When you’re in your early-to-mid 20s, you’re usually at the point in your life where nothing quite makes sense, existential crises are frequent, and the question of what you want to be when you’re finally out of uni constantly rings in your head.
Perhaps you want to do something great for all the women and underrepresented people out there. Or maybe you want try something completely out of your comfort zone by running your own gaming studio and making a video game from scratch. Hell, maybe you want to try your luck dressing up as everyone’s favourite video game characters and making a name of yourself as a cosplayer.
During PAX Australia 2018, I chatted someone who has done all those aforementioned things and more. And the crazy thing about it all is that she’s just 25.
Meet Ally Mclean, someone has done arguably more in her life already than what most of us will ever do.
World famous cosplayer and The Witcher 3
These days Ally simply goes by “Ally Mclean”, but her career in the games industry started back when she was just 13-year-old cosplayer.
“I was one of Australia’s first professional cosplayers. I started out when I was 13 just as a hobby and then it kind of blossomed into a career where I got to go around the world and get an inside look into how the games industry worked.”
What initially began as a hobby became a 10-year phase, the bulk of which Ally was best known as her cosplayer alter-ego, “Eve Beauregard”. Chances are that you’ve seen her around as well without even realising it.
You know the dark-haired leading lady all The Witcher 3 promo materials? That’s Ally.
Post-cosplay
Being the face of a major character in a critically-acclaimed big-budget game sounds great on paper, but cosplaying isn’t exactly the easiest profession to thrive in, especially as a female. So Ally did something many didn’t expect, especially given how big she was: she dropped cosplaying altogether.
“The game development passion took over as my creative outlet and I found that was the way I was enjoying expressing myself. “
It also didn’t help that Ally faced difficulties from within the cosplay community for getting as successful as she did.
“It was super difficult, particularly within the cosplay community it was really difficult. I was becoming a professional in a space that was largely seen as a hobby and there was pushback from within the community about people making money off of cosplay. And then there was all those things every cosplayer experiences, especially when you’re working as a woman on a show floor in a costume.”
Having said all that, it wasn’t all just pushback and unruly fans.
“I met some of my closest friends and mentors through cosplay so it was pretty special.”
? #Cosplay #Bioshock #Elisabeth by the gorgeous @Eve_Beauregard – Photo by What A Big Camera #BioshockCollection pic.twitter.com/0u5T8L9lAw
— ??????????????? (@CosplayInfin) September 23, 2016
Running a game studio and Rumu
Working on The Witcher 3 wasn’t just beneficial on an exposure level, it also gave Ally an insight into how games development and the industry worked. By pivoting towards a more marketing and community field, she landed her first game studio job with Aussie studio Hammerfell Publishing working on Warhammer 40,000k: Regicide.
“That’s where I was trained up as a producer and I learned the trade of game development.”
Working her way up from producer to project lead in just a matter of months, the next thing Ally did was establish her own game studio and thus Robot House was born.
There, the small team pumped out two games, Hulabear and Rumu in quick succession. The latter game was particularly noteworthy as it was well-received, won awards, and was a project in which Ally served as gamerunner (essentially the head of the entire project).
[Writer’s note: full disclosure, I reviewed Rumu for GameSpot. It got a 7. Don’t hurt me.]
Going from professional cosplay to gamerunner on a video game is a leap big enough to make the Grand Canyon seem small and it was something that Ally wrestled with initially.
“The biggest challenge for me was the shift in perception. It was very hard to take myself seriously as a game developer and there was a lot of Imposter Symdrome and crises of confidence, but I was lucky to be surrounded by supportive people who had faith in my, like my design lead, who constantly reminded me that I deserve a seat at the table.”
But despite riding the wave of momentum generated by the positive reception to Rumu, something that was dear to her, Ally did something that few expected: she left Robot House for another role in another company.
“After we released Rumu, I felt like I had fulfilled my role at the studio. It was my passion project, it was my baby, and we took him out into the world and people loved him and it was wonderful. But it was just time to think about my next challenge.”
And it’s quite the challenge she’s taken on.
As product director at 3rd Sense, Ally and her team are attempting to make games with purposes beyond entertainment that she describes as the “next frontier of gaming”, such as education, health, and medical rehabilitation.
Sadly, she didn’t tell me anything about what they’re working on but I can only imagine it’s something special. Or UFOs. Actually, I hope it’s UFOs.
We are the Digital Product People!
Find out more about 3RD SENSE over at https://t.co/J543SV8Tpy and start a conversation about your next digital product now. pic.twitter.com/WY9bD2pTlj
— 3RD SENSE (@3RDSENSE) October 17, 2018
Working Lunch
When she isn’t doing mysterious 3rd Sense stuff, Ally has a number of other side projects under her belt. While others do woodwork or build models, she decided to launch the Working Lunch, an award-winning mentor program aimed at helping women entering in the gaming industry.
“I was seeing that a lot of people were not coming through the doors I was coming through so what can we do to formalise that experience and give structure to it and make sure we can prop those doors open for underrepresented people to make their way into the industry, and the Working Lunch was born out of that feeling.”
Thanks to support from IGEA (Interactive Games & Entertainment Association), the program proved to be a big success with the first class of mentees graduated from the program during PAX Australia.
While the program was based in Sydney for its first year, 2019 is shaping up to be a big jump with plans to expand into Adelaide, Wellington, and potentially Brisbane and Melbourne.
They’re gonna need a much bigger lunchroom.
https://twitter.com/allymcleangames/status/1055741396135620609
NEXT Exhibit
As we arrive at the present, we’re sitting in front of a massive banner that says “NEXT Exhibit“, the newest project put together by Ally and Liam Esler aimed at showcasing games made by underrepresented developers from around the world, such as those from Indonesia and Brazil.
“I love all the diversity initiatives at PAX Aus, but they are hidden away a little bit and you do have to go out and find them. PAX Aus brings the largest crowd of gaming consumer fans into one space, so what can we do to tap into that and broaden their minds about what games can be and who can make games.”
Despite being put together in a very short amount of time, the NEXT Exhibit was met with an incredible response with nearly 100 independent developers expressing interest in the program (which was narrowed down to six for PAX Australia using what I presume to be a highly-stressed jury).
And it certainly appears that Ally and Liam are onto something with the NEXT Exhibit because the six games being shown are truly something remarkable and tackle some wide-ranging topics such as living with dementia, Indonesian folktales, being a transexual teenager, and living with autism.
We're here and @PAXAus is open! Come play the world's most diverse games! ? #NEXTExhibit pic.twitter.com/KP18dwDEvV
— NEXT Exhibit (@ExhibitNext) October 25, 2018
With all that she’s accomplished at just 25, Ally’s on track to be empress of this (greenish) Earth or something at her current trajectory. But as we wrapped up our chat, I had one nagging question about her already-prolific career: does she sleep at all with everything she does?
“[Laughs] I do! A good night’s sleep is very important to do the things we have to do. I don’t drink though so maybe that’s a part of it.”
So I guess that’s the big lesson from this: sleep more, drink less, and you’ll be able to accomplish amazing things like Ally Mclean.