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Amanda Warner and Brianna Wu

Amanda Warner is an American animator who co-founded Giant Spacekat Productions with conservative trans activist Brianna Wu. Giant Spackat released the 2014 videogame Revolution 60 but did not release other announced titles.

Background

Amanda Stenquist was born in September of 1979 and grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts, graduating from Medfield High School in 1997. Warner worked at Williams-Sonoma from 1997 to 2010, rising to general manager.

Warner earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2001. In 2010, Warner earned a certificate in 3D animation and interactive media at Boston University Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA). Warner then created visual work for Arthroplasty Patient Foundation and YMAA Publications in 2010.

From 2015 to 2017 Warner was an adjunct professor at Mount Ida College. Since 2016, Warner has been marketing director at The Lab World Group.

Stenquist married Benjamin “Ben” Warner and has since gone by Amanda Stenquist Warner. They have children.

Giant Spacekat

In 2010, Warner worked freelance for a month at Frank Wu’s Gadanin Productions. That led to co-founding Giant Spacekat Productions with Frank’s spouse Brianna Wu in November 2010 while also working as an animation assistant at Tencent Boston in 2011.

Warner embodies two of Wu’s pre-transition obsessions in Wu’s Socially Unconscious comic: a cheerleader and sorority member.

In a 2013 piece for The Magazine, Wu describes their relationship:

It’s the third mission today: a story conference with my lead animator, Amanda. I’m exhausted. Level creation is now on my long list of job duties, taking on the work of someone I fired. It’s just an average day leading an indie-game development team.

Amanda is my best employee, and a yin to my yang. She was a cheerleader and president of her sorority, then spent a decade as a retail manager before she changed careers and went back for a degree in 3D animation. She has a calm, considered presence, a counterbalance to my relentless impulse to charge forward.

We finish discussing the storyboards and decide to book our voice actresses for another round of sessions. I think we’re done, but just as I start to edge my way out of the conversation, she sits down. “I need to tell you something, Bri, because it’s going to seriously affect you as my employer.”

Our game, Revolution 60, would not be coming together without Amanda. I’ve come to count on her, not just for her animation skills, but for her perspective. I brace for impact: She’s moving, she’s quitting, she’s found another job.

“I’m pregnant,” she says. I don’t reply immediately, and I’ll mull over my tepid response for weeks.

“Congratulations?”

According to a submitted bio “Amanda is a mom to an almost 3 year old meaning that she was pregnant, then dealing with a newborn and later a toddler during Revolution 60’s development cycle, and yet some how is still sane.”

Amanda was my first employee, but her résumé was initially tossed aside in favor of several male candidates. My husband had been helping sort through the hundreds of résumés and discarded it. By accident, I spotted it in the reject pile. Her clip reel showed a cheery girl leaping up, waving her hand with exuberant personality.

“We’re making a game based on my art style,” I said. “Don’t you see how this is exactly the kind of animator we need?”

“It’s pretty girly,” he replied. “I guess I just don’t get that stuff.”

“I don’t know if I can do this, Bri,” says Amanda. It’s the day after she told me she was pregnant. She’s more scared than I’ve ever seen her, and she sounds like she’s never felt more alone. She’s been with her boyfriend for five years, longer than I’ve known my husband. She’s worried what people will say. She’s worried her parents will be disappointed in her.

I’ve loudly proclaimed my feminist principles from the rooftops for my entire life. But now those beliefs are in direct conflict with my responsibility to ship our game. Amanda is the linchpin of the company. I’m terrified I’m going to lose her, just as I have friends after they have had children and disappeared into the routine of family and schools.

“This is happening at the worst possible time. I’m 30, I just started my career over, and I’m worried if I stop now, I won’t get another chance.”

This is the real stuff of womanhood, not the videogame fantasy we’ve spent so many hours creating. It’s a gut check. What do you really want, Amanda? And what will you sacrifice to get it?

“I know all of that, and I’m terrified,” she cries, “but having this baby is something I need to do.”

I take a breath. In indie-game development you have to bet. Am I willing to bet my company on Amanda sticking with the project after she’s become a mom?

“What do you need to make this happen?” I ask.

Last week, Amanda and I were musing over coffee. “I needed to have Emma,” she said, “But the thought of losing my identity kept me up at night. That’s why I work so hard on Revolution 60. It’s how I keep ‘me.’”

Warner left Giant Spacekat in May 2016 without releasing the announced sequel Revolution 62 or the announced children’s game Cupcake Crisis from Giant Spacektten.

References

“Hoskstation” (July 27, 2016). Additional Evidence That Giant Spacekat is a Scam Artist. Medium https://medium.com/@HoskStation/additional-evidence-that-giant-spacekat-is-a-scam-artist-7e238c3399cb

Gagne, Ken (January 05, 2015). Women in Games Boston January Party. The Boston Calendar https://www.thebostoncalendar.com/events/women-in-games-boston-january-party

“Kelseyr713” (September 22, 2014 ). Review: Revolution 60 – Badass Women in Space. Nerdy-But-Flirty https://nerdybutflirty.com/2014/09/22/review-revolution-60-badass-women-in-space/

Nieves, Roberto (July 25, 2014). Revolution 60 Review—An Engaging Experience Unlike Any Other. Niche Gamer https://nichegamer.com/reviews/revolution-60-review-an-engaging-experience-unlike-any-other/

Starr, Michelle (July 30, 2014). Revolution 60: A game by and about badass women. CNET https://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/revolution-60-a-game-by-and-about-badass-women/

Voliva, Crystal (November 5, 2013). Revolution 60 Breaks the Mold with Unreal Engine Technology. Unreal Engine https://www.unrealengine.com/fr/blog/revolution-60

Staff report (November 25, 2013). Unreal Diaries: Making Revolution 60 for mobile with UDK. MCV https://mcvuk.com/development-news/unreal-diaries-making-revolution-60-for-mobile-with-udk/

LeFebre, Rob (October 3, 2013). All-Female iOS Game Revolution 60 Is Far More Than A Political Statement. Cult of Mac https://www.cultofmac.com/news/play-powerful-explosive-leading-ladies-in-revolution-60

Wu, Brianna (April 11, 2013). Choose Your Character. The Magazine https://the-magazine.org/14/choose-your-character/index.html

Media

Top End Devs

Top End Devs (Jun 6, 2019). 047 iPhreaks Show – Game Development with Giant Spacekat of Revolution 60 with Brianna Wu, Amanda Stenquist Warner, and Marie Enderton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yPNAE4ERTc

(). 81: Melton & Ganatra episode V: Transitions – Debug

(24 Feb 2016). 005: Lead Animator Amanda Warner. CG Chatter

(July 28th, 2015). #51: Amanda Warner https://www.relay.fm/ltoe/51

English, Guy (August 14, 2014). 50: Brianna Wu, Amanda Warner, and Revolution 60. Debug

Fleishman, Glenn (July 24, 2014). 84: Depth takes a holiday with Amanda Warner and Brianna Wu”. The New Disruptors. . Archived from the original (podcast) 

(July 21, 2014 ). #11: We Were All Terrible in 2010. Isometric https://www.relay.fm/isometric/11

Pike, Allen; Brooke, Nigel (July 12, 2014). 20. That’s Not My Shepard. https://upup.fm/show/thats-not-my-shepard

Hold the Line (April 28, 2013). Developer Interview: Giant SpaceKat Revolution 60. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFmbq-8zKiI

Resources

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Giant Bomb (giantbomb.com)

IMDb (imdb.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)