Girls Game Labs is an organization that does a wonderful thing, teaching young girls about the process of creating games, art, and technology. Various iconic women in the industry came together to found the group, and it’s been going strong since August 2018. Caoimhe Roddy, Rachael Gregg-Smythe, Lucy Smith currently direct the organization, bringing in their years of game experience to help foster partnerships and design workshops to get kids interested in making games. It’s all great. Now, the outfit has partnered with AAA developer Rockstar Games in the UK to hold a special workshop for young girls interested in making video games.
The new partnership with Rockstar Games will allow girls aged 8-12 to get a peek behind the curtain to see how some wonderful video games are made. There will be design workshops where participants can write plots and create characters. Other activities will also include programming using the Stencil app, designing levels, and even getting to demo some games created by local developers.
Unfortunately, tickets and registration have already sold out, but if you’re curious about this event, details can still be found on the website. The event will run from 11:30 am to 4 pm local time in Edinburgh on Feb. 22. Who knows, maybe the event will happen again for another group of girls in the future. If you’re a parent and might be interested in something like this, be sure to keep an eye out. And if this does happen again, don’t worry, the entire event is free.
Previous Girls Game Lab workshops have taken place at Playground Games, so there’s a precedent here.
Rockstar is often one of the more secretive elements within the wider games industry. Their games often tackle sensitive topics and help people consider the impact their actions have. That tone should be getting more play in daily life, and people should be more open to breaking down stereotypes, so it’s great to see the company opening its doors for this partnership.
