illuminesce

Queer indie dev. Kinda feral.

I co-run a video game cooperative called Studio Terranova with @mabbees.


💚 blog 💚
illuminesce.net/blog/
interface drama + games discord
discord.gg/NUg8ny8Qv2

Reflecting on this year's Global Game Jam, I was saddened to hear a participant comment, "I went to another GGJ site in Tokyo, and it's all Japanese people, but this site is all non-Japanese!" It's my fourth year organizing Global Game Jam in Tokyo, and in that time, our site has become the 外国人の島, or the "foreigner island." One regional organizer helpfully suggested to another who was having difficulty responding in English to a jammer, "just redirect them to CJ's site, it's for foreigners."

While I like attracting an international group of people at our site, my stance on this is that our site's goal is to be a place where both English-speaking and Japanese-speaking game developers feel welcome. We are currently failing at that. Our numbers from 2020 were around 25% native Japanese speakers, with a majority being bilingual and a minority being English-only speaking. During Global Game Jam 2021 and 2022 online barriers pushed our crowd to be more English-only. We didn't have the benefit of body language, or crossed arms, or physical whiteboards. The lowest point was in 2022 was when a Japanese speaker, after making a few attempts to have conversations with English-speaking devs, told me 「やっぱりに合わない」"I don't belong here" and logged off.

Now, we're at 10% native Japanese speakers. In the coming year, I'd like to raise this number to at least 30%, if not a 50/50 split.

The English-speaking indie dev community and the Japanese-speaking indie dev community run in barely-overlapping circles, despite both living in Japan. @npckc mentions this in their Indie Interviews on cohost and how difficult it is for Japanese indie game devs to reach audiences outside Japan. It's very easy for spaces to tilt English-only even if a little bit of English is being spoken or everyone in the room is bilingual. It's very easy for native Japanese speakers to feel intimidated by this. Especially us devs, who many of us are shy and introverted by nature, even working up the courage to go to a public event is hard.

I also recognize that visually, I'm not the most "bilingual-looking" person, despite speaking both English and Japanese. I'm culturally American, and I look like a stereotypical "American." If I don't proactively speak Japanese, most people assume I don't speak it at all.

The native Japanese speakers that stick it out until Sunday leave so excited. They not only feel like they've grown as a developer, but as a person. They've made friends that they can test their designs with, and, I hope, if they're working on a project, can ask them for English help so that their work can be seen and loved by more people.

I want out of Foreigner Island. I want to break some assumptions, like that when someone is speaking English, everyone can understand them. Some well-meaning Japanese organizers have the assumption that "non-Japanese will be happier if they are all together." I don't think this is true. I've learned and grown the most from befriending people who don't share my culture, beliefs or language. I've seen it happen so many times at our site; the teams that are mixed-language leave the jam more excited and confident.

I think we can do better in meeting indie devs where they're at, at events and online on Twitter/Discord. And me personally—I want to do better. I make indie games, and I'd like to make more friends who make them, too.

On a personal note, my barrier is my schedule brain; not my disinterest in an event. Things announced a week in advance or events that are TBD and then announced on Twitter are easy for me to lose organizationally. Even if I want to, my brain forgets. The bigger events that are planned months in advance and the ones I can set reminders for far in advance are the ones I end up attending. Usually, those events don't lend themselves to 1x1 conversations or friend making, so I don't get as much out of them. So if it's solely up to me with no accountability partner, I have a difficult time going out.

But if it means breaking out of Foreigner Island, even if I have to paddle my leaking dinghy of a scheduling brain, I'll try it.

PS: I was able to snag an event—I'll be attending Tokyo Indies Game Summit with @mabbees so if you're around, come say hi. 英語と日本語とスペイン語、何でもいいですよ。


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in reply to @illuminesce's post:

it's hard to find a balance, isn't it? you should check out tokyo indies if you haven't - this week's was a pretty good mix of english / japanese speaking folks & you get all sorts of devs coming out! it's always the third wednesday of every month.

i understand what you mean too about these events not being great for 1x1 or friend making - i find it much easier if you know even one person there, who can usually help introduce you to people too which leads to meeting more people. if you ever want to meet up 1x1 first to just chat about game dev here & then use me as your accountability partner for upcoming events, i'm totally ok with it (: this year my resolution is to reach out to more people i don't know, so i am always free on discord/irl if schedules align to chat &c. (also if you're interested i have a small discord server for douzine linked at https://douzine.crd.co which is generally japanese speaking but with some bilingual too)

what are you showing at indie games summit i want to go if i can make the time!

Thank you so much for the offer. I’d love to meet up! I’m sorry for my late reply; been entertaining family this month so I haven’t had the headspace to reply.

Will be going to Indie Games Summit as a participant hopefully to say hi to folks and to connect! If you’re around let me know. 😊