It’s 2025 and there is a lot to be worried about——locally in Canada, in the U.S., and globally.
Over here, we’ve been grounding ourselves by revisiting our individual and collective goals and values. This includes reminding ourselves that we have to share the labour as we work towards change.
We can’t create change alone and our responsibilities for the future are shared, not individual. Small, intentional changes matter, even when they seem like not enough.
To help remind ourselves of these goals, we’re opening the new year by checking in with Joel & Hang, one of the studios from our third cohort of the Baby Ghosts Peer Accelerator. Joel Jordan from the team is the creator of the ‘wholesome’ anti-capitalist real time resource management game Time Bandit — Part 1.
In your own words, who are Joel & Hang (as a studio)?
We are a game studio making experimental, political games for social impact.
What’s your biggest takeaway from the Baby Ghosts program?
Building communities of all kinds, and learning how to pitch what value we offer to them, is so important!
What’s unique about the way you make games (and work together)?
We are exploring approaches to game-making that demonstrate transparent communication and work processes.
That goes for both the games themselves, where transparency is important because they deal with real social contexts, and how we make them, which involves building a co-op that is organized around non-exploitative working relationships.
What do you think we (all of us involved in game-making) do to make the video game industry better?
We work to create alternatives to the use of wage labour. Co-ops explore a different studio structure that involves shared values and equal involvement in decision-making, pay, and credit.
Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on right now?
We are making good progress on part 2 of Time Bandit and our still-untitled documentary game about mountain climbing. We hope to have much more to show from both projects later this year—along with more details on the development of our studio!
Thanks for reading and joining us on this journey.
Until next time,
— eileen & Jennie 👻