Erin "Saishy" Calmon

We chat with Saishy, founder of TinyBird Games.

QRM: Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the games industry?

Saishy: I'm a trans woman and I have a game studio where we hire exclusively queer people.

QRM: How long have you been involved in the game industry, and what projects have you worked on? What are you working on currently?

Saishy: I've been in the game industry for around 7 years. I've worked on titles such as Wondaafarm, WallSlider, Grimoire: Manastorm and I'm working currently at TinyAttack and TinyBirdNet (a network lib for Unity).

QRM: What inspired you to get started in the games industry?

Saishy: I had a lot of videogames when I was a child, and they brought me great joy!

QRM: In what ways do you feel your experiences as a queer person manifest in the games you work on, and influence the work you do?

Saishy: I think it allows me to make more "natural" scenarios. People of color, queer people, women… all of them just appear in my games because it's how I view the world, from a less privileged point of view.

QRM: Do you have a favourite queer character—in games or media more generally? If so, what is it about them that makes them your favourite?
Question asked by @kamienw.

Saishy: Teddy from EGS comics! They are a great character, the whole development until the point where they find themselves is so good I cried!

I know the beginning of the comic is kinda bad, but I really recommend reading it.

QRM: Have you ever encountered roadblocks in trying to include queer characters in games? What do you think is preventing greater diversity within games?
Question asked by @dustinalex91.

Saishy: As I make my own games I never really had a block on it.

What prevents diversity in games? Just search for photos of gamedev teams on Google and count the number of white men...

QRM: Why do you think it is important that queer audiences are able to see themselves represented in the games they play, and in the developers who make the games they see? What can we do to improve the industry for queer audiences and devs?

Saishy: I think queer people really need to be seen, both so we can get confidence in ourselves and so other people just accept our existence as a whole.

We need more queer people, more visibility, to show the world we exist and we are as good as anyone else. Only then people will accept us as "normal".

QRM: Have you ever mentored somebody in your role in games, or been mentored? If so, what made these experiences worthwhile for you?
Question asked by @pepelanova.

Saishy: I do help people start their career in the game industry, but I don't know if that would go as deeply as calling "mentoring".

But it's great to help more queer folks get knowledge and confidence!

QRM: In what ways can non-queer folk increase and support queer diversity present within games, as well as in the industry more broadly? How can we all work to support intersectional approaches to diversity, and why is this important?

Saishy: First, you can directly help a lot of folks on Patreon, itch.io or ko.fi

Second, ditch people who try to bring us down. There are a lot of hate reviews, especially on Steam, that really hurts us, both economically and mentally.

QRM: Is there a message that you would like to share with the queer game players, game studies researchers, and other interested folks who comprise the Queerly Represent Me community?

Saishy: If you want to get in the industry, please talk to your nearest queer dev! They will be able to give you much better advise than someone in a different position.

There are many ways to get into gamedev, you don't need to choose between indie or AAA, you can develop assets, or get in the middle somewhere.

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You can find Saishy on Twitter.
You can check out TinyBird Games on Patreon and via their website.