SLICE OF LIFE 2 | MYLEAH
Comms, cosplays, creative marketing — what CAN’T she do??
Myleah (pronouns: she/her) is a Black/Filipino-American game dev and cosplayer who loves to tell stories and create memorable community experiences. She’s known for her well-crafted cosplays and fun fan games inspired by her favourite games and anime. Her love for bringing characters to life inspired her to create Lumikha Cosplay Resale, a cosplay marketplace for second-hand cosplays and accessories.
We’d also like to let the Splatoon fans reading this know that her Marina cosplay absolutely ROCKS. It rocks AND rolls.
Viv: So just to get it out of the way — you do marketing, you do cosplays, and you also write.
I’m just wondering…how the hell do you have time for all of this?! Where did this spark from and how did you build up to this set of skills that you have now?
Myleah: I feel like ever since I was younger, I was always kinda like a busy body and I just really like to do all of the things.
LIke anytime I got into a new hobby, I would try it out and i would enjoy that for a little while, and then I’d be like “oh i'm kinda bored with this i’m going to try something else”
And so i just kept picking up lots of different things and collecting all the hobbies
you know, the ADHD brain hahaha
And because I really enjoy hopping from project to project, I end up getting a lot of opportunities to work on a lot of different projects.
Viv: It sounds like multitasking is especially prevalent in game dev, since so many things are happening during the process at the same time.
You have your writers, artists, marketing managers, etc. And then you have people who can do more than one of those
And like you said, that means you get to be a part of a bunch of cool projects.
Myleah: Yeah it’s been cool to try out lots of different things in game dev. I’ve really only been here since 2020.
I started my game dev career during the pandemic haha
Viv: Really?
Myleah: Yeah I did!
Game Devs of Color helped me to network with other developers like me, and after attending the conference and seeing a listing for a social media manager position, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Since then, it’s been nice helping with the event that really helped me to find my community in the games industry!
I’ve only been in the game dev for a few years, so I’m still entry-level I feel like, but also I’ve worked multiple jobs at a similar level at the same time, which I feel like has built up my professional experience.
Viv: Yeah, you get to see your work as part of a bigger project, and you’re like, “Oh my god, I contributed to THAT!”
Myleah: Yeah it’s really cool to contribute to a bigger project
That’s one thing that I really love about game dev is that it’s everyone’s efforts put together. That’s why I love it.
Viv: The community effort is so rewarding
It truly is
I feel like there’s this expectation for game devs (and creatives, in general) especially where it’s like, you have to specialize in something, but you also have to be a jack-of-all-trades
So you’re like, “Which one do you want me to be?!”
Myleah: Yeah, exactly
Especially when you’re creating on the internet, too. You have to be your own marketer, you have to be the person who will advocate for yourself. You have to know so many different skills just to create.
And if you want to make a profit off your hobby, [that includes] understanding business and stuff like that
Definitely requires a lot of skills if you want to go that route.
Viv: Yeah, learning how to learn, basically.
Myleah: Yeah and picking up new skills.
I’m always looking at youtube tutorials and googling things
I’m just thankful that we live in the age of the internet where we can look something up and just learn whatever you need to learn
I love that, making education easier to access for everyone.
And that’s the kicker: with community, you bring about accessibility. You’re able to share knowledge and learn from others, whether online or in-person.
The intersection of game dev and community couldn’t be more intertwined, yet Myleah has managed to weave in a third thread: Cosplay. Through my research (and Instagram scrolling), I was amazed at the costumes that she was able to produce, and wanted to give her space to talk about the process behind bringing different characters to life.
Viv: Let’s jump into your cosplaying!
Myleah: Okay yeah!
I’ve been cosplaying since 2014, so I’ve been cosplaying for a really long time. I think my first con was Otakon, and I’ve pretty much been making cosplays every year since then.
I’ve taken small breaks here and there, but I still cosplay.
Viv: Oh wow
Did you start out with making cosplays or did you buy them?
Myleah: My first cosplay was a mom-assisted cosplay hahaha
Viv: OH LOL
Myleah: So my mom helped me make my first costume.
I was like, “Okay I really wanna do this cosplay—”
It was around the summer of 2015 when i first started cosplaying. I told my mom that i met these people in college who told me about how you can dress up as a character and run around and she was like “Oh okay that sounds fun honey”
Viv: Hahaha
Myleah: And I was like, “Okay but I don’t know how to sew, but you do, so can you help me with it?”
She had helped me with halloween costumes before, but never a cosplay
At least me cosplaying pikachu when i was like eight — i don’t count that as my first cosplay really haha
But she helped me to sew the costume and crochet parts
My first cosplay was actually Korra from Legend of Korra
Viv: AHHHH THAT’S SO COOL
Myleah: Yeah! Just the idea of getting to cosplay a character who looks like me, and just makes me feel really empowered was really cool
Viv: Did you hear about the live-action? Are you excited for it?
Myleah: Yeah! I’m really interested to see how it’s gonna go because I feel like we deserve a redo as Avatar [the last Airbender] fans from the previous project
So I’m pretty excited to see how it’s gonna go. The animated version will always hold a special place in my heart, but I’m open to seeing other adaptations.
Viv: Yeah me too
I grew up watching Avatar: The Last Airbender when it was on Nickelodeon
So when i heard about the live-action I was like “Oh I wonder how that’s going to go.”
Especially since we’ve had a history of live-action films not going so well, with the exception of the One Piece live-action imo
Myleah: The One Piece live-action is REALLY good
I’m not even a big One Piece fan, my best friend is. He had me watch it and I was like “Wow this is actually really good!” and he was like “Yeah this is a GOOD anime adaptation!”
Viv: I AGREE
Damn now I gotta rewatch it LOL
Editor’s note: I did in fact rewatch the One Piece Live Action after this interview. It’s just as good as it was the first time around. The storytelling, the fight scenes, and most importantly: the variety in its cast.
With digital media gradually evolving over the years, I wanted to get into the topic of character diversity in visual storytelling and how that’s reflected in cosplay.
Viv: I think there’s been an increase in cosplayers seeing characters in media that resemble them and bringing them to life through their cosplays
Then they post it on social media and [people are] like “OH MY GOD THAT’S SO YOU!”
Especially since most people tend to cosplay characters from Japanese media, and they’re [historically]…Asian for the most part, so we tend to see a lot more White and Asian cosplayers
But now we’re seeing a lot of Black and Brown people cosplaying as well, because they’re like “well these characters look like me, it makes sense!”
Myleah: Yeah
I feel like it’s a double-edged sword, right
Because my most popular cosplay is Marina from Splatoon 2. I cosplayed her in 2016 - 2017.
When Nintendo released the trailer for splatoon 2, i was like, “that’s me. I gotta cosplay her”
Like the game hadn’t even come out yet and I started working on the cosplay, I was like “I need to do this RIGHT NOW.”
Viv: AWWWW 🥺
Myleah: So I was just like determined to be first, I guess hahaha
I cosplayed her at Otakon again, and the reception to the cosplay was really great.
Everyone was like “wow this is so amazing! You look just like her!”
But then there comes a certain expectation with people who enjoy your content that you’re only going to cosplay characters [that look like you.]
And it becomes a struggle, because you don’t want to be stuck in this box where you can only cosplay characters that look like you, but also, you feel represented by those characters too
So it’s like a balancing act of cosplaying characters who make me feel represented, but also just cosplaying whoever I want to because I love that character
And it comes with a bit of dealing with the weird trolls who will comment “oh you’re not XYZ enough for this character”
Like, I’m just trying to have a good time. I’m just dressing up as my favorite character right? But there’s always going to be someone who wants to tear you down because you don’t fit their ideal fantasy of what that character should look like IRL
So it’s a bit of a give-and-take with that. I found myself not wanting to cosplay Marina as much because I felt like people only enjoyed my cosplay when I looked exactly like the character and they didn’t appreciate as much when i cosplayed someone who maybe didn’t have the same hair type or didn’t have the same skin color or wasn’t the same body type.
Viv: 100%
Myleah: Maybe sometimes I want to cosplay a tall handsome man
And I am a 4’11 Black woman OKAY LIKE
I may not look like the bishounen on-screen, but I’m going to try because I love that character! hahaha
Viv: LOL
Myleah: So it’s a toss-up. I’ve stopped caring over the years about what other people think about the cosplays that I do.
I’m not gonna care how much you enjoy it, I’m gonna care how much i’m going to enjoy it, cause I’M gonna be the one wearing it and suffering making the costume, wearing the costume like
You’re not paying for it, so I really don’t care what you have to say! haha
Viv: Listen there’s always room for a short king version of any cosplay
Myleah: Exactly! I love a short king hahaha
Viv: You can have a 6’4 vampire-esque dude exist and you can be like “I’m gonna make a short king version of that!” LOL
Myleah: Hahaha THAT’S ME
Oh by the way, here’s my Marina cosplay
Viv: OH MY GOD YOU’RE SO CUTE!
Myleah: Hahah!
I love this cosplay! This was so much fun to make.
Viv: It’s SO cute
I LOVE the sheen on your leggings, the tentacle hat…
DID YOU MAKE THE HAT??
Myleah: I did make that yeah
Viv: This whole thing was handmade, right?
Myeah: Yeah! Yeah it was
The shorts were like a pair of shorts
Cause I didn’t want to make pants, so I just bought some shorts and added little rhinestones to them.
I didn’t make the shoes, but I did make the headpiece, which I’m really proud of
Viv: WOW
How much time did it take you t—
Now I’m just 100% interested in how you made this LOL
How long did it take for the headpiece?
Myleah: I would say the headpiece took me about 10 hours total.
I was also speedrunning it because i was trying to make it before the convention, so i really only had two weeks to make the entire costume hahaha
Viv: UGH that brings me back to my convention days where my friends and I are fixing each other’s cosplays on the day of the con
The fact that you made this in two weeks is so incredible, I’m so impressed at how skilled cosplayers become as they make more of them
Myleah: Yeah you just learn more and more as you keep going
This is like…a picture from a year and half after I first made the costume, so this is probably an upgraded version from when I first made it, but the headpiece is still the same.
I just continued making it better and finding ways to make the cosplay more comfortable to wear
The two-week version was good, but once I had more time, I could make the two-YEAR version hahah
I think that’s how I approach a lot of things in my life is like, yeah, I can do it well this first time, but the next time — how do I make it better?
My thing is that sometimes I’ll spend too much time mulling over an idea, thinking about it and trying to make it as perfect as it can be, but then there’s also a certain point where you just have to make the thing, do the thing, or the thing will never exist because it will just forever live in your head.
And I think that’s why I just started being like, “you know what? We’re just going to go for it. And if it doesn’t turn out perfect, that’s okay. We’ll just improve. Just gonna make it better.”
Viv: You can always improve on what already exists.
Myleah: Yeah
Can’t improve on something that’s just a bunch of ideas floating around in your head.
That’s why i really love connecting with other cosplayers because it’s like, you’re also insane enough to spend so much time working on making this costume — I can relate to you haha
And i’m completely self-taught, so it’s not like i had any formal sewing experience. I taught myself through youtube and tutorials and asking friends who knew how to sew better than me
I still consider myself a beginner sewist, but I’ve learned a lot over the years
Viv: That definitely shows!
It’s always good to have the solo projects, but there’s something incredibly rewarding about getting help from others and working with other people.
As long as you’re still wanting to learn.
Myleah: Yeah I agree
And as cosplayers, our craft is constantly changing. And i think that’s the same for any creative, and you have to be willing to adapt and learn new skills
It’s fine to stick with the ways you’ve been doing [things] over the years, but also it’s really great to learn from others who are doing it more efficiently, doing it better than you’ve done it, and making your cosplay better because you learn from others.
I also just really love the community aspect of cosplay and being able to learn from others who are cosplaying the same character as you.
Viv: 100%
Selfishly speaking, I’d like to know: what has been your favourite cosplay and what is your most challenging cosplay?
Myleah: Hmm…I think that my favorite cosplay is probably a cosplay I made from Idolish7, which is an idol anime project
Let me show you it
So this cosplay was for KatsuCon in 2020. I made most of the costume myself, I sewed it, i put it together, i painted the fan
i did not make the tails, shoutout to Ahri League of Legends cosplayers because there were tails that I could just buy, but they were really helpful for getting the character’s tails
I styled the wig myself, i commissioned an artist who made ears and we talked and we matched the wig color to the ears
I made all of the details of the cosplay, it’s just a costume that I’m really proud of because it was one of the first costumes where I felt like i did a lot of work from scratch.
You can’t see it as well in the image, but I did a lot of final detailing there as well, and i just feel ike there was a lot of detail with this character and i just put a lot of love into looking at it and figuring out all of those details so i’m really proud of this cosplay
Viv: It’s SO pretty
The way that the wig and ears are put together and designed
I agree on the tails — Idk how Ahri cosplayers do it
Like how do you fit through a door with those tails?
Myleah: It’s REALLY difficult hahaha
This was also one of my most challenging cosplays to not only make but also to wear because the tails were really heavy, and so i was just taking up a TON of space
My friends who were also in cosplay had to guide my tails so they weren’t hitting people
So after wearing it for like 4 hours i was like “yeah I’m done. We did our photoshoot, I’m good. I know I worked on this for a month, but I’m okay. My back is hurting.”
At one point I did just take the tails off and I wore the rest of the costume
I really loved making this cosplay. It was just one of those moments where I felt like i really enjoyed the crafting element of cosplaying too
I feel like I’m about 50/50 with buying my costumes and making them, so i felt like this is a really strong costume where i felt proud because I made most of it
Viv: yeah and the results definitely show.
It looks like you made it by hand, but it looks so professionally hand-made.
Myleah: Thank you! That means a lot.
Viv: Of course!
The details are extraordinary
Like that bell, how did you get that?
Myleah: So I looked on Etsy and I tried to find Christmas bells that people use for like, big Christmas trees
So it’s also about being resourceful. You don’t have to…remake the wheel or whatever haha
Sometimes you just have to find different resources to make it happen
So i used quite a few different christmas ornaments in this costume.
Viv: That’s so insightful to hear
That really makes the craft of cosplay more accessible.
Myleah: So I vectored out the little details in the front
Because if you see the character’s reference, there’s all the details in the front and I was like, “I’m not painting that, but I do have a cricket”
So what I did was I traced over the different parts of the image and then i used vinyl to replicate it
I then used heat to transfer it onto the fabric.
Viv: Omg that looks stunning!
The gradient looks great, too
Myleah: Ah yeah!
So for the gradient, I used colorshot and it’s basically a spray paint fabric dye. My friend cloudykcos helped me with this!
Viv: You made it look exactly like the reference photo
Myleah: Thank you!
It’s definitely one of my favorite costumes, and it’s just from a series that I really love.
Like just recently I hosted a community event where i encouraged people from this fandom to share their cosplay photos and celebrate in honor of the series
It was called “i7 creation day” and it’s kinda like me using my community manager/social media manager skills fro my game dev career in my fandom career
And putting on small events like this that just can help rally the community together
I just love this series, I’ve cosplayed most of the characters from this series
I like hosting community events, i often host the cosplay meetups at different conventions and host writing projects and things like that for idolish7
So i like using my community manager skills for my fandom projects too haha
Viv: It’s a good crossover, right? LOL
Myleah: Yeah! It is.
Recently, not for idolish7, but for a different fandom, identity V, I made a fangame with a couple of people
Do you know IDV?
Viv: You need to—
Myleah respectfully you need to link it to me right now I LOVE IDV
It’s SUCH a great game
Myleah: hahahaha
https://bluecranes.itch.io/mistletoe-for-the-christmas-messenger
Viv: OH MY GOD
I’m so sorry to interrupt you I just heard IDV and I became IMMEDIATELY interested
Myleah: Hahaha no it’s okay!
So there was a project called “the Identity V shipping olympics” and it was basically a project where a bunch of teams came together and each team was competing against each other (in friendly competition) to see who has the best ship
So each round, the team would create a bunch of different fan projects, so they would create art, fanfic, edits, music, whatever
And for the last round, we decided to make a fan game because i'm a tryhard and i just wanted to do something really over the top
I was like “we have two writers, we have an artist”
And also I just love dabbling in different game engines, and at the time I really wanted to play with Tyrano builder
So I was like “Okay guys, but what if we took the nine days we had left for this project and we made a visual novel”
And so we made the visual novel. This is actually my second identity v fan game. I previously made one for the Brackey’s game jam in 2022.
I’ll link it to you
Viv: I would LOVE it
Myleah: Yeah I just love using my game dev skills for fandom things, it’s just fun
Why not hahaha
Viv: Yeah why not?
You have the skills, you’ve learned it, you’ve outlined it and templatized it, why not use it for your own things
Myleah: Exactly
I was really touched by Myleah’s love for community and her willingness to take initiative in bringing her fanmade creations to life. It made me yearn for in-person events where people cosplayed as their favourite characters or made art pieces inspired by their favourite shows and movies. To fill this void, I wanted to discuss with Myleah about the effects of the pandemic on bringing together different communities.
Viv: All of this cosplay talk is making me miss conventions
The pandemic really made it difficult to have those in-person interactions.
Myleah: Yeah, and like
When the pandemic first hit, one of the first things I did
Because i was supposed to go to a con and it got canceled
I decided to organize a community project where cosplayers all dressed up
It was called “pass the plush,” like the “pass the brush” challenge
Basically you pass the plush and you transform into the character
I edited everyone’s videos together and it’s a bunch of us transforming into the characters
It was for the idolish7 fandom again and everyone was just like “we’re so happy that we could participate in this cause it feels like we’re together!”
One of the slogans for idolish7 is “We’re all under one sky,” so this project just made us all feel like we’re all under one sky and we can all cosplay together even though we’re apart
So i wanted to bring that community element back together
Because it’s like you were saying, with the pandemic happening, it has made people feel more apart, and even now as people start going back to conventions, we still have to keep that distance
Hugging people, sharing drinks, sharing food — you still feel that barrier
So finding and connecting with people and still being able to be close and be friends with people in physical spaces, it’s different. It’s changed
So we’ve just had to learned how to adapt.
So I guess I’ve just tried to find solutions in my own ways and community building
Viv: That’s so smart
You really do have game dev brain
Myleah: Hahaha
I do have game dev brain
Viv: It’s a good thing to have!
And speaking of good things to have, I wanna go back to the topic of characters and cosplay.
Are there any types of characters you’d like to see more of in the future?
Myleah: Oh yeah! I’ve always felt like I wanted to see more characters that were explicitly Filipino or more characters that are explicitly mixed, because I wanna be able to cosplay more characters that look like me and make other fans who might wanna see me cosplay any character and be like “Oh I can do that too.”
Viv: That’s the dream isn’t it
Myleah: It is
I’ve always wanted to be that role model to other cosplayers who want to cosplay characters, but might feel intimidated because they’re like, “Oh I don’t look like XYZ most popular cosplayers who cosplay that character.”
I look like me, and maybe you look like you, and we can both cosplay whoever we want to, so I really like aspire to be someone who people can look up to and feel like they can do what I do
Because I’m just a person cosplaying and enjoying myself, and you can enjoy yourself too
Viv: It’s a great way to make friends, too!
Especially as adults, like…where can we go hang out nowadays?
When you see someone who looks like you and is interested in the same things as you is so refreshing
Myleah: Yeah
Hi there, editor again. I interrupt this part of the article to bring you a conversation about a project that Myleah founded — one that could help beginner and veteran cosplayers find costumes and accessories in an affordable and sustainable way.
Myleah: I want to talk about the cosplay sustainability business that I run—
Viv: YOU RUN A WHAT?
Myleah: hahaha
Yeah so I created a marketplace where cosplayers can buy and sell second-hand cosplay
It’s called Lumika Cosplay Resale. Lumika means “to create” in Tagalog
So i talked with my mom about what words I can use to get this point across
Viv: I’m surprised not many people have thought of this before, this is so smart
Myleah: Yeah
Fast fashion is such a huge issue
So i was noticing that a lot with the cosplay community
Like new series coming out all the time
Think about games like Genshin, right? They come out with a new patch every couple of months so there’s a new wave of characters and everyone wants to cosplay the new characters and that’s awesome
But it also means that the cosplays of the characters from the last patch are kinda obsolete
And it’s also kinda the issue of the fast consumerism of cosplay content and how people see people cosplaying as content to consume and then you kinda throw it away
Rather than people cosplaying because they love a character, they’re cosplaying because they think the character will get them clout or attention
And there’s nothing wrong with wanting attention and notoriety for your work, but on the other hand, it means that a lot of costumes are kinda going in the trash or they’re just being created, but nobody’s wearing them
So when i traveled to Japan back in 2019, I saw these physical resale shops for merchandise, but also cosplay
And i was kinda like, “Why don’t we have that?”
So i’m a solutions kind of person, so i was like, “what if i just made it myself? What if I just did it myself?”
So I created this marketplace so that people could buy and sell cosplay
Right now we have over 3000 users, we’re about to celebrate our 3rd year in business (I found it in Feb of 2021)
So we ‘re coming up on three years which is really exciting
We’ve had over 1700 items be sold on the website, so it’s working!
I’m like, “If I can make my small little dent in making the cosplay community more sustainable, then i’m happy i can do that.”
So that’s been my little side project on top of my game dev and on top of my personal cosplay stuff
Viv: LOVE the concept so so much
And it’s such a great way to save money and sustain the cosplay economy.
It fills a niche of people who cosplay but maybe don’t know where to start
Fashion is still a big statement for a lot of people, and it’s a form of expression
So if there are more sustainable ways for you to achieve a look or a certain style that you’re going for, I’m 100% for it.
I’m so glad that you made a solution for a problem that you saw immediately.
I definitely wanna share this with my cosplay friends.
Myleah: Yeah, like you spend a lot of money making the cosplays too
And you don’t want to throw the costume away, but maybe it’s difficult to find someone who is the same size as you
But with Lumika, you can put in your exact bust, waist, and hip measurements, so you can find cosplays that are specifically in your size
That’s also an issue too, people often sell their cosplay through twitter threads or Facebook marketplace. There’s no good way of searching and sorting
So I created a place that can solve that problem. Really the biggest struggle with this is just getting the word out and helping people to see that there’s a better solution here
We don’t have to live like this. We don’t have to live in the stone age of posting in Facebook groups and twitter threads. We can have a better solution here haha
So I wanted to get the word out and let more people learn about it
Viv: yeah grab the people off of Facebook Marketplace and bring them here haha
Myleah: Definitely.
Please check out Lumikha Cosplay Resale to find your next cosplay and help minimize costume waste!
Now, to resume this interview with Myleah’s favourite childhood food.
Myleah: I’ll preface with this first
So my mom is Filipino, my dad is Black
My mom moved here [to the United States]
I don’t have a lot of connection with my Filipino heritage as much as I would like to, and i think that’s kinda been a struggle for me as someone of mixed heritage
Feeling like I can connect with both sides of my culture
So I was looking at the food question, and my answer I felt like was kinda lame
So i’ll tell you about it, and then you can tell me if it’s lame
Viv: Honestly I feel like it’s going to be good
Myleah: Hahaha okay
So when i was younger, my mom would always make spaghetti
So Filipino spaghetti is different than Italian spaghetti, because it’s sweet
But I didn’t realize that everyone else’s spaghetti wasn’t sweet
I loved my mom’s spaghetti, she’d add like brown sugar and ketchup to add some extra sweetness to it
Even today, i’m a pasta fiend, I just LOVE spaghetti
But when I make it, it never quite tastes just like the way that my mom makes it, so whenever I go home, I’m just like, “Can you make spaghetti?”
And she’s like “Why do you want spaghetti?”
Like the most basic meal hahaha
But it makes ME happy, and it’s just one of those things from my childhood that I really enjoy
And i tried to go to a jollibee, and they serve filipino spaghetti
But it’s still didn’t taste like my mom’s spaghetti hahaha
Viv: hahaha
That’s not lame at ALL, first of all
When I grew up, I had sweet spaghetti too
And it was with hot dogs
Myleah: Yeah my mom would add hot dogs too!
And I thought that was how spaghetti was made
Viv: WAIT ME TOO
Myleah: Like when i went to a friend’s house and had spaghetti I’d be like “Where are the hot dogs?”
“Why is it not sweet? Why is it so salty?” hahaha
Viv: I THOUGHT THE SAME THING
I was like “Why do you have meatballs? Don’t you use hot dogs?”
Hahaha
I guess even with Jollibee’s spaghetti, it’s not the same
Myleah: It’s not the same
It’s the special mom touch, you know
Viv: It IS
It really IS
You can use the exact ratios that she uses and it still won’t be the same
Which I mean, in an Asian household, like…
What recipe
What’s a measurement
Myleah: Yeah there’s no recipe LOL
Viv: Exactly
I mean you’re Black AND Filipino so your household DEFINITELY doesn’t use any measurements LOL
Myleah: Hahahahaha!
That’s SO true
It’s like “just put some in there” and you're like “What is SOME??”
Viv: “Just put in a handful”
How much is a handful???
Myleah: hahaha
Yeah my mom just made a lot of soul food because i feel like that’s what my dad really likes to eat,
so she made soul food, she made filipino food, so i just got to enjoy the best of both worlds when i was growing up
But I really feel like I missed something because i didn’t get a chance to learn Tagalog or connect with my Filipino family because they’re still in the Philippines
So i find myself trying to reconnect with my culture as i get older and learning about my culture and talking with my mom more about those old stories that maybe when i was young i didn’t pay enough attention
And now i’m like “no those are really important to reassure because those are things that we have to keep in our history”
So i feel like as i've gotten older, i’ve started chasing that feeling of finding my footing in my culture and feeling validated in my identity
Cause I’ve always been like “Yeah i’m Black and Filipino” but never really feeling like I was a REAL filipino because I couldn’t speak tagalog or i didn’t know how to make the food
And i’d only been there once when i was five and i hadn’t been able to travel back and see my family there
So i feel like as a mixed person and someone who’s a kid of an immigrant, finding validity in my culture and feeling authentic in my culture has been a journey as I’ve gotten older
Viv: The entire child of immigrant parents experience IS a journey, you’re right
There are people from an experience who will invalidate you for “not being enough,”
And you’re right, as we grow up, generally we want to know the history and learn the culture
Myleah: Yeah
And even in games too, I know more about the Greek Mythos than I know more about the Filipino Mythos
And I’ve been finding myself doing research and Googling and there’s just not a lot of information out there
I need to go to a library, I need to open a real book, because there’s just not enough information
Viv: 100%
We need more stories about us
Like how many games do we REALLY have to have about the middle ages?
Myleah: Exactly like
I don’t think we need anymore hahah
Viv: YEAH
Where are the games that show more of our culture?
Myleah: They’re in our heads
And then we won’t put them on the paper and they just live in our brains
Viv: LOL
They’re stuck here forever until we make them come to life
Myleah: We need to make them happen
Asking for the both of us…can someone make games like this? Doesn’t have to just be one someone — it can be many someones. Please take the idea from your brain and turn it into a real thing.
If that sounds like you, but you need some advice or wise words, look no further: I went ahead and asked Myleah herself for her two cents.
Myleah: I think that the biggest thing that i would recommend or give advice for is…
If you’re someone who wants to create, but you’re not sure if you should take the leap of faith and do that thing, you should just go for it
Because you’re more likely to regret that you didn’t try that thing than if you had just done it.
It’s so easy to get stuck in your own head, and like we were talking about trying to create that idealized version of that project that you wanna see happen
But the best thing is, you have so much time to create and you should just create the things that you want to create and make them better later
Also, you should find the people in your communities, and even if you aren’t familiar with people in the communities, try to connect with them to make projects with people who have the same vision as you
I think that as a community manager, i have a very sparkly outlook on community in that i always believe that there’s someone out there who probably wants to see something in the world that exists that you do.
And you’ll never know unless you put out a post in the world or going to your local community library and posting up a physical poster asking if someone wants to work on a project with you
And maybe you won’t get a response in the first day or the first week or the first month, but i think eventually if you keep at it
Even if you start working on the project, people can see how passionate you are. It’ll make someone probably feel inspired to join you too or collaborate with you
So i just say you should go for whatever you want to do and don’t feel intimidated by the confines that society puts on you.
I feel like as someone who is queer, as someone who is Black, as someone who is Filipino, I feel like I have a lot of things working against me, but I also utilize these things to work for me. I’ll use it to make my writing more diverse and interesting. It doesn’t have to be a debuff. All the things that people say works against me, those are my buffs haha
It just makes me a stronger and better creative and I think that more people need to learn how to take the things that they feel might hold them back as things to make them stronger
So do what you want to do, and create whatever is living in your brain and don’t let it stay trapped there because it’s something amazing.
Viv: There’s gotta be at least ONE person out there that wants the idea that’s in your brain
Myleah: Exactly
Like I didn’t come from a game dev background. My background is in broadcast, journalism, and government & politics.
I struggled for a year being a reporter and I realized that this kind of storytelling isn’t the kind that i want to do. I wanna be able to tell the stories of people who don’t often have their voices heard and i don’t feel like the way that the media currently functions allows me to do that, so i wanna tell stories through different mediums like games
I didn’t jump from reporting to video games immediately, but i started crawling my way there and figuring out how I could forge my own path into game dev
So just because you’re not where you want to be right now, does not mean that it’s impossible to get to where you want to go.
Viv: Yeah, you can always start something new.
Myleah: Yep
Life is a journey, you just gotta figure out which path to take.
And you never know, one dialogue conversation can change the entire path so
Viv: The whole game design brain again
Myleah: Hahaha yep
The game design brain.
Make sure you head on over to Lumikha Cosplay Resale if you’re looking for great cosplays and accessories!
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