Wireframe_-_Issue_23_2019

Early Access

Attract Mode

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 The game’s pixel art evokes

the Edo period from which it

takes inspiration.

REPRESENT

“I think it’s getting better,

certainly, but we’re still

a long way off [from] the

representation of women

being where it needs to be,”

Webb tells us when asked

about the visibility of women

in game dev. “You only have

to look on Twitter or other

social media platforms to see

how women are perceived

and treated in the games

industry, especially in the

dev space. I moved from the

tech industry and have only

been working in games for

just over a year now, and

one thing that has given me

hope and continued to inspire

me is the other women I

have met, and who have

mentored, supported, and

taught me so far. Not least

having the privilege to work

with Abby and Ashley on this

project! The games industry

is full of strong, talented,

compassionate, and creative

women, and non-binary folks

as well, and with them all

working together I have no

doubt we will continue to

improve as an industry.”

who’s willing to answer questions and help you if
you’re struggling.”
And, of course, there’s the experience factor

• not just for the individuals working on Yokai
  Moon, but through the simple fact Moonlight
  Fortress acted as a smaller-scale test run
  for the new game. “The greatest lessons we
  learned by sharing Moonlight Fortress online is
  to never, ever assume anything will be obvious
  to players and that frequent user-testing is
  vital to crafting an enjoyable and intuitive game
  experience,” Rezvani says. “For example, even
  though Abby was certain she had left enough
  clues, a considerable number of players did
  not understand how to complete the final task
  in Moonlight Fortress.
  As we’ve worked on Yokai
  Moon, we’ve made sure
  to conduct user-testing
  as much as possible
  with testers from all
  backgrounds, and share our work as widely
  and freely as we can to avoid this scenario
  happening again.”
  It feels a bit cynical to hoist it up the flagpole
  as a defining Tuality of the game, but this is still
  an industry dominated – in the mainstream and
  elsewhere – by a narrow ‘type’ of developer, and
  an equally narrow type of game coming from it.
  As such, Yokai Moon coming from a small-but-
  diverse team of women is worthy of note, even
  celebration, and it’s something those working on
  the game have appreciated, too: “Personally, I

have enjoyed working with two other intelligent,

driven, and talented women and I believe

we’ve cultivated a safe, heartening work culture

between the three of us,” Rezvani says.

“I think that we have all been gracious and

calm about accepting criticisms of each other,

and we are respectful of each other and don’t

interrupt each other. I think the most amazing

thing has been the fact that we all recognise

each other’s strengths and happily let the

person with the most expertise take the lead

when it would make most sense, without having

to defend our own authority. This has made the

development process enormously refreshing,

and I genuinely believe that it has improved our

game by leagues.”

Asking Flores her

hopes for Yokai Moon

leads to an answer

beyond the usual ȆI hope

it doesn’t fail’ you get for

questions of this type, again with things coming

back to the make-up of the team behind it:

“The three of us want to serve as an example

that anyone, regardless of their background or

experiences, can make games,” she explains.

“We hope to inspire others to get into game

development, cultivate our own little Yokai

Moon community, and add a bit of happiness to

the world.ȋ And who can argue with that?

Early Access

Attract Mode

“Never, ever assume

anything will be obvious

to players”

 Action is of the turn-

based variety.

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