“It kind of contrasts that emotional feeling of being extremely vulnerable and then when you’re around the campfire, you’re extremely safe and nothing can touch you, and you can put down the controller,” she said. “That helps with the pacing of the game.”

“I don’t expect the entire game to be cozy but particular places or people or mechanics in the game make you feel like you are safe and at ease, and you can relax,” she said. “But, I definitely appreciate it when I find a place in a game where it really feels particularly cozy.”

“Maybe that means that I’m too stressed out in my life,” she jokes.

But the joke is only half humorous — Tanya is doing a lot. She is working on a new title now — she slyly wouldn’t share any particulars — and she’s trying to bring everyone into gaming, even those who rarely pick up a joypad or tap a keyboard.

Changing the game

To bring new blood into the gaming ecosystem, she and her fellow game designer Rebecca Cohen-Palacios, founded Pixelles. This non-profit organization is dedicated to empowering more women to make games. Through its incubator program, Pixelles helps 10 women a year bring their game ideas to fruition. As Montreal’s premier game incubator, Pixelles has brought almost 100 projects to light in just six years, with more on the way.

Pixelles’ core mission is to “change games culture, including the perception of games as an art form and the game industry.” The program provides role models for aspiring developers as well as peer mentorship to help those already in the industry avoid burnout.

“It seems like women leave the industry faster than men,” she says. “We don’t have scientific evidence for that, but it seems correct. They put more pressure on themselves. We’re trying to help fix that leaky pipeline issue.”

According to Tanya, what differentiates Pixelles from a lot of similar programs is a focus on adult women who could already be making games. “They just haven’t done it yet. These tend to be women who are gamers, but they have never thought of making one themselves,” she says. Once women complete the incubator program, the hope is that their passion goes “viral”, and they inspire others to make games too.

Over the past few years, Tanya has spoken up about the rising influence of women in the gaming industry. Her goal, aside from making fun games, is to teach women that they don’t need to be code wizards to make amazing games. She sees indie games as true drivers of gaming innovation, and believes some of the best indie games are coming from people without technical backgrounds.

“If all the permutations a video game could take are ever figured out, then maybe indie games wouldn’t have as much to offer,” she says, “but it still feels like we’re in this Wild West where every few years an entirely new paradigm is discovered and changes everything,” she says. “That will never happen from a bigger game.”

She points out that the culture around programming can be intimidating. “The implication is that if your game doesn’t immediately make sense, you can’t develop,” she says, “However, when you start thinking of games as another art form, and approach development with the spirit of adventure, you are more likely to come away with something of which you are proud. The idea might evolve and no longer resemble your initial idea, but your creation might still be worthwhile.”

She compares game design to theater, which she sees as participatory. “We’ve actually been playing around with the idea of interactive art that fits in between the author and the reader for a long time. Games just bring that concept to the forefront,” she says. “Most of the people who are gaming are just not used to thinking about art forms in that way.”

Musing on the future of gaming, she believes indie games are pushing forward new paradigms of play and interaction. And, as it gets easier to develop great games using new and faster tools, we should all have the chance to design, develop and release new titles.

“I feel that everyone should try to make a game once,” she says. “High schools encourage kids to try and make a short film just to get a sense of what that art is like. It should be the same for games.” Isn’t it time you tried something new? Maybe, something a little cozier?

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