Meet Erin Reynolds: Chief Mollusk | Creative Director, Video Game Studio Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erin Reynolds and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erin, how do you think about risk?
I suppose I have certainly taken my fair share of scary risks in my life – from moving to cities where I know no one to starting my own company without any formal business training. Yet, I don’t think I would define myself as a natural risk taker – in fact, I remember one of my college application essays (yes, from way back in the day) started with the line, “They say that on the road of life, there are passengers and drivers. I’m a passenger.” However, over the years I’ve come to realize that one of the most destructive things anyone can do is to simply “stay comfortable.” I think comfort can be the enemy of “fulfilling one’s destiny,” so to speak. And so, I consider making “big scary decisions” less as taking a risk and more as pushing myself beyond my comfort zone – because the “risky” decision is almost always better, albeit often more uncomfortable, than the alternative. And, even though risk is scary and often initially quite unpleasant, the risky decision – when you know in your gut is the right thing to do – almost always ends up being the right one in the end. 

We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I come from a very artistic family. My Grandmother taught me how to paint at a very young age (I think I knew how to paint before I could write) and my Mom’s background is in operatic performance and music teaching. So, art has always been in my blood. However, I became bewitched by technology at a young age when I first started playing old-school text adventure games with my Dad. So, my art – even as a kid – was always some sort of dance between illustration and technology. Fast-forward many, many years and I discovered that the perfect combination of this love of art, technology, storytelling, and video games was a career in game design! However, a couple of years into my career, I realized where I truly belonged in games (and art as a whole) – and that was in making what I call “edgy games for good.” That is, making games that are fun and compelling (just like any traditional video game out there) AND beneficial to the player or community as a whole. In other words, games that (secretly) give back. Fast forward another few years and I founded my own game studio, Flying Mollusk, to focus on building these “edgy games for good.” The best example of this is a game that I’m incredibly proud of called “Nevermind” – a biofeedback-enhanced thriller adventure game that indirectly teaches folks how to manage feelings of stress and anxiety. At its heart, “Nevermind” is a surreal adventure-thriller puzzle game wherein you’re exploring the minds of individuals who have experienced psychological trauma. However, if you play “Nevermind” while wearing one of its supported heart rate sensors (like an Apple Watch) or simply using a webcam (which uses “emotion AI” powered by Affectiva), the game can actually pick up on potential feelings of fear, stress, or anxiety. If you let your fears get the best of you, the game will become harder. If you’re able to calm yourself in the face of terror, the game will be more forgiving. So, in this way, “Nevermind” is a little bit like a stress management tool disguised as a video game. The same skills you need to develop to stay cool while facing the creepy and intense scenarios within the game can be used when facing those “every day” stressful situations. Furthermore, “Nevermind’s” narrative was written to help bring awareness to the complexities and pervasiveness of PTSD and psychological trauma. Creating a game studio with the intent of building games like “Nevermind” certainly wasn’t easy – especially since I never really had ambitions of being an entrepreneur, so it was a very new and scary endeavor at first. Even to this day – 7 years after the company’s founding – many aspects of it are new and scary. However, I feel so passionate about the potential that games like this have to make an indelible positive impact on the world that I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
What a fun question! Presuming that this is happening in a post-COVID-lock-down-world, I would have to take them to some of my favorite restaurants – Momed and Viet Noodle Bar in Atwater, Au Lac, Sonoratown, Rakkan Ramen, Chado Tea Room, and Barcito in DTLA, Guisados and Sage Bistro in Echo Park, Antigua Bread in Highland Park, just to name a few. We’d have to hit up the Los Angeles Public Library, Natural History Museum, Huntington Gardens, and Norton Simon for sure (I’m presuming this theoretical visiting best friend is as nerdy as I am). And, if there is a show happening while they’re in town, I would make sure we go to The Hive Gallery in DTLA and Gallery 30 South in Pasadena. While we’re in Pasadena, we would of course stop by Gold Bug and, since that would no doubt leave us in a fancy mood, cap off the evening by hitting up The Edison in DTLA for a little absinthe in an art nouveau wonderland.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there a person, group, organization, book, etc that you want to dedicate your shoutout to? Who else deserves a little credit and recognition in your story?
The Game Developers Conference’s Conference Associate program. The Conference Associates are a group of around 400 people who volunteer to help out “behind the scenes” of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) – which is a unique gathering of incredibly varied game developers from all around the world. The Conference Associate team is a giant and delightfully diverse community made up of game industry veterans, students, game developers, game players, and every other background imaginable from around the world. I started volunteering with the Conference Associates back in 2006 – and owe so much of my personal growth and professional career to that experience. I’ve returned almost every year and, for the past several years, I’ve had the honor of serving as one of the staff members of the program so I can do my part to pay it forward to the next generation of aspiring game developers.

Website: www.reynoldsphobia.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsphobia/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinreynolds/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/reynoldsphobia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NevermindGame/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H-nkpFhl2Y
Other: https://www.ted.com/talks/erin_reynolds_video_games_can_empower_players_to_make_the_world_a_better_place