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Ukrainian Games showed off 10 games made in Ukraine as an act of defiance and resilience, born from making games during wartime.
Ukraine has suffered through four years of war with Russia, but it people are still making games. And the Ukrainian Games initiative hosted its own festival for home-grown games during the GDC Festival of Gaming.
The charity auction raised $9,600 for 10 tactical medical backpacks.
All proceeds of the charity auction were handed over to Leleka Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit delivering life-saving medical supplies to frontline medics in Ukraine.
Organizers include Palaye, Ukrainian Games, Leleka Foundation, and the Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco. The Leleka Foundation has generated millions of dollars in donations over time, especially in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, said Olga Sheverieva, board member at Seattle Indies and one of the hosts at the event in San Francisco.
At the event, Svitlana Kostylova, cofounder and board member of Leleka Foundation, told me, “I joke that my day job is a game producer at Netflix games, and for my night job I’m a co founder of Leleka Foundation. Since 2014 we’ve been raising money for [medicine backpacks for soldiers] on the front lines. It’s been long time for us.”