Ghost Garden Games: Women-Led Independent Developer Studio Shares Their Experience at Xbox Game Studios Game Camp New Orleans

A group of young studio founders joined the Xbox Game Studios Game Camp, New Orleans in 2002. There they were given the resources and mentorship needed to make their dreams a reality.

Ghost Garden GamesStudio Baton Rouge is a new, female-led and gender-inclusive studio. When a few high school buddies discovered an interest in telling interactive stories through narratives, the team was formed.

“The original folks involved were Asher, Leslie, Claire and me,” said Kathryn Nastasi, producer and technical artist of Ghost Garden Games. “Claire was a teacher that was mentoring us in high school, and we remember meeting in her classroom every day and discussing the idea of Echo,This is Hue, the ball-of light companion of this soundwave. Over the course of a few years, we really developed this idea into a wonderful story and that was the project we ended up bringing to the first Game Camp.”

Game Camp was established with the aim of providing access to industry professionals, subject matter experts and tools for aspiring game designers from historically marginalized communities. Through a combination of live instruction and self-paced learning, the program provided mentorship that helped students learn foundational skills in programming and game creation engines.

While at the camp, the “Ghosts” realized that they needed to step back and build a strong foundation for their studio before developing Echo. The program was a great opportunity to explore their passions and define their organizational structure.

Participants were assigned mentors at Xbox Game Studios, and had the chance to share their ideas with industry leaders like Ken Lobb and Shannon Loftis. Erin Ali was a Game Camp mentor, and Turn 10 Studios lead producer. The Ghosts were supported throughout the program. They have continued to meet with her six weeks after camp. 

“I had been thinking about opportunities to work with groups and support the next generation of industry developers when I saw an article on our company intranet about Game Camp launching in New Orleans. I remember how hard it was both breaking into the industry and understanding what development was like,” said Ali. “I’ve always enjoyed seeing others achieve and mentorship has been a meaningful avenue for me to express that joy in the industry. I hope Ghost Garden Games has enjoyed their experiences with me as much as I have learned from them.”

Ghost Garden Games was officially established as an LLC in December 2020. “We left the first Game Camp feeling really confident about going out and making our studio dreams a reality,” said Nastasi. They have grown to nine people since then and now have their own space in a tech park.

According to Nastasi however, they quickly realized that even though Echo was fueled by passion, it “was a little overambitious for [their] current skillsets and goals.” Consequently, the Ghosts sat down in their Baton Rouge studio space and began to evaluate their next steps.

 “We got inspired from something we noticed that Supergiant Games did with their latest release, Hades.  The systems they used varied from the games..Bastion, Transistor, And Pyre… and perfected them for Hades,” said Nastassi.

This strategy was implemented by the team in their workplace. They have since shifted their emphasis from EchoTo Headspace. HeadspaceThis is a point-and click, narrative couch-co-op game. This is the objective HeadspaceTo solve a mystery within the human body, we will explore the left brain perspective. It is possible to have two players collaborate on solving the same mystery. The design and prototyping phases of the studio are currently underway. HeadspaceIn the hopes of receiving feedback from Xbox Game Studios mentors, I will take it with me to Game Camp New Orleans 2022.

“Ultimately, we decided to enroll in Game Camp 2022 because we are so much more organized as a studio now. We have such a greater idea of what we are doing, and we’d love to walk in and learn and focus on some of the areas we did not get to focus on the first time,” said Nastasi. “For those interested in developing games, this is the best opportunity to receive one-on-one guidance from professionals in the gaming industry.”

Xbox Game Studios Game Camp information can be found here: xbox.com/gamecamp Xbox Wire will keep you updated on the latest Xbox Game Studios news.