11/12/2009 Tom Hord
Written by Tom Hord
In the testosterone-laced realm of video games, there’s hope yet for female game developers and players: Games4Girls, a competition within the UIUC Department of Computer Science, will pit teams of five college-aged women against one another to create the best new video games geared towards a female, high school-aged audience.
The competition addresses a known inequality within the gaming industry. According to Forbes magazine, only 28% of players of all video games are female. This number might be higher than expected for some, but a study conducted by Dmitri Williams at the University of Southern California shows that, of all the playable protagonists in videogames available for play today, only 10% of them are female.
Competition entrants will use GameMaker, a freely available, PC-based game-development tool, to create new and exciting games for the next generation of female gamers. The program can be used by both inexperienced and master programmers alike: the interface allows for a friendly, drag-and-drop approach to game creation as well as a built-in programming language to enable customization and flexibility.
The winning team will be awarded $2000 plus a $500 donation to their department to be used in the support of diversity activities. The second place team will be awarded $1500 and third place team will receive $1000. All three of the top teams will receive an Award Certificate and plaque, as proof that girls can game just as hard as the guys.
For more information about Games4Girls, visit https://cs.illinois.edu/outreach/games4girls.