He Fucked the Girl Out of Me

Last updated
He Fucked the Girl Out of Me
He Fucked the Girl Out of Me Cover.jpg
Developer(s) Taylor McCue
Programmer(s) Sopheria Rose
Artist(s) Kimberly Karlsson
Engine GB Studio
Release21 May 2022 [1]
Genre(s) Interactive fiction
Mode(s) Single-player

He Fucked the Girl Out of Me is a 2022 video game by independent developer Taylor McCue. The game is an interactive fiction title that explores the creator's personal experiences with transgender identity, sex work, and trauma through Ann, the player character, who is convinced to enter sex work by her partner, Sally. McCue stated that the game was semi-autobiographical and dealt with a mixture of personal experiences that were confronting to translate into a game. Upon release, He Fucked the Girl out of Me received praise and discussion from reviewers, who resonated with the game's personal themes and the mature handling of its subject matter. Following release, the game received the Award for Digital Storytelling at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in 2022, and was nominated for a Nuovo Award at the Independent Games Festival in 2023.

Contents

Gameplay

GB Studio software was used to create a game similar to visuals on the Game Boy. He Fucked the Girl Out of Me Gameplay.jpg
GB Studio software was used to create a game similar to visuals on the Game Boy.

He Fucked the Girl Out of Me is an interactive fiction game that narrates a linear set of scenes depicting the memories of the player character. In some stages, the player can use the keyboard and directional keys to move the character around and progress dialogue. [2] [3] The choice to display trigger warnings are discussed at the start of the game to identify sensitive themes. [3]

Plot

The game is narrated by Ann, who recounts her traumatic experiences with sex work, although cautions the player that they only wish to share their own experience and not comment on others. Ann is a transgender woman who is struggling financially as a college student as they attempt to fund a prescription of estradiol that is not subsidized under the Affordable Care Act. Ann's friend Sally introduces her to sex work as a means to make money. Ann's first client invites her back to his house, and disassociates when the man reveals they are a cross-dresser and have sex, navigating feelings of emptiness afterwards.

Re-reading her diary entries from that time, Ann encounters the line He fucked the girl out of me, reflecting that the experience degraded her, made her hate herself and her feminine identity, and led her to see self-worth and value only in terms of sex. Ann discusses that the experience affected their trust in relationships with others and fear of damaging their relationship with their mother and Sally. Ann confronts Sally's suggestion to lead her into sex work, stating it "felt like rape", and decides to leave Sally after she downplays its effects on Ann. In an epilogue set years after the events of the incident, Ann examines objects in a box, including clothes from their time doing sex work, and throws them away. She confronts her past self and challenges her thoughts that hiding and failing to accept herself are the ways to process what happened.

Development and release

He Fucked the Girl Out of Me was created by Taylor McCue, a transgender independent developer based in the Southern United States. [4] McCue provided most of the game's art and code, with supporting art by Kimberly Karlsson and programming by Sopheria Rose. [5] McCue developed the game to depict their own experiences to be "understood and accepted as a person", exploring themes involving mental health, transgender identity and sex work, although found the experience of creating the game personally difficult and confronting. [5] The game was made as an vignette of "tiny details" important to McCue, who aimed to introduce interactive elements to make players more able to identify with the player character rather than read the text as detached or passive observers. [6] McCue originally created the game using Twine, then moved to GB Studio, an engine that emulates software for the Game Boy. [5] [7]

He Fucked The Girl Out of Me was released by McCue on itch.io in May 2022. [1] As a GB Studio title capable of being ported to the Game Boy, the game received a limited release of physical cartridges made from repurposed bootleg Game Boy games sold by the developer at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in April 2023. [8] In June 2023, McCue included the game in a Queer Games Bundle co-ordinated by McCue and Nilson Carroll on the itch.io platform, packaged with other games intended to support independent queer developers. [9] [10] [11] A digital re-release on Steam followed in July 2023. [12] [13]

Reception

Sisi Jiang of Kotaku described the game as being about "all the ways in which American society fails its most vulnerable", finding it to be "terrifying because of its mundanity". [7] Smangaliso Simelane of Destructoid considered the game's narrative was "profoundly personal" and "uncomfortably invasive", finding its "freedom to breach topics and express viewpoints seldom interrogated by the mainstream", including sex work, shame and trauma. [14] Also writing for Destructoid, Zoey Handley felt the game was both "important and difficult to talk about", noting that whilst it was confronting to the author, it could help the player understand trauma, praising the game's non-judgmental perspective on its themes. [3] Describing the game as one of the best indie games of 2023, [15] and "one of the greatest arguments for the worth and potential of the medium", Willa Rowe of Inverse found the game to be emotionally resonant, focusing on its "unforgettable" and "unflinching" treatment of its subject matter. [16] Discussing games that explore trauma for Game Developer , independent developer Nathalie Lawhead stated that He Fucked the Girl Out of Me was "iconically defiant" and "speaks to the power of vulnerability" in spite of its simplicity. [17] Andrew King of TheGamer similarly found the game had "minimal graphical flair", but used its art style to "tell an emotionally raw and absorbing story", expressing that people who had faced similar experiences would identify with Ann's story. [18]

Accolades

He Fucked the Girl Out of Me was nominated for a Nuovo Award at the 2023 Independent Games Festival. [19] [20] The game appeared at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2022, [2] where it received the DFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling and assessed as “a unique approach to conveying a complicated personal history in the artist’s own terms". [21] [22] The game also received the jury award at the 2022 Melbourne Queer Games Festival, [23] [13] and a nomination for the Narrative Spotlight Award at the 2023 IndieCade Festival. [24]

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References

  1. 1 2 McCue, Taylor (21 May 2022). "He Fucked the Girl Out of Me". itch.io. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 "He Fucked the Girl Out of Me". IDFA. 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Handley, Zoey (12 November 2022). "He F—ed the Girl Out of Me is both important and difficult to talk about". Destructoid. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  4. ↑ "About Me". Taylor McCue. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Couture, Joel (8 March 2023). "How He Fucked the Girl Out of Me takes players through traumatic memories". Game Developer. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  6. ↑ "Translator Spotlight: Taylor McCue and Fuglekongerige on He F-cked The Girl Out Of Me". Indie Tsushin. 21 May 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  7. 1 2 Jiang, Sisi (6 February 2023). "We Played The Award-Winning Game Boy Game About Sex Work And Shame". Kotaku. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  8. ↑ Handley, Zoey (30 April 2023). "Traumatic art game He F—ed the Girl Out of Me gets physical release (Update)". Destructoid. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  9. ↑ Carter, Justin (3 June 2023). "The third-annual Queer Games Bundle highlights queer devs in 2023". Game Developer. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  10. ↑ Handley, Zoey (2 June 2023). "Queer Games Bundle lets you support queer creators by buying games". Destructoid. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  11. ↑ Mercante, Alyssa (2 June 2023). "Celebrate Pride With A Queer Games Bundle That Costs Less Than A Single AAA Game". Kotaku Australia. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  12. ↑ Handley, Zoey (25 July 2023). "Trauma art game He F—ed the Girl Out of Me releases on Steam". Destructoid. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  13. 1 2 Attard, Elliot (30 July 2023). "He Fucked The Girl Out of Me launches on Steam as a release of shame". Checkpoint Gaming. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  14. ↑ Simelane, Smangaliso (8 December 2023). "Morbidcore indie games deliver traumatic, personal diaries most games veer away from". Destructoid. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  15. ↑ Rowe, Willa; Bea, Robin (21 February 2024). "The Best Indie Games of 2023: 17 Gems You Shouldn't Miss". Inverse. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  16. ↑ Rowe, Willa (28 July 2023). "2023's Best Indie Reveals the Power of Video Game Storytelling". Inverse. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  17. ↑ Lawhead, Nathalie (22 August 2023). "Real Talk: games about trauma (art caught between "everything is horrible," "everything is survivable," and "this is too hard to talk about")". Game Developer. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  18. ↑ "Venba Has Me Playing Short Games Again". TheGamer. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  19. ↑ van Allen, Eric (25 January 2023). "2023 IGF Awards nominations include Tunic, Club Low, and more". Destructoid. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  20. ↑ Castle, Katharine (23 March 2023). "Betrayal At Club Low wins IGF Grand Prize". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  21. ↑ Carey, Matthew (17 November 2022). "IDFA Reveals Prize Winners At 2022 Edition Of World's Biggest Documentary Film Festival". Deadline. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  22. ↑ Morfoot, Addie (17 November 2022). "'Apolonia, Apolonia' Wins Best Film Award at Documentary Film Festival IDFA". Variety. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  23. ↑ "QGF Awards – Shortlist". Melbourne Queer Games Festival. 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  24. ↑ "IndieCade Festival 2023 Games". IndieCade. 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
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