Julie Kern Donck is a contemporary artist specialized in printmaking who recently found her way to video games. After having taught herself programming during covid, she joined a game development course at Interface3, an all-woman IT formation center in Brussels. Together with four other women, Amal, Reem, Shaila and Vanessa, she developed the game ‘Iman & The Busy Season’ during the GCON’s SheJams, an all-women game jam. The five of them, each responsible for a different aspect of the game, won the She Jams 2023 international category. Now they’re working on a new version that’s set to release in the first half of 2025.

From Thursday the 27th of February to Saturday the 1st of March, Julie Kern Donck will hold an expo in Het Bos about a game of hers 'Iman & The Busy Season'. The exhibit carries the same name and invites visitors to come to play and discover the newest version of the video game. Learn more about what goes on behind the scenes of game development and where the creators of Iman found their inspiration.

"We wanted all the characters to feel very whimsical and make it kind of a fairytale from the 21st century. After we made the first version of the game, we presented it and had a very positive reception from Arabic or Middle Eastern women. They expressed that they felt that it was the first time that they were represented like a normal person and where their headscarf wasn’t the topic. Iman is veiled but that’s not what the story is about. We think that many of us can relate to Iman, who hasn’t been asked for computer help by their grandparents? Or who doesn’t go big tasks out of the way by doing little side quests? The game is also about finding time for yourself in a world that constantly throws stuff at you." - Julie.

If you want to learn more about how 'Iman & The Busy Season' came to life, be sure to read the interview with Julie here.

Opening hours expo:
Wednesday 26 February: soft opening for Boslabs 14 - 16h
Opening: Thursday 27 February: 18 - 23h
Friday 28 February: 16 - 23h
Saturday 1 March: 15 - 20h

Iman & The Busy Season is a game developed by:
Art, Game & Technical Director: Julie Kern Donck aka exitshadow
Narrative Designer & Programming: Vanessa aka captainVanessa
Lead Animator: Shaila aka Tylia
Additional Programming: Paulman
Initial storyline & playtest: Reem aka reem-alabras
Local assistance & playtest: Amal aka amalalotaibi