Stanley Baxton

(He/Him)

Stanley’s breakthrough project is the game LATEX, LEATHER, LIPSTICK, LOVE, LUST.

Game developer Stanley loved playing The Sims as a child, not because of what happens in the game but because, in simulating life, it allowed him to concoct his own narratives for the varied characters within its fantasy world. One Games Design & Production BSc later, Stanley has been channelling that love for storytelling into his own authored games. Creating the writing, art, coding and almost everything else himself, often on the micro-est of microbudgets.

Stanley’s breakthrough project, LATEX, LEATHER, LIPSTICK, LOVE, LUST (2024), is as provocative and explicit in discourse as it is in title. A beautifully written, transgressive work of interactive fiction, it leans into Stanley’s own experiences of the trans masculine and online space and its multi-layered narrative earned him the 2024 New Media Writing Prize. He’s currently a PhD student at the University of Salford and working on his next solo game, CHILDREN OF HELL.

In their own words…

“Because I’m trans, I thought I would be overlooked for BAFTA Breakthrough, because we always are, but I decided to do the application anyway. I didn’t think it would go anywhere, and now it’s a reality I want to make the most of it. But I want to stress how I am, in many ways, an exception. I wanted to strike out and do my own thing against what the mainstream is doing, and I was just fortunate enough to be born middle class and have a support network that let me do that. We should be here and we’re often not, especially because we’re making weirder, more experimental games than mainstream gaming, and hopefully I can champion and elevate the people who brought me here. That’s how I want to make the most of it.”