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Meet Adam Kareem and Protodroid DeLTA

February 26, 2021

We’re continuing our series of chats with developers working with the Black Game Developer Fund about their experiences in gaming and insights about their upcoming projects.

Today we’re featuring Adam Kareem who’s working on Protodroid DeLTA! Adam’s based in the US and he works with freelancers from across the globe. You can learn more on Protodroid DeLTA’s website or by following the project on TwitterFacebook, and Instagram

You can learn more about Black Game Developer Fund and how to apply by visiting HumbleGames.com

Questions

What can you tell us about your game?

Protodroid DeLTA is a 3D action-platformer set in a beautiful Solarpunk vision of the future that is hopeful yet non-utopian. It’s the story of DeLTA, a protodroid, and her efforts to save the Radia region of the drone-gang threat and her unique ability to change the lives of everyone she meets along her journey.

The game is largely inspired by the SNES classic Mega Man X with the goal of successfully translating the awesome 2D gameplay of that series into 3D

What inspired you to make games?

Mostly my love for Sonic and Megaman. I always had a strong desire to see those franchises successfully make the leap from 2D to 3D the same way Mario, Zelda, and Metroid have. So when I learned about Unreal Engine and it’s Blueprint system and that I didn’t need to learn C++ in order to make games I was amazed. From there, I started making Sonic and Megaman fan games in 3D, kinda determined to prove that these games really could work well in 3D.

So in a nutshell, just the combination of a strong desire to see games that I loved be improved upon and the ease of access to powerful tools like Unreal Engine, and a belief that I could somehow pull it off haha. 

What are the biggest creative opportunities for Black developers?

Oof, hard to say, since I’m relatively new to the games industry. Am I even inside it yet? I just make games as a hobby lol. 

But I think with the democratization of game dev tools, Unreal and Unity being free, easy access to TONS of learning material, I see wonderful opportunities in being either solo or small team dev teams. It’s never been easier for people to make games since so many barriers to entry are lowered. And so with access to these tools comes the freedom to make worlds and tell stories that don’t need to be “greenlit” or approved first. We can create characters and invite people into our worlds and that’s so energizing and does wonders for expanding the realm of what’s possible for storytelling and entertainment.

And the reason I mentioned it’s great for either solo or small teams is that if folks are able to keep the overhead costs down for their development, it really liberates your creativity. You have more freedom to create what you’d most love to see without as much concern for “will this sell enough to offset our expenses?” But, I may be unique or a huge outlier in this perspective since I don’t do game dev full time. I work by day and instead make games as my main hobby.



What are the biggest challenges facing Black developers?

I can’t really speak on behalf of developers other than myself simply because I’m not in touch with anyone else tbh. So my answers just reflect more my own experience and less what I could’ve heard from speaking with other devs.

For me, the biggest challenge has been the lack of connections and mentors. People to bounce ideas off of, get answers to technical questions, and just learn more about what steps I need to take as I develop the game. I’ve been blessed that via Gwen Frey, indie dev for Kine, I was connected to Forrest Dowling over at the Molasses Flood and he has been a TREMENDOUS mentor and help. Just being able to learn from his experience making games and pointing me in the right direction has been incredible. So I think if every Black dev had themselves a Forrest-type mentor, they’d benefit a great deal.

What can the game industry do to help teams like yours thrive and succeed?

Connecting us with mentors. Game industry vets or game engine gurus to help us overcome challenges that are new to us but common from their experiences. I can’t tell you how many times I would spend hours Googling or Youtubing a question, to later just ping Forrest and get a great answer in minutes.

Exposure for our projects. And not like one- time tweets or shoutouts, but like, sustained marketing support for say a two- to four-month window. Or possibly being featured at a combination of large gaming events like The Game Awards or PAX etc. There are so many interesting projects that certainly have their niche or audience but small or inexperienced dev teams like myself struggle with the first step of just getting people’s attention. And, as I learned from managing my game’s Kickstarter campaign, marketing is HARD for a newbie. It’s definitely better done by people who actually have experience in it

Financial Investment. And it doesn’t need to be like funding the entire budget for a two- to three- year project. Seed money to enable teams to reach a playable prototype or alpha build of their project I think might actually be better overall. Because it would enable a lot more people to get their foot in the game dev door and see their projects at least come to life in a way that can either motivate them to continue development, or, help publishers or funders better see the potential in these projects.

What would you personally like to see from the games industry?

Personally, and this is something I was deliberate about in Protodroid DeLTA, I’d like to see more thoughtful character design. Both in terms of racial & ethnic diversity of the cast of characters, and in how female characters are portrayed.

On the diversity front, when you look at the character rosters of many games, it’s not uncommon that there are more furries and animal mascots than there are Black or Brown characters. And the only ones that are darker are either A) canonically evil / the bad guys or just an alt-skin for a character. That and also how few female characters there are. So, it just paints a clear picture of the way the industry has been for decades and something I’d like to see the industry improve upon.

I’d also personally like to see more female character design that doesn’t have to lean so hard into sex appeal. It’s so common that it almost suggests that the industry thinks if she’s not sexy, she’s not interesting, and that’s just so lame. It’s most noticeable when you compare their designs to their male counterparts who are usually armored-up from head to toe whereas the girls run into battle in bikini-armor, which is just absurd lol. Call me crazy, but I just think that female characters can be powerful and interesting on the strength of just having cool designs.

Overall, things are definitely trending in a better direction as of late, which is great! We’ve gotten a number of games with female protagonists, and games are overall including more characters that look more like the wide spectrum of people who play them. So let’s keep this train moving 🙂

By Kamini Tiwari