Provide a community and venue for trans and cis women, nonbinary, and genderqueer folks to confidently explore playing, critiquing, and creating games
Demonstrate the value and impact of diversity in a broad range of disciplines related to games
Highlight the achievements and stories of diverse Toronto-based gamemakers
Dames Making Games is a not-for-profit organization founded in Toronto in 2012.
We run a wide range of programs and events for women, non-binary, gender nonconforming, trans and queer folks interested in games. We are member-run, arts-focused, technology positive, collaborative, engaged, and welcoming!
Presentations by 3-5 women involved in games and/or community. Since March 2012, over 90 speakers have shared their game projects and career stories.
Hands-on sessions covering game design, art direction, music production, project management, critique, business development, software tools and programming languages.
Reading and deep discussion focused events led by community members on topics such as labor justice, race and racism in games, copyright law, feminist modding, and more.
Our regular member jams are a fun way for participants to dive in and create a small game in 2 days. Many first-time gamemakers join in, though the format is best suited to those who have made a game before.
New Game Makers surveys a broad range of disciplines behind unique roles in games, with weekly lectures and instructor-led project studios.
Introducing 30 participants to gamemaking and leading them through the completion of their first solo game.
With one mentor per participate, and dames brand-new to games make a complete game in just two weekends.
Our members regularly participate in a range of collaborative, participatory action-oriented research (PAR) activities with local, national and internationally recognized scholars representing a wide range of disciplines, including: game studies, communications, education, digital media, computer science, art and new media, cultural studies, gender, feminist and women's studies, and more.
We believe game-making can be an act of resistance, giving creators ultimate agency in the expression of their identities, politics, selves, genders and sexualities. Our work has the power to transform our communities, and positively impact policies and practice.
We believe that creating space and time to make and talk about games in an explicitly feminist context elevates the craft, amplifies alternative and diverse narratives, and supports the socio-cultural changes that are necessary to make game design accessible to all.
We are interested in creating alternative forms of economic power grounded in solidarity, openness and collective values.
We are committed to collaborating with academic researchers seeking to CO-CONSTRUCT and MOBILIZE KNOWLEDGE that will help us achieve our aims as an organization.
We are committed to developing, contributing to, experimenting with, promoting and sharing knowledge about free and open source tools and platforms.
We are committed to the ongoing work of anti-oppression and anti-racism.
Games can be fun, not-fun, art, commodity, experiential, theoretical, heartbreaking or affirming. We make, play and talk about them because they are important to us.
We welcome and affirm all people of any gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, race, religion, disability, nationality, socioeconomic status and immigrant status as members and community participants.
If you choose to identify yourself to us as a woman (trans or cis), nonbinary and/or genderqueer, you are eligible to vote at our AGM as a Class A member.
Most of our events are open to the public, but occasionally we hold members-only events—these are clearly identified as such on the registration page.
Read our statement on diversity and inclusiveness, and venue accessibility information.
Jennie is a front-end Web developer and currently creative technology lead at the Toronto International Film Festival; she also co-founded Gamma Space and sits on the board of the Toronto Media Arts Centre.
Her first game was a Snake/Roach BASIC mashup copied out of 3-2-1 Contact in 1989.
Izzie is a software/electronic artist and game developer, with an special interest in body-centric technologies.
Her first game was Wingman, a traditional platforming misadventure about going out for a few drinks with a friend, made during DMG's 2013 program, Junicorn.
Gaby is the founder of Pytyvõ Gaming, a group that highlights work by ethnically diverse game creators. She’s an animator and storyteller with a specialty in games, drawing inspiration for her work from her culture's folklore and oral traditions.
Soha is a games writer and experimental designer, currently working on diversity and inclusion programs at Riot Games in LA. Her first game was an experiment made in Construct 2, and she likes playing with Twine and Ren'Py!
Cecily co-founded Dames Making Games after participating in 2011's Difference Engine Initiative and making the Victorian stealth game Adeline's Elopement. She's an arts-lover, software developer, speaker, and game developer currently working at Google in Seattle.
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