Queer and Trans Games – Spring 2020 at UCSC – Online Showcase

“The place where queerness meets games is a site of radical potential. At this intersection stands the invitation to radically reimagine games and play: their forms, their meanings, their politics, and their place within the world.”

  • “Not Gay as in Happy: Queer Resistance and Video Games”, Bo Ruberg and Amanda Phillips

Welcome to the Queer and Trans Games Spring 2020 showcase!

These beautiful games were made in a spring course at UCSC titled “Queer and Trans Games”. Please play them, enjoy, and share!

Course Description

In this class, students studied, and made, queer and trans games. We  considered how gender and sexuality are systems of rules often assumed in game design, and how those rules can be subverted to create novel and experimental games. The projects, showcased here, focus on text based games and lo-fi approaches.

By identifying and resisting cisnormativity and heteronormativity, students created unique and original game concepts, using a critical, intersectional approach that understands that race is a constitutive element of both gender and sexuality.

The Games

Regardless, I love you, by Holly Cheng

Nepantla Limited, by Misael Ruiz Garcia

Memory Lane, by Kaylin Wang

Welcome to the Start, by Rachel Haub

WDYWT, by Janel Catajoy

Date or Be, by Tiffany Phan

tiny rainbow rebels, by Joyce Lin