The Cookout

Oakland's Apprentices Build Software

The Cookout is a love-letter to Oakland and Black culture writ large in the USA. This is a small, casual, fun game about family and food. The story follows your own character, who goes to a family cookout, plays a devilishly fun night of Spades with your relatives while under the influence of Soul Food.

Projects like this one are about showing Oakland what Programmers Guild can do when you support our mission. We try to provide as much free training as we can every year to aspiring programmers. Trainees commit to rigorous training and at the end they have the skills to build professional projects. The Cookout is a front row seat to see those skills on display, proving that the training leads to concrete career development!

The Art of Progress

Gideon joined the project as our Lead Artist earlier this year and has been driving the art direction ever since. His first task was to help us establish the style and ...well, you see the incredible results so far! As a team, we want the art to not just look good, but to truly be a strong representation of Black families and Black culture.

The Cookout is very story driven. Players will experience cultural and culinary history that focuses on recipes from the African Diaspora: Soul Food. This isn't just a card game. It's a story about family and community. And we want it to inspire Oakland and make the community proud.

Development Log for 2026

Thank you to everyone who's shown their support so far! We hope you like what you see, that you'll be proud of the work of our apprentices, and that the game is an enjoyable experience.