Videogames often serve as a creative outlet for users. Whether it’s building castles in Minecraft, designing games in Roblox, or terraforming islands in Animal Crossing, players have the chance to transform a simple algorithm into a world of their making. But do the manufacturers of said games get the same opportunity? Strange Scaffold Game Studio Founder Xalavier Nelson Jr. and game designer Ashlyn Sparrow visited Colgate’s Vault on Sept. 4 to discuss navigating the video game industry. The evening began with Nelson and Sparrow interviewing each other on their respective experiences.
Despite their different backgrounds, the two artists faced many of the same challenges when emerging in the gaming industry. Nelson came from a working-class family and stepped into game design when he was just 12 years old by lying about his age. After that, he held a variety of roles in the field ranging from game journalism, to freelance designer, and eventually starting his own production company. Sparrow, on the other hand, grew up fascinated with Japanese role-playing games, feeling the need to learn the language in order to pursue her dream of becoming a game designer. When that didn’t work, she taught herself to code and began to apply at game companies.
“If I could go to a place where people at least have the language for this, they can articulate this, then if I run into trouble, I can at least maybe have a conversation,” Sparrow said.
Both creatives, Nelson and Sparrow were discouraged when executives attempted to label them as coders or game engineers, as opposed to designers. After applying for jobs and being undervalued time and again, the artists pivoted their efforts. Sparrow stepped into a teaching and research position at the University of Chicago where she was able to help the next generation create videogames that had a positive social impact on the world. With National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health funding, she produced games that were both entertaining and educational. Nelson, on the other hand, focused on educating himself. He taught himself the ins and outs of the video game corporate world, determined to find his own place in the industry.
“At first there was a lot of seeking validation, especially coming from a working-class background, being like: ‘Oh, if I prove I’m trustworthy for resources and opportunities, then I’ll be able to do it. ... I’ve just gotta do twice the work.’ And then, upon finding that that isn’t as true, a lot of that transitioned into: ‘Well, if I can’t see this space, I have to make it,’” Nelson recalled.
Now the founder of a game production company, Nelson makes a point to preserve his creative integrity by choosing not to license the enterprise, quoting that he did not want to be under the control of government restrictions. Sparrow is still conducting research on videogames for social change under contract.
“Realizing that the ground has been burned and that we are having to explicitly rebuild on every level a sense of trust and precision, that led me to saying: ‘Okay, at least for my own process, the things that I do, one of my hallmarks is going to be treating time and budget as an explicit creative constraint,” Nelson said. “It’s not rocket science. Anyone can do it. It’s a matter of: Does the culture and ecosystem support it, and do you actually want those results enough to back that up and start to build that discipline?”
Following the interviews, Nelson and Sparrow gave a demonstration of the videogame I Am Beast. Ultimately, both gamers exemplify the power of entrepreneurship and innovation within an evolving digital landscape. By challenging traditional industry labels and establishing their own platforms, they transformed barriers into opportunities for creative control and social impact. Their journeys demonstrate that true industry leadership relies not on conforming to existing norms, but on daring to build entirely new paths for the next generation of game designers.