Hello Ghosties,

Before we introduce you to our good friends Rocket Adrift, we have three quick announcements:

• Applications for our Cooperative Foundations program close tonight at 11:59 PST!

• Baby Ghosts and our co-ED eileen were recently featured in the Montreal Guardian.

• Studio Wtchcrft from our last cohort had two games featured in the Quebec Games Festival!

• A few of our grantees were featured in Next Fest. You can still play demos for:

  • Love in the Time of Spellphage (queer pandemic narrative adventure)

  • Motivi Galaxy (idle daily task tracker with cute creatures)

  • Duppy Detective Tashia (point & click mystery adventure based on Caribbean folklore)

Below, is an interview with one of Baby Ghosts’ first ever grantees. And the creators of several very cool games — Rocket Adrift!

In your own words, who is Rocket Adrift?

Lindsay: Rocket Adrift Games is three developers and creators made up of myself, Sloane Smith, and Titus McNally. We are a Toronto-based studio working on small, independently funded games that highlight unique, personal experiences.

Sloane: I feel like we're an art-led studio partially because we met in art school, as well as our belief that games are art. So we approach our games with that mentality.

Titus: Rocket Adrift Games is three friends screaming into the void, trying to make art in a world that values that less and less days, because we have found something that gives us joy, gives us purpose, and in a small way keeps us sane.

You’ve been in the Baby Ghosts/Gamma Space community now for a long time. What keeps bringing you back here?

Lindsay: The sense of community, and the promise of creating a fair and equitable workspace that allows artists and game developers the opportunity to exchange ideas and help each other out. In an industry that has historically been gate-kept and anti-developer, the Gamma Space and Baby Ghosts community approach is a stark contrast to those practices, and is sorely needed.

Sloane: The sense of community! It can be very isolating being a indie dev but Gamma Space helps us feel like we're not on our own out here. As for the Baby Ghosts program, I feel like it's so important for marginalized developers to lift each other up, share knowledge, and just be there for each other.

Titus: Gamma Space and Baby Ghosts care about making the indie game development landscape a safer place for a company like us, that cares about changing the asymmetrical imbalance of power that large corporations increasingly have in our spaces, and are trying to tip things in favour of the people who actually make games.

What do you think we (all of us involved in game making) do to make the video game industry better?

Lindsay: Centre marginalized voices in all aspects of game-making; approach problems with creativity, curiosity and resourcefulness; and prioritize humans over machine-learning.

Sloane: Honestly just survive. It's a really hard time in the games industry right now and I'm a big believer in just existing as a marginalized person in this world is a form of resistance, and the same goes for marginalized game devs. There's obviously more we could do but I think just the fact that people are making games that are thought-provoking and making them in a way that eschews the harmful approach the industry has taken in the past, is huge.

Titus: We do what we can. Let's be honest, it's not a fair fight. Specifically I think Baby/Weird Ghosts and Gamma Space are pushing collectivist ideas of management and studio ownership. That is so important to us.

Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on right now?

Lindsay: Yes! We're currently working on an unannounced survival horror game with themes around feminine rage and political issues that we think are prescient.

Sloane: NO! It's top secret! Just joking lol. We're making another narrative driven horror game, similar to our previous game Psychroma, only this time we're working in 3D and are more influenced by classic survival horror games and Metal Gear Solid 2.

Titus: We tried making a small game, a less ambitious one last time... I'm not saying that was a bad idea. We were pretty burnt out from Psychroma, we needed something a little more manageable. But this time... This time we are going big. Let's just say our next game is ambitious.

Want to support Rocket Adrift? You can get their games on steam! Want to support the work we do? Consider donating.

- eileen & Jennie