“I accidently insulted a witch and now all of my clothes are sentient and they hate me!”
The Queer Games Bundle is a collection of nearly 600 items by LGBTQ+ creators and teams, nearly 400 of which are independent video games, all sold for just $60. I’m talking with creators from the bundle about their games and their making habits. Visit the bundle and consider buying it.
The title of Green’s game really speaks for itself. In the Pokemon-style game, your clothes come to life and you have to fight them while they insult you. It gets surprisingly personal! And it got me thinking a lot about what clothes mean to us, what they say to others, and how much we rely on them.
How long have you been making games?
I’ve made games in Dream and levels in Trials games, but I’ve been making and publishing games for about 3 years now.
What tools do you like to use?
The Ink narrative engine by Inkle is my favourite, I use it to create interactive narratives and I love tinkering with it. I also used Godot for the engine, Aesprite for pixel art and Blender for 3D modelling, which I used for the title on my itch page.
What themes or genres do you like to explore?
I like the mundane with a hint of fantasy. Or the mundane parts of fantasy and sci-fi. Like, Groundhog Day, which is about a normal day gone strange, or The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, which is about the crew of a ship on a long journey and the stuff they do. No end of worlds, no high stakes, just… People being people.
What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of making games?
I like setting up a workflow. Making tools, setting up classes and resources, if I don’t do that, I tend to burn out on a game. Which leads me to the least favourite, actually making content. I actually had the “base” of my game around for a year before I finally took the time to just write everything. It’s uh… It’s tough just finding the time to focus and finish them off.
Is there a game that has affected you recently?
I’ve been thinking about Signs of the Sojourner a lot recently. I played it on Game Pass last year, and I’m a sucker for a game which uses mechanics for a metaphor. The way it uses card-based roguelike mechanics to portray the idea of “If you leave home, you may grow and lose the ability to connect with those who stayed behind” is amazing, and I think about it all the time. It also used Ink for its story!
“And sometimes, you want to be safe, to fit in. But other times, you want to stand out. And I guess, I want people to know that the clothes you have should make you feel good.”
“I accidently insulted a witch and now all of my clothes are sentient and they hate me!” is kind of a genderqueer Pokemon experience. What led you to make it?
I love Pokemon, I was a kid at exactly the right time Pokemania was massive, and I have such good memories of playing the Gameboy games. I’m also a big personification person, I tend to find it easy to imagine feelings and personalities for objects, like clothes and devices. I was an only child, you can probably tell.
One day, I wanted to make an RPG, I was thinking about how clothes are unique and we have our own unique relationships with clothes, and hey, that’s kind of like the relationship between a Pokemon and their trainer and then I just saw the game I wanted to make. Then I sculpted and took away the parts that were too complex to make myself and ended up with a game that I’m really proud of.
The pixel art is so genuinely good, these clothes look very real. What was it like choosing and designing them?
A lot of the clothes are taken from real life. When I first planned the game, I had these ideas of having sets of clothes you could equip and wear, but when I started designing I realised I had massively over scoped and so I took the ones that would be the most interesting and would have the most personality. Then I found some image references and made them. For the more difficult ones, I would trace. For the image of Holly the witch, CastPixel, a trans pixel artist, actually did that one for free, which I’m very grateful for, because she looks so amazing.
“I actually had the “base” of my game around for a year before I finally took the time to just write everything. It’s tough just finding the time to focus and finish them off.”
There’s some discussion in the game of clothes as, uniforms in a way, or “permission” to be or do certain things. How does that tie into your experiences?
Someone left a review on my game saying how it was a good example of anxiety, and honestly, it wasn’t until I read that that I realised “Oh yeah, that’s what is, anxiety!” Clothes are clearly a way of showing the world who or what we are, and that can be terrifying! I tend to wear my more femme clothes inside, or with people close to me, where I feel safe. Elsewhere, I tend to do smaller things, like wear my hair in a bun or paint my nails.
I dressed as a cheerleader for Halloween when I was in uni, and I only went because my cis female friend went as a cheerleader as well, and she did martial arts, so I knew we’d be safe. And there were people in drag, who were doing it as a joke, but it felt really freeing to me, to get to be femme and chill and dance and all sorts.
I have no idea if that answers the question, it’s just where my brain went.
Your game really illustrates how gender binary thinking harms and limits everyone in some way. What do you hope players take away?
Like I said earlier, I personify clothes, like, a lot. I’m transfemme, and I remember ordering clothes online, and imagining these tops thinking “Oh, I can’t wait to see my new owner!” and then arriving and thinking “Oh, there must be a mistake here…” I don’t have this as much anymore, but this idea of clothes judging you, making fun of you, it’s all ridiculous. It’s literally my brain ridiculing me, to try to help me fit into society, to help me be safe!
And sometimes, you want to be safe, to fit in. But other times, you want to stand out. And I guess, I want people to know that the clothes you have should make you feel good. And they can make you feel good in lots of ways, not just wearing them. They may have good memories, they make you feel euphoric or you hope to wear them safely out in public one day. If something makes you feel good, then that’s yours.
Most importantly . . . Which of your real clothes would you not want to fight?
I’m not out at work, so I tend to wear standard office clothes. I’ve only got 5 shirts and 1 tie. I hate that tie and I’m pretty certain it hates me. I think that would be a fight for the ages. The rest of my clothes? My game tees and my skirts and my shoes? We’re chill, they would be like the headphones, just happy to have a quick chat.
