Last month, I covered the work of music and sound designer Marc Straight and how he’s composing an accessible soundtrack. The feedback to that piece brought up an idea on continuing to find more developers who directly support and live with the cause that AbleGamers strives for.
(Image Source: Silverware Games)
I’d like to introduce you to Say Mistage. Her name is pronounced more like Sai or S-Eye than you might be reading it as. Say is a bilingual artist, publisher, and marketing extraordinaire who’s pushing the adorable MatchyGotchy games universe from Silverware Games. Say is also in pain.
Say suffers from a chronic condition called occipital neuralgia, which means pain in her nervous system, notably from her head. She tragically received this condition due to being a victim of violence in 2007. Say had survived her injuries, but in the healing process, her condition came to be. She notes that the condition can be difficult to treat, utilizing medication, icing, and just having to step away from whatever she’s doing to try to relax. On the worst days, she’s been unable to use her arms or legs. Despite this, though, Say works incredibly hard at trying to bring a smile to the faces of those around her.
After many years working as a “typical suit”, or corporate businesswoman, Say got into working on games back in 2002 with a King’s Quest-like fan game honing her digital artist skills. She widened her games industry experience into community management efforts and publishing work, though still did some corporate consulting and translation work alongside. After her incident, though, she has had to slow down on how much she’s worked. No longer being able to keep up with that all too familiar games lifestyle of working 12 hours a day, she’s had to take more regular breaks and time to care for herself.
According to Say, that’s okay! She’s picked up an appreciation for assessing what matters. She admits that she used to be less empathetic, but her experience has strengthened her ability to relate to those close to her. Through battling her bouts of pain, she’s learned to focus on what’s important. Her love of the indie games scene and its fans are definitely important to her, because she’s still helping create a cute, happy universe that anyone can enjoy. Say’s goals with the Matchyverse is to produce some good, wholesome fun, reaching those who may need a distraction from their own pains, or just looking for good casual gaming experiences. Also, her doodling is great!
(Image Source: Say Mistage on Twitter)
To close, I asked Say if she had any recommendations to offer based on her experiences. She says that sometimes you will feel like crap, you feel like you can’t handle it anymore, and that you just want to magically fix whatever you’re dealing with, but that it’s okay to just weather the storm. She recommends patience, being mindful, and taking the little steps towards relief and success. I feel that’s an appropriate recommendation for anything we do.
You can find Say saying h e n l o ～☆ to frands on Twitter @sayomgwtf, her portfolio online, her current games projects on Steam, and she welcomes people to come join the Silverware Games Discord to connect with the team and its fans. Thank you for reading and don’t be a stranger!
Kevin is a games & tech industry marketing nerd with an affinity for duct tape and playing an orc in every game he can. You absolutely should @ him on Twitter @norumu.