Creating Windies Direct, a beacon for the Caribbean game dev scene

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It's important to remember that game development is global as more and more creators work to draw attention to their local scenes. One of those efforts was the Windies Direct showcase by the Jamaica Game Developer Society (JGDS), focusing on Caribbean-developed indie games.

The October 2022 presentation was created by Raccine Malcolm, Zane Francis, Glen Henry, and Graham Reid. Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, the organizers share their motivations and hopes for shining the light on the island and its diaspora.

The team explains that the driving force behind the presentation was multifaceted. "Without us even realizing it, it's been a long time coming. We've been a slow and steadily growing community, and we got to a point where we knew we had good things to show," Reid says. "On top of that, we hoped there were developers out there who we had yet to meet, and thankfully, but not surprisingly, that was true."

Henry adds that the show was also meant to display a range of talent in the space and inspire more people to create their own titles.

"The main purpose of the event was to create a beacon for our regional developers and the audiences they seek," Francis explains. "We wanted to showcase the talent across the region and its diaspora."

Henry says that events such as Wholesome Direct and Game Developers of Color were part of the inspirations for the Windies Direct.

"With the shift in the culture of events to online during the pandemic, we thought there was a gap for our region we could try to fill," Francis adds. "The Caribbean is an underrepresented region, and we want to bring that representation to the forefront."

Reid expounds, "We