Chatting with Myra Hissami: A Female Game Designer

Myra Hissami – Female Game Designer

Myra Hissami is a designer and marketer (primarily focusing on UI/UX iOS apps) and entrepreneur from Orange County, California.

She is most prominently known for her work with The Jackson Family, Michael Jackson’s drummer & friend of 30 years, Jonathan Moffett (who also worked with Madonna, George Michael, Elton John and other top-tier artists), Kevin O’ Leary aka “Mr. Wonderful” (from Shark Tank), and other highly publicized clients.

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Dangerous Lee chats with Game Designer: Myra Hissami

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Dangerous Lee: Explain the kind of games you design

Myra: I create minimalist flat games usually with a simple game play. Those are usually the most fun.

Dangerous Lee: Who are some of your clients?

Myra: I’ve worked with a variety of creative entrepreneurs. I spend most of my time, however, creating my own games.

Dangerous Lee: If someone wanted to have a game created to enhance their brand, how much should they expect to spend?

Myra: As far as user interface, user experience, and illustrations go, games can cost anywhere from 2k-15k or more depending on the complexity of the game. I’ve seen bootstrapping entrepreneurs spend less, but the meager quality usually shows.

Dangerous Lee: Is game design a natural progression for you as an artist?

Myra: It definitely is. I started illustrating as a child and eventually started dabbling into graphic design as a teenager.

I always enjoyed digitally creating graphics and illustrations. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I decided to solely design iOS games. Designing and illustrating games is by far the most exciting creative medium.

To bring an abstract idea to life and watch people play your game is one of the most exhilarating things to witness.

Girls/Women Like Gaming Too

Dangerous Lee: Are women a rarity in the industry?

Myra: I still have yet to collaborate with a female game designer/coder. It indeed is a rarity and it’s unfortunate. I would love to see more women creating original iOS games.

Dangerous Lee: Would you encourage more women to enter the field?

Myra: Absolutely! It will diversify the market and bring forth some interesting games for us to play.

Dangerous Lee: If you were to create a Dangerous Lee game, what do you think it should look like?

Myra: It would be intense, fiery, and simple. I would imagine it having various orange and yellow tones, mainly saturated with minimalist shapes.

The underlying objective of the game would be to keep the player on the edge of his or her seat the entire time. It would be dangerous, that’s for sure!

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Fact: In 2014, women only made up 22% of the gaming industry workforce. That number has been on the rise since 2009.

Fact: Half of gamers are women, according to the Pew Research Center. You wouldn’t know it by looking at game publishers. Men constitute 75% percent of the game workforce. On the design side, that percentage is much higher.

Check out these prominent women in video game history.