iMap News

In The Balance

First year iMAP student Susana Ruiz (Darfur is Dying) and Ashley York (‘06, Ah-Satah) are partners in the design collective Take Action Games, a game design studio specializing in casual games for change which they founded with Huy Truong. Their current project, In The Balance, explores the United States criminal justice system and prison industrial complex and was initially developed as York’s IMD thesis project

In The Balance was recently selected to attend the 2009 Content + Intent Documentary Institute at MASS MoCA, where they will create an audience engagement plan for their film and identify potential community and non-profit partners.

They are also creating a game component with a generous Creative Media grant from the Fledgling Fund, which seeks to improve the lives of vulnerable individuals, families and communities by supporting innovative media projects that target entrenched social problems.

The initial development of their game began in 2008 at the Bay Area Video Coalition’s Producer’s Institute for New Media Technologies, an event sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation.  

Since graduating, Ruiz and York have secured funding support from A&E Indie Films (through the International Documentary Association) and the Pacific Pioneer Fund for emerging documentary filmmakers. The project also received a development grant from the Labyrinth Project’s Tania Trepanier Award. 

At this year’s Games For Change festival in NYC, they will host a panel on documentary gaming. Panelists include IMD associate professor Tracy Fullerton and assistant iMAP director Steve Anderson, along with other central voices in the field.

Associated Person:

Tracy Fullerton Steve Anderson