Yvonne Oatley, a mother and the founder of the mobile gaming app, Frobelles created an app with her daughter Alyssa with characters and gaming elements young black girls can relate to.
According to the International Game Developers Association, less than 4% of game designers in the industry are Black and this mother is determined to set high standards and make games that will make her daughter feel empowered, boost her self-confidence as well as appeal to young girls her age.
Yvonne Oatley told Black Enterprise:
My daughter and girls like her should be able to find games with characters they can relate to.
Alyssa, who helped her mother design the character and elements of the game, discovered with her mother they had challenges in finding different types of games that had diversity for the black culture. Oatley is of the opinion that games her daughter plays should have a positive reflection on black girls, she said:
As a mother, I am passionate about ensuring games are appropriate and impact positively to my child's mental health.
Taking into consideration the challenges that app developers and business developers face in the gaming industry while trying to improve cultural differences, she pointed out that these problems are also issues other black women face when trying to venture in a new business. She added:
We [my daughter and I] discovered that there was a distinct lack of diverse characters. My daughter didn't feel represented, she wanted characters with skin and hair just like hers. This was the feedback that prompted me to step into the world of mobile gaming as a creator.
The gaming app is expected to launch later on this week and Oatley is quite optimistic about the positive impact it will have in empowering young black girls, she also added:.jpg?width=279&name=34b9f71dc6154724b528d25ecd4774c0%20(1).jpg)
With the fast pace at which technical requirements for game approval update, I've had to adapt my way of thinking to keep up with the constant movement.
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