Sasha Boersma has taught for almost 12 years at Centennial within our Children’s Media, Interactive Media Management, and Film and Television – Business programs. While she continues to share her immense knowledge and experience with students, Sasha allocates her time along with her role as Co-Founder and Producer at her company, Sticky Brain Studios.
Sasha and her business partner Ted Brunt initially thought about starting a production studio for several years. With a great deal of management and leadership experience shared among the two, they wanted to put that to work in a company they built. Sasha shares that they both wanted to make games with great people, which was the underlying push to create Sticky Brain Studios, which launched in 2013.
When asked what Sticky Brain Studios does, Sasha explains that they are a family-friendly video game company, which means they make games for all ages. They have worked with broadcasters, not-for-profits, and television producers and have created educational products for government agencies.
They have also begun creating original content. Sasha shares, “When we started Sticky Brain, we always wanted to make our own games, but you have to find the right people to do that, and you have to make sure you raise enough money to do that, so it took us a few years, but for the last five years or so we've been slowly developing our own games.”
In November 2019, Sticky Brain Studios created their first game called Kimono, where players can personalize a kokeshi doll with a self-designed kimono. “In the game, you can pick your season because in the art of kimono there are different colour palates and patterns that are associated with different seasons and festivals. Then you can pick your kokeshi doll’s style and personality and design them for the season,” Sasha explains. “It has a beautiful soundtrack, and it is just a lovely, calm, beautiful game to just disappear into.” Kimono is available to purchase via the App Store and Google Play Store.
Sasha also says another game by Sticky Brain Studios will release by the end of the year or early 2023 that will be available to download. It is a puzzle game where a player is an amoeba that merges with other amoebae to evolve and solve puzzles. Sasha says that every time they have user-tested the game, the response is very positive, with comments such as, “this is totally a game for my mom or aunties.” In fact, Sasha says that her own mother has been involved in the user testing because it is very much a game she likes to play!
A more recent game that Sasha says she is really excited about is called Rooster. It was made possible with the support of the Canada Media Fund and prototype support from Ontario Creates. This will be the first platform game for the gaming platform Steam, but Sasha says she is hopeful that other platforms will join in as well.
Chinese narratives, stories, art forms, and more inspire the game. “The premise of it is that the 12 Chinese zodiac animals are having a party and the rooster is a complete jerk, so the other animals decide to send Rooster back in time with the intent that Rooster learns grace, humility, and to be a better rooster. I guess you can say each level of the game is hosted by a different animal of the zodiac and emphasizes the cultural elements of that zodiac character in its relation to Chinese culture,” she shares.
Sasha explains that her team at Sticky Brain Studios is diverse, which she is really proud of. With ranging in age from 25 to 55, she says that her team comes from all different cultures and across different continents, while there is also a range of religions, backgrounds, languages, and disabilities. Diversity is also something Sasha points out, her team has gender and 2SLGBTQ+ diversity. “I’m enjoying leading a team in a way that I wouldn’t have expected because everyone we have working with us is super smart and talented,” she adds. “This diversity, especially cultural diversity, is why we can make products like Kimono and Rooster… and we are excited and happy with the team we’ve brought together.”
Looking back on Sasha’s career, her original training is in film and television. And although she liked this industry, she realized she was more drawn to video games. “In video games, you can do something different every time, and you can take genres and flip them on their heads and give the user a chance to explore a story in a way that you can't in traditional film and television narratives, and I like that. I like that intersection between creativity and technology, and I like pushing boundaries on the genre,” she says.
Reflecting on current and upcoming trends or themes within this industry, she says that the definition of a video game is expanding. “It has always been broad, but in recent years, it has gotten quite narrow in many people's minds. Video games are all kinds of things; you have interactive films using video game technology, everyone's talking about the metaverse and web3, and that's an intersection too with a lot of video game technologies.”
She adds, “I think the most important trend or theme in the video game space is thinking specifically about your audience and really going into what many sectors like interactive media management or product design really focus on – what is the problem you are trying to solve, and who are you trying to solve it for. I think in video games, a lot of people go, I'm going to make the game that I want to make and then I’m going to figure out who it's for.”
Earlier on in the pandemic, Sticky Brain Studios participated in Canada’s first-ever feminist business accelerator for digital companies called Fifth Wave. “This was really great because it helped give me the confidence to validate that the things I want to do with Sticky Brain are valid and that we can make money and lead with our values. That was very exciting for me to learn,” she says.
In addition to work at Centennial and Sticky Brain Studios, Sasha is involved with the brand-new Disability Screen Office (DSO) that was announced in April 2022. “I’ve been really happy to be able to be part of advising for multiple reasons. One is because I see how hard it can be for students with disabilities to land an industry due to industry bias, lack of opportunities, fear of lack of support, and lacking confidence.”
She continues, “People lead Sticky Brain Studios with disabilities; we have people with disabilities on our team. That creates different challenges that sometimes partners must be better informed on how to deal with.”
Reflecting on her time teaching at Centennial, which has more recently been reduced down to teaching a course in the Film and Television – Business program and a course in the Interactive Media Management program because of all of the exciting things she has going on with her and her company, Sasha emphasizes the attention to inclusion that Centennial implements.
Sasha shares, “I love the efforts made at Centennial, especially the Story Arts Centre (SAC), to support students from all identities and walks of life. For many 2SLGBTQ+ students being at the SAC is the first time they feel comfortable being ‘out.’ I’m now trying to nurture that same feeling for students with disabilities.
She continues, “So many of our students are registered with accommodations but feel ashamed about them because disabilities are still very much othered as something wrong with you or that you’re incapable. Because I feel comfortable being ‘out’ with my disabilities, I explain to students at the start of a course how that changes some of my mannerisms and then we roll from there; it means I can help support the next generation of people with disabilities as they enter the cultural industries.
Reminder to any current student with disabilities reading this though – if you aren’t already registered with CALCS, get on it! You may feel ok now, but having that paperwork handy and in the hands of your profs when things get overwhelming is so important!”
In addition to the courses Sasha teaches on campus, she will also teach in a new micro-credential, Film and Television Production Accounting Basic Skills, that launches in the new year.
Having instructors who are current professionals in their industry is what makes each program at the School of Communications, Media, Arts and Design unique and extremely beneficial to students, and having Sasha’s expertise on our campus for almost 12 years is a testament to her dedication to the industry and seeing students succeed.
Article by: Alexandra Few
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