GLASS CEILING GAMES
The Glass Ceiling Games is a cathartic feminist punk augmented reality game for mobile with a kickass soundtrack.
Winner of 2022 Women in Games Award for Best Representation of Women in a Videogame and featured on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour
“Made me laugh!”
“Easy to understand gameplay.”
“A++ soundtrack.”
“Fantastic artwork.”
“Endless fun!!”
– Player reviews from EGX 2019
Let out your intersectional feminist rage…
Slay everyday sexism, boss up the ranks of a skyscraper called The System and smash the glass ceiling to a Riot Grrrl-inspired electropunk soundtrack!
In a Buffy The Vampire Slayer meets the Olympic Games augmented reality experience, you let out your rage by mastering a new fantasy anti-sexist sport each level.
The game starts outside The System skyscraper where you 🗣️ slingshot catcalls for freedom. You then move inside the building, climbing higher as you 🥊 box stereotypes for money, 🍆 machete unsolicited dick pix for joy, 🏏 bat emotional labour for freedom and 🤾♀️ throw babies in baskets labelled ‘man’s work’ for money, before reaching the conference room at the top where you 🔫 raygun mansplains for joy, smash the domed glass ceiling and collect your total haul of 🤘 freedom, 💰 money and 😃 joy points! You can then replay to try and beat your previous score!Inspired by personal experiences of sexism and DIY intersectional feminism, use this playful and darkly comic alternate power fantasy for a cathartic rush when sexism has got you down, or to start difficult conversations with anyone’s who’s got the patriarchy on speed dial.#gameoverforsexism
Game Features:
Immersion in a fantasy world where you have powers you might wish you had in the real world.Six augmented reality levels that embed the digital game world in your real world environment, whether playing inside or outside.An iconographic cartoon neon art style where unsolicited dick pix are represented as phallic foodstuffs and mansplains as troll heads.Gameplay designed to an original electropunk soundtrack by Go Fallopian! with storytelling delivered through the lyrics and levels lasting the approximate 2:30-minute length of each audio track.Cathartic, reverse power fantasy mechanics that feature a different anti-sexist sport and challenge each level.Replayability to beat your/your friends previous haul of freedom, money and joy.Dark humour to make an unapologetic, feminist punk point.
READ: Standing on the shoulders of Riot Grrrl: Story Juice and punk feminism in games
“When you can’t see your stories and perspectives in an industry, then you have to put them there,” says studio founder Dr Hannah Wood. Read the interview in gamesindustry.biz via the link above.
Our subversive and anarchic feminist punk AR game made it all the way to BBC Woman's Hour!
It was a real thrill to feature on a show that's an internationally respected and renowned platform for women's lives and voices; we are stoked it reflects that The Glass Ceiling Games is part of an important cultural conversation and striking a chord.
Listen again at 36:45 to hear the discussion with brilliant Emma Barnett about why the humour of the anti-sexist sports you play in the game is important, what happens when men play and why games are a powerful medium for change: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00187qv
Music clips from Go Fallopian!
Gameplay is designed to the beat of the music in The Glass Ceiling Games; have a listen to some exclusive music clips and storytelling lyrics from the levels where you slingshot catcalls and machete unsolicited dick pix!
The Glass Ceiling Games has been supported in its development by UK Games Fund, Ideate Plymouth and the South West Creative Technology Network (SWCTN).“It is a brilliant example of how nuanced research into game mechanics, affect and immersive experience can be mobilised into a product that is unique, meaningful and really good fun.
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“Story Juice is an exciting South West company innovating in immersive experiences. It’s also contributing to changing the narrative for women and girls in games, through representation and the processes of making. The game is funny and empowering. A rare and timely power-fantasy game for those societally disempowered.
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“Story Juice is an incredibly innovative creative studio and we’re excited to see where the UK Games Fund-backed Glass Ceiling Games progresses in the marketplace.”
Some of the Story Juice team with fellow UK Games Fund recipients at EGX 2019 where we showcased the first demo.“We wholeheartedly support Story Juice and The Glass Ceiling Games. It’s a game that has gone from strength to strength and should be on everyone’s phones. Story Juice has always been a staunch advocate and supporter of the games industry, and we loved working with them throughout our programmes, as well as feeling like the funding we have offered them has been put to good use!”
