The Queenship Blog

Four Years In

Muse en Lystrala, 7 February 2023

Four years ago, a tiny team of women and femmes got together and decided that the game jam project they'd worked on together wouldn't be their last - and then, that it would be the first game the company they founded together published.

That game was our first shipped title, Open Spaces, the idea of which was conjured from the brilliant mind of Mohua Chakraborti who's worked with us on narrative and editing, and assisting the execution were myself - co-writing narrative, composing the soundtrack, and managing business and marketing - Tess Wainwright, also co-writing narrative - Christina Plummer, principal artist for the project - and Frederika Edgington-Giordano, masterminding the Ren'Py build and quality assurance testing for both the original game and its successor, Open Spaces SE. 

Since then, we've certainly weathered a lot. Like most indies, we endured a long dry run where funding was concerned; as the world stayed indoors for two long years, as we buried our dead, as we watched the pandemic wreak terrible trauma in the hearts and minds of those still living. But this time made us realize, also, how terribly important our mission still was. The pandemic not only took millions of lives and disabled hundreds of thousands of people, it contributed to mass trauma and millions of new diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders. 

Our lineup has changed a bit since then, though we all remain in touch in the spirit of both friendship and the can-do gumption that all indie developers bring to the table. We've since then welcomed artist David Smith, who assisted us in elevating Open Spaces to the SE version, alongside Mohua who contributed even more narrative and Frederika who as always ensured that our builds were playable and stable. Our mission now, as then, however, is the same; to destigmatize the conversation surrounding mental illness, to teach what we can about living with mental health conditions, and to encourage those struggling to hang in there because they're not alone and help is within reach. 

I cannot describe how grateful I am to everyone who has contributed their time and talents at Queenship, and while the pandemic certain meant a downturn for us as it did for many other devs, we're in it to win it, and we're going to keep making games to help living and future generations learn about managing mental illness, developing healthy relationships, and building strong communities in which they - and we - can thrive. 

With love,
Muse at Queenship 

Happy 2023!

Muse en Lystrala, 5 January 2023

 

Happy New Year, shipmates!

What a year 2022 was. We spent a lot of time doing client work in 2022, though we didn’t stop working on our own projects. However, 2023 should be the year you can expect the first peek into our in-production game, The Shadowcross. We are really excited for this one, not only because of its personal importance thematically to our team, but because it’s giving all of us a chance to really stretch and flex our game dev skills!
 

What’s New

To start with, we’re actively seeking a publisher for both digital storefronts and especially for console for Open Spaces SE. We have a shortlist of folks we’ll be sending the Open Spaces SE demo off to, but if you have recommendations, we’d love to hear them. You can email us at queenshipgamestudio@gmail.com, or message us on our socials!

We’re reintroducing weekly Twitch livestreams. The Queenship Sunday Lunch will air each Sunday at 11am EST, featuring non-combative and mostly wholesome and cozy games. We will occasionally dip our toes into darker or more mysterious content, but generally we’re aiming for feel-good vibes with our livestreams from here on out. If you’re all about hygge and Sunday brunch/lunch, this stream will definitely be for you.

We’ve jumped off the Twitter trainwreck for the foreseeable future (looking at you, Musk), but you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for socials updates. Our newsletter will be a little more irregular, but we’ll pop a message anytime we’ve got news to share with you!

We’re still working on Steam distro for Open Spaces SE, but plan to have it done by spring.

While we are super grateful to everyone who’s contributed to our Buy Me a Coffee, for the time being we will be discontinuing updates until we have more to show from The Shadowcross. In the meantime, you are still welcome to contribute to our work if you so desire!

From now on, our newsletters will also be featured in blog form on our main website.

Finally, while the GDLedu game development education programme we partnered with Game Dev London on got off to a great start last year, a reconfiguration of the programme is in order if it is to continue. We’ll send out a blast if the programme resumes!

We hope that 2023 is an amazing year for you, and we look forward to celebrating more wins with you as the year progresses.
 

Stay bright,
Muse at Queenship