31. Being You is Enough
*Major Episode Alert* This week features two incredible leaders in the gaming industry: Dr. Mitu Khandaker (CEO) and Latoya Peterson (CXO) join me from Glow Up Games. In its own words, “Glow Up Games is a game studio centering innovative storytelling about black and brown joy.” Mitu and Latoya walk me through what it was like developing a mobile game based on the hit HBO series Insecure (by amazing creator Issa Rae). Join us for a conversation on race, fundraising, company building, and what it's like to meet your heroes.
Episode Resources:
https://www.dbltap.com/posts/latoya-peterson-diversity-in-games-01f4wcm7jexg
https://www.publicbooks.org/ai-rap-synthesis-tools-black-hip-hop/
Transcript
Welcome to the meadow woman podcast. We address the
Unknown:issues, opportunities and challenges facing women in the
Unknown:development of the metaverse the biggest revolution since the
Unknown:internet itself. Every week we bring you conversations with top
Unknown:female talent and business executives operating in the
Unknown:gaming and crypto industries. Here's your host Lindsey the
Unknown:boss POS, the meta woman podcast starts now.
Lindsay Poss:Hello, and welcome to the men and women podcast or
Lindsay Poss:the holodeck media Podcast Network. I'm your host Lindsay
Lindsay Poss:The Boss Boss and I'm Charlotte success recovering it all. Hello
Lindsay Poss:returning listeners. Thank you so much for supporting the show.
Lindsay Poss:It means the world to me. For all our new listeners. I hope
Lindsay Poss:you enjoy and come back next week. Today we have a multiple
Lindsay Poss:guests episode, which is always so fun to get to have a good
Lindsay Poss:conversation good banter. I am beyond excited to introduce Dr.
Lindsay Poss:metoo khandaker CEO and Latoya Peterson CXO in both co founders
Lindsay Poss:of blow up games. I'm taking a line directly from their website
Lindsay Poss:here but love games is a studio games are sorry. Restart, quote.
Lindsay Poss:Love Games is a studio game studio, centering innovative
Lindsay Poss:storytelling about black and brown. Join me to and Latoya I
Lindsay Poss:would love for you both to further introduce yourself and
Lindsay Poss:glow games to the audience. All right. Well, hi. And
Unknown:thanks for having us. So yeah, I'm documenting and
Unknown:daycare. And yeah, the tour and I founded golf games about three
Unknown:years ago. And like you said, you know, we really are all
Unknown:about telling stories and centering stories, which
Unknown:celebrate people of color, celebrate Black and Brown joy,
Unknown:which is stories, which just don't get seen told in video
Unknown:games historically.
Unknown:Yeah, absolutely. So a few years ago, we started on this journey,
Unknown:I think, you know, Matteo, and I had both been, you know, first
Unknown:friends, you know, other two brown girls in the games
Unknown:industry, I was writing about games to was creating games, but
Unknown:we kind of gravitated on Twitter, and then in real life.
Unknown:And then secondly, just understanding that like, you
Unknown:know, we both grew up in very similar fashions, we've been
Unknown:playing games since we were tiny. I think once you started
Unknown:four, and I started at six, and we just never saw protagonists
Unknown:that look like us, or stories like ours on screen. And you
Unknown:know, as the years went on, like more and more titles, it just
Unknown:didn't seem to change. And so we realized that, you know, for the
Unknown:change that we wanted to see to happen, get directly involved.
Unknown:Yeah. And, you know, I'm someone that's, like, I've been in the
Unknown:games industry for like, 14 or 15 years, or has been in the
Unknown:media industry for that long. And, you know, we've just done a
Unknown:lot of stuff throughout our careers in our respective
Unknown:spaces. And, you know, we, one of the things that pretty much
Unknown:led to the formation of our aims is seeing how in a lot of
Unknown:adjacent spaces like Hollywood TV, other spaces were really
Unknown:creators of color, and other underrepresented creators are
Unknown:being empowered to tell their own stories, and finding a lot
Unknown:of success and a huge audience doing it. And knowing that, that
Unknown:is something that could totally happen in video games. If only
Unknown:you know, folks, like myself in the toilet could step up. And
Unknown:and, you know, and make that happen. So here we are. Yes, I
Lindsay Poss:love that whole origin story. Can you tell me
Lindsay Poss:where the name glow up came from? That's not a question I
Lindsay Poss:had written. But I really liked that name.
Unknown:Yeah, I mean, so we went through, like, 1000 What
Unknown:should we call? Yeah, I mean, we went through all kinds of
Unknown:different kind of beta test. I think we all have different
Unknown:domain names registered in 15 different other alternate
Unknown:company names this could have been but I think for us below
Unknown:up, and that whole idea of having a glow up of making
Unknown:yourself better of beautifying of changing something that, you
Unknown:know, needed an improvement of leveling up, it just felt like
Unknown:that was the right term for what we were trying to do as a
Unknown:company and as a game studio. We're also just fans of having a
Unknown:big blowup of watching something look much better. So, you know,
Unknown:fun and fam and you know, I think what was the other word
Unknown:that we use all time space BIM energy and what what the
Unknown:aesthetic of the studio is and so what better ways having a
Unknown:woman of color found a game studio?
Lindsay Poss:Oh, great. I love that. Yeah, I Yeah, totally
Lindsay Poss:agree. Let's start by talking about your your game development
Lindsay Poss:projects, and chiefly the partnership you've developed
Lindsay Poss:with HBO and its hit series, insecure, which I hope that
Lindsay Poss:everyone has seen or knows about insecure. I will confess I am
Lindsay Poss:not a watcher. I am an avid BuzzFeed article reader about
Lindsay Poss:isa ray in the show. Yeah, I mean TV shows struggle me and
Lindsay Poss:reality TV get along great but real TV shows I struggle with
Lindsay Poss:but I will read any article or read any plot summary of any TV
Lindsay Poss:show. But I know that you all formed a partnership and slash
Lindsay Poss:collaboration. Happy to use your language on that whatever it may
Lindsay Poss:be to create a companion mobile game called insecure the come
Lindsay Poss:up. And this is obviously such a huge partnership and
Lindsay Poss:accomplishment for a studio and a three year old studio. are
Lindsay Poss:just incredible. I don't think it's surprising shows me that
Lindsay Poss:there's a huge appetite for telling these stories, not only
Lindsay Poss:in traditional media, but in newer media, and that there's
Lindsay Poss:more than enough room to tell these stories to several
Lindsay Poss:different audiences and in a variety of ways. So how did this
Lindsay Poss:happen? Tell me the whole story of of working with insecure and
Lindsay Poss:creating the game and where you are with the come up and what
Lindsay Poss:it's like.
Unknown:Yeah, I mean, did you want to start this morning
Unknown:already started?
Unknown:Yeah, sure. I mean, yeah, so I guess it's called insecure, the
Unknown:come up game, because it's very much about like, building your
Unknown:best life in LA, like, you know, being on the come up late, you
Unknown:know, all of all of that stuff. So we, funnily enough, you know,
Unknown:in that period, where we were going through a million
Unknown:different names for the company, and we had actually decided on
Unknown:one yet, even in those days, you know, we, we actually got
Unknown:talking to HBO, who have been just this incredible, incredible
Unknown:licensing partner, so we have this, you know, licensing deal
Unknown:with them for this IP. And to their credit, and especially the
Unknown:Director of Digital licensing, there will Wilson price, he very
Unknown:much cared about seeing a show like insecure, which, you know,
Unknown:for HBO represents, like, you know, a huge audience huge
Unknown:following it had an incredible six seasons. And, you know, I
Unknown:think really just representative of the people who didn't watch
Unknown:the show, you know, perhaps like yourself, Lindsay, like,
Unknown:everyone's kind of aware of it, and what it represents. And that
Unknown:for us was like, so important. I'm with huge fans of the show
Unknown:and of ESA going back before that. But yeah, you know, I
Unknown:think for for us an alternative to those were in the second
Unknown:insecure, very much represented, you know, that audience that
Unknown:we're trying to reach, it also represents the kind of story of
Unknown:like, Oh, if you create media, if you tell stories, which
Unknown:center, black and brown women like that can bring in
Unknown:everybody, I can bring in like a huge, diverse audience, because
Unknown:it's not just audiences of fella that enjoyed that show there,
Unknown:like a lot of the evangelists, but it brought in everybody. And
Unknown:that's what we're trying to replicate in the games industry.
Unknown:But yeah,
Lindsay Poss:my Twitter timeline was always a mess. And
Lindsay Poss:I mean, that in a good way, like every, like, there was not a
Lindsay Poss:everyone was talking about it, you know?
Unknown:Yeah. And it was such a, it's a huge cultural moment,
Unknown:in a lot of ways. And so I think when we started this whole
Unknown:thing, we were kind of like, oh, like, what kind of do we make we
Unknown:kind of it yet, but we were definitely looking at more
Unknown:original stuff. And then it was kind of like the opportunity of
Unknown:a lifetime, we had shot in transit visa, from the awkward
Unknown:electoral days from her YouTube days till now, insecure was must
Unknown:see TV, obviously, we all had to stop and watch watch party on
Unknown:our own. And so the idea of being able to bring that to
Unknown:life, and to be able to bring it to life in our way, not just to
Unknown:make like, there's a lot of, you know, kind of like stories, spin
Unknown:offs, or like mobile games, or based on the show that are kind
Unknown:of like it was just caching on the show, and then kind of move
Unknown:on. And what we want to do is really create a mechanic that
Unknown:was reflecting on the show, and reflective of again, Asus
Unknown:relationship with herself as a mirror, we had this whole
Unknown:foundational idea of it being a currency, and feeling like you
Unknown:have to hype yourself up, hype up your friends in the mirror.
Unknown:And so a lot of those things went to die. But I think the
Unknown:moment that I think about the most is when we had to go meet
Unknown:Isa, and it's this. And so again, it's like this was a kind
Unknown:of a license, you don't do all of this stuff. Again, as he
Unknown:mentioned, like HBO is phenomenal partners. And they
Unknown:will act as a special thing. And like the first time we're really
Unknown:stepping out of like, your usual games category to try to make
Unknown:this work. He's like, we think you should meet Lisa, who ended
Unknown:up meeting ISA and Prentice Penny, who's the showrunner,
Unknown:flying out to LA rehearsing the pitch, you know, freaking out
Unknown:about it. And then, you know, somebody walked into the room
Unknown:with her team and was like, I gotta get we have to, we got a
Unknown:seller on this vision. And we started out this whole question
Unknown:that became kind of like the, you know, resigned to throw the
Unknown:company and a lot of ways, it's okay, what do you play games?
Unknown:And he says, like, No, I'm not really a gamer. I don't really
Unknown:play. And as we're talking, and as we're pitching the idea of
Unknown:storage, I actually, I do play this game with my friends. And
Unknown:we have this mobile game thing and whatever. And you find out
Unknown:like, yes, everybody's playing. Women in particular are playing,
Unknown:we don't see ourselves as players. So we got to, you know,
Unknown:luckily, we crushed the pitch. She was into it. Everyone was
Unknown:into it. We got the green light. And we started developmental
Unknown:projects. Yeah.
Unknown:And fast boy, and so is actually ended up as an angel investor in
Unknown:the company, which is awesome. Yeah, yeah. And so yeah, and
Unknown:now, you know, a couple years into that journey. It's still to
Unknown:come up game is available on both app stores right now in
Unknown:Early Access, iOS and Android. So yeah, it's been a real
Unknown:journey. Yes.
Unknown:That when we didn't see we didn't see global pandemic after
Unknown:we launched a new startup. That was
Lindsay Poss:no yeah, that I think we could do a whole
Lindsay Poss:episode on the challenges of that. And yeah, what that was
Lindsay Poss:like? Um, can I, I want to ask a foundational question really
Lindsay Poss:quick about why you chose mobile as opposed to hardware PC, I
Lindsay Poss:think the accessibility is really obvious in that way. But
Lindsay Poss:is there other reasons? Or? I don't know, I don't know exactly
Lindsay Poss:what to say. Because Latoya, I think you did a great job of
Lindsay Poss:saying, you know, part of it is that it reaches a lot of women
Lindsay Poss:who don't already consider themselves gamers in the exact
Lindsay Poss:same category. I'm not a PC or a console gamer. Totally mobile
Lindsay Poss:gamer who, but is there? Is there things about mobile that
Lindsay Poss:you just think, kind of you can't get an A PC or hardware
Lindsay Poss:experience? Or? Like, what what is what is different about
Lindsay Poss:developing a mobile game to you all, from your perspective as
Lindsay Poss:developers? Yeah, I
Unknown:mean, firstly, it's a device that goes with you
Unknown:everywhere, right? It's pervasive, you can pull out your
Unknown:phone anywhere. So that's definitely a huge advantage,
Unknown:especially with the kind of game that we are developing where
Unknown:it's like, you know, you can play, you know, and to tell you
Unknown:a bit about the game. So it's both sort of part story driven.
Unknown:And, you know, similarly, it's in part simulation A, but then
Unknown:there's a part sort of, that's a rap rhyme. mini games, like a
Unknown:freestyle rap simulator. So another way in which Glock games
Unknown:is very different. We have a professional MC Samus, who is a
Unknown:core part of the team. But yeah, so it's one of these things
Unknown:where Oh, you're like, on this on the on the bus or whatever,
Unknown:you're like walking down the street, you could just pull out
Unknown:your phone and just start playing. So you know, I think
Unknown:that pervasiveness is a part of it. But in addition to that, it
Unknown:is kind of what we were saying about that accessibility, like
Unknown:everybody has a phone. And it's not this thing where it's like,
Unknown:oh, cool, I'm going to like, sit down and play a game on my
Unknown:console, or my, or my computer or whatever. So yeah, it's just
Unknown:that immediacy.
Unknown:Yeah, and also, on that note, on the media see, like, the other
Unknown:thing, too, I think, for developing for mobile, this is
Unknown:interesting. It's just how much our phones are, like a part of
Unknown:our integrative life in a way that your PC console. Yeah. And
Unknown:a lot of like, you might do other things with your PC, your
Unknown:console is dedicated to gaming. But like when we were doing play
Unknown:test, and like, you know, hold on hold on my mom's calling,
Unknown:like, just like this, the fact of like, Okay, how are we
Unknown:designing around these very real world, like, everything on your
Unknown:phone is trying to get your attention at all times, we're
Unknown:trying to call you things like that. So it's a very different
Unknown:way with restructuring the player experience in terms of
Unknown:how someone comes in comes out, considering all the different
Unknown:parts of your life that are.
Lindsay Poss:Ah, that's definitely not something I
Lindsay Poss:thought about. And, you know, I think in particular, in the
Lindsay Poss:gaming industry, we talk a lot about screens competing with
Lindsay Poss:each other. But you're totally, that's, that's really a
Lindsay Poss:fascinating way of saying the screens are even competing with
Lindsay Poss:itself. Quite a bit, particularly when it comes to
Lindsay Poss:phone. And especially so now that we've kind of talked about
Lindsay Poss:the mobile and the game side of it. What do you think adding a
Lindsay Poss:mobile game to a show? And as you put it out with it, and not
Lindsay Poss:in the kind of quick buck kind of way? What do you think adding
Lindsay Poss:that companion experience to the show does? Does for fan
Lindsay Poss:engagement, both from the side of the HBO, who's the production
Lindsay Poss:company who wants to see their show get engagement? And from
Lindsay Poss:the side of the audience who's watching the show, and enjoys
Lindsay Poss:it? Like, what does adding that portion do for the overall hype
Lindsay Poss:surrounding the show? I
Unknown:guess? Yeah, it was, but I do want to take that from
Unknown:so yeah, a lot of, you know, the benefit for having a tie in game
Unknown:is the expansion of the world. And one of the things that we
Unknown:saw early on, even like, I think we weren't thinking about these
Unknown:kinds of things. When we first started the company, we just
Unknown:wanted to get, we weren't thinking about, like, what the
Unknown:overall huge landscape was outside of, you know, we already
Unknown:talked about terms of the you know, young girls color, being
Unknown:able to see themselves as protected. That was the goal.
Unknown:But over time, we started realizing there's a much bigger
Unknown:story so even like, why don't create as color, see their
Unknown:worlds adapted in games more. It's not like we don't have the
Unknown:franchises at this point, like Apple TV, this is our like, he's
Unknown:compelling stories about people of color, and you just don't see
Unknown:me coming out of that. And a lot of that, I think, is a lack of
Unknown:familiarity, both with the subject matter with these
Unknown:creators, and with understanding like how do you interpret like I
Unknown:said, insecure is a you know, kind of like a dramatic comedy
Unknown:at its core, where, you know, it's very funny and it's very
Unknown:like slice of life, but there's also like, really serious
Unknown:things. And people don't necessarily think oh, a game
Unknown:should adapt to this in the same way which is why it's a kind of
Unknown:our skills on a piece to say like, Okay, this is how we see a
Unknown:vision for what this could be. It's not just you trying to run
Unknown:up a score by clicking something about the good times we really
Unknown:wanted to put a lot of the world and insecure into the game ended
Unknown:up creating. So it's, you know, it was interesting from a from
Unknown:an HBO perspective, one of the things that our partner or
Unknown:fantastic partner will praise and talked about when he was
Unknown:thinking about this was just this game was such an important
Unknown:thing to this community. At the time that we were signing the
Unknown:contract But HBO insecure, was the second highest socially
Unknown:engaged show on HBO after Game of Thrones. And if you think
Unknown:about how Big Game of Thrones wasn't, like 21 Different
Unknown:countries simulcast to like this other show, which is dominated
Unknown:Sunday nights, like it's a super huge differential. And so like
Unknown:this idea that it tapped into something that was important in
Unknown:the culture, and that should be reflected in the game shouldn't
Unknown:be as radical of an idea as it is. And you know, and like I
Unknown:said, props to will for seeing and understand like, Oh, this is
Unknown:our next opportunity here. Like we have other franchises that
Unknown:might make more sense in a traditional game sense. But this
Unknown:is the one that means let's go with that. So I think that's
Unknown:those are the things that we were weighing like it's it's a
Unknown:non traditional kind of normally third party stuff, you don't
Unknown:actually go meet the creators since you always everything.
Unknown:This is definitely I think, on all sides elite club.
Lindsay Poss:So cool. When you're thinking about the
Lindsay Poss:audience that you're building for, and, and what that looks
Lindsay Poss:like, Are you considering? Because there's, there's like
Lindsay Poss:three different buckets, right? There's the people that will
Lindsay Poss:watch the show and play the game. And then there's the
Lindsay Poss:people that will watch the show, and then are you thinking about
Lindsay Poss:the people that will just play the game without watching the
Unknown:show? Totally, totally. And that's kind of one of the
Unknown:things about this, this IP and working within this IP, that's
Unknown:cool. It's not like this, super, like low fills like world, like
Unknown:fantasy world filled with like things you need to know, it's
Unknown:just about living your best life and South LA and, you know,
Unknown:adulting in all of these, like themes that are very relatable
Unknown:to like anybody, and even if you haven't watched the show, so we
Unknown:definitely have a positive player base that you know,
Unknown:hasn't seen the show, that is still enjoying it, because
Unknown:ultimately, it's about building a world in which you can see
Unknown:yourself represented. And so yeah, and you're building you
Unknown:know, you're very much like, you're not playing as one of the
Unknown:characters. You're like creating yourself and your avatar and
Unknown:defining your story. So it is definitely also for people who,
Unknown:you know, haven't necessarily experienced the show.
Lindsay Poss:So cool. Yeah, I've been I haven't downloaded
Lindsay Poss:it yet I full transparency. But I have done a lot of like,
Lindsay Poss:looking around. I read articles with your MC like some
Lindsay Poss:interviews. Is MCD appropriate. Do you guys want any different
Unknown:but I mean, my controllers absolutely not go at
Unknown:all times. Her title at Brown or government aims a non boom
Unknown:because her government Brown I think is Professor in Practice.
Unknown:She's pretty much.
Unknown:Yeah, she's pretty much what I call her our director of rap.
Unknown:Like
Lindsay Poss:she just does. Yeah, like, that's what we think
Lindsay Poss:about the work she was able to do in creating the music album.
Lindsay Poss:And I was fascinated. Cool.
Unknown:Yeah. I mean, Micha, you want to? I mean, that was
Unknown:uncharted territory, I think even for games in terms of just
Unknown:like,
Unknown:Yeah, it really seems like it. So yeah, please tell me more.
Unknown:So here's the other thing, you know, what I think for
Unknown:establishing glow up, like one of the things we knew we wanted
Unknown:to do was, like, there was just so much space out there to
Unknown:invent new forms of gameplay and game mechanics that just haven't
Unknown:been explored. Because a lot of game mechanics have come, you
Unknown:know, we can get into this whole thing. But a lot of them have
Unknown:come from the same contact. So the same sort of cultural
Unknown:touchstones of touch. Yeah, and so we wanted to very much like
Unknown:explore this very kind of fertile ground for what do new
Unknown:game mechanics look like when informed by our cultural
Unknown:backgrounds. So you know, a natural place to start because
Unknown:it insecure one of the very relatable things that he says
Unknown:character does, and you know, from season one, from the first
Unknown:episode, it she will like wrap in the mirror to hype yourself
Unknown:up. So we were like, Hey, let's turn that into a mechanic like
Unknown:that would be really cool. Because the other thing you
Unknown:often see in, you know, in free to play games as kind of a space
Unknown:is, unfortunately, there's not as much kind of appetite for
Unknown:innovation in that space as you would like, right. And so
Unknown:there's often a sort of, you know, risk adverse nurse,
Unknown:there's a kind of lack of real experimentation. So one of the
Unknown:things we've also done with this is subvert the way that a lot of
Unknown:free to play mobile games kind of look and feel and play, like
Unknown:we've invented this new game mechanic was a lot of work. And
Unknown:I mean, all credit to an ongoing other members of our team as
Unknown:well, because one of the things that she has done is taken, like
Unknown:the wealth of knowledge she has as an actual rapper, and be
Unknown:like, you know, she went through this whole process, which, you
Unknown:know, she can give probably a 90 minute talk about one day where
Unknown:she had to, like, take that out of her brain and convert it to a
Unknown:mechanic like, how does she do that? How does she like, come up
Unknown:with words and how do you then make the player feel like
Unknown:someone who can freestyle rap? Yeah, so it's like, you know,
Unknown:how do you you know, I my favorite bit of feedback, we
Unknown:hear this a lot, right? So is people are like, Oh yeah, I
Unknown:can't wrap but this game is really making me feel like a
Unknown:rock.
Unknown:It's amazing when the How much do you put into this idea of
Unknown:like how the other words fit together? Because it's, it seems
Unknown:simple like as we all talk every day, we all like, Okay, this is
Unknown:going but then trying to translate that into zeros and
Unknown:one into like, a spreadsheet where values, and this happens.
Unknown:And that happens, and this happens. And then out of the
Unknown:side, you get this rhyme that makes sense. I didn't realize
Unknown:how much of a fumble that was going to be until we started
Unknown:doing it. But like, Yeah, but this whole idea of just, and
Unknown:then also, like, regional context, where we had so many
Unknown:conversations around, like, you know, sounds like if, if I wrote
Unknown:cat KNG the way the text is pronounced King, our player is
Unknown:gonna get that and the remarkable players from other
Unknown:countries are going to be Googling, like, does this come
Unknown:up with Urban Dictionary? How do we how do we spell gwap? Like,
Unknown:we just had so many of these, like, random conversations
Unknown:around? Like, how are we standardizing this in terms of
Unknown:the ways that we first would have different parts of the
Unknown:game, like there was just so much that we hadn't even
Unknown:touched? The whole concept of slant line? And understanding
Unknown:how do you actually train a player to understand these
Unknown:things, and to present it in a way where it's fun and playable,
Unknown:and that they don't have to feel like they're an expert on that,
Unknown:that,
Lindsay Poss:I mean, that whole process gives so much agency to
Lindsay Poss:an entire art form that has been long under appreciated as well.
Lindsay Poss:So breaking it down. That's so
Unknown:great piece on a book, or something for papers, let's
Unknown:call the AI a rapper, and it's all about kind of like the
Unknown:erasure of researching, again, like, you know, working with the
Unknown:folks that I get to work with people as brilliant as Mitu and
Unknown:Sanaz. And click that, like, it's barbed all the time. But I
Unknown:go back and read. So I'm looking, I was like, wow, we did
Unknown:that, like, we work together on this. Because I was like,
Unknown:impressed. I was just reading it like, you're right. Wow, it was
Unknown:happening. I was like, Oh, wait, that's our part. That's our
Unknown:part, we are changing this. But in some ways is that weird, like
Unknown:unreality? That we are actually making all of these changes in
Unknown:the industry that, you know, again, until you like, step
Unknown:back, I think we're very weak, day to day just trying to make
Unknown:things work. When you step back and realize like, Oh, hey, yeah,
Unknown:the predominant way that rap has been treated in the last, you
Unknown:know, 20 years or so is as a commodity. And as an algorithmic
Unknown:commodity, and Sam is, is reclaiming space, the rules of
Unknown:the game mechanics through what we're doing. It's like, yeah,
Unknown:there's we're always part of a bigger conversation that it's,
Unknown:you know, easy to lose sight of that. And we're like, just
Unknown:trying to focus on like, okay, is this is this thing going the
Unknown:way we want it to be this thing? Like, yeah, like, I read that
Unknown:piece, and was like, that was us that was
Lindsay Poss:doing things. Yeah, exactly. I just had
Lindsay Poss:someone on recently, who said to celebrate your accomplishments
Lindsay Poss:along the way. I liked hearing that real time story about doing
Lindsay Poss:that. Because I think it's really easy to get to get caught
Lindsay Poss:up in keeping the lights on and fundraising and all of that. So
Lindsay Poss:totally understand. But that was a really little nice little
Lindsay Poss:moment to hear that you all also have been able to celebrate your
Lindsay Poss:wins along the way a little bit. And let's talk about kind of the
Lindsay Poss:we've skirted around this, but I want to give actual content that
Lindsay Poss:skirted. But we talked about this, but I want to give context
Lindsay Poss:in numbers. So about the statistics for developers in the
Lindsay Poss:game industry. Um, so the IGDA does an annual report, the game
Lindsay Poss:developer satisfaction report, surveys, over 800 people who
Lindsay Poss:work as game developers, the 2021 report found that 61% of
Lindsay Poss:respondents identified as male, which is down from 71%, and
Lindsay Poss:2018, just a little bit of movement there. But 35%
Lindsay Poss:identified as white and there's not a lot of movement there. And
Lindsay Poss:there's obvious implications about some of the barriers that
Lindsay Poss:you all might face, or people who look like you have faced to
Lindsay Poss:actually enter the space. I found an article from Latoya,
Lindsay Poss:which sums up diversity in games very succinctly. It's trash. I
Lindsay Poss:thought that was a very good quote, to talk about the
Lindsay Poss:situation. On the bus either, um, but let's I just want to
Lindsay Poss:hear from you all, how you were able to cultivate, you know,
Lindsay Poss:your your sense of willpower to keep going to keep pushing, how
Lindsay Poss:you were able to balance that with all of the things that
Lindsay Poss:you've faced along the way. very candidly, I was telling me too
Lindsay Poss:earlier that I'm having a very difficult week. So a lot of my
Lindsay Poss:questions have centered on mental health in this in this
Lindsay Poss:episode, but what have you been able to do to continue To keep
Lindsay Poss:pushing forward to continue to work or hope, or what is your
Lindsay Poss:support system been? Like? Like, just? What has that journey been
Lindsay Poss:like for you? Both?
Unknown:I mean, it's certainly been a journey. I mean, here's
Unknown:the thing we came to this already having survived in our
Unknown:spaces, like, that's the thing you would like, even before blow
Unknown:up, if you look at the number of folks who, you know, have sort
Unknown:of more senior roles in like games or media, or if you look
Unknown:at, like, how many women and yeah, women of color, especially
Unknown:people of color, you know, in these prominent sort of decision
Unknown:making roles and spaces, like, we got to that even before law,
Unknown:right, so we've like, you know, I think if there's one thing
Unknown:that we can talk a lot about and know a lot about, as women of
Unknown:color is survival, because it's something we've been doing our
Unknown:whole lives as a whole are is. And I think that informs us, you
Unknown:know, that kind of keeps us as part of what keeps us going, um,
Unknown:you know, and to come to that, and then, you know, really with
Unknown:glow up games, we knew it was going to be tough, but it was
Unknown:tougher, you know, for many reasons, it's been even tougher
Unknown:than we could ever have anticipated. You know, we
Unknown:mentioned the global pandemic, which of course, didn't help and
Unknown:exacerbated things. But you know, it's been, it's been a
Unknown:journey, ambulatory. And I always have a saying that we're
Unknown:like, oh, yeah, you know, write a book one day, about, like, the
Unknown:journey, we've had building ballgames, because there have
Unknown:been some wild stories and, you know, potential investors and
Unknown:fundraising meetings, people who've said some things to us
Unknown:slash
Lindsay Poss:write a book out 1,000%. Yeah.
Unknown:But I think just to, you know, and I'll alternative
Unknown:tutoria in a second. But like, I think in terms of what keeps us
Unknown:going amidst all of that difficulty, it's because this
Unknown:matters to us. Like, it's something that we built this
Unknown:company, so that folks can not only see themselves, in stories
Unknown:and on the screen, but also so there is a place for people who
Unknown:look like us, in the industry in the space, and we can nurture
Unknown:that talent, and we can kind of continue to build speaks, we're
Unknown:all about that representation, both behind the scenes and on
Unknown:the screen. And that's something that's important. And you know,
Unknown:is kind of someone, certainly for me, as someone who's like,
Unknown:been in the game space a long time, is something that's kind
Unknown:of just really what keeps me going, you know, and as kind of
Unknown:bought, the reason I do anything, it's all about, like,
Unknown:how do we make things better for those coming after us? And how
Unknown:do we make sure we get the space to tell, you know, to have our
Unknown:stories told as well, because we do deserve that, you know, so?
Unknown:Yeah, that's, that's all leave it at that. Tell him to Latoya?
Unknown:I mean, yeah, everything that you said, times 100. And then,
Unknown:you know, there's just, there's just layers and layers and
Unknown:layers to why those motivation, why we want to do this. I mean,
Unknown:there's, the obvious thing was like, Oh, you're both women,
Unknown:like, yes, women, but also, you know, there's this other way of
Unknown:women of color, it's that way for us as being brown skinned
Unknown:girls, which is a whole other kind of conversation to get
Unknown:seen, and who is normally represented. And then from
Unknown:there, right, you know, like, Miss You, the South Asian, and
Unknown:I'm African American, like, those are very, you don't see
Unknown:anyone in leadership roles in that way to the point where, you
Unknown:know, even like a lot of the heroes like just trying to find
Unknown:like, people of color to be on our board, who can be on the
Unknown:board of locations, that is a prominent person in the
Unknown:industry, that is a person of color. And number is small. In
Unknown:terms of black professionals, that number is small, small, to
Unknown:the point where, you know, it becomes, in some ways, I think,
Unknown:for us easy to meet our heroes, just because it's so unusual, to
Unknown:see this thing to see someone like us making a run for it. And
Unknown:trying. And at this point, I realized I was like, man, we've
Unknown:been in business three years, like, you know, first woman of
Unknown:color to run again, she did I know it was Jacqueline Beauchamp
Unknown:did SUTA called Energize. I think her studio was an
Unknown:operation by me for. So we might exceed that. And like, you see
Unknown:that that's enough. This is new again, every day, we're breaking
Unknown:ground, and we're looking at a new frontier. And that's tough,
Unknown:right? Like we talk a lot, I think is one of the color about
Unknown:being first in a space, and what it means to be the first to be a
Unknown:pioneer. And the first means like you're alone, like you
Unknown:don't have support, and that people don't really know how to
Unknown:teach you or what to do or how to support you in the way that,
Unknown:you know, later on down the line. They'll be able to learn
Unknown:like, oh, well this happened with blow up. But if we don't
Unknown:want this to happen to other studios, we got to invest more,
Unknown:we got to do this more, but we're the ones that are like
Unknown:pushing that out of the way. So that's, and that's tight. I
Unknown:think the other piece of it. That speaks to what Matthew
Unknown:saying about being going when things are brutally hard
Unknown:startups in general, or blue Park, right, startups in
Unknown:general, any kind of new venture is hard, right? And then gaming
Unknown:is super hard. And on top of that, we decided we people of
Unknown:color, very people of color. any games, which is also really
Unknown:hard, and we made a new mechanic, which is also really
Unknown:hard, so it's everything was just like Dark Souls games. Like
Unknown:that's what we've been doing. And so, you know, there's a lot
Unknown:of days where it's like, I don't know if we got like it's
Unknown:something or like, I don't know if I have like, I don't know if
Unknown:I keep going. And then something random will always happen. And
Unknown:I'm like, Okay, try. Let's try again. Try again tomorrow. Like
Unknown:I was at the nail salon. Super randomly. No real plans. I was
Unknown:like, let me just get my nails off my nails. Removing these
Unknown:nails off and stop in place I normally go. And this guy number
Unknown:one, it's a man which is a black man doing manicures. And I
Unknown:noticed he's covered Mario's tattoos. Cover and he's got
Unknown:Nintendo here to tendo here he's got a neck tattoo but Windows
Unknown:not five logo have like five decked Dr.
Unknown:Michio I'm going to show you his IG after this. I looked when I
Unknown:saw the windows 95. We were in new territory, because I was
Unknown:like, yeah.
Unknown:I'm like, I'm sitting here.
Unknown:AOL screen name was because
Unknown:yeah, what's your engineer? His name? Is Nintendo. Like his
Unknown:online handle? Is any n 10? Do E. Nintendo? Like he is not?
Unknown:They called him Nintendo at the nail salon. So I'm sitting here
Unknown:and I'm like, should I ask? Let me ask, Are you a gamer?
Unknown:Absolutely. Oh, no, I love video games. And it was my wife. And
Unknown:he was like, Yeah, I'm a sysadmin. You know, but he was
Unknown:like talking to this whole winding story about like, how he
Unknown:ended up not going into the industry, because he was like,
Unknown:Oh, I smoke too much weed and I can't be an industry anymore.
Unknown:But he was like, but when I was doing interviews, I got like, he
Unknown:was completely covered in tears. And he was like, I got a Windows
Unknown:95 tattoo, because I knew of in the interview, they could see
Unknown:that they would ask me if I did windows, and that was my
Unknown:specialty. And that's how I would do it. And he's like, I
Unknown:always wanted to get into games. And I didn't know how and I was
Unknown:like
Unknown:okay, yeah, I need to I needed to be here to share this
Unknown:knowledge that we have learned. So I was like, if you got a
Unknown:Windows 95 neck tattoo, my dude like, obviously, this is gonna
Unknown:work out for you. This is going, you are dedicated. I don't. It's
Unknown:on all your arms. We're about to bring him a copy, read his book
Unknown:and be like, go ahead and pose with this. This this, this whole
Unknown:situation going on right now. Yeah, but Yeah, and like, you
Unknown:know, I was just telling him was like, oh, yeah, like Gamess QA,
Unknown:and he said, two jobs or whatever. And there's so many
Unknown:folks who are hungry to get in. I mean, after all players of
Unknown:color over represent in terms of people who play and are loyal to
Unknown:franchises, and all these different things, we just don't
Unknown:see ourselves behind the scenes in that same way. And so what
Unknown:ends up happening, I think, you know, it's you feel free to
Unknown:speak to this as well, like we show up. And it's a different
Unknown:conversation. It's a different conversation I showed up at
Unknown:something is like the indicate horizon for students. And, you
Unknown:know, I showed up and I was like, Oh, I'm in the wrong spot.
Unknown:Like, everybody's like, you know, this is how I became good
Unknown:filter on the side, like, when I was around the thing, and I was
Unknown:like, I'm over here, like, these are students. I'm over here
Unknown:talking about how to get capital, this is broad audience
Unknown:blocking. Oops, and then in the chat in the discord. Somebody
Unknown:was like, Hey, I've never seen a black owner of a game studio
Unknown:before I feel really inspired by this. Like, I'm good. It's good
Unknown:to see someone else like me that can do this. And I'm like, All
Unknown:right. Well, I guess this is this is, in some ways, being
Unknown:here is the fact. Like, it's bad. Suppose that I always think
Unknown:I have to do more. But sometimes it's just the fact that we're
Unknown:here. And somebody feels that they can talk to us in a
Unknown:different way. It's the work that helps, it helps. And also,
Unknown:I think, to shipping the game, right meant to like in terms of,
Unknown:there was so many years of us like fighting through the
Unknown:pandemic, fighting through funding, fighting all this other
Unknown:stuff. It was kind of like, what are we doing, and then to see
Unknown:the responses. That was, I think, the most gratifying,
Unknown:because we got the hard part, right, which is building like,
Unknown:everything else can be a mess. But at the end of the day,
Unknown:people want to play more of this thing. And like that, that's the
Unknown:validation.
Lindsay Poss:I like that you said that or not like, but it's
Lindsay Poss:so interesting that you say it's so easy to meet your heroes and
Lindsay Poss:then how you all have been at this for three years, and I'm
Lindsay Poss:sure you are both heroes to so many people, for what you do and
Lindsay Poss:the feedback that you've gotten. Part of the reason why our
Lindsay Poss:centers interview today, by the way, oh my god, they're amazing.
Lindsay Poss:But that's the it's I certainly hope that that pool gets much
Lindsay Poss:bigger, but it's also really neat, how much you're able to
Lindsay Poss:inspire people just by being yourself. That's a very
Unknown:I mean, that's not
Lindsay Poss:like a win for not having a lot of people that look
Lindsay Poss:like you. It is just amazing. Like, how much territory you're
Lindsay Poss:able to cover just by being you though, that kind of. Yeah, I
Lindsay Poss:don't know, I don't know how to phrase that any better. But
Lindsay Poss:that's, that's quite an amazing. Yeah, I
Unknown:mean, literally, I said it really well as well, like,
Unknown:it's, you know, some days, all you have is the energy to show
Unknown:up. And that's enough, right? Like, that really is just
Unknown:existing in this space as who we are, is that act is an act of
Unknown:resistance, an act of like, fighting, kind of, you know,
Unknown:dominant ways that things happen. So, yeah, that's why we
Unknown:do what
Unknown:we do was it was one Bureau we say existence in spite.
Unknown:And shadow, yeah, so Monday hair is the president of brass line
Unknown:Entertainment, who are kind of our SR studio in some ways. They
Unknown:are. They're a diverse, triple A games company. So they basically
Unknown:make games for like, console, etc. So, yeah, we're doing
Unknown:similar similar work and like very different spaces.
Lindsay Poss:So I wanted to kind of end with a discussion on
Lindsay Poss:what it's like to be a startup, and what that process has been,
Lindsay Poss:like, we spoke a long time ago in a previous conversation about
Lindsay Poss:building the company and the venture process. And me too, I
Lindsay Poss:know that you've had experiences building several companies. Now
Lindsay Poss:I read that this is your third, and you face specific
Lindsay Poss:challenges, being who you are in the venture space and trying to
Lindsay Poss:fundraise. I, it's wonderful to hear that you had such a good
Lindsay Poss:partnership with HBO. But I would imagine that other parts
Lindsay Poss:of startup being a startup and of getting funding have not been
Lindsay Poss:as easy. Because you just walk me through what that was like
Lindsay Poss:any advice both of you have for people who are either working at
Lindsay Poss:startups or thinking about starting something. Yeah. Any
Lindsay Poss:any tips? Yeah, I
Unknown:mean, that's a big question. So, you know, so so
Unknown:that folks know, Gallup games are has previously raised so to
Unknown:date, we've raised 1.2 million at precede. So basically, what
Unknown:that means is, in order to build the game, that's the money that
Unknown:we raise in order to, in order to sort of, you know, get block
Unknown:games started, start hiring people, because a lot of that is
Unknown:not just about building the game, it's about building the
Unknown:infrastructure of the studio building, like, the means to
Unknown:then also be able to make other games going forward. So yeah,
Unknown:it's, it's been tough, you know, fundraising, um, and, you know,
Unknown:for for transparency as well, we're currently fundraising
Unknown:again, for our seed round. So basically, moving on, now that
Unknown:we're three years into the journey, we've launched one
Unknown:game, this is kind of raising, again, the next stage to kind of
Unknown:go bigger and keep doing what we're doing. But it's been,
Unknown:yeah, it's been difficult. And the first time we were raising,
Unknown:and every time we got out to fundraise, like, it takes a
Unknown:while. It's you know, and I think the thing I'll, the way
Unknown:I'll summarize that is that often the, you know, the bar is
Unknown:just higher, like, that's the thing, the bar is, is often not
Unknown:higher for us than it would be for our white male counterparts.
Unknown:You know, that's what I will say.
Unknown:Because, you know, it's first
Unknown:it's like, you know, often when we first went out, try and
Unknown:fundraise, like, we had this great IP partnership, we had,
Unknown:like, all of this, you know, we have a team that's kind of got
Unknown:experience, etc. You know, granted, we hadn't like work
Unknown:together to ship a game at that point. So a lot of what we would
Unknown:hear is like, Oh, well, you haven't shipped a game yet. You
Unknown:haven't sort of done all this and done all that. So really,
Unknown:you know, it took us a lot longer. And we actually ended up
Unknown:fundraising from a lot of just amazing angels, for the most
Unknown:part. So a lot of individuals, a lot of sort of smaller funds,
Unknown:who really believed in us and the vision and what we're
Unknown:building. And basically, we're on the same page as us. And I
Unknown:think what that taught us is that it doesn't, you know,
Unknown:sometimes it can take longer, but if you've got the right
Unknown:people, that's what's most important, right, because you're
Unknown:building something that they believe in that you will believe
Unknown:in, you're on the same page. So yeah, it's it's, you know, it is
Unknown:tough, and now we're fundraising again, and, you know, we're
Unknown:definitely seeing a lot of this kind of similar tensions, etc.
Unknown:It does help to have like, shipped something now as a team.
Unknown:But I will say yeah, the bar does continue to be very high
Unknown:for for underrepresented for marginalized folks in general,
Unknown:but in the fundraising space, and you know, the stats,
Unknown:definitely bear that out.
Unknown:Yeah, and definitely in terms of, you know, just ordering from
Unknown:a razor effectively been asked to you had two other companies
Unknown:before this. And I remember, like, we had this moment where
Unknown:we get our data room together. And I'm like, how do you you're
Unknown:like, I was never asked for the stuff I had to produce this
Unknown:level of documentation. Like, it was a lot more like what we
Unknown:said, what? And it's these subtle little things, this
Unknown:subtle denial of the benefit of doubt, that really characterizes
Unknown:what when the color are facing like women, probably the women
Unknown:are especially where we have to prove and other folks can kind
Unknown:of just work. And I think, you know, even like a little list on
Unknown:my counters on petty of like people who got funded before us
Unknown:who are now out of business, right? Who got a more generous
Unknown:package and things like that, I just read about a another
Unknown:company where the founders take another job, and I'm part of me
Unknown:is like,
Unknown:can we just talk about this? Because, yes,
Unknown:I want it, I just want to know what the thinking was here.
Unknown:Because obviously, this didn't work. But we're still here,
Unknown:what's going on? But it's this idea that there's this higher
Unknown:threshold that we all have to hold ourselves to. And even with
Unknown:results, even with the ship game, even with contracts at
Unknown:hand, for some reason, we're still not as compelling as a
Unknown:group of younger white guys. Yeah. And that's,
Unknown:I think the thing I'll say is, you know, it hasn't really this
Unknown:interesting point, and whoever brings up because we are, like,
Unknown:resilient, like, Y'all, you know, we like, know how to keep
Unknown:going. And it's always wild to me, like, this is what I'll say
Unknown:to the venture funding world, which is that, that on people of
Unknown:color, that on women of color, because we know how to survive,
Unknown:we know how to be resilient AF, right. Like that is kind of one
Unknown:of the things we have to do in the world. And, you know, it's
Unknown:that's ultimately, you know, you look at all these traits of
Unknown:successful entrepreneurs, you look at, like all of these
Unknown:things, resilience is the thing, at the end of the day, it really
Unknown:has that ability to sort of take those knots and keep going. So
Unknown:yeah, you know, it's, we need to see more marginalized folks get
Unknown:funded, like, that's what I'll
Unknown:say. Yeah. And then also to like this, to add on to this, because
Unknown:I think money is a big issue for women in general, broadly, but
Unknown:also, especially for women of color. Because we are expected
Unknown:to do so much more with less all the time, we're always gonna
Unknown:make it work, regardless of like the level of funding that she
Unknown:would get. And like all of these things have knock on effects.
Unknown:And I think that wasn't as clear as it was when we're, you know,
Unknown:in this day, even what we're raising from angels, who are
Unknown:people who've done wonderful work in all kinds of sectors,
Unknown:all kinds of things and check sizes smaller, because they are
Unknown:also getting paid less than their counterparts, they have
Unknown:less to invest in terms of like, even suffering like celebrities,
Unknown:right, you can see with like celebrities of color, and how
Unknown:their deals don't result in the same amount of money that it
Unknown:would for an equivalent, like me, Viola Davis is always like,
Unknown:I'm the black male St. Amy like her. Right. But it's like,
Unknown:there's these things would be multitudes of different things
Unknown:like a list black actors, which means they have less to invest,
Unknown:and they have less to start studios with, and they have less
Unknown:to pay with as a downstream thing. And so like, you know,
Unknown:income inequality, investment, inequality, all of those
Unknown:different things have to be addressed. For us to start
Unknown:actually seeing strides being made. And we didn't realize how
Unknown:much this is a higher system. ecosystem. One thing to say,
Unknown:Okay, there's a management gap. There's one thing to say there's
Unknown:a pipeline gap. But there's another thing completely to say
Unknown:that there's an opportunity gap, there's an equity gap, there's a
Unknown:gap. And all of those factors contribute to why you don't see
Unknown:more studios like us.
Lindsay Poss:Yeah, that makes so much sense. And yeah, that's
Lindsay Poss:the real pipeline problem to me. Paying everyone who should be
Lindsay Poss:Yeah, the whole other thing. But yes, that is in a very observant
Lindsay Poss:and relevant point. I want to move into our last section
Lindsay Poss:because I'm very cognizant that we're almost running up against
Lindsay Poss:time. Before we get into that, I'm going to do a quick summary
Lindsay Poss:of what we talked about. We began with a discussion on
Lindsay Poss:insecure and the audience represented and helpless themes
Lindsay Poss:wanted to reflect the mechanics and nations of the show. It's
Lindsay Poss:not a quick buck collaboration, it's an intentional partnership
Lindsay Poss:to create something for an audience that should be
Lindsay Poss:interested in and engaged with the kind of content that
Lindsay Poss:insecure without as well as people who don't. But we won't
Lindsay Poss:talk about that. The game is part story driven part
Lindsay Poss:simulator. It has many great games that incorporate a very
Lindsay Poss:original mechanic of rap and created music, kind of stylings
Lindsay Poss:and creations on the part of the audience. The reason why you
Lindsay Poss:will let with a mobile game among accessibility and many
Lindsay Poss:other reasons, it was with the phone being an integrated part
Lindsay Poss:of life. The player experience is actually competing with
Lindsay Poss:itself for screen time. But mobile games allow for the
Lindsay Poss:expansion of the world of the show, especially for creators of
Lindsay Poss:color. And there's lack of experimentation in free to play
Lindsay Poss:games, so it's important to invent new You begin new game
Lindsay Poss:mechanics, particularly since the same person, people have
Lindsay Poss:been building games for a long time. So mobile games represent
Lindsay Poss:a lot of room renovation, a lot of room for accessibility, and
Lindsay Poss:an integrated part of our lives. What keeps you all going despite
Lindsay Poss:the numerous and very unfortunate and sad barriers
Lindsay Poss:slash situations you're up against, is people seeing
Lindsay Poss:themselves in stories and on screen matters representation
Lindsay Poss:behind the scenes and on the screen matters. That becomes
Lindsay Poss:easy to meet your heroes as well as limited, which is very
Lindsay Poss:unfortunate. So it becomes easy for you to become the heroes and
Lindsay Poss:inspire the kind of the next generation which hopefully has a
Lindsay Poss:much wider pool of folks being first has its own challenges,
Lindsay Poss:you're learning, you don't necessarily have the same
Lindsay Poss:support that an established industry would have. But some
Lindsay Poss:days, it's okay to just have the energy to show up. Because
Lindsay Poss:that's more than enough. being who you are, is an act of
Lindsay Poss:fighting and an act of resistance in the space. That is
Lindsay Poss:helpful to inspire other folks who look like you. The bar when
Lindsay Poss:it comes to fundraising, we ended with a little discussion
Lindsay Poss:on startups and how the bar is higher for women and people of
Lindsay Poss:color to raise money. You all wound up fundraising for people
Lindsay Poss:who believed in the vision which did take longer, but wound up
Lindsay Poss:being worth it just because they really understand what you're
Lindsay Poss:going for. So it takes resilience, it takes time. But
Lindsay Poss:try to stick with it. And women and people of color have
Lindsay Poss:resilience in spades. So more of those folks should get funded
Lindsay Poss:because they have the fight that this survival instincts to keep
Lindsay Poss:going to go for it to build. Women are expected to do so much
Lindsay Poss:more with less. And people of color have the same expectation.
Lindsay Poss:And this has knock on effects from downstream upstream all the
Lindsay Poss:way through. So I know that you, Latoya give this specific
Lindsay Poss:example of black and brown angel investors who have less to
Lindsay Poss:invest, which means that there's less to move downstream, which
Lindsay Poss:means that you are having to do less with less resources and
Lindsay Poss:then employ that it just winds up being like a whole pattern.
Lindsay Poss:So addressing that, that stream problem and the income
Lindsay Poss:inequality found at the different levels is something
Lindsay Poss:that's really going to allow for bigger strides to be made. And
Lindsay Poss:that comes from not just going to the end product that comes
Lindsay Poss:this starts all the way back in the venture and funding space.
Lindsay Poss:And in a lot of other spaces. For sure. So with that being
Lindsay Poss:said, I like to end each podcast with the same segment. And it's
Lindsay Poss:called a moment of reflection, just a chance for you to give
Lindsay Poss:any advice to people who may just be starting their career or
Lindsay Poss:looking to switch their career or whatever it may be. But what
Lindsay Poss:is one thing you would like to tell your younger self about
Lindsay Poss:getting into the game industry and being successful? I think it
Unknown:really is about, you know, it's okay to be yourself
Unknown:and to show up. Because that your community is out there. And
Unknown:it's important to find them.
Unknown:So that's what I would say.
Unknown:It really is about like, the networks you build of folks who
Unknown:can support you and who, you know, have this kind of shared
Unknown:mission and vision and you know, that we're creating a sort of,
Unknown:you know, a studio that reflects that. That is kind of trying to
Unknown:push that forward and make it easier.
Unknown:Yeah, so I think for me, I was talking to a friend recently
Unknown:who's thinking about returning to the games industry after
Unknown:leaving a decade ago, and like going back and forth about like,
Unknown:all the issues, and you know, all the stress and all the
Unknown:problems and like, why, why? Why did you do this? Why did you
Unknown:want to do this? You know, well, here's the deal. It's been hard.
Unknown:It's been brutal. It's definitely taken a lot more than
Unknown:I thought I had, in terms of making this work. But I don't
Unknown:regret taking the shot. Like, regardless of what happened,
Unknown:this wasn't just a dream kept talking about at brunch. The
Unknown:thing that we actually did guard was at this point of how it
Unknown:works out. We took the shot, we did a whole bunch of things that
Unknown:I think we never thought possible, just by participating
Unknown:by saying, Okay, we're gonna step up and do this. It was just
Unknown:not Firstly, it didn't come together we wanted it to and so
Unknown:that I think that was the biggest thing that I think
Unknown:surprised me about the conversation. Because we're, you
Unknown:know, we're talking about it and he was like, you know, go back I
Unknown:was gonna go back could go back and you know, have a nice cushy
Unknown:job and not be broke anymore and be really great. But, you know,
Unknown:at the end of the day, we're doing the thing, and there
Unknown:aren't that many opportunities in your life. Just go do the
Unknown:thing. And what however it pans out, there's no regrets. Tried
Unknown:to get it. There's nothing at the end of this. I think we have
Unknown:left everything on the floor. So this isn't the best. Whatever it
Unknown:was, this was the best we could do. That's so great,
Lindsay Poss:though. Thank you both so much for coming on. This
Lindsay Poss:has been just really really wonderful conversation. Everyone
Lindsay Poss:should go on their phones right now and download insecure the
Lindsay Poss:come up game. Where else can people find you follow you
Lindsay Poss:Follow games find your work to keep up with what low games is
Lindsay Poss:doing.
Unknown:Well, so we're at what games on most social platforms
Unknown:go up that games on Instagram blog games on Twitter. You know,
Unknown:Mateos at machi gay. I'm at Latoya Peterson if you want to
Unknown:talk to us individually, and you know, we're easy to find. We're
Unknown:always around.
Lindsay Poss:Hey, thank you so, so much. For all of our
Lindsay Poss:listeners. Be sure to leave the five star ratings and reviews.
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