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(+5)

Hey there! First of all thank you so much for playing the game and sharing your feedback.

Before addressing your points, we should probably clarify that we're developers from Venezuela, not the USA. This is not to say that we're beyond criticism because we're latinx, but that certain things that are seen as harmful in the US might have gone over our heads because we come from a different background. 

There are many references of Venezuelan culture hidden in the game that most players will probably not get, and Pica Pica tribe was one of them. The Pica Pica tribe was intended to be a reference to a group of Venezuelan indigenous people called the Yanomami. Even though Elizabeth says they're "uncivilized", the joke was supposed to be that they're actually just like the other minions (if you check their houses they actually have very good living conditions, with TVs, ACs, and big beds. And all of them speak perfect English except for the chief). Elizabeth is just very prejudiced against minions in general, and at that point in the story she's slowly overcoming it. 

Los Duros have two first hispanics names (which is common for us) and use mariachi hats to hide their weaknesses. El Salserissimo is a reference to Salsa music and to Hispanic characters in Hollywood movies that occasionally say words in broken Spanish, except this time el Salserissimo speaks correct and coherent Spanish between his English lines. 

That said, we understand that what we made can be considered in bad taste and even harmful, and we do regret it. These jokes and references came from a place of ignorance, never hate, and we're truly sorry if they caused any harm. 

Like you said, the reason we wanted to include the game in the bundle is because we care deeply about issues of racism. We grew up in a country of stark economical and social inequality, and it took us years to learn and break free of the awful beliefs we grew up with. It took us many years to make this game (almost 5 years), so much so that our ideals and beliefs have changed and continue to change to this day. 

We're still learning, and we'll definitely take this criticism into account when working on future games. Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

(1 edit) (+5)

I appreciate your response, and I can absolutely see where you're coming from. Los Duros & El Sanserissimo reminded me of stereotypes (especially as an American, we have - especially historically - a lot of shallow, stereotypical representation of Mexicans that roughly amounts to "sombrero + mustache +  maybe a poncho + spanish accent + spanish words randomly thrown in with english sentences = Mexican") but now that you've explained I entirely see the ways in which they were intended to & did undermine those stereotypes.

Thank you for being open to my criticism and responding thoughtfully. Underhero is otherwise a wonderful game and I'm looking forward to seeing future work of yours : )

(+2)

Thank you for understanding, we're glad you enjoyed the game overall (despite the hiccups you described).  We're looking forward to making better games for everyone to enjoy ^^