Feminist Gaming Fellowship
Building an inclusive 3D commons for game makers
We're opening applications for our first Fellowship cohort: five fellows from different creative and research fields, spending three months developing 3D assets, tools, and documentation for our Open Access Asset Library (OAL) — a free, open repository of inclusive 3D content created by, with, and for diverse communities. Supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL and working across the Netherlands, Türkiye, Germany, and the UK, the project challenges the exclusionary norms baked into how games are made today.
What We're Building
The OAL is a free, open repository of inclusive design resources. Where mainstream marketplaces default to hyper-athletic, idealized, or hyper-sexualized characters, the OAL offers average bodies, real postures, everyday objects, and the kinds of lives most games leave out — pregnancy and postpartum, care work, ageing, disability, domestic labor.
This first cohort is dedicated to 3D content. Starting here gives the library a clear, recognisable shape from day one. The cohort's combined work — bodies, movement, props, and the writing that ties them together — becomes the foundation the rest of the library grows from.
What the Fellowship Offers
€1,000 Honorarium
A €1,000 honorarium per fellow for the three-month period.
Mentorship
Guidance from the project's core team and advisors — including experts in feminist design, game studies, 3D production, and digital culture.
A Peer Community
A community across NL, TR, DE, and the UK, with biweekly meetings bringing together fellows, project members, and invited community members.
Visibility
Reach through the project's travelling exhibition program, publications, and public events.
Authorship
Your work is published in the OAL and credited under our license terms, reaching the wider ecosystem of inclusive game design.
Time commitment: The fellowship runs over three months and is designed to fit around your other commitments. We ask fellows to plan for a minimum of around 6 hours per week (roughly 75 hours total), managed flexibly. Beyond the biweekly meetings, fellows develop their work with ongoing support, alongside workshops and shared design sessions.
Who Can Apply
We welcome 3D artists, animators, modellers, designers, researchers, and writers committed to advancing inclusive and intersectional representation in games. Prior professional game-industry experience is not required — we value interdisciplinary approaches and emerging perspectives. We especially encourage applications from:
- Emerging creators and independent practitioners
- People from communities underrepresented in the games industry
- Researchers working at the intersection of games, gender, and culture
- Artists exploring alternative body types, identities, ages, abilities, and narratives
- Creators based in or connected to the Netherlands, Türkiye, Germany, or the UK
The Five Roles
We are recruiting one fellow per role, deliberately drawn from different fields so the cohort spans the full pipeline from body to scene to documentation. Tell us in your application which role you're applying for — you may rank up to two.
01 3D Character Artist — Inclusive base meshes
Create three rigged base meshes representing diverse, average bodies — for example an older figure with realistic posture, a broader/plus-size build, and a slender androgynous frame — with built-in blendshapes for light customization. Where possible, meshes move away from rigid binary gender codes.
Why it matters: Sculpting average bodies from scratch is slow, and default library meshes overwhelmingly skew idealized.
02 3D Character Artist — Pregnancy & postpartum assets
Develop a collection representing pregnancy and postpartum: blendshapes simulating different trimesters, individually rigged maternity items (nursing bra, belly band, elastic-waist pants, hospital gown), and texture files for realities like stretch marks or C-section scars.
Why it matters: These bodies are almost entirely absent from game avatars, leaving developers who want to tell stories about parenthood with nothing to build on.
03 3D Animator — Neutral & everyday movement
Produce a core movement pack: neutral, weight-bearing walk, run, and idle cycles, plus 5–10 narrative actions (sitting heavily, sweeping, carrying a heavy box).
Why it matters: Standard stores default "female" rigs to exaggerated catwalk animations with heavy hip sway; this pack gives developers grounded, non-sexualized locomotion instead.
04 3D Modeller — Domestic & care-labor environments
Build a curated bundle of 15–20 optimized models of domestic and care-labor objects — from larger items like a vacuum cleaner and mobility aids down to a breast pump, pill organizers, and a dish rack — enough for a solo dev to dress a believable, lived-in room.
05 Researcher / Writer — Documentation & representation framework
Anchor the cohort's research identity. Develop the OAL's tagging taxonomy (thematic, functional, style), write the short representation rationale and usage notes accompanying each asset, and document the cohort's process for publication.
Why it matters: This role connects the 3D work to the project's feminist and intersectional values and produces the metadata the library depends on.
Note on scope: This first cohort concentrates on 3D content and its documentation. We've set audio and other formats aside for now so this round has a clear starting point — they remain part of the OAL's wider scope for future cohorts.
How to Apply
Send us:
- A short statement (max ~500 words) — who you are, the role you're applying for, and how your practice connects to inclusive representation in games.
- A portfolio or work samples — a link is fine. Research/writing applicants may send writing samples or past projects.
- Availability — confirmation you can commit to the three-month period, including the biweekly meetings and a minimum of around 6 hours per week.
Send your application to
feministgamingproject@gmail.comPlease name the role you're applying for (you may rank up to two) in your subject line or statement.
We review for alignment with the project's feminist and intersectional values, creative vision, and potential impact on indie, solo, and student developers.
Indicative Timeline
Applications close
12 July 2026
Selection & notification
Late July 2026
Fellowship period
August–October 2026 (three months)
Showcase & publication
November–December 2026
Apply or Express Interest
Ready to apply, or have questions first? Reach out to us directly or connect on LinkedIn. Applications close 12 July 2026.