Aetherian Studios -

Aetherian Studios is a Gaming Company started by an eastern European woman and African American, with one goal in mind: Getting everyone to love, create, and play games again. The gaming industry in the last ten years has become a grey-suit, corporate industry, with minorities and women falling to the wayside of wage shortages, unpaid overtime, and zero recognition. At Aetherian, we cut out the corporate stigma by hiring LGBTQ+, people of color, women, and other marginalized groups, paying them based on what they deserve as well as providing equal job opportunities and upper management positions, working past institutional barriers to building a career. At Aetherian, we focus on treating everyone with dignity and hope that by being the gaming company that stands up for an inclusive gaming culture, we can kick-start social reform in the gaming industry. Games are for all, regardless of who they are.

Aetherian studios is focused on workplace accessibility for historically marginalized groups such as women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals and more. According to Harvard Business Review, only 4.1% of Fortune 500 company CEO's are women. The National Center for Transgender Equality reports that of 27,715 transgender workers, 13% lost their jobs due to their gender identity, and 77% take active measures to protect themselves from abuse such as delaying transitioning, hiding their identity, or quitting their job. Similarly, the National Bureau of Economic Research reports that African American job seekers are 50% less likely to get callbacks on their resume applications when they have what is considered "stereotypically black-sounding names". These are not just individuals; They are entire families and communities who suffer economic disadvantages due to no other reason than prejudice and bias. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 39.9% of the U.S. alone is some form of racial or cultural/linguistic minority. For African Americans, their unemployment rates are almost double that of White Americans, with 8.2% of African American workers being unemployed compared to 4.8% of White workers, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.

Our solution as a combination of environment and hiring techniques that have been successfully implemented to promote inclusivity and accessibility. 

1. Accessible, Inclusive Work Environments.
We have taken advantage of a wide range of social media platforms in order to make communication as easy and available as possible regardless of where an individual is located. We welcome remote work, trusting in the technology that our society enjoys to make productive work spaces. This allows families to be together while they work, saving travel and childcare expenses.

2. Skill-based Hiring Practices, and Job-based technology training.

We at Aetherian Studios understand that not everyone has the ability or access to a post-secondary education, particularly marginalized communities. We also understand a degree is not the definition of ability, merit, or understanding. We take a holistic approach to hiring that highlights lived experiences, self-teaching methods and personal projects, and with our in-game roleplaying engine and our pre-existing understanding of the Unity gaming engine, we offer training and support with the tech we use and develop to help our team members develop their skills in a way that directly helps them with their assigned projects and personal careers. 

Our solution serves to make the gaming industry, which as historically been dominated by only one particular sub-category of people, a place where ethical and diverse employment is celebrated for the long-term success and enjoyment of consumers and producers alike. We believe that video games, similar to sports, are a space for comradery and the transcendence of traditional barriers that divide and categorize us and promote the wellbeing of some rather than others. Minorities, be they gender-based, linguistic-based, racial-based or otherwise, have had to suffer an under-representation of their identities in both cultural and workplace spheres of life, where they are socially often discriminated against or bullied under the powerful effect of anonymity online, or had their skills and abilities in technology and art refused because of systemic and/or prejudice-based barriers. 

We recognize that they deserve better than this. Minority groups have historically been a noticeable part of the gaming force and community, and their contributions are going to be the key towards creating a more welcoming and diverse, productive economy. Their well-being and access to a fair chance at a career is our well-being and access to a fair chance at a career. We as a Studio were founded under the principles of diversifying the work environment and working beyond the identity groups that we occupy in order to break past any and all glass ceilings and prove that an individual and their capacity is not determined by any society or institution, but judged and based on their own willingness to perform and do their best to contribute. 

We hope that by providing work opportunities to anyone, anywhere, and by looking past any kind of certificate or degree that fundamentally often relies on ones socio-economic status and their access to finances that they historically are disadvantaged from acquiring or having said access to, and through our own lived experiences as a company that is majority-minority, we can work to be the example of an ethical and socially conscious company that we feel is necessary for the current age and future. We actively seek out perspectives and advice from our own company as well as outside in order to understand how to further facilitate a welcoming environment beyond this.

 We know that the outcome will be a Studio that stands out from the rest and will not fall into the same social and ethical pitfalls that are so common within any form of digital-based industry, and we will be an example towards positive change in hiring standards and diverse environments. 

Holistic-based hiring standards are key in reducing hiring inequalities, as historically disadvantaged groups do not have as much access to historically demanded institutions that are regarded as "necessary" for qualifications. Accepting proof of ability through personal projects, self-education, freelance work allows the doors to be opened to these groups for careers in what they love, and our training helps to close any gaps so they can perform great. 

We provide a variety of environments for communication and remote work based on employee-needs so that regardless of where they are or what needs/obligations they hold, they have access to employment. 

Growth best describes our current stage as we are seeking additional capital to continue development of our major products, and to expand the organization as a whole. The opportunity to pull in more diverse minds to think through and overcome problems will allow us to greatly speed up production times, and increase schedule flexibility among members.

Opening job opportunities through an already closed-off industry to those who've been statistically ignored is only the first step in our innovative process. We strive to allow minority group voices to be heard through the gaming medium by developing and publishing games that touch on topics that specifically affect these individuals - such as historical games with the true facts about Native and Black American Culture, as well as opening up further opportunities for these individuals to thrive in the gaming space.

At Aetherian Studios, our games use our own developed in-house roleplaying engine for our current gaming projects, and Unity as a gaming engine. By having these two solutions, not only do we offer training in-house for our roleplay engine but also offer training and support through Unity as well - as it's known as one of the most universally used engines. This allows us to hire people without necessarily requiring higher education, but more on passionate and life-experienced coders, as well as promoting those that have a general interest in making our internal processes better. Our roleplay engine is used as our game's core - implementing everything from combat, to UI's and Dialogue trees, while Unity is the base for the virtual space of our games. 

Attached are links to gameplay footage that utilize our roleplay engine's within Unity's virtual environment, as well as the paperwork showing our engine's capabilities in great detail.

Procedural Environments and Weather using Roleplay Engine

Fighting Example using Roleplay Engine

Roleplay Engine Core Paperwork

Opening our doors to hiring and supporting marginal groups doesn't pose any more risk than hiring those that are part of the majority. We do understand, however, that internal training over our own processes can potentially cut into development times which potentially cut into other profit margins - though we always take the time to make reasonable expectations as well as have better, streamlined training through our own technology to keep the overall workflow within a reasonable time period. 

Currently, our solution serves all twenty of our employees and project developers that are part of minority groups. Within one year, we plan to host free development workshops promoting our roleplay engine, and unity development to encourage young adult minds to get into the gaming space, regardless of economic status, with our goal is a minimum of one hundred and fifty participates for every year to come. Within five years, not only do we plan on growing our company to include these young minds in the hiring process but to grow our company holistically. 

Over the next year, we ramp up development and bring three new members onto the team. Over the next five, we conclude development and major focus on our previous venture and shift focus onto the next major project. Through that time the team will continue to grow in number as responsibilities become too grand for the small to handle alone. Our hiring efforts coupled with internships from a local college workshop directly introducing new blood to the industry at no cost, and online how-tos teaching the tips and tricks of the trade will have worldwide impact.

Our timelines are simply the people we've hired and are measured through our hiring goals and needs for new people within the field, with us hiring someone new every few months. 

9 Full-time Employees

12 Contractors

From a gaming industry perspective, we have a total amount of 120 years of industry experience. 

For the specific solution experience, our whole team has lived their whole lives as underdogs. Minorities, ex-refugees, LGBTQ+; we all have the whole life experiences that we share, and pour into our games by creative real, relatable issues within our game's narratives, with the idea that if one of our players can see their similar stories through our game's narratives, we've done our job.

The leadership team Aetherian Studios is what we like to call a bag of jelly beans. You never know what you're going to get when you take one out. Every member of our leadership team falls under a minority umbrella. The Lead is from the Middle East, the CFO is African American, and or Lead Writer is a member of the LGBTQ+. We all embody diversity in our very existence. We are a group of unlikely friends that have come together to make our dreams a reality. Inclusion is one of our core values and is a key reason this all works.

We're applying for the 2021 Digital Workforce Challenge to solve our team goals of hiring more unique individuals on our team. We hope that with the extra funding, we can grow our team size to really expand our development goals for now and future gaming projects.

We're still hiring and opening up more job opportunities for freelancers and contractors for long-term development contracts.

We would also need assistance in further partnership opportunities in hopes to create lasting relationships with others within the tech industry - especially those who see the bright future in gaming. 

The University of Tampa, and MIT respectively.