Ok so I guess I’ll do this year in review thing after all. 2015 has been an interesting year for me, in both good and bad ways. I’m terrible at order (which explains a lot of things in my life) so here’s highlights and a couple lows from this dwindling year.

The year started off  with some gaming for good, where I was lucky and honored to be part of the first #Spawn4Good event which benefitted Eric Garner’s family. There’s a great write up on it in Reality Check; Seeking Racial Justice in Real Life and Games. This was put together by my #Brookago bros Kahlief Adams and Cicero Holmes of the Spawn On Me Podcast.

Winter as kind of light in terms of things going on, but they picked up in spring with me being published in Offworld for the first time in March; “In Fantasy Worlds, Historical Accuracy is a Lie”

Another thing I did was paneling at C2E2 for the first time in April, on not one but two panels. One about being a Black Nerd Girl and always being here (put together by the amazing @ANerdCalledRage!)

(image from: http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2015/04/27/c2e2-2015-an-overview-in-photos-part-i/)

I was on another panel on when Trolling goes too far, moderated and put together by Mikki Kendall.

I also took some time off, ie an actual vacation in April where I got to hang out with NK Jemisin and meet Gil Almogi for the first time <3 (he’s a sweetheart, go follow him on social media).

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It was pretty cool and I got to see an actual castle!! Ok so not so secret thing, I’m a huge nerd that likes history especially when I can go to places and touch things. 😛

Things were quiet for the next couple of months, with breaks for Wiscon 39, a lot of paneling there and being on ConCom. Then in June, Fresh Out of Tokens podcast was launched with David L Reeves as Producer and me as Editor in Chief.  We’ve had some great guests and already have our January guest roster lined up. We also launched our first listener survey which you can take so we can get feedback and improve for 2016.

I was also asked to join Javier Payano and Matt Lancaster as part of the Chromatic Life Podcast, which lives at the Geeked.fm network. It’s fun and we get to talk about so many different things from our perspectives. We’ve taken a little break but will be back in the new year.

Work was a shit show, and one of the lows for me, which anyone following recently has seen. But October was a total highlight if not omgwtfff busy. I made it to GeekGirlCon and got to panel with some of my favorite people on diversity and superheroes, Twitch Streaming, and I got to meet Zoe Quinn who is awesome, super smart and funny as hell. I got to meet a lot of other cool people at GeekGirlCon as well.

Then, because of #INeedDiverseGames and Fresh Out of Tokens, I was able to go to IndieCade thanks to a grant from Intel, along with David. We had a great time, met a lot of people and got to show off what we do. Also got to meet Jillian of FemHype finally!

Third thing I did in between GeekGirlCon and IndieCade was be part of a new convention in town, ValorCon. It’s a new and growing convention and I’m excited about where it can go in 2016.

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One of the best things that came from October, is that we are now part of the GDC Scholarship program! We’ve got 25 All Access passes to GDC for distribution. Our deadline to let applicants know is 6 January 2016.

The rest of the fall was quiet with a lot of podcast appearances, all found here. The year ended with GX3, meeting so many awesome people, being involved with a queer con and helping to improve the diversity of an already great convention. That will get it’s own post once the panel videos are up. For now, enjoy a few photos from the GX3 Facebook and my own pics. Thanks to everyone who made 2015 great and here’s to a new, better and even more awesome year!

Published by cypheroftyr

Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago, which is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by supporting marginalized developers, attendance at the Game Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship program, helps assist attendance at other industry events, and is seeking partnership with organizations and initiatives. Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming, #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for everyone. She’s part of the Rivals of Waterdeep actual play stream on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep, a partnered Twitch variety broadcaster; and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics online, at conventions and as a public speaker.. She’s also contributed to publications at Green Ronin, Paizo and Monte Cook Games and is the co-developer for the Fifth Season RPG based on N.K. Jemisin’s three time Hugo award winning Broken Earth trilogy. She’s the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a Twitch supported RPG and Actual Play stream, airing weekly on her channel, twitch.tv/cypheroftyr. Additionally, she is a Senior Annenberg labs Civic Media Fellow at USC. She’s also the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a new sci fi afro-futurist RPG developed with a team of all POC and Black creators; live streamed on her twitch channel, /cypheroftyr. She’s named as one of The Game Awards Future Class 2020, a diverse group of builders, thinkers and dreamers whose voices elevate and diversify our artform. It recognizes individuals around the world who represent the bright, bold and inclusive future for video games. She was also named as one of Gamers of the Year 2020 by Kotaku along with three of her contemporaries. She was also invited to the Xbox MVP program in February 2021. Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in Game Changer, Directed by Tina Charles, WNBA star & olympian as well as filmmaker. The short documentary premiered at Tribeca 2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative started by Queen Latifah, supported by Proctor & Gamble in an effort to get more Black women into film making. Game Changer was also featured as part of BETHer’s 2021 Juneteenth Programming on 19 June 2021. Tanya is the programming & diversity coordinator for OrcaCon and GaymerX. She also serves on the Board of Directors for OrcaCon and was named the Chair for Take This in January 2023. She often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions. Her writing about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine, Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic, and other publications. She’s the editor of Game Devs and Others: Tales from the Margins (2018, CRC Press) and contributed to The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox. (2019, CRC Press) Writer Bio for pubs: Tanya is the Founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago. She’s part of Rivals of Waterdeep, an actual play D&D show on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep; the programming coordinator for OrcaCon & GaymerX; and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions. She’s on the Board of Take This as well as a Stream Ambassador, and was part of the inaugural cohort of The Game Awards Future Class. Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in Game Changer, Directed by Tina Charles, WNBA star & olympian as well as filmmaker. The short documentary premiered at Tribeca 2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative started by Queen Latifah, supported by Proctor & Gamble in an effort to get more Black women into film making. Game Changer was also featured as part of BETHer’s 2021 Juneteenth Programming on 19 June 2021.