***Trigger: unwanted infertility, period pains***
I’m Astrid, the game director of Dead Pets Unleashed. If you’ve seen the clips from our Uterus Egg Flipper minigame, it seems mostly like a funny joke without context. But I have a lot to tell with this game.
Dead Pets Unleashed is a feminist game, which means we are dealing with many themes on the feminist agenda, everything from, #metoo, discrimination, and rights to bodily autonomy.
Gordy is about 30 years old in the game, and many people around this age experience comments regarding starting a family. In Denmark, a national campaign encouraged women to "count their eggs."
This camping provoked me a lot; it’s an example of how we place society's wants and requirements solely as women's responsibility- in this case, reproduction. I believe it should be anyone with a uterus' choice if they want kids in the future.
This was the first reason for making the uterus minigame. The uterus minigame has similar mechanics to the flipper arcade games. Unlike the arcade games, the player does not score points. Instead, after some time, the egg is flushed out, whilst the remaining eggs are upset there was no fertilization.
There is a lot of important and valid angles when we talk about reproduction; this minigame was made to reflect those who do not want children but still struggle with the expectations of pregnancy and kids as a drive that all women should have.
The concept of someone not wanting children was personally made clear to me when after a complicated birth I needed my uterus removed; I’m 36 and have three kids, and my uterus was only causing me pain, but the fact that I was still fertile made it more difficult to get the surgery approved. Even when something causes regular pain, people with uterus’ are expected to accept it.
So the Uterus Flipper Minigame might seem silly at first, but I hope you all feel these thoughts reflected in the game when you play the game.
-Astrid