!

[girlsmakegames]

Girls Make Games Teams Up with PlayStation for Game Development Summer Camp

SAN MATEO, CA, March 7, 2017 - As part of its continued effort to increase gender diversity in the gaming industry, Girls Make Games (GMG) is joining forces with PlayStation to host its next game development summer camp for girls ages 11-14.

“Numerous reports have shed light on the growing number of female gamers, but less than 15 percent of the games industry workforce is women,” notes Laila Shabir, CEO and founder of Girls Make Games.

“This is not because girls or women are not interested in making games—GMG’s growth proves otherwise. We’re thrilled about working with PlayStation to encourage and empower more young women to learn about and pursue careers in technology and game development.”

During the camp, which takes place July 10-28, middle school and high school girls will learn how to design, program and publish their own video games. Participants work in teams to create fully functional games, visit local game studios, and interact with industry professionals. PlayStation will also provide scholarship opportunities for GMG participants, along with mentoring from leading female executives and developers from across the company.

“It’s important for all of us at PlayStation to maintain a diverse and inclusive community that brings people together through their shared love of gaming,” says Shawn Layden, Chairman of PlayStation’sWorldwide Studios.

“We’re excited to team up with Girls Make Games to offer young women the opportunity to learn about game development and, hopefully, inspire the next generation of creators.”

Summer Camp Highlights:

Dates: July 10-28, 2017 (3 weeks, M-F)

Hours: 10am-4pm (early drop off and late pick up offered)

Tuition: $1,500 (Up to 100% financial aid available)

Venue: Sony Interactive Entertainment America LLC 2207 Bridgepointe Parkway San Mateo, CA 94404

Registration: http://girlsmakegames.com

About Girls Make Games

Based out of the Bay Area in California, Girls Make Games aims to close the gender gap in games and STEM related fields through its all-girls summer camps, workshops, and game jams. To this day, Girls Make Games events have taken place in over 38 cities worldwide. To learn more about Girls Make Games and their game development programs, visit their website at http://girlsmakegames.com/.

[girlsmakegames]

do girls need to have previous experience in programming to sign up for camp? thanks!

Not at all! :)

[girlsmakegames]

Do you accept transgender girls into your camp as well?

yes of course!

[femhype]

Humble Weekly Bundle: Leading Ladies to Support Girls Make Games!

$140 worth of games and soundtracks here! Pay what you want, redeemable on Steam, and funds go toward scholarships for women at the ever-lovely girlsmakegames organization. Basically, get on this.

Games Included: Trine 2: Complete Story, Lumino City, Hack ‘n’ Slash, A City Sleeps, The Marvellous Miss Take, Gravity Ghost, and Sunset.

[girlsmakegames]

Summer is Coming!

Dear Friends, 

I think I speak for all of us in the US when I say we're relieved to have the winter months behind us! Summer happens to be our favorite time at GMG, for obvious reasons, but this year we're doubly excited because as of this August, we'll have hosted GMG events in **over 30 cities **worldwide. 30!

A lot of work has gone behind the events outlined in this Update, particularly on forming the amazing new relationships outlined below.

Lastly, the GMG family continues to grow, and we'd love for you to be a part of it. We're hiring staff across the country through mid-May - spread the word! :) 

Until next time, Code on! Laila & the GMG team

In this Issue:

April Brooks (AJ Lee) Scholarship Contest! 

Five GMG International Workshops this Weekend 

Intel and EA join as Leading Sponsors for 2015 

A Word from Louise Chan, The Hole Story Producer

Summer Camps filling up fast! Portland, Berkeley & Fremont added 

We're still Hiring! 

Talk of the Town

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April Brooks (AJ Lee) Scholarship Contest!

We’re thrilled to announce an amazing collaboration with the wonderful AJ Lee of WWE fame. AJ is a champion both in and out of the ring, fighting to bring more girls into STEM fields. An avid gamer herself, AJ’s career-long pursuit of empowering girls to be themselves makes her the perfect partner for GMG. We’re proud to team up with her to announce the AJ Lee Scholarship Contest!

To participate, simply send along a one minute video of a game design concept that you would like to bring to life at camp. Be sure to submit your videos no later than May 15th to [email protected]

For more information, please see below:  

Winner gets to attend the Chicago, IL camp free of charge! ($1500 value sponsored by AJ Lee)

Open to girls ages 11-14. who wish to attend the GMG Chicago 2015 summer camp.

Multiple entries are A-OK

Scholarship is non-transferable.

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April is International Weekend Workshop Month! 

Can you believe it’s already been a year since we launched Girls Make Games? We’re thrilled to celebrate our one year anniversary and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate than to take our mission to cities around the world--if only for a weekend!

Thanks to the kindness and generosity of Humble Bundle fans (you know who you are!) as well as local partners, we’re able to host free weekend workshops in cities we’ve only dreamt of, including: Santiago - Chile, Montevideo - Uruguay, Abu Dhabi - UAE, Chittagong - Bangladesh, and Taipei - Taiwan!

On April 25th and 26th, over 100 girls and women will get a fantastic crash course in game design and development. We’re truly excited about this opportunity to make GMG a little more global!

________

Intel and EA join as Leading Sponsors for 2015

GMG couldn't have come this far without the support of amazing people like yourselves, and organizations that have helped defray costs and make our programs accessible to hundreds of girls worldwide. This year, we’re grateful to have Intel and EA join the growing list of GMG scholarship sponsors.

                            Big thank you to the generous EA employees! 

Intel is not only hosting our Portland Camp this year, they're also sponsoring 33+ full scholarships for summer 2015! Hundreds of EA employees donated copies of video and board games for our campers this year - our office looks like a (pretty awesome) warehouse! :D

________

The Hole Story - A word from THS Producer, Louise Chan

Hello everyone!

Sorry you haven't heard from us in a while, we've been busy working towards the release of the game in late May! Our amazing team is working arduously to get the game ready. Since the last update, The Negatives have reviewed drafts of artwork and music, used their vocal talents to create several sound effects, and finalized designs for characters and UI elements. Currently, they're polishing the writing awesome and punny lines that will knock your socks off. A little writing preview from the script...

********

Wendy & Vendors: the Farmer’s Market

Wendy: Oh, I’m so hungry.  I really wish I had one of Grandma’s apples.  *stomach grumbles* Wendy: Hey!  A farmer’s market!  If I do it right, I could probably swipe some food...

Scenario A: Baker Baker: Fresh bread! Baked with the finest wheat in the kingdom and hot from the oven! You won’t get bread like this anywhere else in the kingdom; only 2 gold a loaf! Wendy: *points to the loaf on the very right* What kind of bread is that? Baker: *glances briefly right* Well, that would be the rye bread with— Baker: *turns around to see Wendy running off with some rolls* HEY! COME BACK—THIEF! THIEF!  STOP THAT GIRL!

Scenario B: Fruit Vendor Fruit Vendor: Pears aplenty, sweet and juicy! Take a pair of pears home with you! Wendy: Please, sir, I haven’t had a scrap of food all day. Might you have a pear to spare? Fruit Vendor: *scoffs* If I gave a pear to every scoundrel that asked, I’d never have enough money to feed my children. Be off with you! *watches Wendy carefully until she finally leaves*

Scenario C: Cheesemaker Cheesemaker: My cheese is cheddar than any other! So gouda, you’ll swiss it when it’s gone! Wendy: Sir, I’ve not an ounce of gold nor food on me. All I have are these papers.  Would you be willing to take a trade?  *holds up some dollar bills* Cheesemaker: *examines bills and scoffs*  Scraps of paper?  Young lady, you’ll never manage to trade these for anything.  But never fear, I know where you can some free food. Wendy: Oh, do you really?  Please, where would such a place be? Cheesemaker: *puts arm around Wendy’s shoulder, as if telling her a secret*  Why, it’d be none other than...the castle prison!  GUARD! GUARD!  THIS GIRL WAS STEALING MY CHEESES!

********

And an additional treat, a selection of the final character portraits -

                 Fortune Teller, The King, The Queen, Market Shopper #4

In case you missed the Twitch stream from our last meeting, here's a recap: The Negatives brainstormed ideas for the character outfits as well as the in-game menu designs, showed off some of their drawings, and worked on a list of digging items that can be found in the game - including some delightful easter eggs! Thank you to everyone who dropped by to chat and ask questions :)

And finally, The Hole Story is going to the Bay Area Maker Faire! (May 15-17th in San Mateo, CA) The Negatives will spend a weekend demoing the game and teaching visitors how to get started in game design and programming. Stop by if you'd like a crash course from some of the very best game devs! ;)

Tickets and additional information: http://makerfaire.com/bay-area-2014/

________

New Camps - Portland, Berkeley and Fremont added!

Are you ready for another amazing summer of Girls Making Games? Because we are! We’re busy getting everything ready for the second season which is now only 50 days away (start date is June 15 for most camps).

Spots are going faaaast, so save yours now!

We’ve added a bunch of new cities including: Portland, Berkeley, Fremont, and a second camp in Seattle! For more information and to register visit http://girlsmakegames.com. This year promises to be as awesome and inspiring as last year. We look forward to seeing you there!

________

We’re Hiring!

And that leads us to .. we're still hiring for the summer! It's the perfect way to pass on some knowledge and inspire the next generation of creators. 3-4 week long positions at each camp range from Camp Coordinator, Asst Coordinator, Counselor and Instructor. For more information/job descriptions, visit: http://girlsmakegames.com/summerjobs.pdf

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Talk of the Town

“Girls Make Games” Explodes to Fill Developer Gender Gap http://www.gamesandlearning.org/2015/04/16/girls-make-games-explodes-to-fill-developer-gender-gap

Girls Make Games Proves Future Of The Gaming Industry Won't Look Like A Boys Club                                                                       http://www.idigitaltimes.com/girls-make-games-proves-future-gaming-industry-wont-look-boys-club-431195

A New Hero(ine) Approaches http://trueparent.com/girls-and-gaming/

[girlsmakegames]

Know a girl who loves video games? Tell her about our upcoming summer camps in 20+ cities in the US! Reblog and spread the word! <3

[girlsmakegames]

Happy Holidays!

We wish everyone a wonderful holiday season whether you are at home sipping on hot cocoa or on the road visiting new sites. Thank you for your tremendous support over the last few months! We are incredibly fortunate to have such passionate supporters for our cause, and can't wait to see what adventures the new year will bring us! <3

[girlsmakegames]

Winter is coming!

Dear Friends,

I can't believe it's December already! It's been close to 6 months since our first day of camp at the Computer History Museum, and I'm so proud of how far we've come. We've taught over 215 girls in 8 cities - Mountain View, San Jose, San Francisco San Diego, LA, Austin, Seattle, Boston, and we're only just getting started.

I'm so very excited to share that I had the honor to represent Girls Make Games at the White House at the Computer Science Education Week Kickoff. I met with several amazing leaders, including Megan Smith, CTO of the United States, France Cordova, Director, National Science Foundation and Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org, among others. We'll be announcing some very exciting partnerships in 2015 - so stay tuned!

And finally, for all those who wrote to us looking to purchase GMG swag, your wish has been granted! For a limited time only, we're selling a GMG Holiday Box stuffed with posters, pins, stickers, you name it! And the best part? All proceeds go towards the GMG scholarship fund, which helps girls around the world attend our camps for free/reduced tuition! (or maybe the best part is free shipping? ;)

http://store.learndistrict.com/products/girlsmakegames

We can't thank you enough for your continued support and appreciation - without it, we couldn't dream of reaching 1 million girls in the next 5 years.

Until next time, Happy Holidays!

Laila and the GMG Team

________

The Hole Story Developers Meeting Recap

The Negatives met up again on Sunday, November 16th, to work on their game, The Hole Story. They spent time revising the plot, coming up with new riddles, and discussing the areas and characters within the game.

In case you missed it, we answered intriguing questions from our fans on Twitch, showed off some character designs, and decorated postcards for those who participated in the riddles during our Kickstarter. The girls also brainstormed ideas for music and sound effects with their composer, Catherine Grealish, and audio engineer, Elise Kates.

Our subsequent developer's meeting occurred on Sunday, December 7th. The Negatives spent most of the time and effort in finalizing the level design, an essential component of the game. Afterwards, they Skyped with the newest member of their team and lead programmer, Charlotte Ellett, and artist, Anita Tung, who provided updates on their progress as well as answered tough questions from The Negatives.

And of course, no holiday meetup is complete without presents! (pictures below)

________

Space Money Octagon Fundraiser

On Black Friday, November 28th, Space Money Octagon, a group of gaming enthusiasts who regularly stream their video game sessions and create podcasts, streamed for 18 hours and raised over $600 towards our scholarship fund! We are incredibly grateful for their support.

________

Talk of the Town 

GamesIndustry.biz, a website and community for news about the global video games industry, interviewed our founder and CEO, Laila Shabir on educating future generations of game developers through Girls Make Games.

Read the full article here: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-11-25-girls-make-games

________

Boston Workshop

We had an awesome time at MIT Game Lab hosting our first Boston workshop! The girls enjoyed making their game prototype and working with the lovely volunteers from local studios like Harmonix, who donated their time for the weekend. We love you guys! :)

________

Australia on My Mind

G'day mates! The Australia camps are less than a month away! Our Sydney camp is almost full, so sign up now if you haven't already! We can't wait to meet all of our Aussie fans and supporters there very soon!

Sydney: Jan. 5-9 

Melbourne: Jan 12-23 

Register at: www.girlsmakegames.com/registration.html

Till next time! xoxo

[girlsmakegames]

It's almost Thanksgiving!

Dear Friends,

Turkey Day is around the corner, and we're incredibly excited for the events coming up - from Boston to SF to Sydney. I mean who doesn't love travel, but when it's travel plus meeting some of the brightest young future game developers, we get really psyched :)  

SO, updates! It's time for The Hole Story developer meet up! We'll stream on Twitch as per tradition, so bring on your questions and come cheer The Negatives as they continue to work on their first game.

And finally, check out the amazing flyer our team put together for Australia (Illustration by Cheryl Kook , graphic design by Andrew Dang. Great job, guys!). Pass it along, spots are filling up fast for both Sydney and Melbourne.

That's all for this time. Oh and I'll be in Boston and NYC from Nov 20-Dec 3, and would love to see you. Come to our Meetup (details below), or just drop me a line at [email protected] and we can make something happen. Thank you for being awesome!  Lots of Love, Laila and the GMG Team

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Mountain View Reunion & Extra Life

Girls Make Games hosted its first reunion for the Mountain View camp on Saturday, October 25th, at the Computer History Museum. We had a great time catching up with the girls! They bonded over their love of video games (surprise, surprise!) while some ventured towards old school board games. The event doubled as a charity fundraiser for #ExtraLife 2014. Thank you everyone who joined us on Twitch and social media!

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We're in the News!

The MIT alumni blog interviewed our founder Laila Shabir on how the program got started and what it's all about. Thanks to the article we received an outpouring of support from developers and MIT alumni worldwide! Read the full post here: http://slice.mit.edu/2014/11/07/girl-gamers/

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National STEM Video Game Challenge

We just heard of this amazing opportunity for middle and high school students, to create their own video games and attend game design workshops. Entries will be accepted through February 25th, 2015, so get started now!

If you know any girls interested in participating but don't know where to start - please write to us! We have a network of volunteer mentors who would love to help out. 

To learn more about the event: http://www.stemchallenge.org/stem/#/home

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The Hole Story Developer's Meeting + Twitch Stream

The Negatives will be meeting up this Sunday, November 16th, to further develop the characters, locations, and themes of The Hole Story. Once again, we will be livestreaming on Twitch to talk to our fans from 2-3pm PST. Drop by and say hello! :)

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Upcoming events:

Boston Workshop is full, full, full! 

Only one more week until our Boston workshop! We're thrilled to be working with MIT Game Lab and Harmonix, creators of the Dance Central series we love so much.

We're also hosting a GMG champions meet up on Sunday, Nov 23rd after workshop hours. (RSVP here http://www.meetup.com/Girls-Make-Games-Boston-Cambridge/events/218702181/)

We'll have cupcakes (see below for inspiration), coffee, board games, and GMG pins. If you're around Boston/Cambridge, we'd love to see you there!

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The Camp Down Under

We're less than 2 months away from our first international camp to be held in Sydney. While the idea of a summer Christmas weirds us out, we can't wait to fly down and meet some of the most amazing and supportive indie game developers.

Sydney: Jan. 5-9 

Melbourne: Jan 12-23 

Register at: www.girlsmakegames.com/registration

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Children's Creativity Museum Classes

We have partnered with the Children's Creativity Museum in San Francisco to teach girls video game design. On Saturday, November 29th, we'll host two hour-long workshops from 2-3pm and 3-4pm. And the best part? They're free! Spots are limited, so RSVP if you wish to attend! 

RSVP at: http://creativity.org/upcomingevent/girls-make-games-2/

That's all for this time friends, see you in 2 weeks! <3

[girlsmakegames]

It's been FIVE months!

Dear Friends,

I can’t believe it’s October already! This week marks the 5 month anniversary of the tweet that started it all - when we first announced our summer camp. We've come so far in so little time thanks to your enthusiastic support. And we still have a long way to go, but we're confident we can get there because we have the best friends! <3 Ok, before I get all teary eyed, let me move on to updates! October was a busy month for us - we attended IndieCade along with our superstar (and soon to be super famous) game devs. We also hosted our first San Diego workshop, who knew girls everywhere loved making and playing video games? ;)

And finally, we hope you will join us tomorrow afternoon 1p-4p PST as we Extra Life it up with the Bay Area campers. In fact, if you're around here you could even drop by and meet us all in person! We'll be at the Computer History Museum 1p-4p tomorrow (Oct 25).

Look out for the stream and donate! http://www.twitch.tv/girlsmakegames

Until next time, Laila & The GMG Team

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IndieCade

Girls Make Games and The Hole Story had a great time at IndieCade in Culver City from Friday, Oct. 10, through Sunday, Oct 12! At this indie game festival, we introduced ourselves to many gaming enthusiasts of the industry and the general public as well. We garnered a lot of support, connections, and met many people interested in collaborating with Girls Make Games in the future.

The Negatives showcased The Hole Story, and met a bunch of their Kickstarter backers. They were also interviewed by several gaming websites, so we're thinking about training them on how to deal with papparazzi! ;) Thanks to everyone to came to our table and supported us!

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FanGamer T-shirts

As if IndieCade wasn’t thrilling enough, we received some pleasantly surprising news from FanGamer, an online company that creates and sells merchandise inspired by video games. Fangamer launched the Feminist Illuminati t-shirts designed by  Elizabeth Simins to promote women’s involvement in the video games industry. And here comes our favorite part:  $4 of every sale go towards scholarships for girls to attend Girls Make Games camps! The t-shirts were a huge hit, sold out in a matter of hours raising close to $2K for our scholarship fund!!

You can buy your own here: http://www.fangamer.com/products/gaming-s-feminist-illuminati

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San Diego Workshop

We were ecstatic to debut our first workshop in San Diego last weekend (Oct. 18 to 19) at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design. In addition to learning about the process of programming, the girls created a prototype of their game. 

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Mountain View Reunion & Extra Life Stream

Girls Make Games will be hosting its first reunion for girls from the Mountain View camp! The girls, including the Negatives, will be at the Computer History Museum, the place where it all first started, this Saturday, Oct. 25, from 1pm to 4pm. We are very excited to hear what all the girls have been up to since camp ended!

Another reason to meet up is to participate in Extra Life, where we will be livestreaming video game sessions to raise funds for children’s hospitals. A reunion has been in the talks for a while, and when Extra Life reached out to us, we thought it would be an amazing opportunity to get the girls together and support a great cause. Feel free to drop by at the museum or say hi on Twitch! 

To watch the stream and donate to this fabulous cause: http://www.extra-life.org/participant/girlsmakegames

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Upcoming excitements:

We're going to Beantown!

It’s time for our first east coast workshop! We're incredibly excited to be collaborating with the MIT Game Lab and local game studios! Dates are Nov 22-23, and spots filling up fast! Who knows, maybe we'll catch a Sox game while we're at it...

Also, January is summer time in Australia. Process that for a minute. Camp dates:

Sydney: Jan. 5-9 (15 spots left)

Melbourne: Jan. 12-23 (19 spots left)

Register at www.girlsmakegames.com/registration

Till next time, xoxo!

[zeuswares]

[girlsmakegames]

Thank you Zuzanna, we love your art!!!! <3  zeusarts:

A drawing I made for Girls Make Games that I completely forgot to post. 

Girls Make Games is an initiative to introduce more young girls to the world of video game design via summer camps, workshops game jams, and collaboration with industry professionals, such as Tim Schafer and Kellee Santiago.

They’re currently hosting a Kickstarter to fund a game pitched by the winners of the competition - give it a look!

[girlsmakegames]

2014 Summer Wrap Up!

Dear Friends, Our first summer is over! After a long three months covering four camps across three states, culminating in an amazing trip to PAX Prime in Seattle, Girls Make Games has officially completed its successful first camp series! Austin and Seattle Camps Following up on our California camps, we had two great sessions in Austin at the Capital Factory (Aug. 18 – 22) and Seattle at DigiPen (24 – 29) that were immensely successful. In addition to a host of great new student-designed game concepts, our campers had the amazing opportunity to visit console mega-studio BioWare (Austin) and mobile gaming giant PopCap Games (Seattle).  

Both organizations went above and beyond the call to show the kids everything that goes into becoming incredibly successful game designers. PopCap in particular made a special effort to have women from all aspects of their business (Marketing, Producing, Game Design, Community Management, etc.) meet the girls and provide insight on the responsibilities they cover in a daily workday (we also got some killer swag!).

Complete Photo Album: https://www.facebook.com/girlsmakegames/photos_stream

PAX Prime The week in Seattle, our final camp, was topped off by our appearance at PAX Prime, a massive gaming convention. In addition to demoing LearnDistrict’s first game, Penguemic, we also had the chance to spread the word about Girls Make Games.

Response was overwhelmingly positive – so many people, male and female alike, were excited at the prospect of this camp series. Heck, so many people were buying GMG pins we almost ran out!  

Meet The Negatives at IndieCade!

Guess what? We've just received word that Girls Make Games / The Hole Story have a table at IndieCade in Culver City next week! Drop by the festival to check out some awesome games, meet the Negatives, pick up some swag while you're at it. We'll be there Friday, Oct 10th through Sunday the 12th. We're so thrilled to be a part of IndieCade, the leading festival of all things indie games. For more information on tickets and directions, visit www.indiecade.com

The Hole Story Progress

Greenlight:

As if finishing off our camp series and making a splash at PAX weren’t enough, we were notified that The Hole Story, winner of our grand prize at the Mountain View camp, is going to be on Steam! Thanks to the Greenlight program, the Steam community has voted to include The Hole Story on the massive computer game marketplace.

This is an immense achievement for the game that will significantly increase its availability to gamers everywhere. We are incredibly excited for our student design team, and so grateful to everyone in the community who helped made this possible.

First Developers Meeting and Twitch Livestream:

We’ll be convening with The Negatives to work out finer details on art direction, writing, design documentation and so forth this weekend, Sunday October 5th. As part of our effort to keep the community involved in the process, we’ll have a Twitch livestream on http://www.twitch.tv/girlsmakegames for an hour from 3-4p PST. Come hang out with us!

Fall Workshops in Boston and San Diego + Australia Jan 2015 So now that summer’s over, what are we going to be up to for the next few months? Why, workshops of course! Just because it’s not summer doesn’t mean we don’t still believe in trying to reach as many kids as possible as often as possible with our mission.

This Fall we will be running short-run workshops in Boston and San Diego to keep the Girls Make Games train rolling onwards!

Fall Workshops San Diego: Oct 18-19 Boston: Nov 15-16, or 22-23 Camps (2015): Sydney: Jan 5-9 Melbourne: Jan 12-23 

Registration open on www.girlsmakegames.com/registration

Humble Bundle

This past week, Humble Bundle, an online marketplace, featured Girls Make Games along with seven games with female protagonists as part of the week’s theme, “Leading Ladies”. Customers have the ability to allocate how much of their donation goes toward the game developers, how much to charity, and how much to Humble Bundle.  

Girls Make Games was this week’s charity option, which will help fund scholarships for girls to attend our workshops and camps. To our surprise, a little under 48,000 bundles were sold and we raised over $237,000, a portion of which will go towards creating a scholarship fund for our camps and workshops!

Thank You for Your Support! And that’s it! Now that the first steps towards building GMG are behind us, we’d again like to take this opportunity to send our most heartfelt thanks to every parent, volunteer, sponsor, teacher, student, and gamer out there that helped make this possible.

This is just the first of MANY wild summers we have ahead of us, and it means so much to us to have so many wonderful and supportive individuals along for the ride. All of our tireless work would mean nothing if we didn’t have so many great people like yourselves ready to take the journey with us. Together we’re going to change this industry!  And if you're still reading, you're in for a treat! Reblog or share this post on your social media and email us a link - we're giving away GMG limited edition posters to the first 20 people to share!! :) <3 

Love and Level Design - The Girls Make Games Team

http://girlsmakegames.com/registration.html