Game Devs of Color Expo Grants $21,000 to Emerging Game Creators in Partnership with NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and No More Robots

The awards cap a conference that drew 1,200 virtual attendees, 27 watch parties, and 80K+ Direct views.

BROOKLYN, NY – October 13, 2026 – Game Devs of Color Expo (GDoCExpo) awarded $21,000 in no-strings-attached development grants to six creators of color across three game projects to accelerate their development efforts, presented in partnership with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) and No More Robots.

• Rhea Gupte & Prateek Saxena (imissmyfriends.studio) — Fishbowl — The Game Devs of Color Grant, supported by No More Robots — $7,000
  Fishbowl is a slow and tender narrative game about dreams, grief, and hope. Rediscover your memories and find your way into the present in this intimate experience where slice-of-life meets surreal.
• Hatim Benhsain & Hanwen Xu (Games for my Computer) — coalescent || tidal rapture — The Game Devs of Color "Made in NY" Grant, supported by  MOME — $7,000
  In the ocean depths, merpeople are evolving, and there are whispers of a new form of connection. Dive into deep waters, deeper desire, and trying to get over your ex in this hypnagogic 3D swimming adventure game and dating sim about separation and entanglement.
• Ruofu Sun & Alice Yu — Bloomsome — The Game Devs of Color "Made in NY" Grant, supported by MOME — $7,000
  Bloomsome is a 2D make-over puzzle game that reflects upon unfair beauty standards. We project our reflections and imaginations upon those floral characters which all shine uniquely.

Since 2019, GDoCExpo has distributed over $450,000 in funding to support underrepresented game creators.  No More Robots has been a key sponsor, providing both funding for grant recipients and industry insights for attendees. MOME has played a vital role in sustaining these development grants to empower diverse storytelling in gaming.

“New York City’s games industry is growing, and we want more New Yorkers to have a real opportunity to be part of it,” said Commissioner Rafael Espinal of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. “That’s what the ‘Made in NY’ Developer Grants are about, putting resources directly into the hands of emerging developers so they can take their games to the next level and build their careers here. We’re proud to present this year’s grants at Game Devs of Color and celebrate a group of developers whose creativity represents the future of New York City’s games industry.”

The funding allows indie teams to advance highly personal projects that bring fresh perspectives to the global games market.

“This grant is meaningful to us because as resident aliens in the US working on an experimental game like ours, we don't get a lot of funding opportunities like this. ‘coalescent’ is a game with a very personal story. It's about swimming, physical intimacy, queerness, alienation, and harmonizing. We are so excited to share ‘coalescent’ with the whole wide world,” said Hatim Benhsain, co-creator of coalescent || tidal rapture.

All three grant-winning games can be found on Steam.

The grant announcement caps GDoCExpo's eleventh annual conference, held online September 22–25, which drew 1,200 virtual attendees and hundreds more at 27 in-person watch parties. The GDoCExpo Direct, co-streamed with IGN Entertainment, has passed 80,000 views.