Most leads made shooting or fighting games, but Emily wanted to address one of the focal issues of the gaming industry: games with female characters that clearly lack the creative voice of a female writer. She took a look at traditional media and realized the absence of games that tackle contemporary Asian-American issues, with the few Asian roles being samurais or martial artists.
Recognizing this lack of representation, she developed an idea about a coming-of-age visual novel that discusses mental health, immigrant families, and western beauty standards. Told through the perspective of a Chinese college student, the game grapples with issues from the hidden ways Asian parents say “I love you” to the social isolation of depression. |
She presented the concept to her team and they brainstormed the core gameplay mechanic, which bases the story around constellations, and painterly art style through a Google Document, which allowed them to share their ideas concurrently. As they progressed in their development pipeline, they could update it with ease and use it as a reference for making creative decisions.
|
Growing up, Emily did not play games because as a woman, she thought she would not fit in with the male players. She quietly observed her friends play CS:GO and League of Legends -- until she was fourteen and discovered The Last of Us, a game about a man who treats a young girl as his daughter amidst a zombie apocalypse. She realized that gaming was a powerful medium for immersive storytelling and she wanted to further explore the merging of narrative and technology.
|
Her video game about Asian-American representation releases on January 18, 2021. As for the future, Emily hopes to continue making games with inclusivity and join the Google team as a writer.
|