She laments that most games falling under the wholesome umbrella are easily overlooked, especially since they aren’t considered ‘traditional’ games. Lead developer Wren Brier of Unpacking, a game about taking items out of boxes and learning about life along the way, agrees with this. This is why Taylor is helping put on the Wholesome Games Direct, to showcase the “breadth of experiences that games can have.” It’s hard to argue with the belief, with a landscape dominated by blockbusters like Call of Duty, God of War, and The Last of Us.
![paralives developers paralives developers](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ub_2p9eJKSI/maxresdefault.jpg)
Though this niche community is growing, Taylor also recognizes a need to “broaden the conversation” industry-wide about taking the genre more seriously.“For many years, the most critically acclaimed titles have been the ones with the darkest themes and grimmest depictions of life,” he says. He calls the genre “fluid and inclusive” - much like its surrounding community. For the Direct’s part, he tells us that there’s “no right answer” for what wholesome games actually are. The organizer that Alex mentions is Matthew Taylor, who’s helping put together the Wholesome Games Direct. “If our game brings people joy and helps foster acceptance, I’m more than happy for anyone to call it wholesome.” Spirit Swap “I suppose there is some measure of internalized queerphobia on my part in automatically assuming any direct involvement of queer thirst or sexuality is automatically no longer wholesome, but why shouldn’t it be?” Alex continues. Once they read that the event organizer believes “wholesome games” are entirely subjective and completely open to interpretation, it seemed to be a good fit. “When we were first contacted by Wholesome Direct about having Spirit Swap, our first reaction was ‘…wait, are we wholesome?’ The game is pretty upfront about being thirsty,” says developer Alex of their match-three game, which uses lo-fi beats as a backdrop to humans and demons coupling up and smoothing in hetero or queer relationships. However, the label is occasionally unexpected for some. Įrisa Liu of Bluecurse Studios, a developer currently making the adorable “cat-venture” farming game Snacko, feels similarly: she isn’t surprised at all to hear her game described as wholesome. It’s a sentiment shared by many of the other indie developers Fanbyte spoke to, who work on games like Spirit Swap, Unpacking, and Snacko.
![paralives developers paralives developers](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GflgK5onYMc/maxresdefault.jpg)
Paralives developers simulator#
Not to be deterred, the Wholesome Direct returns this Saturday, with plans to show over 70 indie games.Ĭhristine Gariépy, the marketing director for Paralives, believes it’s entirely appropriate to call her indie life simulator “wholesome,” as the development team is acutely aware elements like “no violence and cozy feel” fall well within the confines of what is considered wholesome.
![paralives developers paralives developers](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0yhbOrCik_A/maxresdefault.jpg)
![paralives developers paralives developers](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ODzsT-7d5Uo/maxresdefault.jpg)
It clearly isn’t fazed by the competition, or even toxic internet comments bemoaning the very existence of wholesome games, as the organizers behind the event have dealt with in droves over the past few days. This volunteer-run showcase is establishing a platform for games that identify as “wholesome,” a genre filled with games like Ooblets, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and the recent Chicory: A Colorful Tale. The community originated on Twitter, but now over 200,000 members exist across additional platforms like Discord, YouTube and Instagram. But how do the developers react to having such a label placed upon them?įanbyte spoke to several independent developers to find out, many of who have games primed for the Wholesome Direct this weekend on June 12. It’s easy for us, as the audience, to sit back and assign labels like “wholesome” to different games. When we talk about “wholesome games,” we talk about them in a variety of ways, from colorful and vibrant colors, to charming and lovable characters, and even a distinct absence of violence.