DIAMOND E. B. PORTER
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Portfolio + Demo Reel

Demo Reel 2024

In the 10+ years I’ve worked in creative industries I’ve created assets, levels, games, films, instillations and more. Here are a selection of some of my favorite projects and pieces.


Current Projects

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Rhythm and Rope
Set in the summer of the early 2000s, Rhythm and Rhyme is a decision-based action rhythm game that happens over the course of a day. Players will explore a suburb of Dallas, Texas, and prepare for a double Dutch battle at the end of the day. Along the way, players will meet both friends and foes alike in their preparation for the double Dutch battle. Can you jump to the beat and rhyme with your Feet?

Double Dutch in the digital realm can extend the connection between the physical and the virtual through the use of digital games. Historically the definition of games has been contested and malleable. However, scholars such as Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman Zimmerman in their book Rules of Play define games as play scenarios often combined with artificial conflict and rules of play. In recent years there have been calls to diversify and question both the content and game design practices. As noted by Game Studies scholars such as Dr. Kishonna Gray, and Dr. Tara Fickle there is a lack of Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) representation in games and game design and development.

With a limited color pallet I have been exploring digital illustration with the color purple. The color purple has significant means in Black American culture and in black feminist literatures. I call upon these legacies as I reimagine the world we live in through digital illustration with my art style while centering  Black American culture.

Demo coming Fall 2025

Past Projects

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Affirmations 2.0
A short game about Healing, Self-care and the Exploration of Community. Traverser sprawling levels, interact with journal prompts,  encounter unknown enemies and immerse yourself in the world of Affirmations!

Negative thoughts plague the self-consciousness of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and affect how we proceed through our days. Through my own struggle with this I developed a personal coping mechanism of visualizing and facilitating an encounter with both the negative and positive attributed versions of myself as a Black woman. 

Affirmations is the Visualization of these encounters. This project directly addresses the concerns of mental health perceptions in the traditionally underrepresented group of Black women and children by highlighting the contributing factors of internalized systemic oppression, and this project is grounded in the theoretical framework of pleasure activism and healing as community care work in order to resist neoliberalist perceptions of health as individualistic responsibilities. Creating Affirmations was a love letter to my self, my black community and all of the women who have nurtured and guide my growth. 

Itchio Link: ​diamondebp.itch.io/affirmations

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Affirmations 1.0
Based on a personal coping mechanism to combat imposter syndrome and negative world outlooks based on varying factors i created the arcade platformer game Affirmations 1.0 to visualize and digitize my process for combating negative thoughts. A central portion of this game focuses on and utilizes video games as a medium to explore the relationship between negative thoughts and positive affirmations. The motive of the game is to fight your negative thoughts with positive affirmations

By employing game mechanics that turn internal struggles into external challenges to overcome, Affirmations 1.0 expands the conversation on player identity and experience, emphasizing how games can function as tools for healing, empowerment, and self-affirmation. The work also contributes to the field’s goals by amplifying Black voices and narratives that resist dominant negative stereotypes and by theorizing play as a practice of creative resilience. In doing so, the game participates in Black Game Studies’ broader mission to use games as sites for cultural expression, political critique, and imaginative acts of survival.

The Bold Roast: Podcast publication on Affirmation game and Creative Resilience.​ 
Link Here

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PAPER
Paper is intended to introduce the player to the diverse communities I grew up in. The main objective of Paper is for the player to search the town for batteries in order to participate in a remote-control car race happening later that day. Paper is a digital game that centers Black childhood experience and community through an accessible, nostalgic gameplay narrative. By placing a Black girl as the protagonist navigating a diverse neighborhood to prepare for a remote-control car race, the game challenges dominant game representations by foregrounding Black youth and communal play.​During my childhood mini events such as neighborhood kids getting together to race remote control cars was important because it was an event that was accessible to me. An important aspect of this project is bridging my past and present. I establish connections to my past by presenting the main character as myself, using a low polygon graphic style to replicate video game graphic in the early 2000s’ I connect the present through being the main creative developer for this project. 

 Using a low-polygon visual style inspired by early 2000s graphics, Paper bridges past and present, creating an intimate connection between the developer’s lived experience and player engagement. Aligned with Black Game Studies, this project emphasizes representation in games by reclaiming space for Black girls in digital play worlds, while also highlighting player identity and experience rooted in real-world communities often absent from mainstream narratives. Paper operates as a form of speculative cultural design by weaving together multiple diverse communities into a unified world, illustrating how Black-centered stories can expand the boundaries of game storytelling. Through this work, the project contributes to the field’s goals of amplifying Black voices and creating inclusive narratives that honor complexity and belonging.
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Paper bridges the gap I saw when I was child by placing a Black girl as the central focus and combining the diverse communities, and thus create one cohesive world.

All artwork and writing on the website is © Diamond E. Beverly-Porter 

Artwork and writing on diamondebp.com may not be used or modified without expressed consent of the artist. 
  • Home
  • About
  • Projects
    • Rhythm and Rope
    • A Series of TallTales
    • Run Game Series
    • The Botanist
    • 3D Modeling
  • Research
  • Pedagogy
  • Contact