Meagan Byrne has been working in CoWork at the Cotton Factory since 2022, creating some amazing and innovative games.
Meagan Owner/Lead Game Designer | Achimostawinan Games. Achimostawinan is a Cree word meaning “tell us a story”. Meagan started Achimostawan Games in 2016 while she was still in college at Sheridan for game design.
Meagan originally started out in theatre, live production and sound after graduating from university in 2005, but as the recession hit in 2008 she had gotten laid off along with many of her coworkers. Trying to stay in the same stream, Meagan got some short-term contract positions, however never fully felt satisfied, and in 2012 she finally decided to pursue a new career. After some thinking about how to proceed with a new career, she recalled that the Canadian government released a chart of predictions on which jobs would be in high demand in the next 5 to 10 years, and second on that list was “game designer”.
Coincidentally, around the same time, Sheridan College had just launched its game design program. Meagan applied, was accepted and was well on her way to starting a new journey. As she still needed to continue working while in this program, so she continued to accept short-term work contracts. It was during this time, she thought to herself, “I can start my own company” and that’s what she did.
Achimostawan is now run by a small group of 6, all Indigenous peoples (with the exception of one lady from Brazil). Like many, Meagan launched her company from her home. She soon realized there wasn’t enough space for running a game design company from her apartment, and that is when she decided to join CoWork.
At the moment, Achimostawan is working on a sci-fi, Indigenous futuristic game, called “Hill Agency Purity and Decay”. While the game isn’t set to be released until early next year, there is currently a demo version of the game on steam available to download.
Apart from running her own company, Meagan has worked on some games for TV Ontario (TVO), was the first interactive digital coordinator for Imaginative, creating the indigenous space they currently use, and also worked in a department at Sheridan College, building various things for teachers.
I think it is safe to say Meagan’s 15-year-old self would definitely be impressed with the things she has accomplished!!
- Written by Kylie Sylvester, Glendale High School, HWDSB Coop Student
Meagan ByrneMeagan Byrne is an Âpihtawikosisân (Métis of Ontario) new media artist, game designer, writer, and philosopher. She is the founder of Achimostawinan Games (AchimoGames), an Indigenous indie game studio out of Hamilton, Ontario.
Her previous work has been shown in festivals such as imagineNATIVE Film Festival, Toronto; Different Games Conference, New York; and IndieCade; California. She was the first Digital and Interactive Coordinator at imagineNATIVE & developer of the iNDigital Space exhibition and Night of the Indigenous Devs showcase. She has served on the boards of Dame Making Games and Indigenous Routes, and currently co-organizes the Indigenous Game Devs grassroots community.
Her studio, Achimostawinan Games, is currently developing the Indigenous cybernoir detective game Hill Agency: PURITYdecay due for release soon.
