Update (14 December): Unfortunately one of our panelists, Meghna Jayanth, has had to withdraw due to illness. However, we are very happy to say that experimental video game developer Nikhil Murthy has kindly agreed to step in at very short notice. Nikhil is currently working on the post-colonial 4X game Nikhil Murthy’s Syphilisation, which you can find on Steam. We wish Meghna a speedy recovery and thank Nikhil for joining us in what we are sure will be a fantastic discussion
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Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our (Post) Colonialism theme so far, and to everyone who has read those contributions. We’ve already seen a great run of posts, with more to come. And today, we are excited to announce our next HGN theme event, which will take place on Wednesday 15 December 2021, at 16:00 UK time (UTC). This time around, we will be joined by Meghna Jayanth, Ashlee Bird, and Stella Wisdom.
Meghna Jayanth is a writer and designer known for her work on 80 Days, Sunless Sea, Horizon Zero Dawn and Sable, amongst others. She won the UK Writers’ Guild Award for her writing on 80 Days, an anti-colonial adaptation of Jules Verne’s famous novel, which was also named TIME’s Game of the Year 2014 amongst other accolades. She is currently working with Outerloop Games on an as-yet unannounced project, continuing her commitment to making games for marginalised audiences and exploring fantasies outside of the imaginaries of capitalism-colonialism.
Ashlee Bird is Moreau Post Doctoral Fellow in the Department of American Studies at the University of Notre-Dame. Ashlee is a Native American game designer and holds a PhD in Native American Studies. Her 2021 dissertation, “Representation and Reclamation: The History and Future of Natives in Gaming,” addresses representations of Native American characters in video games, and seeks to reorient game design towards decolonial methods which can promote Indigenous futures.
Stella Wisdom is Digital Curator for Contemporary British Collections at the British Library, with professional interests in digital publishing and emerging formats, including the collection and preservation of narrative apps and interactive fiction. Stella has collaborated widely on game-related projects and events, notably Off the Map with GameCity/National Videogames Museum; Litcraft, a Lancaster University led initiative, which builds literary worlds in Minecraft; and with AdventureX to host narrative games conventions at the library.
As usual, the event will be chaired by HGN’s own Adam Chapman. All of our participants will contribute to the theme in the lead-up to the event, and everything will come together in the panel discussion at the end of the theme period.
Event tickets are available via Eventbrite. We’re looking forward to a great discussion.