Game development could become a thriving industry in New Mexico if it can gain support from the film industry, two local business owners say.
Shandiin Yazzie Woodward and Ryan Woodward founded Subliminal Gaming in 2012 to remain in Albuquerque and pursue their passion despite a lack of a viable industry in New Mexico.
Not only have they managed to maintain their business for a decade, they’ve helped to connect the game development community in the state so it can share concepts, needs and frustrations.
“With the game development scene here in New Mexico, we have a lot of independent game developers who are trying to get to that professional level, some who have gotten there, including us, and some who are trying to get more towards a bigger end like a mobile game developer or things like that,” Ryan Woodward said in an interview with KRQE. “We are starting to see an uptick in terms of game development here in New Mexico, but it could definitely come a long way.”
Professional game development falls under the umbrella of the New Mexico Film Office, but there are only a handful of established game studios in the state. Game development is tedious work. It takes years to master a single game. Subliminal Gaming released its first game in 2015, and didn’t release its second, Button City, until 2021.
The Woodwards, working as volunteers for the Albuquerque Game Developers Guild, have been instrumental in connecting game developers. The guild is an association of like-minded folks interested in all areas of game development.
“We have an extremely unique landscape in that not only do we have creative talent with amazing artists, from traditional to digital, but we also have amazing software developers,” Ryan Woodward said in the KRQE interview. “So much of software history has started here, but we just need to keep it. So the key thing is keeping talent here in New Mexico and helping it thrive because we already have it, we just need to cultivate it.”
More support of their projects, talents and creative ideas from the New Mexico film industry would help.
“That would go a long way with attracting studios here,” Ryan said. “It shows that creative talent can be here instead of us having to go out to the West Coast.”