Ericka Evans is a Gemini Award Winning Producer with over 20 years experience working in Television and Game Development. She is a Studio Partner and Head of Production at Phantom Compass where she has made great games with her team for the past 11 years.

My parents were OG gamers back in the days of Atari and Intellivision, so gaming culture was a family affair.

My title is Head of Production, but as we are a small team that means that I still get to be hands on with design, but also project manage and handle budgets etc. I think that in order to be successful in Game Development, you need to be able to internalize the project vision so you fit your day to day tasks into the bigger picture and stay on target.

Phantom Compass is a Canadian senior team with 12+ years of studio experience and 60+ years of combined management experience.

We’re Unity3D experts, creating custom games for clients and original IP for desktop, mobile, tablet, VR and console.

A great game is one that makes you want to share it! I love playing games with my friends and family. Even single player games can be great shared experiences, by sitting on the couch and passing the controller every once in a while, or just talking about them.

Phantom Compass has worked on a wide variety of genres including car combat, puzzle and genre blends like our Pinball + RPG franchise, Rollers of the Realm and Rollers of the Realm: Reunion. We have experience with multiplayer-online, couch-co op or competitive and single player experiences. We are excited by trying new things and gaining new experiences.

Our project ideas are discussed and massaged by our team and then prototyped in Unity3D, or sometimes even by paper prototyping. We try to explore and prove out the core mechanics or game feel before moving forward. Sometimes that’s where ideation stops and sometimes the ideas flourish into full projects.

It always feels good to have your hard work noticed and appreciated. It’s wonderful the NYX Game Awards has recognized the potential for this project that is so close to our hearts.

Winning an international award gives an extra amount of credibility for our company and products when we are looking for publishing or funding partners for our projects

Breaking through the noise and getting your game message covered is a huge challenge..

We are grateful for the support of our Canadian funders, CMF (Canada Media Fund) and Ontario Creates in the development of this project.

I am personally most excited about the wholesome games movement and the variety of stories that are now being released.

I love that games culture now spans generations and it’s something that can bring people together.

Working in this industry I’m never bored. Every day is a new challenge.

The people that I have met in this industry are particularly amazing.

Reading articles by developers who generously take the time to share their experience and connecting personally with other developers at places like developer conferences or in digital spaces like Discord.

I wish I knew... I’d start making the next greatest hit now.

My mom. She’s much cooler than me, but we both like to get things done.

I think the key to my success is that I care about our products, the people who make them and the people who enjoy them. I try to keep those all in mind and in balance when developing.