Australian developed Code Breakers: Women in Games comes to Te Manawa in Palmerston North

Half of all video gamers are women. Photo / ACMI / Charlie Kinross

Press play at Te Manawa this Saturday as Code Breakers: Women in Games opens at the museum.

This free exhibition transforms our upstairs gallery into an immersive and interactive game zone. Visitors can grab a controller and play an array of games: retro-style indie releases, big commercial hits and plenty in between.

What’s different about these games? From directors, producers and designers to programmers, artists and writers, they’re all made by women from New Zealand and Australia.

Women make up 50 per cent of all video game players, but only 10 per cent of game developers. Code Breakers asks important questions of such an imbalanced industry: what does a more inclusive game development environment look like? How do we encourage this diversity?

In Code Breakers, each maker reflects on the sometimes challenging journey they’ve made into this male-dominated space, revealing the human stories behind their games through a custom-built exhibition audio tour.

But the exhibition is also about having fun! There are 15 stations – computers, consoles and tablets - where visitors can play games. Deliver pizzas in Ninja Pizza Girl, join an animal clan in Armello, or race souped-up cars in Need for Speed: No Limits. From platformers and role-playing strategy board games to adventure and simulation games, Code Breakers offers many different digital experiences that are friendly to all skill levels.

Maru Nihoniho first became interested in games while playing the arcade classic Space Invaders at her local fish and chip shop. In 2003 she founded her own game design company, Metia Interactive, which has a focus on Māori storytelling.

“So that we can tell our own stories with that authentic voice as well, and it’s important for other people who may not be Māori or indigenous to learn those stories too,” she says.

“It’s a really great platform for storytelling because you’re in control of the experience as you’re playing through.”

Code Breakers: Women in Games was developed by ACMI in Melbourne and is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

From May 1, Te Manawa will be open from Tuesday to Sunday. Plan your visit at temanawa.nz.