Friendship Garden Megabooth

Friendship Garden is a booth at Play NYC on August 11 & 12 dedicated to supporting game developers that have traditionally been underrepresented or silenced in the video game industry. We have space for eight developers to present their games on the main floor of the conference, which will allow for the potential of thousands of new players, press opportunities, and networking that may otherwise be cost prohibitive to procure. This booth provides an accessible alternative to the financial strain normally required to exhibit in such a setting, financial strain that, for systemic reasons, can be much harder or impossible for people of marginalized backgrounds to bear.  

We are looking to raise $2000 - $4000 which will allow for the following:

$2000 - The booth is covered. Game developers can exhibit for free at Friendship Garden, removing one of the largest financial barriers.

$2300 -  Now we can create some promotional materials for Friendship Garden so that booth visitors have something to remember us by and can help support our future efforts to create a more inclusive gaming industry

$2900 - Now we can pay for the flight and lodging of one developer or the flights of two developers outside of NYC, making this opportunity more accessible

$3700 - Now we can pay for the flights and lodging of three developers or the flights of five developers outside of NYC

$4000 - Now we can better pay our staff volunteers for the 20-ish hours they will be working over the event, because everyone deserves to be compensated for their labor! (They will receive small stipends otherwise)

All of our sponsors will be represented at our booth and thanked personally after the event, because without you, we could not do this. 

That being said, please do not burden yourself by donating more than you can comfortably manage. This campaign is trying to help promote people that come from marginalized communities, and these campaigns are often funded by these same people. We do need to be a community that supports each other, which is why we want to support you too. If you feel you are able to donate, we would be thrilled to have your contribution, but you are important and worthy and we wouldn't want you to overstretch yourself financially. Please only give what you are comfortable with. We love you all.

If you can't support us financially, your support on social media will be more than enough!

Follow us on Twitter  or Facebook.

Join our Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/284717605618461/ 

Late Submissions are open until the night of Saturday August 4th 2018 EST:
https://goo.gl/forms/Jc92as3k9fwPVKBe2 

If you're interested in being staff or sponsoring, reach out to us at: [email redacted]

Our full write up of the problem of inclusivity in the game industry can be found here (Lots of cool citations and statistics!)

Logo by Na-yeon Kim

Friendship Garden is organized by Charles Hans Huang and Jacob Rosenbloom.

Charles Hans Huang is a programmer and game designer, currently making educational games and websites at Scholastic. He's had his work covered in Rock, Paper, Shotgun, PC Gamer, TechRaptor, Weird F***in' Games, and Critical Distance. His work has been shown at Different Games, Crafting Intangibles, LA Zine Fest, Nerd Nite, PixelPop, and Play NYC. He loves Mr. Rogers, Randy Pausch, and Jim Henson. He hangs out with other cool game devs in New York City.

Find out more at: http://charleshanshuang.com/

Jacob Rosenbloom is a game designer and programmer who wants to see the world revolutionized by interactive media. Valuing human interaction and emotion, they hope to use games as tools to both connect people and allow them new perspectives on their own and others' lives. Their work includes educational and humanitarian projects in VR, immersive theater, and mobile. They were just showing their work at the Connected Learning Summit.

Find out more at: https://rosenbloomboom.xyz/about-me