Throughout June we’ve been celebrating Pride Month! 

Pride is an annual celebration of LGBTQ+ communities around the world and takes place in June, the same month as the Stonewall Riots, an event that changed the face of gay rights in the US and other countries. 

Pride means different things to different people but celebrates people being proud of who they are. It offers the chance to come together to reflect on how far LGBTQ+ rights have come, but to also highlight the change that still needs to happen. Pride also provides a chance to promote education on LGBTQ+ history and helps to raise awareness of the issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community.

This Pride month we took the opportunity to speak to some of our Payloaders to learn about what Pride means to them, and how they celebrate. We wanted to highlight what Pride means to our team and learn about why it’s important to our Payloaders.

A big thank-you to our Payloaders who contributed to this blog post including Alana (she/her) – Studio Administrator, Cassie (any pronouns) – Community Manager, Pip (they/them) – QA Tester, and Piers (he/him) – Concept Artist. 

Meaning of Pride

The significance of pride is more than simply rainbow flags on social media or social events. It’s also an important reminder of the changes that are still needed, as Piers explains “Pride is important to me because it symbolises the ongoing fight for LGBT+ rights and the importance of remembering those who paved the way for us.”

Pip adds, “Pride means freedom from Section 28, from new Anti-Trans legislation/rhetoric, it’s the ability to be one’s self authentically and effortlessly. The quote “No one is free until we are all free” rings true more and more everyday.”

For Alana it also holds an important significance and offers the freedom for the Queer community to authentically be themselves “It [Pride] stands as the opposite of shame in a society that has told LGBTQIA+ individuals to be embarrassed of who they are… it’s a vital reminder that we are worthy of acceptance, regardless of societal pressures. It is a constant assertion that we exist and that our suffering will not erase us.”

Challenges facing the Queer community

Although Pride offers an opportunity for celebration and acts as an acknowledgement of how far LGBQT+ rights have come, it’s also a reminder of the challenges and discrimination that the Queer community continues to face. 

Alana shared that “Celebrating pride honours those who fought for our rights, like during the Stonewall Riots, and those who continue to fight, striving for equal justice, rights, and respect for the queer community. Pride is significant because, while many suffer in silence and ignorance, it allows us the luxury and chance to live our lives authentically.”

The struggle for equal rights is far from over, as Piers highlights  “Being LGBT+ is still criminalised in 70 countries and punishable by death in 12. When we celebrate Pride, it’s not just a party; it’s a protest to show people around the world that we always have and will continue to exist, and we deserve the right to love freely.”

For Pip, their personal experience motivates them to do what they can to ensure that future generations have a better experience than they did, “Seeing some of the similar legislation I had experienced growing up and knowing how taxing it was on a personal level, wanting to try to mitigate this for future generations feels like such a given being apart of the LGBTQIA+ community – no one should have to hide or suffer for who they inherently are.”

Pride Celebrations!

Although it’s important to acknowledge the barriers and prejudice that still exist for the Queer community, Pride is also a time of celebration! 

Our Payloaders celebrate the month in a variety of ways. Pip shared that they partake in a variety of activities, “I tend to go to Pride protests (parades) to celebrate freedom [from Section 28], I tend to watch my favourite LGBTQIA+ films and tv during this month as well!… I play Baldur’s Gate 3 with my housemates or make Pride centric playlists and lastly I attend LGBTQIA+ sober socials a lot more during the summer months as well!”

Piers also celebrates in a variety of ways,  “I celebrate Pride by attending marches, donating to LGBT+ charities and reading up on Queer historic figures.”

This year Alana also has a variety of plans, “I will attend the Pride March in London as well as various Pride activities held in June, including a few pride picnics & parties”

Further Reading and Watching

Pride can be a great opportunity for everyone to learn more about the history and experience of the Queer community and celebrate LGBTQ+ focused stories. 

Alana recommends this video which offers a concise explanation of the Stonewall riots and the impact they had on the face of civil rights across the USA and beyond. 

Piers recommends listening It’s Okay To Cry by the late SOPHIE and shared  “She was a trans Musician and Producer for some of Music’s biggest names (Madonna, Charli XCX, Lady Gaga and Vince Staples to name a few) and has had a huge impact on the music production world and my life as an artist.”

Pip recommends:

• Video Games: Horizon Forbidden West, The Last of Us
• Movies: Call Me by Your Name, All of Us Strangers, Uncle Frank, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Love Lies Bleeding
• TV series: Ratched, Orange if the New Black, It’s a Sin, The Last of Us, Feel Good, Pose, Sense 8
• Books: Straightjacket by Matthew Todd
  
  

Book recommendations from Cassie:

• In Memoriam by Alice Wynn
• XOXY: A Memoir by Kimberley M. Zieselman
• Our Wives Under the Sea

You can read more from Cassie’s detailed and entertaining book reviews here.

Pride at Payload

Throughout the month of June we have been organising various Pride related events including Pride themed cupcake decorating, a charity bake sale, a visit to a Queer focused museum, and of course putting together this blog post. 

However, we understand that there should be a focus on LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion throughout the year, and not just in June!  We strive to provide an inclusive and supportive workplace for all our Payloaders but appreciate that this is a constant journey of improvement and are always looking at what more we can do. 

A huge thanks to our Payloaders who contributed to this post. Happy Pride month to everyone!

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TerraTech Worlds, our upcoming game, was part of Next Fest! It was fantastic to see the positive feedback from players and we can’t wait to share more of the game soon. If you’re interested in learning more check out the TerraTech Worlds website. The team celebrated a successful Next Fest with some themed cake! 

We also celebrated TerraTech’s 9th birthday! Players continue to be excited about new updates including February’s launch of a brand new Corporation – Space Junkers! Find out more about the update here. 

On the social side of things… We celebrated International Lego Day by creating some mini builds. We loved seeing what our Payloaders created and there was even a prize for the most popular build. 

We also enjoyed pancakes for Pancake Day and our team enjoyed a Lunar New Year calligraphy workshop arranged by the Tentacle Zone team. In the workshop our Payloaders got to try their hand at some calligraphy, creating ‘Fai Chun’ (or Chun Lian) decorations to celebrate the new year.

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End-of-year festivities included:

 Enjoying a festive lunch and team party

Getting to know our fellow Payloaders with the annual Payload quiz

Raising money for Save The Children with a Christmas Jumper Day bake sale and supporting a local homeless shelter by encouraging our Payloaders to donate clothes and toiletries

Organised an optional Secret Santa

We also kicked off the festive season by inviting our Payloaders to help decorate our Christmas tree and enjoy some minced pies and festive drinks. John, from our Programming team, made some eggnog to share with the Payload team. It was an enjoyable way to start the festive season! 

We also shut the studio between Christmas and New Year to give everyone a well deserved break. We appreciate that enjoying time off is important and hope everyone enjoyed a lovely festive season.

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We were highly commended for the Games Award at the Barclays Entrepreneur Awards Ceremony. It was fantastic to see the studio and our amazing team recognised at the awards and a big congratulations to all the other finalists and winners! 

We were also excited to be finalists in two categories for the 2023 TIGA awards. The studio was nominated in the Commitment to Workplace Wellbeing category. We are proud to have taken steps to support our team’s mental health and wellbeing and while we recognise there is always more that should be done, it’s also great to see the work we have done recognised.

But that wasn’t all for the TIGA awards! Our CEO and co-founder, Russ Clarke was also a finalist for the Outstanding Leadership Award.

The post Award Nominations appeared first on Payload Studios.

The session was chaired by Khally, Payload’s Director of People and Culture, alongside Dom from the Ukie team. It was a great session with lots of informative discussion. Topics included wellbeing support and benefits which attendees have found useful, how different companies support their teams, how to promote conversations around mental health in the workplace, and the impact of menopause and the need for knowledge and policy in this area. 

We hope that everyone who attended found it a useful and enjoyable session.

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We recently hosted an event organised by the Do I Look Like a Gamer? Representation Campaign. Attendees were able to come to our studio in London, or watch online via livestream. 

We had a packed house for the ‘Games Industry Explained’ panel which provided attendees with an insight into the process of making games, as well as highlighting some of the different roles available across the industry.

The event was organised by Nigel and the Do I Look Like a Gamer? team as part of their 2023 event series. The panel featured speakers from a variety of studios. We were excited to have Sammi, Payload’s Lead QA, join the panel. She was joined on the panel by Janie Dnag (3D Animator, Draw and Code), Alessandra Cesarini (Localisation Manager, Uplift Games), and Tatiana Dioniseva (Account Coordinator, Sony Interactive Entertainment).

We hope that everyone who came along enjoyed the event!

If you’d like to find out more about the campaign and any future events you can visit their website here.

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Those attending enjoyed some sunny (but quite breezy) in Brighton and had a great time catch-up with industry friends and attending conference sessions. 

We were also delighted to see Payload nominated for Talent Development Star at the Develop: Star Awards. This recognises an in-house team that has shown outstanding policies and initiatives, and produced impressive results in successfully recruiting, retaining and developing talent within their team. 

We were thrilled to be nominated alongside some other great studios. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners. 

But there’s more! Some of our Paylaoders made the finalist list for the Game Dev Heroes awards, which also take place during Develop. The awards celebrate some of the people behind the scenes of the games industry. We were delighted to see some of the team recognised, including Kris for Design, Sammi for QA and Khally for the Progression Advocate category.  Congratulations to the finalists and the winners!

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TERRATECH WORLDS ANNOUNCED!

TerraTech Worlds is an open-world, PVE survival craft game set on distant alien planets. Build, explore and craft—solo or together—to harness the power of these uncharted worlds. Discover untold wonders, conquer natural hazards, establish bases and battle enemies as you build your way to victory!

We’ve got lots more planned to share with you over the coming months but for now, if you want to know more, check out TerraTech Worlds on Steam here.

To celebrate the announcement of TerraTech Worlds we held an Announcement Party for the team. We enjoyed celebrating together on a sunny evening featuring a food stall making fresh tacos, TerraTech themed drinks and delicious homemade cake. It was a great way to celebrate the announcement and thank our team for all their hard work!

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We love providing our Paylaoders with opportunities to socialise and celebrate together and we recently organised some fun events. 

In May we held our very first Festival of Food! Everything available was made, or suggested by, Payloaders and we were really impressed with the variety on show. 

The range of tasty treats included:

Char Siu Sou (Chinese honey roast pork pastry)

Boiled Peanuts (made with Hawaiian red salt and spices)

Lamingtons (Australian sponge cake), ANZAC Biscuits and Vegemite on Toast

Ube Puto (Filipino steamed rice cake) and Ube Pandesal with Ube Halaya (Filipino bread rolls with a jam like filling)

Fruitcake made with Northumbrian Mead (from Lindisfarne on Holy Island)

Home Brewed Pale Ale

Lithuanian Kvass (non-alcoholic drink)

And lots more!

A huge thanks to everyone who made/baked a dish or bought something along. It was a great chance to try some tasty treats and learn about food and drink from around the world.

In our most recent social we tried something a bit different – roller skating! A few of our team had fun learning how to roller skate, or in some cases honing their skating skills, as well as socialising with fellow Payloaders.

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