Helena Christensen, Naomi Campbell, Vivienne Westwood and models at a Vivienne Westwood show during Paris fashion week in the 1990s.

When we think of gaming and its enthusiasts, what's the first image that comes to mind? Is gaming automatically associated as a 'feminine' industry? Can a fashion blogger with over 150k followers be deeply passionate about gaming? If you think not, you're in the majority — unfortunately. Women have always been gamers, but haven’t always been accounted or even designed for. Which is a pity, considering the fact that games that do design for women tend to fare better than average. Sims, for instance, is the best-selling franchise for personal computers in history with the majority of it’s userbase being women (though this was perhaps not intentional on the part of Maxis). Despite preconceived notions, including those within the gaming industry itself, our guest today defies stereotypes and proves that women can and should make games!

Meet Linda Sumbu, better known as @itgirlenergy in the high fashion Twitter space. A prominent fashion blogger with a massive following, Linda has covered top fashion events, including NYFW. However, what most people don't know is that Linda LOVES gaming. She fondly refers to video games as her 'first love,' and despite fashion being her current obsession, gaming has always had her heart. In fact, Linda pursued a master's in Game Design and aspires to be a Game Designer (when she's not busy at fashion week!). In today’s edition of MINDS AT PLAY, Linda shares her deep love for art, fashion, and video games, discussing her aspirations for the gaming industry and advocating for better fashion games. We explored game design as a truly immersive multi-dimensional art form, and more! Two things are clear: Linda truly loves her craft, and the next-generation of gamers may be a lot trendier than the gamers of old.

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CYNTHIA: What inspired your interest in both game design and fashion?

LINDA: Ever since I was little I've always really been into fashion. I feel every little girl got started in fashion by getting introduced to dolls and stuff like that. I did the same thing but I just had a complete obsession with it. But I also grew up with brothers, so they played a lot of video games growing up. The first video game that I watched my brothers play was God of War and I had absolutely no business watching such mature gameplay but I was just so infatuated with it. I wanted to do everything that my brothers wanted to do. And I just loved the action that video games had. Eventually, because I loved dolls and fashion and because my parents didn't want me to play anything too violent, they introduced me to video games about dolls. The first fashion video game that I ever played was the Bratz's games. And [in those games] you could walk around and basically be a fashion blogger, and run your own magazine!

I feel that's where my true passion for game design was birthed. And ever since then, I've just been really into video games. There was a lot more variety in video games. I was able to explore a lot more genres in that sense, you know, so I didn't have to just play Super Princess Peach I could also play Bloodborne  (which I probably should not have played at my young age).

CYNTHIA: I think a lot of a lot of women our age got introduced to both video games and fashion through Bratz! When did you decide that you wanted to pursue game design as a career?

Bratz: Forever Diamondz PS2 Gameplay

LINDA: In high school my obsession with video games grew stronger. Although I didn't study art, I was constantly drawing. If I finished my schoolwork early, I'd spend the time doodling in class, sneaking in my PSP. I've always been obsessed with cartoons and animation. It got to the point where I thought — “I don't know what else I can do with my life except to make games,” because I've always wanted to have that type of control over video games. It's not like I played bad video games, but I've always wondered what would happen if I was in control of changing the narrative structure or changing the level design structure. So in high school, I explored career paths that led to game design. 

However, in South Africa, it was nearly impossible to pursue that career path and study game design; the only apparent option was to pursue computer science, learn coding, and enter the game industry. After completing my specialized BA degree, which is a unique degree not widely available in South Africa, I acquired both art and computer science backgrounds. Discovering that my university had this program excited me because I was like, “oh my goodness, this is made for me”, because I'm an artist that wants to create games. 

Despite not being very good at math, I've always been a lot more artistic, but I've also been very good at, you know, working with computers and being efficient in it. This created confusion for my parents, as I didn't want to pursue computer science or fine arts. Somehow, in my studies, I found game design — which was the best of both worlds, and I'm grateful for that. It wasn't easy to figure out, but I reached that point.

CYNTHIA: You are super artistic! It’s clear from your Twitter that you have an eye for detail, beauty and aesthetics. Would you recommend game design for people that don't feel inherently artistic though?

LINDA: I think game design is an interesting medium to explore as an artist because, it's not fine art which is you know, something that has been done for literally centuries and centuries — game design is still very much a teeny, tiny, subset of art that is very much only being recognized recently as art. A lot of people still consider game design as just entertainment and nothing further. So I would recommend game design as a creative medium because it brings a different sense to how an artist can interact with their viewer, reader or player. You basically create an experience. Players actually experience your self-expression through mechanics and through aesthetics and through sound design and level design and UI and everything. So it's very much something that will give you a different perspective on art in general and how you should interact with art in the future.

What sets game development apart is the unparalleled control it offers. While other art forms allow for creative expression, the immersive nature of video games provides a lot more possibilities. As a game designer, I love the control I have over every element, from lighting to evoke different emotions, to sound design, colors, characters. It's such a unique experience.

CYNTHIA: So what was the school experience like? Because you alluded to it being a bit challenging and I think people would find that interesting to hear because games are fun, but there's a lot of hard work that goes into making them.

LINDA: The thing about something like game design is that it's exactly like painting. There's no one way of doing it. It's very much about problem-solving, evident when coding and crafting mechanics, artificial intelligence, ensuring the enemy hits at the right time, not just hitting in the air, and such.

Getting good at game design is something that takes a lot of time and solitary effort to figure out what works best for you, and the genre of games you're more comfortable making. For me, through various different assignments, I discovered my comfort zone is in 2D games. Others felt more at home with first-person shooters or 3D RPGs. It's fascinating but also challenging because you can't excel at making every type of game.

Unfortunately, every game has its unique approach, requiring creative thinking, especially for those new to coding. Understanding how to make a game outside the computer, creating analog games, board games, and understanding game loops, is a crucial foundation. You don't truly feel it until you're in front of a computer, making a flowchart of your game loop, realizing it makes no sense because the foundation is flawed.

In game design, you have to figure out what works for you, your strengths, what you're good at, and what is powerful. Many indie game developers admit not being proficient in all areas but excel in specific aspects to make their games outstanding. Understanding your type as a developer is crucial because very few developers are good at everything. Often, collaboration is key, with each member bringing unique skills to the table.

My school experience involved making a variety of games, not excelling at all of them. It's essential to go through that and not beat yourself up for not being good at everything. Knowing your strengths as a game developer leads to better games and success in school. Recognizing my strengths as an artist made me a valuable team member, and understanding this transformed my school experience.

CYNTHIA: Let’s talk fashion in gaming! What are your thoughts on the current state of the industry, whats missing? What could be better?

LINDA: Fashion is such a massive part of the world. And it's such a massive industry. There's just not enough fashion games. And when we do get fashion games, they’re just dress up games. When fashion is way more than that. What if I want to become a model? Where's my modeling simulator? Where's my fashion PR simulator? Where is my fashion marketing simulator? There's so many things about the fashion industry that are just not considered at all in the gaming industry — and it’s just so strange to me.

I feel like [the lack of fashion games] also has to do with the fact that fashion is considered to be a “feminine” thing. Despite the fact that it's mostly controlled by men, but, it’s still considered a feminine thing and video games are marketed mostly towards men. So there's not a lot of interest within the gaming industry to make the genre better. I feel like that's just because we don't have enough female game developers.

The one game that gets mentioned all the time when we talk about games for women is the Sims, but The Sims is not entirely designed for women anymore. It’s a lifestyle simulator and accommodates for every single lifestyle — but where is the game that’s designed specifically for the girly girls that just love fashion and want to explore it? The Sims has a lot of options for living life but very few for simulating a fashion career.

Sims x Moschino, courtesy of The Sims

CYNTHIA: I really resonated with what you said about fashion games being so limited, and not because there isn't a demand. There just hasn't been intention around building for this demographic. I feel it’s odd to overlook what women want, because even if we strip away game design, it's a business right? And women and girls consistently have proven to be the biggest consumers and so are great for the gaming business.

(Editors note: there are tons of data that supports this, including this article here)

Okay fun question: If you had the opportunity to design a game in collaboration with a fashion house, which one would it be?

LINDA: It's actually a tough question, but if I had to choose, it would probably be Vivienne Westwood. They have this insane visual aesthetic, and there's so much you can explore with it.

Here’s a random idea: Think about how the brand is known for being punk and imagine a game where essentially you're trying to take down the establishment. You're playing as a huge Vivienne Westwood fan and you're a total punk so you just go in and you steal all of the clothes and everything and you vandalize the store and and revive it to how it looked back in the 70s. I feel like that would be so cool.

But, honestly, if I were to create a game in collaboration with Vivienne Westwood, I'd go for a runway theme game inspired by her iconic 90s clothing. Her collections from that era are truly amazing—like pieces of art that deserve to be showcased everywhere, in my opinion. I feel like there's a certain timeless personality and vibe missing in today's fashion. I'd love to resurrect that essence and let players relive Vivienne Westwood's old work. I don't know, it's just my personal take…

CYNTHIA: I want that game! That’s a perfect match, at first I thought you would say Schiaparelli.

LINDA: Schiaparelli would also work but I think because they're so well known for surrealism, an abstract game would actually work better for them. Something that's related to the surrealist art that Elisa Schiaparelli based all of her work off of. I think that would be much more interesting than just making the game about their fashion. Obviously, like it would have like an element of their fashion. But in my opinion, I think something more abstract would just be much cooler.

CYNTHIA: Advice to aspiring game designers?

LINDA: If you want to become a game designer, my advice would be — just don't.

I’m kidding! Go for it but just be aware that you’re going to trip a lot before you get it right. Don’t have unrealistic expectations. And also don't take 10 years to finish your game. If you know what I mean. You'll know exactly what I'm talking about, but if you don't know what I'm talking about, you'll know what I'm talking about eventually.

Take your time and if you want to learn about game design, I highly recommend that you just watch videos about it and make sure that that's what you want to learn because it is a really rough industry to be in and a lot of the time a lot of people are not going to understand you and therefore understand your ideas. And you have to be okay with receiving criticism. Because if you don't accept criticism very well you're not going to succeed in the industry.

CYNTHIA: Wonderful. Last question. Where is Linda, the it girl, in five years?

LINDA: That's a very good question. I don't actually know. There's a part of me that wants to be like a huge blogger that attends all of these fashion weeks and stuff. But is still making video games and has a massive video game franchise under her belt and is working on another one. That's pretty much where I want to be. I've always wanted to kind of mix my two biggest passions together. My biggest passion has been video games and will always be video games. But like you know, as you grow, you will get more passions and now my second passion is fashion. I want to be able to do both. So in the future, I want to be able to write about fashion and critique fashion while simultaneously making games not just about fashion, but games that also include all of the fashionable elements that I want to explore.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of MINDS AT PLAY. Thank you for reading and thank you to Linda for your cherished contribution and insights.

— Cynthia ౨ৎ ⊹ ‧ ♱

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