Bonnie Harris-Lowe is a game designer and writer for Wildseed Games, who are working on a genre bending videogame set in a sci-fi-fantasy world, inspired by Eastern martial arts and culture, hip hop, and Afrofuturism.
Follow Bonnie on twitter, LinkedIn, and check out their Mixed Reviews blog.
Outline
Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:32) - Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae. Black femininity, sexuality, and identity
(05:31) - Origin story. Growing up bi-racial. Formative experiences - Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, POC representation in games
(07:37) - Becoming a creator: Learning the cons. Crunch, Gamergate and harassment. Studying media arts
(11:22) - The lack of industry elders creates a lack of industry advancement. Rockstar Games, Riot games
(15:40) - Wildseed and breaking the mold
(19:53) - N. K. Jemisin: “How Long 'til Black Future Month?” Black creators and commercial success, competing with America's addiction to black imagery
(25:44) - Personal life and projects
(38:31) - Accessibility vs approachability in games
(44:40) - VR, XR. Developing new controls. Immersion versus bending reality
(52:06) - Realism versus experimentation. Black hairstyles in video games
(58:55) - Inclusive character creator: Diversity isn’t thought about as valuable
(1:02:02) - Individual impact on the world
(1:05:41) - Finishing up
