Melbourne Queer Games Festival 2021



MQGF Awards - Shortlist

Here are a selection of queer games our jury really liked this year.



Weltschmerz

Weltschmerz

BáiYù

Two young trans men find themselves stuck together on a strange train.

shortlisted

Were|House

Were|House

Madi Wander

Were|House is a comedic visual novel with dashes of romance, where protagonist Dori gets roped into working alongside three monstrous cuties during Halloween!

shortlisted

Winter

Winter

Freya Campbell and Elliot Herriman

WINTER is an interactive fiction about sex, trans insecurity, and a girl with a skull for a face.

shortlisted

violeta

violeta

Gabrielle Serna

Be a cat, be cute, listen to your friends, and knock over some plants if you feel like it.

shortlisted

The Life of Saint Fiona Bianco Xena

The Life of Saint Fiona Bianco Xena

Fantasia Malware

"The Life of Saint Fiona Bianco Xena" tells the hotly disputed story of the fictitious saint’s life. Fiona is a kaleidoscopic vision of one woman seen through three rotating eyes, an illusion of separated light scattering in different directions.

shortlisted

Cover Me In Leaves

Cover Me In Leaves

Elliot Herriman

An interactive fiction game about queerness and small towns.

shortlisted

 湯圓 [tong jyun]

湯圓 [tong jyun]

kc

a little chat about cooking & culture.

shortlisted

TraceS

TraceS

Paulette

TraceS: Where our story hides is the first episode of a series of Bitsy games, which proposes to search for traces and archives of the fight against AIDS.

shortlisted

boy's curse/boy's blessing

boy's curse/boy's blessing

nilson carroll

boy’s curse/boy’s blessing is a desperate anti-dating sim, a shattered queer self-portrait, a shakily written list of every binary binding my body and ruining my heart.

shortlisted

Minotaur Hotel

Minotaur Hotel

MinoAnon

A gay romance visual novel where you meet the legendary minotaur and manage a magical hotel.

shortlisted

Video World

Video World

Jacob Leaney

Video World is a synth-pop halloween musical set in a 90s video store.

shortlisted

Mizuchi 白蛇心傳

Mizuchi 白蛇心傳

Roxie

Mizuchi is a wlw a fantasy romance visual novel inspired by the Legend of the White Serpent and other multicultural myths.

shortlisted

Starry Flowers

Starry Flowers

NomnomNami

two witch boys fall in love

shortlisted

A Good Game We Can Speak Of

A Good Game We Can Speak Of

Audre

You send your queer game to the game publisher "fantastic-pear". They'll accept it, only if you modify it a little.

shortlisted

Zen: A Gay Sequel

Zen: A Gay Sequel

Bob Conway

A stat-based, planner-focused gay dating sim set in college; also the sequel to Yearning: A Gay Story

shortlisted

A Day of Maintenance

A Day of Maintenance

Peter Maringell

An open world truck-sim driving game with gay robots in it

shortlisted

co-open

co-open

rayzones & Yaffle

co-open is a slice of life adventure game about a kid who is sent on their first independent grocery shopping run by their grandmother, that touches on supportive social systems and depicts casual queer representation.

shortlisted

userID

userID

Hua Chai

Log into the console and locate "userID."

shortlisted

Happy Pride

Happy Pride

Gamaturgie (creators: Axell and Paulette)

In a Pride, Alex enjoys the party, meeting people and talking with them, and creates a zine about Prides' history.

shortlisted

Parcels and Pollen

Parcels and Pollen

littlerat

Be a rabbit. Sell flowers. Make friends!

shortlisted

What's your gender?

What's your gender?

radow

a non-eucledian labyrinth, exploring terms and concepts related to gender and identity

shortlisted

Parmesan

Parmesan

Laine Parent

an 8-bit story about a non-binary person being bullied for being who they are

shortlisted