Spring 2023 promises to be a great time of personal and professional growth!

Background on why the following news is so important to me:

Like many other artists, I started drawing, painting, and writing as a kid.

I was also diagnosed with migraines as a kid. More recently, in 2018, I was also diagnosed with both bilateral hand arthritis and early-stage glaucoma.

Ironically, working long hours as a VRC without adequate accommodations became unsustainable, and I left the field in December 2018. For a while, I stopped creating art at all, due to both pain and fear of making the latter two conditions worse.

In June 2020, I started designing my first video game with accessibility in mind. I personally can’t enjoy media with flashing lights (a known migraine trigger), and time-sensitive games can be impossible with hand arthritis, so these were the starting points for determining my design process. Thanks to in person game demos, I have been able to incorporate feedback into making gameplay more intuitive. I have received a lot of support in this project, and I still have a long way to go before I’m ready to release the game.

The News

Yesterday I found out I was selected to attend an upcoming AbleGamers’ Accessible Player Experiences (APX) Certified Practitioner Training session for free through the Developers Promoting Accessibility & Diversity (DPAD) Initiative. I am grateful for this opportunity and look forward to learning how to better apply knowledge and skills from my previous experience as a VRC/CDMS within the gaming industry.

Learn more about AbleGamers’ work and how you can support this amazing organization at https://ablegamers.org/.

As always, thank you for your support as No, Mine! Studios grows in scope and capacity! I couldn’t have gotten to this point without an amazing community of artists and friends!

Suzanne