Comma Crash (so, that’s me)
Crasher of many things, most notably Unity3D and the English language. Old nerd cat lady learning Unity, C#, and a bunch of other stuff to create kitty, and catty, content.
In the 80’s I won the grand prize in a RadioShack Easter bunny themed coloring contest, a Tandy TRS80. Apparently, I was the only kid to draw outside the lines.
That Tandy started my brother and I down the path of becoming video gamers. And, at least for me, wanting to create them. At a time when very few people on the planet had access to computers, especially multi-racial households like ours, I will forever be grateful for my mom’s decision to submit those coloring sheets. Our futures of creative nerdom had started.
As I got older, going beyond BASIC on the Tandy maayyy have meant skipping classes to sneak down to the art room and poke at the animation program on the only non-staff computer in the school that I knew of, an Apple IIsi.
Later, I dabbled in mini flash games by learning Actionscript out of a RPB (Real Paper Book). Later still, when Second Life started, I created anime/goth inspired fashion, wedding venues and other digital doo-dads for SL Denizens after work. Sometimes until sunrise. It was amazing that so many people wanted these things I made that didn’t exist. More so, I loved helping others learn to create their own…but it still wasn’t making games. Despite the encouragement, I was too chicken to attempt becoming a ‘real game designer’. My stuff wasn’t that amazing and paying the rent still took all my time with multiple jobs.
Fast forward to the now. I have arthritis. Lost some of my digestive system just before age 30 (a weird story, for another day). Dementia lurks in my family history. My brain sometimes puts the toothpaste in the fridge. But these are minor compared to what so many, too many, survive through everyday. Lockdown reminded humanity as a whole that life can still be upended on a global scale, destroying opportunities in a flash then stick around to smolder. I should not take my luck in life for granted, and maybe I can offer a smile and a giggle to others too.
SpongeCC
Audio Army of One. Slayer of Audacity, Bard of Musescore. Tester of the mayhem.
SpongeCC: “I have to write a thing about myself?”
Comma Crash: “No, I can write it, but don’t complain about what I say.”
SpongeCC: “Fine.”
Sound is huge, it can make or break an experience. In talking with a longtime friend I originally met and created content with many moons ago in Second Life (online 3D community), even though I really wanted to try creating all the sound solo as well, it would probably better managed by someone else. His background as a musician and running sound for local bands sealed his role for CatSacks.
Before becoming a creator in SL, I struggled a bit with approaching new people, especially online. Needless to say, shortly after joining SL in 2004 I was about to give up on it. One night I decided to try one last time to find some meaning in it. I liked helping people, maybe that was an easy ice breaker somehow.
After spawning in to a club I had visited a few times I saw my chance. A guy was sitting backwards on the top of a booth, facing the wall. I sent him a private message, asking if he knew he was facing backwards on the booth chair. He did not.
He was a ‘real gamer’ and didn’t quite know what to do with SL either. I told him I was going to figure out how to make stuff for people and support the cost of creations by putting my custom avatar to work dancing in clubs. Turned out he was ‘a bit of a computer guy’ himself. Did he want to help make stuff? We’ve been real life friends since.
He was totally on board when I asked if he had some free time to learn Unity and make stuff again. Brilliant.
GeekEKitten
Newbie freelancer carving out a path for herself. Savvy Video Editor & Content Creator, Excellent Writer. Lover of all things games and animal
My artistic journey began very early in life because I was a younger sibling. My sister, fascinated by stories early on, wanted to raise me as her “mini-me”; so I was writing short stories by the age of five. The story goes that I just never stopped.
I’m a lover of all things creative, so I have dipped, dived, and dabbled in many things: poetry, short stories, novels, blogging, scripting, singing, acting, piano, guitar, bongos, video editing, audio editing, music composition, graphic design, video game design, and content creation. However, there are only so many hours in a day, so I had to let most of them go. The pieces I held onto – writing, content creation, and video editing – have become precious parts of my life.
I began my path on the road to freelance work in 2020 – I just didn’t know it yet. Now in 2024, it has become a bigger piece of my puzzle than I ever thought possible.
During my content creation work (YouTube), I met Comma. She joined my community and I learned about her indie project. I streamed the Cat Sacks demo on my channel during a Steam Next Fest event, and I saw the passion and potential behind it. So early this year, I asked Comma if I could come on board to help. Being a gamer myself (with an indie project of my own, a good grasp of video editing, and an ear for music), I believed I could bring Comma’s vision to marketable life via a cute, witty, and charming trailer. I’m excited to be a part of the team and look forward to flexing more of my creative skills on future projects.