Video Games have to be one of the coolest results of the past thirty years. We've gone from Pong to Skyrim, with a huge spectrum in between. And where do girls fit into all this? Besides making up more than half the audience that plays the games, they make them too. Some of the best selling games were made by women.
And this is where Kim Swift comes in.
For her senior project in college, she and a group of other students created a game called Narbacular Drop. Doesn't sound familiar? How about Portal? Valve saw her work and hired her to revamp it into one of their most popular games ever. Over 4 million copies have been sold since it's release in 2007, and was considered one of the most original games of the year.
Kim has also worked on Left for Dead and Half Life, though she left Valve in 2009. She joined with Airtight games to create a new puzzle game called Quantum Conundrum that she hopes will appeal to a wider audience than just hardcore gamers. For her, games are supposed to be entirely separate from reality. "That's what's fun about games—you get to live a weird fantasy."
There are plenty of more girls in the gaming industry, more programmers and players and artists than I can name. But we'll save those for another day. Comment question: What's your favorite game to play? Shooter, puzzle, RPG?
Sources:
Spectrum Profile
Giant Bomb
PC Magazine
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