Continuing the discussion from Residence Jeu Videa:
HeLa is a Jeu Vide-a project, a collective initiative, led by a feminist and non-binary group in chosen mixity, working with free software since 2017.
HeLa is our first full realization, a game taking place on the asteroid bearing the name of the HeLa cell line, and the fate of Henrietta Lacks from whom HeLa stem cells were taken, without her consent, and without her being accompanied or treated for the cancer that ended her life. The players gradually discover HeLa’s essential role in research, helping to save many lives.
HeLa is a game play that responds to the care principle of the Vide-a Game, both in the way we interact, based on mutual care and solidarity, and in the way we organize our own work and development of the game.
Faced with the absence of feminist developers, both in the field of video games and in that of free software, we have chosen to organize our work around residencies and workshops that enable us to train each other in solidarity as regards technical development, game development under the free software Godot Engine.
Our group operates in 3 ways while in residency
- Collective research and production of the integration of game play and graphics into the new code.
- Organization of mixed-gender workshops on programming with the Godot game engine.
- Presentation of HeLa’s game play principles, graphics and sound choices.
Residency requirements,
- Duration between 10 days and 3 weeks, autumn/winter 2024-25.
- Agreement to cover daily expenses, via an artist’s fee or workshop funding.
- A quiet workroom for the 3 participants.
- A space to organize workshops for up to ten people.
- Active support in communicating the workshop and project.
- Possibly a presentation of the work done.