Jes Negrón Talks Storytelling at Decolonize & Discover Festival

CHARLTON, MA — Founder and solo developer of RETCON Games, Jes Negrón, will speak on a panel titled “Our Stories: Storytelling and LARP from the BIPOC/LGBTQIA+ Perspective” at the first ever Decolonize & Discover Festival taking place in Charlton, Massachusetts on the weekend of Juneteenth 2022.

The panel—which is scheduled on Saturday, June 18—will feature Negrón, digital creator Xperience J, and artist Kunzika. The panelists will be discussing writing for poetry, video games, and Live Action Roleplay (LARP) in the context of decolonization, centering marginalized creators, and making space for more than just trauma in stories of and for the marginalized.

“As someone who’s worked in many story-focused industries, this topic is important to me,” Negrón says. “I’ve seen firsthand the damaging assumptions made about who the audience is for science fiction and fantasy, and how marginalized people are often excluded from these conversations.”

“My goal in speaking on the panel is to give an insider perspective on how the game industry can do better at storytelling as a whole, and how marginalized creators can navigate an industry with a history of deprioritizing our stories,” she says.

More information about the Decolonize & Discover Festival and tickets to attend can be found on the website at www.DecolonizeAndDiscover.com

Jes Negrón founds game studio for diverse stories

As 2020 marked a year of tragedy, it’s only natural that 2021 became a year of reflection. I found myself longing to get back to my roots, to creating fiction that would inspire and empower. So I parted ways with Sunrise Movement and searched for something new.

It turned out that something new would be RETCON Games. As a woman of color who’s worked in media for almost 20 years, I’ve seen firsthand the lack of diversity in everything we consume—from books, to television and movies, to games. Despite loud calls for these industries to do better, change has been slow. Painfully so, especially in games.

I’ve been fighting for equity in the games industry for years in the ongoing lawsuit against Riot Games. It felt only natural to take the next step and create a studio of my own, where diverse people and our stories could take center stage.

RETCON Games will release its first project in Spring 2022: GOOD BONES, a haunting point-and-click adventure where player choices have an impact on the game.

While I serve as a solo developer at the moment, with the help of some incredibly talented artists and musicians, I hope the release of GOOD BONES will launch the journey of RETCON Games’ growth into a studio where people are heard, making games in which people feel seen.

To learn more about RETCON Games and GOOD BONES, visit the website at www.retcongames.com and sign up to be the first to know when the game releases.

Glow up.

It’s about time I gave my site a bit of a revamp. Consider this the new and improved hub for all things Jes Negrón.

Get updates on my appearances, publications, projects, and more. Don’t forget to subscribe to get those updates delivered right to your inbox. And don’t worry, they’ll be infrequent so I’m not spamming you.

I’m working on a lot of exciting things right now, including RETCON Magazine, Impossible Paperie, and even an unannounced game project. And, of course, still fighting for justice in the video game industry: riotclassaction.com

More soon.