This all-girl team of young indie developers just released their first game

Leigh Alexander 3:02 am Thu Jul 2, 2015

The Hole Story, a funny fantasy game about a girl and her trusty shovel digging their way through a mysterious land, recently launched and is now available to buy—you can show your support for a new generation of young developers (and be inspired by their talent) with just five bucks.

Last year, the Girls Make Games summer camp series took off for the first time, aimed at teaching programming, design, project management and other skills to girls ages nine to 16. The inaugural program saw teams compete to have their game demos judged by industry leaders like Kellee Santiago and Tim Schafer, and the demo that would become The Hole Story was the winner.

holestory1

Young developers The Negatives, a team of seven girls, raised over $31,000 on Kickstarter to finish the game, and have released it just about a year later, which is better than most indies do with Kickstarter these days.

The Girls Make Games program, aimed at addressing the gender gap in the video game industry, is led by LearnDistrict and is funded by the kids' camp tuition, corporate sponsors and individual donors; learn more at the official site.

The Offworld Collection available to order

The Offworld Collection, presenting the very best features and essays from Offworld, is finally available to buy directly from Campo Santo for $40. I had the pleasure of designing and… READ THE REST
This week in games: inactivity, brutalism, The Witness and more

Zoya Street, curator of Critical Distance, offers slow reflections on the fast-paced world of digital play… READ THE REST
What was it like working a Nintendo hotline in the 80s?

This week, our partnership with Critical Distance brings us reading on parenting via Tomb Raider, the utility of the word 'gameplay', and experiences from Nintendo 'play counselors' from the 1980s and 90s. READ THE REST
Short Post, just one paragraph

Dessert cheesecake wafer bear claw fruitcake. Fruitcake chupa chups donut candy canes marzipan. Apple pie sweet roll tart chocolate cake macaroon marshmallow carrot cake gummi bears sweet. Pastry sugar plum… READ THE REST
Save 50% on a 1-year subscription to Dashlane's premium password manager

We all know vital information about ourselves and our private digital accounts can be compromised by cybercriminals. However, many would be frightened to know just how compromised they and their… READ THE REST
The Bite Helper removes the itch of a mosquito bite in seconds

While mosquitoes have certainly earned their title as the deadliest animal on earth, their impact on most of our lives is usually a lot less consequential. But even though they… READ THE REST