Beta 2 Game Dev Saga - Processes and challenges of a Brazilian Game Development Studio
Part 4) #girlswhocode
“Overthinking and too much care is also sexism,” says Vanessa Telles, our developer.
The game industry, I believe, is the youngest segment of a larger industry, the entertainment one, and it is growing and evolving fast.
Really fast. To the point we have already surpassed Hollywood in annual income.
And one of the secrets of this evolution is its popularity among people.
Believe it or not (Mr. Irony here), women also like getting swords and chopping limbs off, or build their own historical empire, or just save the princes.
They also make part of this party we call gamers, and eventually, some of them found their career in the game industry as well.
And here we are with Vanessa:
“I think, like, as all of you, maybe except The Boss, I had no idea I would end up working in the game industry.
“Even coding was a surprise for me.
“I mean, I did Automation Engineering, and things were happening.
“There were times people needed someone to code something and I said, ‘lemme try’, and I went with the flow.”
I tried myself to learn coding and think it is pretty hard. It’s just not for me, so I asked her how her first experience was.
“Oh, it was in college, but, actually, I can say it was on Neopets, that browser game, you know? That tamagoshi-like game.”
She wrote an article about it here
“You could customize your profile, change colors… I really liked it when I was younger and I did everything, and it was on HTML, or CSS lol.”
Perhaps we can say it was her destiny to end up working in the game industry(?).
About that, I went on with how she started working at Beta 2 Games.
“I was in a leap period after I got my master’s degree.
“Many years without going on vacation, or even taking a day off. I was utterly exhausted.
“I got some job offers, but I was burned out.
“That’s when Alex told me Beta 2 was looking for a developer. He was ‘catechizing’ me lol.”
Alex was one of our artists.
“After I was done with editing my master’s thesis, I spent a week literally staring at my ceiling. And I felt a complete useless.
“All I wanted was doing nothing, and when I finally got it, you know, things were weird.
“So, I talked to The Boss, and he put me on our discord channel.
“I told him I would just go on trial mode, you know.
“I don’t like to agree on something I have no idea how it works, if the environment is good, people are nice…
“And here I am, like, one year later?”
I saw the opportunity to ask her what her thoughts about the team, first impressions, and how things are right now.
“To be honest, at first, it was a bit weird.
“Whenever I joined a call, it seemed to me that you guys would change the subject, and your tone of voice.
“But I was not offended at all, just to be clear.
“It’s part of the structural sexism, and I know all of you didn’t do anything on purpose, it’s just internalized deep inside all of you guys.
“Overthinking and too much care is also sexism.”
That thunderstruck me and I think I fell silent for a bit.
“But it didn’t take long for all of this to end. I think we clicked very fast as a team. We got to know each other better and you got used to my sense of humor.”
Vanessa also mentors our junior developer and our intern. Both men. So I asked her how it was, and how she felt with it.
“They’re not the first developers I get to mentor. I have worked managing a team before, and those two are the listener types.
“They want to absorb, understand. They really listen. Sometimes they don’t ask questions because they think it’ll bug me somehow."
Here's a picture of the Mythos project where they have been working for quite a while right now.
“And, sometimes, I even have to tell them I’m not demanding anything. They’re not there to have good grades. They are with me to learn.
“With time, we change that relationship status from mentor and mentees to friends.”
They are currently working on two projects: the Lovecraftian cosmic horror adventure we internally call just “Mythos” and “On the Fly”, that is when Desert Strike meets a city builder, but in a comedy show.
“I like to make the environment as light as possible.
“I love, and encourage everyone, to create silly codenames for features, for example.
“I know we have deadlines, it’s work, and it’s a serious job.
“But coding itself can be rather frustrating. You will fail a thousand times before you get it right.
That’s the uttermost true. I tried once to learn coding and it didn’t go very well. I guess it’s just not for me.
I asked her about the relationship with other workmates and The Boss.
“First of all, I think we have a great team.
“No one is uncompromising, everybody likes to speak, and everybody listens here. I think this is way important for a great work environment.
“So, I can say we all get along pretty well. There’s always dialogue.”
I joked with the exception when The Boss tells me to cut something I created, or rewrite some part, because they needed to change it for any specific reason.
“Yeah, when it comes to this, even so, there’s still dialogue. Of course, The Boss’s word is always final.
“But there’s always a dialogue before. I try to explain why I think changing something is (or not) good/bad. Sometimes we can even negotiate, like, ‘okay, I change it here, but, please, let’s try to keep that as it is,’ you know.”
I always tell the new guys, especially interns to enjoy their time at Beta 2 Games, because that is not the common rule.
We talked about dreams too, and this is what she told me:
“I dream about a game 100% made by girls.
“I love those games that were kinda created for the feminine audience, like, The Sims.
“I remember playing those games where you have dress up the girl, put make up and all. Really loved that silly stuff.
“But I would like to be doing an all-girl game.
“I used to work in an I.T. place with girls. Yet they were all on administrative rolls, and I was the only one coding.
“I’m trying to preach the seed of coding on every woman I know and the ones I will ever meet.
“Hope the harvest will be abundant, lol.”
What are your thoughts on sexism on the workplace? Have you ever experienced it, or saw it happening. Tell us about it.