The Palestine Skating Game team is urgently raising money for a developer in Gaza

Before the Israeli war in Gaza, Palestinian programmer Doaa Ghandour worked on Palestine Skating Game‘s grinding rails. Every skater – whether skateboarding or roller skating – knows that rails are essential for street style skating. In Palestine Skating GameThese gravel rails snake through the West Bank, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater style, for use in spraying graffiti on the Israeli-built separation wall.

It’s easy to see the appeal Palestine Skating Game in his early prototype on Itch.io: Futuristic Bethlehem is made all the more colorful with paint splatters and graffiti, set to what the team describes as “Arab electronic music.” And it’s designed to be enticing: “The idea is that if you immerse Westerners in that kind of art and music from the region, you actually start to see people from the region as human beings.” Palestine Skating Game‘, the current project leader told Aftermath in November.

But Ghandour cannot concentrate Palestine Skating Game while Israeli forces continue to destroy Gaza. On December 3, Ghandour’s home was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike that killed several family members and injured their sister with special needs, according to the GoFundMe page. That’s why the team exists seeking $48,000 in financing for the family while they seek their basic needs and shelter elsewhere. At the time of writing, they have raised $8,000 and are asking fans for support and advice on other paths for Ghandour and their family.

The Israeli war in Gaza enters its fourth month. Nearly 28,000 people have been killed in Gaza, 388 in the occupied West Bank and 1,139 in Israel. according to Al Jazeera. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is currently hearing a genocide case against Israel, stating that “the acts and omissions of Israel complained of by South Africa are genocidal in nature because they are intended to cause the destruction of a substantial part of the country to bring. of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group,” as reported by Vox. Israel denies the accusation and says its attacks are justified in response Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7which killed approximately 1,200 people.

“The Israeli occupation forces have cut off all medical supplies, as well as water and food, to the Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing carpet bombing and genocide. It has left our friends behind to confront the gravest humanitarian crisis of our time,” the fundraiser said.

Palestine Skating Game has been in development for about two and a half years. The inspiration initially struck after the project leader, who was granted anonymity by Polygon, saw it We are Lady parts, a TV show about an all-female Muslim punk band. Developments have changed since then; it had to be. “We must acknowledge the existence of much more suffering,” the project leader told Polygon. “We have to do this thing where we had one creative vision for the project, and now we have to figure out how that changes in relation to the events that unfold.”

The project leader said the team, which includes Ghandour, writer Hadeel and himself along with four other developers and volunteers, wants to make it easy for people – even those unfamiliar with the conflict – to see what is happening in Gaza. “We want to make it easier for people to see, Oh, here you see how the West Bank has been slowly eaten and vulcanized,” he said. “We also just want it to be something that people want to share with their friends. There should be so much damn cool stuff in this game that people will immediately want to say, ‘Hey, you gotta see this.’

The Palestine Skating Game team – the core group, four paid developers and about fifteen volunteer developers – is working on a full vertical, or polished, short demo, of the game. They also hope to start a Kickstarter, GoFundMe campaign or other investment to fund more development.