CELEBRATING WOMEN
They’re Paving the Way
For Chantelle Cole and Niamh Fitzgerald, the best way to solve seemingly intractable problems is to drive down different paths until you find the right one.
Their game, the Apple Arcade city planner Mini Motorways, drops you into a minimalist metropolis struggling with one of the stickiest real-world issues: gridlock. To help the tiny commuters get to and from work as smoothly as possible, you’ll strategically place bridges, traffic lights, and highways until you eventually transform congested motorways into a honk-free paradise.
As directors at Dinosaur Polo Club, Cole and Fitzgerald have taken a similar approach to addressing gender disparity in the games industry. In New Zealand, where Dinosaur Polo Club is based, 45 percent of gamers identify as women but only 23 percent of the games industry is made up of women, according to Cole.
Like engineers retrofitting an overpass, they’ve created strong support structures to cultivate a creative workplace where diverse voices are embraced. We spoke to them about why that inevitably results in games that are more fun to play.
How has having a diverse development team impacted Mini Motorways?
Fitzgerald: Many players tell us how much they love playing their home city in Mini Motorways, so it’s important to us that our maps are as geographically diverse as the places our players live. When selecting new maps to add, we’ll research cities with infamous traffic problems and interesting geographical features, and reflect on what regions we have yet to spotlight. Once we’ve chosen a new city, our team crafts a map to highlight the region’s unique features, often with feedback from players who live there or travel there.
Cole: We’re also always looking to remove as many accessibility barriers as possible. We’ve found that even small changes can make a big difference. Recently one of our team members had the idea to have the tutorial prompt all players to choose which color mode they’d prefer to play in. This allows our colorblind players to quickly access a mode that best suits their experience. Ideas like this may seem small, but every step that normalizes inclusivity and accessibility is worth taking. Having diverse voices in our studio helps us make decisions like these.
Does gender balance play a role in that?
Cole: A studio environment that represents a variety of genders is just one facet of how diversity can benefit players—differences such as disabilities, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and any other aspects of culture and identity are important perspectives. We’ve found that the better gender representation and diversity you have in your workplace, the healthier communication becomes. Communication leads to empathy and opens the door for new ideas. This in turn leads to more collaboration and innovation. From there, you can achieve almost anything together.
One of our studio focuses is to ensure our team isn’t monocultural. This means we’re exposed to more perspectives that don’t all have the exact same cultural fingerprint. When you’re working with a community as diverse as Apple Arcade’s, being able to connect to people from all walks of life is invaluable and something we believe is worth investing in.
We see it as our role to lead by example.
—Chantelle Cole
How have you pulled that off?
Cole: Whenever we have an open position at Dinosaur Polo Club, we make it a point to ensure it’s accessible to everyone. We want different voices in the room. That means posting to games groups for women or connecting with universities, talking to young women who are coming up into the industry and letting them know our studio is a safe space where they are welcome. We really need more women in the industry, and we see it as our role to lead by example.
Do you work closely with up-and-coming developers?
Fitzgerald: We were both part of the New Zealand Game Developers Association’s mentorship program. I think I had nine mentees at one point.
Cole: You had a lot! I think because of Niamh’s experience starting an indie games business, talking with her has really been special for young teams coming out of university. I tend to work with people a little further on in their careers, when they’re trying to create the right culture on their teams and to figure out how to communicate with leadership about fostering a healthy community.
The New Zealand games industry seems pretty tight-knit.
Cole: The industry here, while growing very quickly, is still in its infancy. We don’t have the same support structure that you might see in other countries. Niamh and I spent time talking with the government of New Zealand, which has been key in helping smaller companies get started.
Fitzgerald: One of the great things about the industry here is we don’t see ourselves in competition with each other. It’s about uplifting and supporting other people. Just because one company is enjoying success doesn’t mean they can’t help another studio also be successful and take flight.
Any insider tips for Mini Motorways players?
Cole: You may notice cars slow down at intersections because they check for other cars before they cross. The fewer intersections you have, the less cars slow down—keep that in mind as you design your city!
You can find Mini Motorways and over 100 other amazing Apple Arcade games on the Arcade tab of the App Store.