Thursday 23 January 2014

Maternity Game Jam

Glyph Quest is out!  Beating Sproglet to be first out (39 weeks, come on Sproglet!) Glyph Quest is now available for iOS (coming soon to Android).



What an intense few months it has been.  Making this game in such a short amount of time was however necessary, I'm at the point where sitting at a computer is not at all comfortable and Sproglet is not a fan of having the laptop on the bump.  Which means of course that I have no hope of taking part in the Global Game Jam this weekend or the Candy Jam that's happening now (but hopefully I'll have a baby to distract me soon - fingers crossed).

But it got me thinking, I'm not the only game developer in the world to get pregnant, I wonder how many other mums make games during their maternity?  Like a Maternity Game Jam.

Mums making games.


Leigh Alexander has written an amazing article about mums in the industry.  My pregnancy left me unable to find a new job; and yes for those you asking employers cannot discriminate against pregnant ladies, but unless they outright say the reason you're not being hired is because you are pregnant, there is no way to enforce this - and no one is going to do that - but my unemployment gave me the opportunity to make a game that I am truly proud of.  All of my time these last few months has been taken up with working on Glyph Quest and now that it's finished*  I feel a bit lost!

My take away from this article is that although having a baby is gong to make life hectic for a while, but eventually it'll bring a new structure to my days and in this I can continue developing games.  If the experience of these other mums is anything to go by, having children should make me more focused and driven than I was before, and that is only a good thing!

I was never planning to stop making games, but I know I will need to take a break.  It's just very reassuring to see other inspiring women taking on motherhood and games development and succeeding at both.      

*Well we have an update and a bug patch on the way but that's all in Alex's corner not mine!

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