Dorian creates gaming platform where mostly women and queer creators build UGC

Dorian has created a gaming platform where mostly women and queer creators build user-generated content. Now it has a new fund to help.

To empower the next generation of diverse game makers, Dorian is launching a new creator fund, Dorian Legends Program, offering $30,000 in grants and exclusive mentorship to the first cohort of 20 creators.

By investing in diverse creators, Dorian is tackling the gender gap in gaming and empowering the next generation to build million-dollar game businesses.

“With Dorian, creators don’t need to impress employers or talent agents in order to secure an opportunity to make games,” said Julia Palatovska, Dorian’s CEO, in a statement. “Instead, they have direct-to-consumer access and the freedom to take creative risks to make games for subcultures that they’re deeply immersed in. When you meet your fans where they are, they’re not just engaged—they’re eager to support you, especially when you deliver games they can’t find anywhere else.”

Despite 1.5 billion women playing games globally, their representation in the gaming industry remains limited, with women comprising only 30% of the workforce and just 16% of executive positions, the company said. Female-founded UGC platform Dorian is on a mission to change this.

Dorian reports that 90% of its game creators identify as women and queer, most of them fiction writers, comic artists, and cosplayers who are turning their stories into games for the first time. Thanks to Dorian’s intuitive tools, these creators are turning their visions into games in a matter of days, with top titles earning six figures or seven figures in user spend within the first year.

Unlocking wealth for diverse creators

While women are traditionally underrepresented in the game industry, the economic influence of women and queer consumers is undeniable.

From Taylor Swift’s cultural dominance and queer music artists topping the charts to Barbie becoming 2023’s highest-grossing film and the romance industry generating billions in revenue, it’s clear that these communities are eager to support creators who represent them, the company said.

On Dorian, amateur creators catering to these audiences are experiencing growth trajectories that many professional studios would envy.

“When I spent $440 commissioning a set of art, I never could have imagined we would see 100x returns within just four months,” said Kellie Storm, creator of Love Olympus on Dorian, in a statement. “Now, every month both my artist and I make far more than our initial investment. This is no longer just a passion for me; it’s a thriving business.”

Creators like Storme don’t just craft a narrative that satisfies their fans’ desires – they empower fans to choose the narratives that resonate most with their identities.

Unlike linear stories that force players into a single path, Dorian’s interactive experiences allow fans to customize their fantasy and replay games to discover hidden paths and new storylines. Games are the only form of storytelling that is truly inclusive and allows the consumer to tailor the experience to the way they see the world, the company said.

Fans vote with their dollars to get more of what they love

Dorian’s user-friendly tools and analytics empower creators to understand what their fans love, and make more of it, the company said.

In return, fans support their favorite projects with real money. With 1 in 10 Dorian fans converting into paying patrons—four times the industry average—creators who know their audiences can quickly turn their passion into profit.

Of the 8,000 creators on Dorian, 1,000 have earned revenue directly from user spending. Direct patronage creates a two-way conversation between creators and consumers, allowing creators to intimately understand their preferences of their fans. Custom experiences and high replay value help Dorian creators make far more return on their work than other forms of media, the company said.

Palatovska said in an email to GamesBeat that nearly all of the top creators on the platform are amateur creators. Creators with strong roots in fandoms like cosplay, webcomics, and fanfiction have been the most successful at leveraging Dorian to launch their original games for the first time.

“I’d say that among all of the UGC game platforms, Dorian made game creation and more importantly fan monetization the most accessible. That said, we believe that any IP, both linear media and games, can be turned into a successful Dorian dating sim,” Palatovska said.

Pitch your million-dollar dating sim game

You could be the next hit game creator. You can join the Dorian Legends Program in transforming the gaming industry by submitting an interactive pitch from September 10 to October 4, 2024.

A panel of star judges, including Marina Mello, global director of gaming & interactive at BBC Studios and Ryan Kaufman former narrative design director for Telltale Games titles as Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us and Batman, will evaluate the pitches on creativity, engagement, and potential impact.

“Transmedia franchises have the power to connect with fans in a deep and powerful way,” said Mello, in a statement. “I’m excited to watch the growth of new franchises on Dorian, where gameplay, livestreams and cosplay come together to help independent creators engage their fans in a new way. I can’t wait to see what the participants of the first Dorian Legends challenge come up with.”

The first winners will be announced on October 11, 2024. They will each receive up to $1,500 in grants to kickstart their games.

Dorian is a fast-growing platform for creating, distributing and monetizing visual novels, dating sims, and otome games. Dorian’s no-code tools make it easy for anyone to turn their stories or comics into hit games while keeping full ownership of their work.

Back in 2022, Dorian acquired Nix Hydra, a woman-founded game studio that came up with original titles like Fictif and The Arcana: A Mystic Romance as well as the Hot Guy Alarm Clock. Palatovska cofounded the company back in 2019 and raised about $19.3 million to date. The company has 20 people.

Regarding Nix Hydra, Palatskova said the Arcana fandom has been one of the most prolific communities of game creators, streamers and cosplayers on Dorian.

“We licensed the Arcana IP to our creator community and Arcana fans have released 1,200 episodes of the Arcana fan-made games to date and this number keeps growing,” she said. “Over time the most committed Arcana fan creators became really good at making games and the revenues generated by these creators off Arcana spinoffs on Dorian have been growing. Some of the Arcana creators have now graduated into producing their original Dorian games and are earning enough to support growing teams.“