The ability to explore love, relationships, intimacy and connections in video games is often disregarded, but the Heartbeat Symposium hopes to change that with its three-day event. The annual game jam was started by the Blushbox Collective and seeks to explore a more empathetic view of video games by exposing developers to speakers from various disciplines working in love and intimacy. This exploration of love is fairly unique to the Heartbeat Symposium, and the focus has always been to use the power of video games to capture the "nuance, silliness, fun, excitement and heartbreak" of love and intimacy.
The Heartbeat Symposium is designed to be a comforting space for developers to experiment, as well as receive advice from other developers, psychologists, actresses, writers and other creatives. This diversity in insight is meant to change and allow game makers to express greater themes of love in their work in both a mainstream and indie setting.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Love-focused Video Games
- The exploration of love and relationships in video games is a growing trend.
- Empathetic Game Development
- Developers are increasingly being exposed to a more empathetic view of video games through events like the Heartbeat Symposium.
- Cross-disciplinary Collaborations in Gaming
- The Heartbeat Symposium encourages collab between video game developers and experts from other creative fields for unique insights into love and intimacy in gaming.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Video Game Development
- Video game developers can benefit from exploring love and relationship themes in their work.
- Psychology
- Psychologists can provide valuable insight into how to approach love and intimacy in video games to create more empathetic content.
- Entertainment
- The Heartbeat Symposium demonstrates that there is a niche for love-focused video games in the entertainment industry.
