The Black Game Developer Fund, established in June 2020 during the social upheaval surrounding George Floyd’s murder, was born out of a desire to help balance the scales of equity for independent Black game makers.
The goal was to provide access to funding, development guidance, and marketing support that has historically been harder to come by for talented and passionate Black creators—creators with the vision, skill, and perspective to build original experiences that people around the world who care about and enjoy games would love.
In that first year, the fund welcomed advisors Justin Woodward and Sithe Ncube, who bolstered the team and helped shape the program by identifying the first seven promising games for funding. During this past year, the fund gained momentum, with the BGDF team bringing 20 more games on board to start their journey. And to further expand developer support, this website was launched as an online home for information about the exciting BGDF-funded projects in the works and the teams bringing them to life.
We’re excited to now kick off the third year of the BGDF with a continued commitment to providing another US$1 million in funding for independent Black game makers to move their games forward, whether they’re just starting out or approaching their next major milestone.
We believe in the people and projects we’re helping to fund—we’re very excited about how the games are progressing—and we’re looking forward to continuing to find new ways to lend support to Black developers who can bring compelling and creative new entertainment experiences to game-lovers everywhere.
That effort continues today with the announcement of new BGDF funding for five developers—bringing the total now to more than 30—and the exciting projects they have in the works:
Learn more about each of these developers in the Projects section of this site, and stay tuned for further updates on their games.
We’re also very excited to announce that one of the original seven BGDF members who joined during the first year of the program, Adam Kareem, has now signed a major publishing deal with Humble Games for his BGDF-funded title Protodroid DeLTA!
Huge congrats to Adam on making the next big move to bring his awesome solarpunk action platformer to a global audience. Head over to Humble Games to learn all about it—and be sure to wishlist it in anticipation of an early 2023 launch!
We look forward to seeing Protodroid DeLTA take the final steps on its journey into the hands of players and fans—and also sharing more news about the BGDF and the amazing developers participating in the program in the year ahead!
-The BGDF Team